In modern motorsport, the level of bespoke precision engineering required to be competitive at the highest level means that outside of limited component sharing, every team on the grid is using a largely different car.
This means that the time when the same car was used by three separate teams over the span of four years in the early 2000s is particularly unusual.
Arrows A23
In 2002 Arrows Grand Prix International was in significant trouble but decided that the best way around it was to go all out in what turned out to be their final season in the sport.
The result was the Arrows A23, designed by Sergio Rinland, Mike Coughlan and Nicolo Petrucci, which was finished too late for a proper testing run and was designed for a driver who had ultimately been sacked for financial reasons.
The car was surprisingly competitive with its Cosworth engines, with Enrique Bernoldi managing to competitively race with reigning world champion Michael Schumacher.
However, financial issues and a desire to preserve the car’s engines and gearbox meant that the two cars deliberately failed to qualify for the French Grand Prix, before the team folded anyway after the next race.
Minardi PS04
After Arrows were liquidated, Paul Stoddart of F1 team Minardi bought their intellectual property rights, including the car.
They renamed what was the A23 to the PS04 and found to their surprise that it was faster than their own current PS03 car in testing.
However, due to the PR effects of driving a competitor’s car, they combined elements of both to produce the PS04B, although contemporary reports claimed that the car was far more like the former than the latter.
Super Aguri SA05
Whilst Paul Stoddart sold the Minardi team to Red Bull, the PS04 car was sold to the new Super Aguri team, one that was supported to a degree by BAR Honda as a way to keep popular Japanese driver Takuma Sato in the sport.
Barred from using the BAR007 car, Super Aguri used the Arrows A23 as the SA05, modified extensively to fit the 2006 engine and aerodynamic regulations.
Despite these changes, the car was the slowest on the grid, with second driver Yuji Ide being banned from F1 after just four races.
By the 12 race in Germany, Super Aguri redesigned the A23 as the SA06, ending the four-year saga of a car made in 2002 for the wrong driver.
