Not sure it even looked fast......

Having watched Lewis Hamilton blast around the Silverstone circuit in the Mercedes yesterday , eventually winning on three wheels, the new for 2020 black livery of his car is, in my humble opinion, makes the car look even quicker. As I mentioned in my last blog I loved the Nick Wirth designed Andrea Moda and Simtek cars of the early 1990's, and whilst not seeing the success of almost all the other cars on the grids of 1992 and 1994 respectively, there was a car which played a similar role in 1993.

Lola racing cars had a history of producing a series of cars between 1958 and 1997; led by Eric Broadley cars were produced for Formula One, Two, Three and Junior in the 1960's, partnered Formula One teams through the 1970'2, 80' and early 90's , all with limited success, but dominated Indycar in the early 1990's winning the Indy 500 in the process.

For 1993 Lola was commissioned to produce a Formula One car for the Scuderia Italia team, who had previously run Dallara chassis since their debut in 1988. For power the team had secured Ferrari engines, only the second time the Italian giants of the sport had ever allowed their engines to be run by another team.

Lola chassis , with their rich history of racing, Ferrari engines, with their richer history of racing; on paper sounds like a potential winning marriage ? Of course in Formula One there is a little more to producing a winning combination than a little history, and even a distinct livery courtesy of Chesterfield branding couldn't make a difference.

The T93/30 chassis in the hands of Michele Albereto and Luca Badoer (the 1992 Formula 3000 champion) qualified 25th and 26th respectively in the season opening South African Grand Prix, 6 seconds (Albereto) and 9 seconds (Badoer) behind the pole sitter Alain Prost. Both drivers suffered mechanical failures in the race and the tone was set for the remainder of the season.

A series of non-qualifications followed in the most conventional car on the grid; no traction control or other wizardry on the Lola-Ferrari, but in the midst of a season of mediocrity Luca managed a 7th place finish at San Marino (3 laps behind the winner), Michele managed two 11th place finishes at Brazil (3 laps behind the winner) and Donnington (6 laps behind the winner!).

Poor return for the season, the team elected not to travel to the races in Japan and Australia, and was never seen again.........Michele drove for Minardi in 1994, scored a 6th place at Monaco and retired at the end of the season after 194 Grand Prix including 5 wins. Luca went on to also drive for Minardi, Forti and Ferrari (as test driver and a racing return in 2009).

As I've said in a previous blog it is quite an achievement to make it to the Formula One grid, either as a driver or as a team, but there are a very long list of both that don't make any significant impact .....I've found these minnows to be far more interesting for the most part even if their TV coverage is for the most part accompanied with blue flags as they are lapped.