Formula One Features — February 1997

The Bridgestone Corporation enters Grand Prix racing this season, supplying tyres to the Arrows, Ligier, Minardi, Stewart and Lola teams. It will be the Japanese company's first involvement in Formula 1 but all the signs are that the world's biggest tyre seller will be very competitive with Goodyear, which has dominated Grand Prix racing for the last 10 years.

Eric Broadley's Lola Cars embarks this year on its sixth foray into Grand Prix racing with 68-year-old Broadley - who founded Lola back in 1958 - leading from the front.

It is eight years since we first heard vague rumours that Alain Prost wanted to run his own Formula 1 team. In mid-1989, when he had fallen out with Ayrton Senna and was on the verge of leaving McLaren, he and engineer John Barnard came very close to doing a deal for Renault engines. The problem on that occasion was that the world was going into a recession and they could not find any sponsorship. Alain went to Ferrari instead...

Tom Walkinshaw bought the Arrows team in the middle of last year and since then there has been a great deal of changing of the personnel. Many of the old Arrows F1 crew from Milton Keynes have moved on to other teams.