Ensign was a Formula One constructor from Britain. They participated in 133 grands prix, entering a total of 155 cars. Ensign scored 19 championship points and no podium finishes. The best result was a 4th place at the 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix by Marc Surer, who also took fastest lap of the race.

Ensign was founded by Morris Nunn who also carried out design duties during the first two seasons of the team's existence. Nunn would later go on to be a prominent chief engineer in the American-based Champ Car series, winning championships with drivers Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya in the late 1990s.

Formula One

Ensign entered Formula One in , with backing from pay driver, Rikky von Opel. Von Opel had driven for the team in Formula Three in 1972 and won the Lombard North Central British Formula Three Championship that year. Based upon that success, von Opel commissioned a Formula One chassis. Their first season was not successful, von Opel only finished two races and the team's best result that season was 13th at the 1973 British Grand Prix. However, the partnership continued into , but von Opel left after the first race of the season, having been offered a works Brabham drive. He was replaced at Ensign by Vern Schuppan whose only finish was 15th at the Belgian Grand Prix and was later himself replaced by Mike Wilds. Wilds only qualified in America; he finished the race after a pit stop for fuel but was not classified, nine laps behind.

For 1975 Ensign was sponsored by HB Bewaking (a Dutch company) leading them to sign Dutch drivers. Roelof Wunderink and Gijs van Lennep. Wunderink did not have much success, qualifying for three races and finishing one. Gijs van Lennep qualified for all his races and took sixth place in Germany, securing the first points for Ensign in Formula One. Chris Amon also raced for the team in Austria and Italy finishing 12th both times. In 1976 Amon stayed with Ensign having great qualifying results. He qualified third in Sweden and sixth in Britain but only took points in Spain where he finished in fifth place. Patrick Nève replaced Amon in France and Hans Binder replaced Amon in Austria. Jacky Ickx would race the rest of the season for Ensign.

In 1977 Clay Regazzoni raced for Ensign, scoring five points with best finishes of fifth in Italy and America. In 1978 the team entered cars for Danny Ongais and Lamberto Leoni, but Ongais left after two races and Leoni after four races. Jacky Ickx contested the next four races and Derek Daly raced the rest of the season scoring a point in Canada. Also in 1978 Nelson Piquet made his debut in Formula 1 at the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring driving an Ensign. In 1979 Daly stayed with Ensign but he left after the Monaco Grand Prix and was replaced by Patrick Gaillard. Gaillard only qualified at two out of five races and was replaced by Marc Surer for the final three races of the season.

In 1980 Clay Regazzoni again joined Ensign but at Long Beach Regazzoni's brake pedal broke causing him to go straight on at the Queen's Hairpin crashing into the parked car of Ricardo Zunino leaving him paralyzed. Tiff Needell raced in Belgium, but failed to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix. Jan Lammers raced the rest of the season.

Marc Surer raced for Ensign in 1981 and finished in fourth place in the rain in Brazil where he also took fastest lap of the race. Surer also finished sixth in Monaco. Eliseo Salazar replaced Surer from Spain onwards. Salazar finished sixth in the Netherlands. That year the team moved from ChasetownMotor Racing Directory p532 to premises on Trent Valley Road in LichfieldAutosport 30 Apr 1981 p6.

In 1982 Roberto Guerrero raced for Ensign. He only finished in two races. Meanwhile, the team's cars were also involved in the last year of British F1 Championship, when Jim Crawford won the championship in an AMCO Ensign.

After the season, Ensign was merged into the Theodore team, which it had previous ties to via financier Teddy Yip and took that team's name.

Ensign driver Roberto Guerrero continued on with the newly merged team for , as did the team's main car designer.Roberto Guerrero – Biography The Theodore F1 team did not last the 1983 season, though, and shut down late in the year.

Ensign cars are still being raced in the Historic Grand Prix of Monaco and the FIA Historic F1 Championship, with success in both series.

Complete Formula One World Championship results (key) Year Chassis Engines Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Points WCC N173 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR NED GER AUT ITA CAN USA 0 NC Rikky von Opel 15 13 DNS Ret Ret NC Ret N174 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA 0 NC Rikky von Opel DNS Vern Schuppan 15 Ret DSQ DSQ DNQ DNQ Ret Mike Wilds DNQ DNQ DNQ NC N174N175 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA ESP MON BEL SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA USA 1 12th Ret DNQ DNQ NC DNQ Ret Gijs van Lennep 10 15 6 Chris Amon 12 12 N174N176 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA JPN 2 12th Chris Amon 14 8 5 Ret 13 Ret Ret Ret Patrick Nève 18 Hans Binder Ret Jacky Ickx Ret 10 13 Ret N177 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW ESP MON BEL SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN JPN 10* 10th* Clay Regazzoni 6 Ret 9 Ret Ret DNQ Ret 7 7 DNQ Ret Ret Ret 5 5 Ret Ret Jacky Ickx 10 N177 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW MON BEL ESP SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN 1 13th Danny Ongais Ret Ret Jacky Ickx Ret 12 Ret DNQ Derek Daly DNQ Ret DSQ Ret 10 8 6 Nelson Piquet Ret Lamberto Leoni Ret DNS DNQ DNQ DNP Brett Lunger 13 N177N179 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA 0 NC Derek Daly 11 13 DNQ Ret DNQ DNQ DNQ Patrick Gaillard DNQ 13 DNQ Ret DNQ Marc Surer DNQ DNQ Ret N180 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA 0 NC Clay Regazzoni NC Ret 9 Ret Tiff Needell Ret DNQ Jan Lammers DNQ DNQ 14 DNQ DNQ DNQ 12 Ret Geoff Lees Ret DNQ N180B Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 USW BRA ARG SMR BEL MON ESP FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN CPL 5 11th Marc Surer Ret Ret 9 11 6 Ricardo Londoño DNP Eliseo Salazar 14 Ret DNQ NC Ret 6 Ret Ret NC N180BN181 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 RSA BRA USW SMR BEL MON DET CAN NED GBR FRA GER AUT SUI ITA CPL 0 NC WD DNQ Ret DNQ DNQ Ret Ret DNQ Ret DNQ 8 Ret Ret NC DNS * Includes five points scored by Patrick Tambay in an Ensign N177 entered by Theodore Racing (see below).

Results of other Ensign cars (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine Tyres Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Theodore Racing Hong Kong N177 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW ESP MON BEL SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN JPN Ret 6 Ret 5 Ret DNQ 5 Ret Mario Deliotti Racing N175 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA USW MON BEL ESP SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN Geoff Lees DNQ Sachs Racing N177 Harald Ertl 11 Ret DNPQ DNPQ

Non-championship results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine Driver 1 2 3 1974 Team Ensign N174 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 PRE ROC INT Rikky von Opel DNS Brian Redman 8 1975 Bewaking Team Ensign N174 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC INT SUI Roelof Wunderink 10 Ret N175 Chris Amon 9 1976 Team Ensign N174 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC INT Chris Amon 5 N176 Ret 1977 Team Ensign N177 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC Clay Regazzoni 13 1978 Tissot Ensign N177 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 INT Jacky Ickx Ret Lamberto Leoni DNA 1979 Smith & Jones N174 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC GNM DIN Robin Smith Ret 1980 Unipart Racing Team N180 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ESP Patrick Gaillard 6 ? Brian Henton DNA 1981 Ensign Racing N180B Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 RSA Marc Surer Ret

References