Penske Racing - Formula One

Formula One

Penske entered the Formula One World Championship from 1974 to 1976. Although the cars were built at the British base in Poole, the team held an American licence. In 1971, Penske had sponsored the second McLaren entry in the 1971 Canadian and US GP, entering Mark Donohue, who took the car to a podium finish. The team returned three years later, in the 1974 Canadian GP, with their own chassis, the PC1, a standard tub built around a Cosworth DFV engine and a Hewland gearbox. Donohue took the car to 12th place on its debut. In 1975, Roger Penske mounted a full season attack with the PC1, Donohue managing to score a fifth place in the Swedish GP. However, the car was retired after the French GP and Penske entered a March 751 for the next three races, scoring another fifth in the British GP. However, Donohue crashed the car in the Austrian GP at Zeltweg and later died from his injuries. Penske missed the Italian race, returning only for the US GP, abandoning the March 751 in favor of the PC1 with Northern Irish driver John Watson.

For 1976, Penske signed a sponsorship deal with Citibank and entered a brand new PC3 for Watson. In spite of a fifth place scored at the South African GP at Kyalami, the PC3 was evolved into the PC4, which was much more competitive, allowing Watson to score two podiums in France and Britain. Then, in the Austrian Grand Prix, the team scored their only F1 win, "forcing" John Watson to shave his trademark beard. So far this has been the last time an American constructor won a F1 race. Still, Roger Penske was tired of Europe and at the end of the year decided to concentrate solely on Indycar racing, selling the remains of his European operations to Günther Schmidt of Germany.

For 1977, the car was entered by Schmidt's ATS Wheels business, painted in yellow. The ATS-Penske PC4 debuted in the 1977 United States Grand Prix West with Jean-Pierre Jarier at the wheel, where the Frenchman scored the team's single point of the season. A second PC4 was eventually entered for Hans Heyer and Hans Binder but the team's fortunes sunk and Schmidt quit after the Italian GP, before returning in 1978 with his own chassis. A third PC4 was built by Penske for Interscope Racing, who entered the car in the United States and Canadian Grands Prix, driven by American Danny Ongais with no results.

In 1979 Penske designed and built the HR100 for wealthy Mexican 'gentleman driver' Héctor Rebaque. The car was entered for the final three races of the season, but either failed either to qualify or to finish in each case.