Grand Prix World 1998: The Tyrell Challenge Part 25

The Great Advance: The 2000 Austrian and German GPs

Welcome back to the Tyrell Challenge. I want to immediately get your attention. On the image, take a look at the Top Left section. You see where it says "2000 wins: 1"? And in the middle section, for Diniz, the "Wins" column, it says 1. That's right. Last chapter wasn't a dream Tyrell is a winner again. It is Tyrell's first win since the 1983 USA East GP at Detroit, Michele Alboreto the winner that day. It's been 17 years. We also have a Tora Takagi pole position, the first of the series, at the last Japanese GP, but that one was rain assisted, I don't want to count that one.

We have the German GP soon enough, and we are ELITE at the old Hockemheim.

We brought upgrades for Germany. We are getting closer, and closer to the Big 3.
We are coming. We are hungry.


The one I call the horse shoe, the A1 Ring. Other than Overtaking Difficulties, this is a fairly well rounded track where multiple strats actually work.

Recently, I discovered how to see the Track Factors in terms of Tire Deg and Grip. This track is pretty average in terms of factors, both Softs and Hards work. I'll try to make the Softs last a bit more than they should by adding tons of Tarmac points and being careful with the Driver Orders.

This feels ... odd. Ignore the fact MSC had a terrible quali sesh. 2-3 for the TYRELL drivers!
T Y R E L L!

Yes, rain happened, but the front people did their laps on a dry track. This I can't explain. Other than ... we are good.


I have two strategies. First, Diniz. He'll run a short "go, go, go" first stint, then a more relaxed middle stint. Then another "go, go, go" final stint. At least, that's the plan.

Tora will have a more traditional strategy.

Yep, yep, yep. Diniz led this race. Unfortunately, The Michael IS alive in this race and he WILL overtake Diniz. We are not fast enough to challenge Ferrari *fairly*. As for the others ... we could fight them.

Takagi had pace for 4th, but he got shafted hard. Held up in the pitlane for way too long. Diniz is a truer demonstration of the pace we had.


Can we just give MSC the title? BTW, Diniz is closing in on the McLaren drivers ...

We are P3. We must lock it down. Quick.



We are indeed, hoping for better results.

Not your fault Tora. Hopefully we don't get held up in future races.




Here's that new engine spec, the 03A. The peripheral ratings are perfectly fine, but will need some remapping to be as OP as I need it.

Meanwhile, here's our engine for the future, the 02D.

That's a good, proper upgrade for Germany. There will be another for Monza and ... perhaps another one for Japan?

Testing went well again. Filled up and used the Research bar.

Oh, great. Low Downforce. Simply, this means we have Low Grip. Less pace and more chances of driver errors. Of course, we will fix that for Monza. YES, you need DF at Monza.

Car design is nearly done. Should take just 1 or 2 races.

There's that Power Brakes Driving Aid we were working on. Last time the FIA rejected it. Now they do approve it and it will be on the cars for Germany.

Good, good. The "Control Fuel R&D" bonus will let us a) Remap the Fuel (Yes, this is a thing) and b) Improve the Fuel, which is what counts.


Probably my favorite track on the calendar, we usually have great results here. Tire wear is not significant, but grip is not good, making this a great track for Soft tires. We can also 1 stop this race, the main reason why we are competitive on this place.

Tons of extra "Grip" points, plus a point of "Heat" to make the engine last. "Braking" also helps.


This session was not affected by rain or anything weird. This was a pole position lap on pure pace and merit for Takagi, This is Tyrell's first pole position since ... well, that 1999 Japan GP pole position. This is the first pole I consider legitimate since the 1976 Swedish GP, Jody Schekter got that pole. MSC being 8th helps, but not for long.



Equal strats for the guys, a 1 stop, trying to extend to the 25 if possible. Whoever is behind will stop first.

This is a big enough moment that it must be on camera. Tyrell is 1-2 on the opening lap. THE OPENING LAP!

Remember that Jody Schekter pole position I talked about? Well, that pole turned into a 1-2 finish for Tyrell, Jody Schekter winning the race, Patrick Depailler finishing second. 14 years later, Tyrell have another 1-2 finish. That's 2 wins during my managerial career. All those upgrades we have developed have worked wonders. We can fight Benetton and McLaren, sure. Ferrari is a bit more difficult, but in a good day ... we can fight with them. We have evolved.

It also helps that we had to deal with just 1 Ferrari. I mean, it was the FAST Ferrari, but it was just 1.

Look at the bottom right corner, the track map. The closest opponents to Takagi are the Number 3 Ferrari of Michael and the Number 7 Benetton of Mika Salo. They still have the stadium section to do while Diniz has already finished the race. This was a blowout.

Yes, Diniz is ahead of Double H Frentzen and chasing down The Mika and maybe even Newhouse! Takagi should beat Collard soon enough.

Our position is more secure at P3 of the WCC standings.

We actually have a few messages to go through this time.

Wins raise morale a lot. We left our morale crisis stage a long time ago, but it always helps getting these kind of events that increase team morale.

I know. The sponsors know it too.

A full page dedicated to Tyrell's exploits. Finally!

Tyrell totally crushed the opposition. F'ing YES! Minardi Peugeot sounds interesting. In real life, Minardi used Peugeot engines, tuned by Asiatech, in 2001.





Manager of the Month. Thank you media. I told you, you were going to acknowledge us.

Oh, damn it. Well ... not the end of the world, but we assisted some team in getting a Driving Aid. Next chapter I'll tell you which team it is.

Yeah ... don't worry. Mechanics Department needs to improve to prevent that.

Yep, Sponsors like the Best Manager news event.

Those must be the Spec 03A Wet Weather tires.

That's another successful Test Day.

That's the ratings of our future Spec 03C engine. Full power as usual. I might move some Fuel and Heat points into Reliability and Rigidity on a Spec 03D Engine.

That final bonus is not critically important, but it helps. The "Tyre Upgrade Priority" means that a) If any other team team that doesn't have this bonus makes a tire, we will have access to it. And b) If we make a tire, no other team can use it. We won't be helping any other Bridgestone teams. Why would we?

That was it for this chapter. Great success was achieved. Could we get more success? I don't know. Hungary is next, a track where DNF can happen but we usually struggle. Spa, however, is great for us, since we can also 1 stop it. Rain can also change any race, so ... chances exist.

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