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Dark Wolf were a British FF1M team that raced for a total of 13 seasons of the main series, two classic seasons, and multiple FF2M seasons as Light Wolf. They took a total of 24 wins plus two more from the classic series, and also won two constructors and drivers championships each.

FF1M History

The Foundations (1998-2001)

1998

The team was formed by the mysterious and earnest team boss 'Force' for the 1998 FF1M Season in which they exceeded expectations by finishing the season in 10th place ahead of the established and previously hugely successful Maestro Motorsport team despite running with less powerful customer Mugen engines. Their first points finish was a 6th place for Mark Blundell at the 1998 Hungarian Grand Prix earning the team its first three points.

1999

For their second season in FF1M, Dark Wolf replaced its Mugen engines for the more powerful Peugeot powerplant, and they also signed Ulsterman Eddie Irvine and Austrian Alexander Wurz to drive their sophomore challenger. Their second season was an improvement over their first season as both drivers were frequently finishing in the points. Dark Wolf ended the season 8th with a best result of a 5th place each from both drivers.

2000

2000 saw Dark Wolf completely change their line-up with Ferrari engines, FF2M race winner Pedro De La Rosa, and unproven Australian driver Mark Webber heading the campaign. Despite a lack of stability, Dark Wolf continued their steady improvement and had become established midfield runners. De la Rosa achieved their maiden podium finish at the final race at Suzuka.

2001

The Spaniard remained with Dark Wolf for their fourth season, but was this time partnered by Tarso Marques. The Brazilian couldn't match De La Rosa for raw pace, but Pedro was continuously improving in speed and even led for part of the Austrian Grand Prix. Four podium finishes and 6th in the championship was Dark Wolf's reward.

Race Winners (2002-2007)

2002

Dark Wolf started 2002 with an all Spanish line-up as De La Rosa was partnered by Marc Gene, but rather sensationally, De La Rosa was dropped after just three races when it transpired that the 2001 champion, Cristiano Da Matta, was available to race. The driver switch paid off handsomely as the Brazilian took his and the team's maiden win in the Austrian Grand Prix, the same place where they first led a race during the previous season. Two more wins followed for Da Matta while Gene took five podium finishes which contributed to 2nd place for Dark Wolf in the constructors championship.

2003

Da Matta and Gene were retained for the 2003. They had been developing a turbo for their Ferrari engine during 2002, and their technology proved extremely significant as they metaphorically obliterated the field in the first half of the season with seven wins out of the first nine races, and a remarkable ten pole positions in the first ten races. Their early form turned out to be crucial for the rest of the season as FJR and Pedersen caught up to them in terms of speed, but such was their dominance that they wrapped up the constructors championship at Monza. Da Matta and Gene both battled for the driver's championship all the way until the final race, with reliability deciding the outcome in favour of the Brazilian.

2004

Unsurprisingly, the formula was retained for 2004 with no changes to the line-up. Their season started off well with three wins in the first five races for Da Matta, but then FJR and Jarno Trulli hit their stride and despite three more wins, Dark Wolf couldn't quite match the Yorkshire team, and both Da Matta and Dark Wolf had to settle for 2nd in both championships. The fight between the number two drivers was much closer, but despite winning the final two races, Gene was pipped by Nick Heidfeld to 3rd in the championship by a single point.

2005

With Cristiano Da Matta retiring at the end of the 2004 season to race in the FCART championship, Dark Wolf recruited another world champion in the form of Fernando Alonso to make it an all Spanish line-up once again for 2005. Unfortunately for the team, they experienced a dramatic downturn in form, partly because of changes to the engine regulations bringing the naturally aspirated engines closer to the dominant turbo teams, but mostly because Michelin had departed, and most of Dark Wolf's advantage came from the French tyre supplier. As a result, neither driver won a race with three podiums for Alonso being the highlight, and the team finished the season down in 8th.

2006

2006 saw Dark Wolf follow FJR's lead by ditching their once all-conquering turbos in favour of naturally aspirated BMW V8 engines. They also managed to poach three-time champion Jarno Trulli off of FJR after Alonso rejoined MRD. The season was an improvement with two wins at Silverstone and Hockenheim, but progress was inconsistent with Gene only managing a handful of points finishes and the team ended up 6th in the championship.

2007

The big change for 2007 was the arrival of one of the hottest new drivers in the form of young German Sebastian Vettel, as well as a switch to the very balanced Mercedes V8 engine. Vettel's impact was immediate; in the first 11 races, he finished 2nd or higher ten times, and this included four wins. Despite this, both championships proved to be quite close with Lewis Hamilton amassing a similarly impressive points haul to take the championship to the final race. This was also partly thanks to Vettel sensationally throwing away 2nd place on the final lap at Spa after misjudging a lapping manoeuvre on Timo Glock going into Rivage. A ten point lead going into Brazil was to Vettel's advantage, and Hamilton only finishing 5th guaranteed the drivers championship for the German, with Dark Wolf doing the double in the constructors.

Final Years (2008-2010)

2008

Vettel left to join Pedersen leading Dark Wolf to sign Mark Webber for 2008, but unfortunately, the car had become uncompetitive with points finishes becoming less frequent. One peculiarity was Mark Webber 6th place at Valencia, as he completed the whole race without making a pitstop. Another 6th for him followed at Hockenheim before he was replaced by another world champion, Nico Rosberg, who had been sacked by FJR mid-season, unfairly according to Dark Wolf. He quickly scored a podium finish at Spa, but Dark Wolf's difficulties meant that they ended the season down in 8th.

