MasterCard Lola were a British Formula One that competed at the start of the 1997 Formula One Season. While the team intended to begin racing in F1 in 1998, pressure from main sponsor MasterCard lead to a début in 1997. This lead to a seriously under-prepared car and the forced use of an old Ford engine rather than the Lola engine being designed.
At the Australian Grand Prix, Vincenzo Sospiri was eleven seconds off pole and five seconds off the 107% time, and Ricardo Rosset was a further two seconds behind him. While the team arrived at the Brazilian Grand Prix, they did not run and were never heard from again.
Background[]
By the mid-1990s, Lola Cars had established a strong reputation in various racing categories, including IndyCar, sports cars, and junior formulae. Lola had long expressed ambitions to compete in Formula One, previously entering the championship in 1962 and 1993 as a constructor in association with other teams.
In 1996, Lola announced that it would join Formula One as a full constructor in 1998. However, under pressure from title sponsor MasterCard, eager to capitalize on a "club membership" fan initiative tied to its branding, the project was accelerated by one year. This left the team with insufficient time for development and preparation, particularly with regard to engine and chassis integration.
The team’s car, the Lola T97/30, was designed around a Ford Zetec-R V8 engine, an older customer unit that was underpowered compared to contemporary competition. Unlike rival teams, Lola had virtually no time for wind tunnel testing or significant track development before the start of the 1997 season.
The T97/30 was widely regarded as uncompetitive and poorly developed. Estimates suggested the car produced significantly less downforce than the leading designs of the era, while the engine provided a marked deficit in power output.
Formula One World Championship[]
MasterCard Lola entered the 1997 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne with drivers Vincenzo Sospiri, a former Formula 3000 champion, and Ricardo Rosset, a Brazilian Formula 3000 frontrunner.
During qualifying, both drivers failed to achieve the 107% time limit, preventing them from starting the race. Sospiri qualified last, nearly 11 seconds slower than pole-sitter Jacques Villeneuve, while Rosset was marginally behind. The team’s failure to make the grid underscored the severe lack of competitiveness.
Following the Australian Grand Prix, Lola announced its withdrawal from Formula One. The financial burden of continuing development, coupled with the public embarrassment of failing to qualify, proved unsustainable. The team’s collapse also damaged MasterCard’s reputation within motorsport marketing.
F1 Summary[]
| Year | Car | Engine | Tyre | No. | Drivers | Rounds | WCC Pts | WCC Pos | Test drivers | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | T97/30 | Ford | B | 24 25 |
 Vincenzo Sospiri  Ricardo Rosset |
1–2 1–2 |
0 | NC | Andrea Montermini |
Report |
Statistics[]
| Entries | 2 |
| Starts | 0 |
| Pole Positions | 0 |
| Race Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Fastest Laps | 0 |
| Points | 0 |
| Laps Raced | 0 |
| Distance Raced | 0 |
Complete Formula One Results[]
| Complete Formula One results | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Driver | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | WCC Pts | WCC Pos | ||
| 1997 | 
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| Sospiri | T97/30 | DNQ | DNP | 0 | NC | |||||||||||||||||
| Rosset | DNQ | DNP | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
Notes[]
| V T E |  MasterCard Lola
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|---|---|---|---|
| Drivers Vincenzo Sospiri · Ricardo Rosset · Andrea Montermini
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| Cars F1 · T97/30 | |||
| V T E |  Lola Cars
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|---|---|---|---|
| Personnel Eric Broadley | |||
Cars Lola (1962–1963, 1967–1968): Mk4/Mk4A · T100 · T102 Honda (1967–1968): RA300 · RA301 Embassy Hill (1973–1975): T370 · T371 Haas Lola (1985–1986): THL1 · THL2 Larrousse (1987–1991): LC87 · LC88/LC88C · LC89/LC89B · LC90 · LC91 BMS Scuderia Italia (1993): T93/30 MasterCard Lola (1997): T97/30
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