West Competition
| Founded | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 2000 |
| Team principal(s) | David Brown |
| Former series | Formula 3000 |
| Teams' Championships |
1999 Formula 3000 |
| Drivers' Championships |
1999 Formula 3000 (Heidfeld) |
West Competition (known as mySAP.com in 2000) was a team in the FIA Formula 3000 Championship, run by the McLaren Formula One team as part of their driver development programme. Named after McLaren's then sponsor, West, the team was active for the three seasons between 1998 and 2000, earning numerous wins as well as the 1999 drivers' and teams' title with Nick Heidfeld.
The overhaul of the Formula 3000 series in 1996 attracted a number of Formula 1 teams wishing to establish junior teams. The level of commitment to the series varied - some teams simply lent their name to an existing F3000 team, while others were factory-run programmes that ran parallel to their parent team's F1 activities. West Competition fell firmly into the latter category, run by former Williams race engineer David Brown, who had joined McLaren at the end of 1995 to become race engineer for David Coulthard. His work with the McLaren's F1 team lasted only a year, when he was placed in charge of the organisation's driver development programme.
West Competition's cars were given a silver-grey livery that was near-identical to that of the McLaren F1 cars; this remained largely the same for the period of the team's existence, even when West were replaced as title sponsor by mySAP.com.
Many of the team went on to further success within motor racing and the automotive industry. Engineer Ian Morgan is now Chief Engineer at Red Bull Racing. No. 1 mechanic Mark Grain is now Race Support Group Manager at McLaren Racing. No. 1 mechanic Mehtin Afiya is head of Vehicle Production at McLaren Automotive. No2 mechanic Jonathan Brookes is now No. 1 mechanic to Jenson Button at McLaren Racing. Engineer Stephano Sordo is now a senior aerodynamisist at Red Bull Racing. No2 mechanic Matthew Carter is now a transmission designer at McLaren Racing. No2 Maurizio Zagarella is now European dealer network liaison at McLaren Automotive.
The team began racing in 1998, with then McLaren test-driver Nick Heidfeld and Nicolas Minassian driving.
Heidfeld was quickly on the pace, qualifying and finishing second on his first outing. Over the season, he would win three races, qualify on pole for one more and challenge Juan Pablo Montoya for the title. He eventually finished second overall, scoring 58 points to Montoya's 65.
By contrast, Minassian had a poor season, scoring just 5 points all year. He was replaced by Bas Leinders for the final race at the Nürburgring. Even though Leinders had qualified 19th, he did not take the start of the race in order to give Heidfeld a chance at winning the title after being pushed down the grid for fuel irregularities.
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