2009

Much of the line-up for 2009 remained the same aside from a switch back to BMW engines. Marc Gene was in his 8th and final season for team having been with them since 2002. This equalled the record set by Jean Alesi when he drove for FJR for eight consecutive seasons. The engine switch initially appeared to be badly timed as the team failed to qualify for the first two races. They repeated this mishap in Monaco before a switch to soft tyres helped improve their speed in qualifying to the point where pole positions were achieved. In general, the season was a struggle with just two podium finishes for Rosberg and 7th in the constructors championship.

2010

2010 saw Jarno Trulli return to the team to partner Heikki Kovalainen along with Ferrari engines in an effort to regain the magic, but it didn't quite happen with both drivers managing just a single podium finish each. They ended up 8th once again, albeit just ten points off of 4th placed FJR in what was a highly competitive midfield battle. This would turn out to be Dark Wolf's final season as come 2011, the team had dissolved.

Results and Statistics

Year Engine Ch. Pos. Races Points Wins Drivers Ch. Pos. Races Points Wins
1998 Mugen Honda 10th 17 3 22px-Flag of Denmark.svg-1- Jan Magnussen 23rd 17 0
22px-Flag of the United Kingdom.svg-1- Mark Blundell 18th 17 3
1999 Peugeot 8th 17 22 22px-Flag of Austria.svg-1- Alexander Wurz 17th 17 7
22px-Flag of the United Kingdom.svg-1- Eddie Irvine 13th 17 15
2000 Ferrari 7th 17 27 22px-Flag of Spain.svg-1- Pedro De La Rosa 12th 17 17
22px-Flag of Australia.svg-1- Mark Webber 15th 17 10
2001 Ferrari 6th 17 46 22px-Flag of Spain.svg-1- Pedro De La Rosa 7th 17 44
22px-Flag of Brazil.svg-1- Tarso Marques 20th 17 2
2002 Ferrari 2nd 16 115 3 22px-Flag of Spain.svg-1- Pedro De La Rosa 17th 3 2
22px-Flag of Brazil.svg-1- Cristiano Da Matta 2nd 13 68 3
22px-Flag of Spain.svg-1- Marc Gene 7th 16 45
2003 Ferrari 1st 16 163 9 22px-Flag of Brazil.svg-1- Cristiano Da Matta 1st 16 83 6
22px-Flag of Spain.svg-1- Marc Gene 2nd 16 80 3
2004 Ferrari V10 2nd 17 140 6 22px-Flag of Brazil.svg-1- Cristiano Da Matta 2nd 17 89 4
22px-Flag of Spain.svg-1- Marc Gene 4th 17 51 2
2005 Ferrari V10 8th 17 39 22px-Flag of Spain.svg-1- Fernando Alonso 12th 17 27
22px-Flag of Spain.svg-1- Marc Gene 16th 17 12
2006 BMW V8 6th 17 61 2 22px-Flag of Spain.svg-1- Marc Gene 15th 17 16
22px-Flag of Italy.svg-1- Jarno Trulli 5th 17 45 2
2007 Mercedes V8 1st 17 149 4 22px-Flag of Spain.svg-1- Marc Gene 10th 17 25
22px-Flag of Germany.svg-1- Sebastian Vettel 1st 17 124 4
2008 Mercedes V8 8th 17 25 22px-Flag of Australia.svg-1- Mark Webber 19th 10 6
22px-Flag of Germany.svg-1- Nico Rosberg 13th 7 10
22px-Flag of Spain.svg-1- Marc Gene 16th 17 9
2009 BMW V8 7th 15/18 35 22px-Flag of Germany.svg-1- Nico Rosberg 10th 15 26
22px-Flag of Spain.svg-1- Marc Gene 20th 15 9
2010 Ferrari V8 8th 18 50 22px-Flag of Finland.svg-1- Heikki Kovalainen 10th 18 29
22px-Flag of Italy.svg-1- Jarno Trulli 16th 18 21

Classic History

1986

Dark Wolf have also competed in the Classic FF1M series, with their first season being 1986. They had two particularly mercurial drivers at their disposal in the form of Ayrton Senna and Andrea De Cesaris driver the Lotus-Renault combination. Senna had a perfect start to the season, winning the opening two races, but as the season progressed, Apollo and Alain Prost found light speed and surged to both championships, leaving Senna to settle for 2nd, and Dark Wolf 3rd in the constructors.

1987

1987 saw Dark Wolf hire Gerhard Berger and Stefan Johansson to drive the McPherson-Ferrari combination. Although neither driver managed to win a race, they were consistent performers with two podium finishes each for Berger and Johansson. They finished 4th in the constructors championship ahead of Tash 'n' Rash and FJR, both of whom won races.

1950

Dark Wolf competed in the one-off 1950 FF1M race, which celebrated 250 races for the series. They had Italian ace Alberto Ascari and Monegasque Louis Chiron driving a Ferrari. Although Chiron retired early due engine trouble, Ascari took a respectable 4th.

Results and Statistics

Year Chassis-Engine Ch. Pos. Races Points Wins Drivers Ch. Pos. Races Points Wins
1950 Ferrari 3rd 1 3 22px-Flag of Italy.svg-1- Alberto Ascari 4th 1 3
22px-Flag of Monaco.svg-1- Louis Chiron 22nd 1 0
1986 (C1) Lotus-Renault 3rd 10 42 2 22px-Flag of Italy.svg-1- Andrea De Cesaris 21st 10 0
22px-Flag of Brazil.svg-1- Ayrton Senna 2nd 10 42 2
1987 (C2) McPherson-Ferrari 4th 10 30 22px-Flag of Austria.svg-1- Gerhard Berger 9th 10 12
22px-Flag of Sweden.svg-1- Stefan Johansson 7th 10 18

FF2M

Main Article: Light Wolf

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