Yamaha
Yamaha remains one of Formula 1’s greatest enigmas, as powerful resources failed to produce championship success.
Disaster with Zakspeed
In F1, any ill-thought-out or conceived venture will invariably fail. Yamaha’s first foray into F1 perfectly demonstrated this.
Opting to partner with a team away from the limelight, the Japanese manufacturer first joined forces with the underfunded Zakspeed team.
The team needed to pre-qualify due to a pointless 1988, placing the venture at an immediate disadvantage.
Yamaha also colossally underestimated the demands of F1. The Yamaha OX88 V8’s lack of horsepower painfully showed the mountain to climb.
Producing just 560 horsepower, this was dwarfed by the 700-horsepower benchmark of Renault and Honda.
The power deficit contributed to a miserable record: Aguri Suzuki failed to qualify all year. Team-mate Bernd Schneider qualified just twice and never scored a point.
Such was the alliance’s failure; Zakspeed closed its doors at the end of the year, and Yamaha followed its beleaguered team partner out of the sport.
It seemed that after just one season, Yamaha’s dream of conquering F1 was over. But behind the scenes, plans moved to bring the manufacturer back to the grid.
Back with Brabham and jumping to Jordan
Opting to return with another backmarker team, Yamaha signed to supply its new V12 engine to Brabham.
The legendary team had been bought out from the brink of bankruptcy and was beginning a new chapter.
Yamaha’s new OX99 immediately showed more potential than its weighty predecessor. Now a V12, reliability from both car and engine still eluded Yamaha, with just one point scored, courtesy of Mark Blundell’s sixth place in Belgium.
Not content with the results that year, Yamaha dropped Brabham for the Jordan team for 1993.
Jordan was a far better prospect for the Japanese manufacturer, given its breakout 1991 season. A four-year deal was concluded ahead of the new season.
The agreement provided free engines for Jordan, but Yamaha again struggled with reliability. The same V12 powered the Jordan in 1992 as Brabham did in 1991.
In another similarity to 1993, reliability proved an Achilles heel, with Yamaha sacrificing speed to ensure race finishes.
Combined with car woes, Jordan scored just a single point, only coming in the final round. After another poor year, Jordan and Yamaha dissolved their agreement with the fast-becoming beleaguered manufacturer.
Tenure with Tyrrell 1993-1996
Yamaha signed a shorter two-year deal with Tyrrell ahead of 1993. An exclusive agreement, Yamaha had now signed a team with a championship-winning pedigree.
Realising urgent changes were required to its manufacturing processes, Yamaha allied with British outfit Judd. The result was a more reliable and powerful V10.
But Yamaha’s arrival at Tyrrell coincided with a dramatic downturn in performance from the former world champions.
The 020C suffered from appalling gearbox issues, with the replacement 021 not arriving until the European season.
Designers to this day still recoil at the mention of the 020 and 021.
With no pace and a lack of funds beginning to translate into on-track ailments, Tyrrell scored no points, unacceptable for a team of Tyrrell’s calibre. Yamaha, however, opted to stay for 1994.
A restructured team and car philosophy produced Yamaha’s best season to date in 1994.
Katayama scored points at the season opener, instantly lifting team spirit. Mark Blundell’s podium at the Spanish Grand Prix proved to be a false dawn as reliability once again ruined potential strong results later in the year.
However, moving up to seventh in the Constructors’ Championship was a strong comeback after the hopeless 1993.
1995 and 1996 saw more of the same: the team and engine partner saw the odd breakthrough result but were unable to challenge the benchmark teams of Williams, Benetton, and Ferrari.
A swansong with Arrows: 1997
At the end of 1996, Yamaha announced that it had signed with Tom Walkinshaw’s revamped Footwork team, rebranded as Arrows.
Capturing the soon-to-be reigning world champion Damon Hill’s signature left all involved excited for a dark-horse team in 1997.
Hill’s move to Arrows from champions Williams represented moving from the Premier League champions to the conference league.
While the team had bold ambitions, Hill’s first run in the dark at an airfield provided an omen for the season ahead.
Car and engine suffered appalling reliability (now a well-known characteristic of Yamaha engines), with pre-season becoming a disaster.
The nadir of Hill and Arrows’ year was laid bare at the first round in Australia. Qualifying on the back row by just two tenths of a second, his car failed on the formation lap.
Results were scarce in the opening races, as his engine blew while running in the points in Brazil. Retirements piled up, and confidence plummeted.
The reigning world champion’s motivation understandably waned at the beginning of the season. Persistent rumours that Hill was about to jump to Prost mid-year refused to dissipate.
Public criticism from Walkinshaw resulted in Arrows scoring its first, if fortunate, points finish of the year at Silverstone.
Behind the scenes, Walkinshaw and Yamaha disagreed over engine development. While Walkinshaw pushed for his engineers to work on the engine, Yamaha wanted theirs. The relationship now began to suffer.
But Hungary became the titular point in Hill’s title defence. Qualifying a superb third on the grid, he took the lead on lap 10 and disappeared into the distance.
Bridgestone’s tyre performance, excellent grip and reigning world champion at the wheel brought Arrows to the brink of its first victory after 299 races in F1.
However, motorsport’s cruel nature reared its head, and the A18’s driveshaft failed with just two laps to go.
Hill soldiered on, but Jacques Villeneuve’s Williams took to the grass approaching turn four, passing the ailing Arrows.
A dejected Hill finished in second, knowing his chances to challenge for victory were all but gone for the rest of the year.
Yet more reliability and poor performance saw yet another deal for Yamaha cut short. This time, the Japanese manufacturer withdrew from F1 for good.
Scoring just 33 points during its time in F1, Yamaha never truly grasped what it took to succeed in F1 and remains one of the sport’s biggest failures.