Somehow, around this time the topic March F1, Jan Lammers and Henny Vollenberg seems to become a topic again to discuss. There is always the what if question we can’t answer. If the needed funds were arranged in the winter of 1992/1993 would stay survived? Henny Vollenberg went beyond anything to save the team. Jan Lammers went almost bankrupt at the start of the 1993 season in Kyalami. The dedication was more than saving a seat or a team. It was pure passion, pure love for the sport. However, my vision is not what you would expect!
I wrote last year around this time as well. The last race for the March team that never happened. In a nutshell the story, Henny Vollenberg came in contact, well he thought so, with a representative of Tamoil. The Libyan Oil company that was willing to pay millions as a sponsor. However, this was all a fraud, later there was Lysys, which were just fooling around. I still believe that there were only two serious options at that point. Both Henny Vollenberg and Jan Lammers turned the March team into a full-blown Dutch episode that would fail within the season. Option 2 would bring the team in administration.
This is my view; When Jan Lammers was interviewed in the hotel he stayed in Johannesburg he stated that there was a possibility the team would fall in Dutch hands. It meant, besides the economical unstable times, that mainly Dutch sponsors had to hop on board to keep the team afloat. For those who remember, things went far from good, remember Fokker! As well, Dutch companies have never been interested in the Formula One not even in 2024 with Max Verstappen. They simply don’t care.
While the team had a warehouse full of spare-parts and a still somewhat competitive car with the CG911C, it would never work. The reason is, to become competitive again it would take some years. Yes, there was a new car penned and ready to be build. Gustav Brunner and Sergio Rinland came up with the M93 during 1992. If the bills of 1992 were paid a deal could be easily made with Goodyear and Ilmor as example. However, it would still be a struggle for the team to survive, especially if it had to rely on Dutch sponsorship. Who would be the drivers? Jan Lammers was still quick, though he had no real future left in the Formula One. The team should have rely on pay drivers.
In my opinion, this would not be a healthy situation for March. All that they would do was buying more time before going bankrupt after the end of 1993 or even during the season. The only real solution is what happened for the team they file for bankruptcy. I truly believe that the winter of 1992/1993 was too much for the team. Despite the amount of energy and risk many people had put in the team trying to keep it on the grid.
