The Age of Performance: The 2000 Hungarian and Belgium GP
Welcome back to the Tyrell Challenge where great things are happening. Admire!
Uh-huh. Multiple wins for the Tyrell team. Remember, we started as the 5th best team in F1, over 2000 performance points behind the Big 3. We are fighting for the 2nd place on the WDC right now! What a turn around. Heck ... I'll dare, whatever, we could have fought for the WDC had our car started in the top 3.
It hasn't shown as much in the Manager rankings, but keep in mind this performance boost started halfway through the season v the top 3 that were good since forever.
OK, performance chart.
No upgrades for us. Our final upgrade will come at the end of this chapter, for the Monza-Nurburgring-Suzuka stretch. Tiny Ferrari upgrade for Spa, decent Sauber upgrade, same track.
The Hungaroring. One of the most underrated tracks of all time, in my opinion, at least from a driving point of view. It is brutal. That's actually simulated in the game, drivers can get tired and crash due to being tired. So far I've managed to prevent that. What I've recently learned too is that, while tire wear isn't bad around here, tire grip is. It is HORRIBLE. That means Softs are the only way to go.
Some points in "Grip" to help with that deficit, "Tarmac" because it reduces tire wear (Need to stretch the Softs) and "Heat" because engine and car be hot around here.
There's the new 03A Spec Wet Weather Tire. Pretty good ratings except Temp, but I wouldn't be concerned. We might end up using them at Spa, here at Hungary rain is rare.
Unlimited! PACE! Those upgrades sure did the trick We are now beating the Benettons on pace, and the McLarens every now and then. Of course, Ferrari > Tyrell still. But hey, we closer. It used to be Ferrari >>> Tyrell.
I kinda hope Minardi enjoys the Peugeot power units, their Mugen Hondas don't have a power boost yet.
Strat is fairly simple in this race. We drive calmly and relaxedly, extending the first and second stints as long as the tires allow us to. The third will be shorter. We won't go "Gas, gas, gas" mode on the third. Just take it as a Sunday drive, don't want you guys getting tired.
Track Map, bottom right. The next few images need context, and I'll give it to you. We are just at the beginning of Sector 2, in a bit of a train. This is what we expected to a point. Ahead are the McLarens because McLaren ... and all the way into Sector 3 and dealing with traffic is The Michael. The stage is set.
Ready?
First, rain at the Hungaroring, something that didn't happen in real life until ... 2006? So, very notable. Second, bottom left screen. That's Diniz passing The Michael. That's Diniz passing The Michael FOR POSITION. FOR THE LEAD! I'm pretty sure MSC was in the wrong compound at this time. I think it is time for Wet Weathers (Thanks for the 03A Spec, Goodyear) and he was on the Inters. Ask me if I care, Diniz overtakes The Michael.
It dried out, because of course ... and then it happened again. Takagi (TORA!!) on the right tire, MSC ... I think on Inters still? Doesn't matter Takagi passed The Michael FOR POSITION! This had to be in the dry too. Takagi-san sucks at Wet Weather driving. Heck, the man asks for WETS when everyone else wants Inters.
Significant Greatness™ was achieved today. WE LAPPED THE FIELD ... except for MSC because MSC. Alesi also impressive finishing 4th. Actually, screw that, Sauber double points finish.
Mika Salo is the unluckiest driver alive.
There's something I want you to pay attention to. With 4 races to go, MSC hasn't won the championship, but he's close. Everyone from 1st to 4th can win this. Let me restate that. Pedro Diniz is still a championship contender. It is a significant longshot and 150% impossible. But math don't lie. Next best is this: Pedro Diniz can still finish P2 in the WDC.
Equally significant is this. I'm pretty sure Ferrari already won the WCC. The best McLaren can finish is second. As for Tyrell ... well ... I did not expect to say the lines on the previous image, and I did not expect to be able to say: Tyrell can finish P2 in the WCC.
The absolute legends Pedrinho and Tora-san.
Crushed indeed. We made it look like only The Michael showed up by the end.
Jordan is officially running away from Ford. Stewart ... left Peugeot for Mecachrome ... yeah ...
Yep. The Great Advance.
I mean, not anymore no. But soon ... soon ... not next year, I think ... but SOON!
PROST! So it was you that stole our aid! Revenge!
Forgot to take the image of the Manager of the Month and Worst Manager. They were Sauber's Peter Sauber and Arrows' Tom Walkinshaw, respectively ... Sauber for Manager of the Month? ... Yo ... Passed The Michael FOR POSITION! (rant, let him complain, let's continue)
Finally the 2001 Chassis Design is complete. This Chassis will be roughly similar to our 2000 Chassis in terms of performance ... as in, our 2000 Preseason Chassis. This design will definitely improve for 2002, don't worry.
Throttle Reliability Upgrade complete. Now, time to improve the Hydraulics Reliability.
So many engine models. TWELVE of them. Anyway, here's the soon to be 03D spec, probably the best engine we'll every use. Max power, max rigidity. That means we can go full throttle down the Monza straights without the engine shaking the chassis/driver.
