The team was named after British American Tobacco plc (BAT), which owned and sponsored it in order to display its Lucky Strike and 555 brands.

BAT continued as title sponsor with the Lucky Strike brand, but due to new tobacco advertising regulations worldwide, pulled its sponsorship from Formula One entirely at the end of the 2006 season.

British American Tobacco (BAT) had been involved in Formula One for many years, with several of its brands being displayed on F1 cars run by various teams.

In 1997, the corporation was convinced by Craig Pollock to provide most of the equity to purchase the Tyrrell Formula One team for £30 million.

On 23 July 1998, BAR announced the signing of 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve away from Williams with a lucrative contract for the 1999 season.

The car's chassis was built by Reynard Motorsport at a new factory in Brackley and was powered by Supertec (rebadged Renault) engines.

A potential fine and/or ban was averted when Pollock agreed to abide by the F1 arbitration process, admitted that in filing the complaint to the EC his lawyers had acted independently and that declarations made in the claim did not reflect his personal views.

[6] The car was relatively quick and often qualified in the midfield, as seen especially in the Spanish Grand Prix, where Villeneuve had briefly been in third place ahead of the Ferraris before pitting in.

The Belgian event was notable also for both Villeneuve and Zonta having similar serious crashes during qualifying sessions, reportedly as a result of the drivers betting they could take the famous Eau Rouge corner flat.

Honda had planned to enter Formula One as a factory team, but relented due to Harvey Postlethwaite's untimely death at the beginning of the previous year.

The car was once again designed in co-operation with Adrian Reynard despite talk of tension between him and team principal Craig Pollock.

Under pressure from British American Tobacco, Pollock resigned on the eve of the launch of the 2002 car and was replaced as team principal by David Richards.

A significant proportion of the workforce was culled while technical director Malcolm Oastler and designer Andy Green left.

With increasing restrictions being placed upon tobacco companies' opportunities to advertise in Formula One, rumours suggested that BAT would try to sell the team.

In mid-November 2004, BAR announced that Honda had purchased 45% and, as part of the deal, David Richards left to be replaced by Nick Fry as team principal.

In addition to the disqualification, the team was banned for two races, a period which included the lucrative Monaco Grand Prix.

Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, saw the sanction as very lenient; he had wanted the team to be banned for the rest of the season.

Confirmation of this improvement was shown in a skillful pass made by Jenson Button, overtaking Jacques Villeneuve at the fast Pouhon corner at Spa-Francorchamps, in the rain, and around the outside.

At the end of 2005, Honda obtained 100% ownership of BAR from British American Tobacco, completing their ambition to become a full F1 manufacturer team.

The modified chassis performed a shakedown test on the 10,000-foot (3.0 km) long runway at Mojave Airport in California, on 5 November 2005, under the supervision of safety co-ordinator executive, Jamie Hardwick.