The BAR 01 (also known as BAR PR01) was the car with which the British American Racing F1 team competed in the 1999 F1 season, its inaugural year in the series after purchasing Tyrrell. It was driven by Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 Champion who had left Williams in order to work with team principal Craig Pollock, his manager and good friend. The second driver was Ricardo Zonta, the 1997 Formula 3000 champion and 1998 FIA GT champion, although Mika Salo would deputise early in the season after the Brazilian injured his ankle at Interlagos.

However, despite the driving pedigree of Villeneuve and Zonta, and the technical experience of Reynard Motorsports, the year was a disaster and a major disappointment for the team, especially after Adrian Reynard aimed to secure the pole position and race victory in its first race. The cars were usually quite competitive and looked like points-scoring contenders on several occasions (Villeneuve, at one point, had briefly run third during the Spanish GP), but reliability was terrible, with Villeneuve alone failing to finish the first eleven races of the season. The end result was last in the Constructors' Championship with no points, behind much smaller teams such as Minardi, Arrows and Sauber.

Before the 1999 season had even started, BAR ran into trouble with the FIA. BAR had desired to run a different livery on each car, as their showcars did. Jacques Villeneuve's car was to display Lucky Strike branding, and Ricardo Zonta's car to have 555 branding. Both of these are cigarette brands owned by the team's parent company, British American Racing. The FIA's regulations state that both cars are required to have identical liveries, with only minor differences such as the car number, driver's nationality flag and name.

A quick-fix design was created, resulting in a dual livery design with the Lucky Strike branding covering the left side of the car and the 555 branding on the right side. The car's livery then had a "zip" up the centre, which spread wide at the end of the nosecone to allow other sponsors not to be affected by the dual colour design. Minor team sponsors and other adverts on the car were on a silver background. The rear wing was also compromised to stop the dual sectioning affecting the small space: 555 had the side facing forwards and Lucky Strike had the side facing backwards. This livery design was passed by the FIA.