Photo: Life F1 Team car at Goodwood 2009, © Brian Snelson, CC BY 2.0 (CREDIT LINKS AT THE END OF THE CONTENT)
In theory, the Life F1 Team was part of the 1990 World Championship.
And yes, their name appeared on entry lists, their car rolled into the paddock, and their drivers strapped in on Friday mornings.
But in reality, Life never truly raced in F1, not even once…
Over the years, Formula One has seen many teams enter the sport only to vanish after a single race or two. Some, like the Connew F1 team in the 1970s, barely survived beyond their debut, while others, such as Japan’s Kojima team, disappeared almost as quickly as they arrived.
The Story of Life F1 Team
Life entered 14 races but never truly raced, so what is the story behind the team? What really happened.
The team failed to qualify for a single race, and never made it past the sport’s pre-qualifying sessions.
Pre-qualifying, the grid was capped at 26 cars, but entries regularly exceeded 30, and to manage the overflow, the FIA introduced pre-qualifying, an early Friday morning session reserved for the weakest or newest teams.
If a team failed here, their weekend was over almost immediately, classified as Did Not Pre-Qualify.
The list of teams in pre-qualifying could change during the season, but for outfits like Life Racing Engines, which were painfully slow and unreliable, escape was never realistic.
And every race weekend followed the same pattern, a few laps on Friday morning, a place at the bottom of the timesheets, and an early trip home.
The Life team lived in this danger zone from the moment they arrived, they did not fight midfield or backmarkers. They were fighting the clock and the rules.
I think it helps to add a little anecdote to understand pre-qualifying. In 1990, F1 weekends could end before they had even begun. The top teams, like McLaren, Ferrari, and Williams, didn’t have to take part in this early session, which ran for an hour on Friday morning. Instead, the slowest and newest teams were lined up, fighting just for a chance to continue. That year, 35 cars were entered, but only 26 could compete on race day, so only the four fastest from pre-qualifying were allowed to move on to the Saturday sessions.
Fourteen Entries, Zero Starts
The stats tell a grim story, Life F1 Team entered 14 Grand Prix during the 1990 season, but they recorded zero qualifications and zero race starts.
Gary Brabham (the son of Jack Brabham, who only entered two pre-qualifying sessions—his only journey in F1) drove the car for the first two events, after which Bruno Giacomelli took over for the remaining twelve, neither driver ever escaped pre-qualifying.
In many sessions, the gap to the next slowest car was often measured in double digits, sometimes fifteen or even twenty seconds per lap, in F1 terms, that is not a deficit, it is a different category of competition entirely.
For example at the United States GP, Gary Brabham was 34 seconds slower than Roberto Moreno who qualified first, and 29 seconds behind Claudio Langes who was just in front of him in 5th position.
Why the Life F1 Project Was Doomed From the Start
The team’s failure was not caused by a single mistake, it was the result of several bad ideas, colliding at the worst possible moment.
At the heart of the project was an experimental engine concept, paired with an obsolete and overweight chassis, all wrapped in a team operating on almost no money. Each problem amplified the others.
Life’s W12 Engine – promising engine that delivered nothing
The reason Life existed at all was its engine, the Life F35 W12, designed by former Ferrari engineer Franco Rocchi, was meant to revolutionize F1, the engineer behind five F1 engine championship-winning engines.
However, instead of a traditional V layout, the engine used a ‘broad arrow’ configuration with three banks of four cylinders.
On paper, it promised the compact size of a V8 with the power of a V12, Rocchi even claimed the engine weighed just 140 kg, lighter than some rivals.
But the reality was brutal, the engine was tall, heavy in practice, and completely underpowered.
While front-running teams were producing over 700 horsepower, the Life W12 struggled to reach even 400.
What made it even worse, reliability was almost nonexistent, electrical failures, lubrication issues, and catastrophic internal damage occurred regularly.
A Chassis That Should Never Have Reached the Grid
Instead of designing a new car around their radical engine, Life opted to purchase an abandoned FIRST F189 chassis. The car had already been rejected by its original project and was widely considered unsafe.
And the design of the car was outdated, structurally weak, and overweight. At around 530 kg, it was significantly heavier than rivals at a time when every kilogram mattered.
Racing on a Budget That Barely Existed
Even if the engine and chassis had been competitive, the team faced an impossible reality, financial problems.
They arrived at races without basic equipment, according to reports, they borrowed tools from rival teams, including items as simple as tire pressure gauges and tachometers. They had only one chassis and almost no spare parts.
Founder of the team, Ernesto Vita chased sponsorship relentlessly but secured little beyond promises.
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The Desperate Judd Engine Switch
Eventually, even Life F1 Team accepted that their W12 experiment had failed, and late in the season, they acquired a Judd CV V8 engine, even with a proven engine, the problems continued.
The engine did not fit the chassis properly, at the Portuguese GP, the engine cover detached on the car’s first lap. With no spares and no funds, the weekend ended instantly, even when the car did run, it remained very slow, confirming that the chassis itself was beyond saving.
Why Life Quit Formula One for Good
After the Spanish GP, the team effectively collapsed, no financial support, technically hopeless, and facing mounting fines for continued non-participation.
Life F1 Team withdrew from the final two races in Japan and Australia because they could not afford the travel costs.
Vita spoke briefly about returning in 1991 with a new car and new funding, but nothing materialized, the Life F1 Team disappeared as quietly as it had arrived.
People often call them the worst team in F1 history, and while that is somewhat understandable, it is not entirely fair. They were neither lazy nor cynical—they truly believed in their idea and tried everything they could to make it work. Sadly, they never made it to Sunday to experience the thrill of racing, but they gave their all just to reach their dream. Sometimes, simply entering the sport is not enough, yet their effort remains a story of passion and determination that still resonates today.
FEATURED IMAGE CREDITS:
Life F1 Team car at Goodwood 2009, © Brian Snelson, CC BY 2.0 – SOURCE: FLICKR
