Team History

After running the Alfa Romeo World Touring Car Championship squad in 1987, Brixia Motor Sport (BMS) contracted with Italian constructor Dallara to build them a F1 chassis for the 1988 season. After failing to pre-qualify for the first race using a modified Dallara F3000 chassis (and engine), Alex Caffi gave the BMS-188 its debut at San Marino. The team qualified for all but one of the remaining GP and had a best result of 7th in Portugal.

The team expanded to two cars for 1989 with veteran Andrea de Cesaris joining Caffi in a new Dallara chassis and at the chaotic Canadian GP, De Cesaris scored an surprise podium with 3rd and Caffi 6th. It was to be the high point of the season, however, and the team struggled with reliability issues as well as numerous crashes. Just when the team looked to be progressing, the 1990 season was a major setback with the cars making it to the finish just 6 times out of 32 attempts. Emanuele Pirro was signed to partner De Cesaris, though illness saw Gianni Morbidelli substitute for him for the first two races, failing to qualify for the first.

Italian Pirro returned for 1991 alongside JJ Lehto in a Judd V10 powered car with the Finn giving the team a dream third place finish at Imola for his first points. Pirro followed with a sixth at Monaco but the rest of the season was littered with engine related failures. In an effort to cut costs and improve reliability the team switched to year-old Ferrari engines for the 1992 season with Pier-Luigi Martini being drafted in to partner the returning Lehto. Although the cars finished more races, they were off the pace and netted only 2 points, plus late in the season there was a falling out between chassis constructor Dallara and engine supplier Ferrari. Forced to choose, Guiseppe Lucchini chose to stay with Ferrari and contract with Lola to build a chassis for 1993.

With additional sponsorship from Chesterfield cigarettes, the team signed former Ferrari driver Michele Alboreto and 1992 F3000 Champion Luca Badoer to drive the new Lola-Ferrari but it soon became apparent that the car was overweight and underpowered. After non-qualifying on several occasions and scoring no points, the team did not compete in the final two "fly-away" GP (Japan and Australia) and Lucchini folded the team, although his company continued as a sponsor of Minardi.

EMail your comments, suggestions and updates to:

editor@mcz.com

Return to the Teams or Drivers Index