Given the complexity of motorsport and the need for precision in every single element from gearboxes to aerodynamics, there is rarely one single root cause for teams either succeeding or failing.
The disastrous initial season of British American Racing (later BAR Honda/Honda/Brawn and now Mercedes) was characterised by a combination of reliability issues and sheer hubris, the atrocious Life F1 entry was an interesting concept for an engine poorly executed and put in a terrible car, and Andrea Moda was part low budget entry and part scam.
However, if there is one team whose fortunes were completely ruined by one bad decision, it would be the infamous Mastercard Lola, a team with a historic racing pedigree that almost destroyed a multidisciplinary legacy of excellence.
Lola Cars were formed in 1958 and was highly successful in sports, even inspiring the legendary Ford GT40 racing car, had success in the legendary Group C of endurance racing and developed cars for many different constructors and racing series, becoming one of the most prolific British racing car manufacturers in history.
Owner Eric Broadley always wanted his own Formula One team, however, and developed several prototype F1 cars in the 1990s, driven by Allan McNish.
In 1996, he finally got a sponsorship with MasterCard that appeared to finally bring his dream to life, but the new sponsor had a single rash demand that nearly destroyed everything.
Mr Broadley wanted to enter in 1998 when a new set of rules was expected to be enforced and potentially shuffle the deck, but MasterCard wanted to run in 1997 to compete with HSBC Stewart Grand Prix, another new entry sponsored by their banking arch-rival.
This meant that instead of a year to develop a new car, they had just three months, meaning the car never saw a wind tunnel and was therefore developing drag on straights but no grip in corners.
Neither Ricardo Rosset nor Vincenzo Sospiri were even close to the 107 per cent cut-off to qualify, going bankrupt within weeks of this spectacular failure.