Fictitious F1 Team Names: backstories
One of the many entertaining aspects of writing stories set in the Formula 1 world is making up team names. While a writer can refer to Formula 1, they cannot write about real-life teams, drivers, or other characters. So! Not only do I have to come up with authentic-sounding teams, but I have to keep track of my own world of drivers (and their histories), team owners, and principals. Because I am VERY ORGANIZED, this information is all tracked on a hand-scribbled notebook page (that is at least color-coded to reflect the team liveries). Here are my team names and their back stories:
Segno Rosso(red): In “Bridesmaid’s Fast-Track Fling” the MMC, Nikos, drives for this iconic Italian team. If you’re going to write about F1, you need to have an iconic Italian team. With a red livery. I mean, duh. In “Plus-One to an Italian Christmas” the MMC, Aurelio, is debating whether to sign with this team to fill a now-vacated seat.
Electric Lime (neon green/turquoise): In my yet-untitled story that features a prickly British driver and a Texas cowgirl clothing designer, I wanted a team as brash as he is. This team is sponsored by a fictitious lime-flavored energy drink.
Kinetic Base (purple/teal): I love the word “kinetic” - a friend once used it to describe my mind, and I thought that was cool. I wanted a team name that reflected a tech company sponsor. I wanted to use the word kinetic, but pair it with something incongruous (kinetic: movement; base: solid/unmoving) - because I thought that would work with some tech corporate identity. And my husband’s initials are “KB.”
Syzygy (silver/white): I have loved this word since high school. It describes an alignment of three celestial bodies (earth/sun/moon) during a solar or lunar eclipse. It also would be a killer Scrabble word (are there three “y” tiles?). And it reflects my physicist/cosmologist son.
MoneySprint (yellow): This is the team that Aurelio (“Plus-One to an Italian Christmas”) currently drives for. It’s a very mid-level team that buys engines from Segno Rosso and serves as a feeder for driver development. The imagined sponsor is a financial app. The fictitious company, MoneySprint Financial, is very interested in expanding its global reach.
SBG (fuchsia): This team is a nod to my daughter. It was her brilliant suggestion that I write about F1 drivers, so she NEEDED an honorary team. There may be a future team owner/principal named after her. The name represents her initials “SB” + Group. She also suggested that I write a story featuring a gay couple as the main characters. So SBG also represents her suggestion that it “…should be gay.”
