7. Anthony Bamford & family

Anthony Bamford, a full given title Lord Anthony Paul Bamford, is a former Chairman of JCB, the famous yellow digger manufacturer.
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JCB was started by his father, Joseph Cyril Bamford (hence the JCB name), back in 1945. JCB now sells into 150 countries, with the European market the largest, closely followed by India.

Bamford took control of the business in 1975, aged 30 and set about growing it into the manufacturing giant it has become today.

He is a serious and phenomenally successful businessman often credited with being ahead of his time with JCB’s strategic planning, their early involvement in China being a prime example.

Bamford is involved in Formula 1 through JCB’s sponsorship of the Aston Martin F1 team.

Bamford was not part of the original consortium, Yew Tree Investments, which purchased the Force India team, but he did join the consortium later by purchasing a stake in the Aston Martin road car company.

Bamford, a confirmed petrol head, is a collector of vintage Ferraris, including two 250 GTO’s. He also once owned the 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 Grand Prix car raced by the five-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio.

JCB also made the Dieselmax car, powered by two JCB engines. This was a diesel-powered vehicle that travelled at 328mph, a new land-speed record beating the existing land-speed record for diesel vehicles by more than 90 mph.

Bamford owns the obligatory F1 Billionaire’s superyacht, the 204 ft $50m Virginia, and mansions in several countries.

The Daily Mail newspaper once famously dubbed Bamford and his wife Britain’s “blingiest couple”, claiming that when it comes to flashing the cash — glitzy (and slightly ghastly) friends, ritzy parties, lavish mansions, and more cars than you can count — the Bamford’s make Gatsby look positively restrained in 2021.

Bamford may fit the F1 lifestyle image; additionally, this is not Bamford’s first attempt at gaining a British icon. As far back as in 2006, he tried to buy Jaguar from Ford but walked away when Ford insisted Land Rover had to be part of the deal.

Strange as you would have thought, JCB and Land Rover were a good fit, but maybe Bamford was fed up with industrial vehicles and wanted his hands on something more exciting.

Bamford is a well-known donor to the British Conservative party, donating, according to the Electoral Commission, nearly £10m since 2001.

A staunch Brexiter, he donated £1.3m to organisations campaigning to leave the European Union.

To be fair to Bamford, he also generously supports many non-political causes, including the children’s charity of the NSPCC.

What influence does Lord Anthony Paul Bamford have in F1?

Well, his influence is limited to a non-title sponsorship of a mid-field, albeit an ambitious team, but overall, his impact would be neutral.

Anthony Bamford may have worked at the coalface since an early age, but that has not always been the case. In his youth, he attended Grenoble University in the southeast of France, where he has said he did “more skiing than anything else”!