Despite the association with the Lola name, Lola Cars International was not involved in designing or building the team's cars. The cars were produced by the Haas-owned design and construction company known as FORCE (Formula One Race Car Engineering), and were designated THL (Team Haas Lola). Lola nonetheless earned the team's points towards the Constructors' Championship as the team's registered constructor.
In autumn 1984, Carl Haas secured a sponsorship deal with Beatrice Foods, a US consumer products conglomerate, for entry into Formula One. At the urging of Beatrice CEO Jim Dutt, Haas dropped sponsor Budweiser and took Beatrice as title sponsor of his CART IndyCar team as well. Ford was contracted to supply a new turbocharged V6 engine — designated the TEC — as a replacement for the ageing naturally aspirated Cosworth DFV, with a three-season exclusive deal for Haas.
Former World Champion Alan Jones was recruited out of retirement to drive the team's first car, marking his return to the sport since Long Beach in 1983. Former McLaren owner Teddy Mayer was brought in to help establish the team. A disused factory in Colnbrook, England was purchased to house FORCE. The team's lead designer was former Williams engineer Neil Oatley, with Ross Brawn serving as lead aerodynamicist.
The team's first car, the THL1, was still under development at the start of 1985 and only debuted at the twelfth round, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The Ford TEC engines were also not ready — engine designer Keith Duckworth lost four months unsuccessfully trying to develop a four-cylinder engine before settling on a V6. Haas arranged interim use of Hart Racing Engines' 1.5-litre turbocharged 415T four-cylinder units, with Goodyear supplying tyres.
At Monza, Jones qualified 25th of 26 cars and retired after six laps when the Hart engine failed. The team missed the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, having not appeared on the original entry list when the race was rescheduled after the new circuit surface broke up in practice.
At the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, Jones qualified 22nd and retired after 13 laps with radiator damage. In South Africa, Jones qualified 18th but did not start; the official reason was illness, though Jones later described a meeting with Bernie Ecclestone the night before the race in which Ecclestone outlined that Beatrice were under pressure from US activists including Jesse Jackson over apartheid, and suggested Jones feign illness to avoid racing.
At the final round in Australia, Jones was the first to drive onto the new Adelaide Street Circuit. Starting 19th, he stalled on the grid, recovered to sixth, and retired after 20 laps with electrical problems.
Frenchman Patrick Tambay — who had won two Grands Prix for Ferrari in 1982 and 1983 and driven for both Renault and Haas's own Can-Am team — joined Jones as the team's second driver. FORCE developed the THL2 with assistance from Adrian Newey, designed specifically for the Ford engines. However, Cosworth's delays meant the season started with the THL1 and Hart engines. Tambay qualified 13th at the Brazilian Grand Prix; both drivers retired. Tambay finished the Spanish Grand Prix — the team's first classified finish — in last place among the eight cars to complete the race.
By the San Marino Grand Prix the first THL2-Ford was available for Jones, who qualified 21st against Tambay's 11th in the THL1-Hart. Jones praised the THL2's handling but noted the need for more power. Tambay took the THL2 at Monaco and qualified eighth, before crashing in the closing laps when his car rode Martin Brundle's Tyrrell at Mirabeau and flipped over the barrier before landing back on its wheels.
American driver Eddie Cheever, then racing for Tom Walkinshaw Racing Jaguar in the World Sportscar Championship, was signed as Tambay's temporary replacement for the Detroit Grand Prix after Carl Haas could not obtain a superlicence for Michael Andretti. Haas had originally wanted Mario Andretti — the 1978 World Champion, who drove for Haas in American Champ Car racing — but Mario declined and recommended his son. Cheever qualified tenth and ran in the points before retiring with a broken wheel peg.
The German Grand Prix was the team's first race in which both cars finished: Tambay eighth (a lap down) and Jones ninth (two laps down). Tambay qualified a season-best sixth and finished seventh at the inaugural Hungarian Grand Prix, where the tight Hungaroring layout favoured the THL2's handling. At the Austrian Grand Prix, mechanical failures among leading teams allowed both Haas entries to score: Jones fourth (three points, two laps behind the winner) and Tambay fifth (two points). Jones added a further point for sixth at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on the team's first anniversary in Formula One.
During the Australian Grand Prix, Tambay's car carried an onboard camera, one of only two in the race — the other being the Lotus-Renault of Johnny Dumfries.
Jones finished 12th in the Drivers' Championship with four points; Tambay was 15th with two. Lola, as the designated constructor, was classified eighth in the Constructors' Championship with six points.
Beatrice's change of management in autumn 1985 led to a progressive reduction in sponsorship through 1986. After the season, Carl Haas sought new funding but failed to secure it. The team was closed by the end of October 1986. The FORCE factory in Colnbrook was sold to Bernie Ecclestone, then owner of Brabham; Ecclestone later allowed Alfa Romeo to use it before selling it to March Engineering in 1989, which used it to build Ralts and March IndyCars. Oatley moved to McLaren; Jones and Tambay both left Formula One.
The Ford TEC turbocharged engines passed to Benetton, which served as Ford's de facto factory team through 1994. Lola itself separately entered Formula One in 1987 with the LC87 — a V8 Ford-Cosworth-powered car designed and built at Lola's own factory — for the new Larrousse & Calmels team, the first Lola-built Formula One chassis since cars constructed for Embassy Hill in 1975.
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