Grand Prix World 1998: The Tyrell Challenge Part 4

Stabilization: The San Marino and Spanish GPs

We've finally got through the first critical part of the game. We have survived a travel to Australia and two travels to the American continent, and transport costs will go down from now on since we'll be racing in Europe ... at least until JAPAN becomes a factor. Even then, there are a few elements that will threaten to destroy us financially along the way, but we won't bother with that ... just yet.

Can you see the issue here? It isn't cash that's enough for now. See the Xs right besides the names of everyone? That's low morale. We have a morale crisis. This means that everyone will start underperforming. Notably the Engineering department, which means we can't build as many spare parts as we wanted. This will NOT be solved this year.

Here is the performance chart for both races today.

Still no big changes. That'll probably change next post.

 

I've never been too fond of Imola, but that doesn't stop the fact that we must race here. A bit intense on the car, specially the brakes. Our terrible car shouldn't suffer too much around here.

A nice, dry session to kick things off.

I know these performances where we beat actual somewhat competent F1 teams are closer and closer to vanishing, so I'll bask in their glory. In terms of fights, Benetton has this quali pace thing nailed down.

Fraps moment aside, dry race it seems. Not that it matters anyway.

 So, obviously Stewart disposed of us. A Minardi Ford engine blow up confirms Ford sucks. Typical Tyrell result, we beat Minardi. Also, shout out to Double H Frentzen, beating a Ferrari. 

 

 The Championships aren't moving a ton. This is expected because no one has brought upgrades to their car, other than driving aids and technology. Mika's start to the year is disturbingly bad. Williams got this race pace thing nailed in their fight against Benetton.

 

AI have been suspiciously quiet in terms of Sponsors.

 

 

 

Oh, oh, Alex. McLaren is already full due to Mika being frozen there. I'll keep track of where Mika goes and I'll swap them when the time comes. Sorry Alex.

 

 

 

 Uhhh ... We have a problem here,, don't you think? Do remember Ferrari hired Villeneuve and I froze The Michael there.

OK, enough news. Time for the AAR. Did we make money?

Yes, we did! A tiny bit. But cash is cash.

 

OK, time to go and see what I've been working on in the background ... well, what the designers have been working on.

 

Yes, I threw away the "Smol Team" playbook and decided to develop a Driver Aid ... we won't probably build that Aid until ... Japan? 1999? But I was hoping the FIA would have released the new regulations before this, but it didn't happen. That said, FIA need to approve the aid before we can legally use it.

 

Thank you.

'

And now, we start working on the 1999 chassis and HOPE that the FIA keeps the regulations stable enough that this work is worth something.

As for sponsors, more news to come after the next race.

Hot track, hard to overtake, a bit dusty. Track's alright. OK, let's go.

 

STOP THE COUNT!!

 

Concern! We got outperformed by Minardi. MINARDI! Boys, I want you to wheel hard.

 

Cool day, fully dry too.

 

Damn, McLaren killed the field, and killed them hard.

 

Ford making us look like a bunch of idiots. Fantastic. Takagi beats the Prost team.

 

 Unless Ferrari brings a massive performance upgrade, they are done this year.

After Action report starts in the news.

 

I'm not happy either. That's damage that now I'm going to HAVE TO FIX! Ford.

 

OH. Big news! OK, so Alesi isn't going to Ferrari because both race seats are full, instead we'll see where The Michael goes and Jean goes there. Jarno stays at Prost, Eddie goes to Williams to backup The Chin.

 

OH, there we go. Alesi will stay at Sauber while The Michael is locked at Ferrari until 2000.

 

Oh, there we go. We have the new regs for the 1999 Chassis. Hopefully the chassis design we are making is legal.

 

You can F yourselves.

 

Hmmm ... sadly, we don't get the Range we need. Since our car would have been a Low Range chassis, we don't get the boost in development we could get. The big teams at the top end will get the bonus.

 

Fok!

 

Exactly what we didn't need. Now we have to restart development of the car. I mean, we have 1 block only. Still, it took us a race weekend to get that block!

Now, we do have the safety net of the 1998 chassis being legal for 1999. I'd rather not have to rely on that. Unfortunately, that means development will be slow ... there's a way to assist it.

Testing! From now on, I'll keep an eye on the Testing Miles cost (Which gets expensive at times), and if the price is good, I'm putting enough money to do 100 miles of testing and put 30% of our crew on testing.

 

3 blocks of research. We'll need 4 blocks on one of these to need just 3 tests. This will boost the development of the chassis by 1 to 3 blocks, which helps.

 

Next race is Monaco, a bumpy, heavy wear track. If we survive, we will be OK.

Evolution: Tire Suppliers

 

There we go, we have an Engine Supplier.

 

Free engines. Don't you like that? That's $7m less on our next year Budget.

With that done, I left 10% of the crew negotiating for some bonuses and moved the rest to th Tire deal. That means it is time to talk about the tire war.

The choice between Suppliers is simple. Goodyear is better for a Customer or Partner deal, as they are cheaper and produce the better overall tires. Bridgestone has the better Works deal with the Cash rating they have. We are going Goodyear, obviously.

Here are the ratings for the 4 Spec of tires by every supplier. To explain the 4 stats on display:

• Grip: Higher means ... higher grip, slightly quicker pace and less driver errors.
• Resilience: Higher means the tire wears less over a stint. That means longer stints, always good.
• Stiffness: Higher means a better tire. Why? Slightly more pace, it slightly makes the tires more durable, and it reduces the chances of the tire literally tearing itself apart if the driver pushes too hard.
• Temperature: Higher makes it easier to keep closer to the optimal temp. So, harder to overheat, but easier to heat up to the optimal temp.

From what we can see, Bridgestone made better Dry Weather tires. Their only weakness is keeping the tire in the right operating temperature. Goodyear made better Inter and Wet specification of tires in terms of grip, but they can overheat if pushed. Bridgestones are more stable, but less quick. Goodyear runners rate Very Wet Conditions, Bridgestone runners hope they can stick on the Inters

As I said before, we are going for a Customer Goodyear deal. Tires are cheap. That way, we can focus on getting as many Cash Sponsors as we can. Let's hope we can get that deal done after the next weekend.

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