Oh, Mugen Honda finally putting Power into their engine for the 04A. I think Minardi approves.
Guaranteed deal for Bridgestone means they'll pay us at least $1.2m a year even if we ignore them and Support drops. I'd rather not ignore them, negotiations go quicker if Support is high.
Built a 2001 car, managed to patch up ALL of the cars too.
I should definitely NOT be doing this, but revenge is on my mind. I'm setting 38% of my guys to find that Prost Auto Gears I'm convinced they stole from us. If we find them, we complain. Simple.
The Gun shaped Spa. One of the best tracks on the calendar for us. Just like the Hockemheimring, we can one stop this with Soft tires. Just like Hockemheim, this is a Softs only track. However, weather usually plays a significant part here. We'll hope it does.
Mostly because I employed "Rain" points. "Braking" and the standard "Grip" points round out the setup.
And so it begins. Track would eventually dry out.
MSC just casually getting pole by half a sec over ... Diniz, who beats the McLaren, Benetton, and the other Ferrari. Just ... look ... how tight it is from 2nd down to 9th! This looks like a late 2010s-early 2020s qualifying session. This is Y2K!
Of course, regular schedule proceeds as soon as we reach the Saubers.
This is the closest it would get to rain. Well .. it did rain ... after the race ended ...
Our classic strategy. Stretch the first stint as long as possible, then drive fast on the second.
Double podium for the Tyrell team. That's back to back double podiums just on this chapter. MSC is still the king of Spa, he managed to beat us despite running a 2 stop. He was that quick. That said ... 30+ sec gap from Tora-san to 4th, nearly 1 minute from Diniz to 4th. The dudes wheeled hard.
Jordan took themselves out. Simple as that.
That W moves MSC 32 points clear of 2nd place which means that Michael Schumacher is the 2000 FIA F1 World Driver's Champion. We ... uhhh ... might have interfered with McLaren's ability to object with our meteoric rise, but that's their own fault. That, and Villeneuve did nothing either. BTW, Diniz is 2nd in the WDC. The dream!
Tyrell is also 2nd in the WCC. Ferrari are your 2000 FIA F1 World Constructor's Champions, sure, but Tyrell, TYRELL is 2nd. The dream!
We build a car and still make over $2m.
We are making the podium our property down the stretch.
Mental calculations which are not accurate as of the moment of writing say that yes, Ferrari WCC.
Well, they literally have no chance anymore.
All that said ... fastest lap belongs to Pedro.
Why David Richards? WHY?!?!
As I said at some point in the past, we were going to look at the 2001 regs when the technology regulations were confirmed. Here they are. Mid cars are in the mud, the backmarkers might improve. As for tech, Gearbox, Hydraulics and Throttle will carry over, we must focus our upgrades there.
FIA, come on!
Yup, now I feel good about asking for that Hydraulics Reliability Upgrade. Time to upgrade performance, tho.
5% points thanks to the updated Diffuser design. I expect Monza to be a great race for us.
That's our final engine, the 03D. Hopefully, reliability doesn't kick in.
Test day looking great as usual.
Oversteer at slow corners ... that just means less grip on low Speed tracks ... we could ... rush this upgrade for Japan. I don't think we'll need it. Depending on how much fight Villeneuve and McLaren put up, I'll decide.
Running out of spare parts and mechanics time, so time to bring out Car 4.
OK, with that upgrade, Shell will not give our new spec of fuel to anyone else.
Guys ... you found nothing on Prost's cars ... why? ... whatever, focus on the stops again.The 2001 Free Agent class
Before we go, we need to talk. We need to talk about 2001 and 2002. As you know, and if you didn't I will remind you, we hired Diniz on a 3 year deal. His contract ends next year, in 2001. He's been perfectly adequate, but there are better drivers out there. And while Nick Heidfeld is manning Driver 2 roles in 2001, it will take 1 or 2 years before we can consider him a good driver.
That means, we need to think about who to hire. I took a look around and made a list with the 2001 Free Agents, Drivers that either don't have a Contract OR their contract expires Next Year, just like Diniz. Here they are, ordered by Speed Rating
Speed 1
- Fontana, Norberto
- Bernoldi, Enrique
- Verstappen, Jos
- Mazzacane, Gaston
- Marques, Tarso (Pay Driver)
- Kristensen, Tom
- Muller, Jorg
- Collard, Emmanuel
- Montoya, Juan Pablo
- Badoer, Luca
- Tuero, Esteban
- Wakisaka Juichi
- Haberfeld, Mario
- Takagi Tora (Apparently Minardi signed him for 1 year?)
Speed 2
- Zanardi, Alessandro
- Magnussen, Jan
- Schumacher, Ralf
- Diniz, Pedro
Speed 3
- Salo, Mika
- Herbert, Johnny
- Fisichella, Giancarlo
- Wurz, Alexander
- Barrichello, Rubens
- Panis, Olivier
Speed 4
That's a pretty solid free agent class I'd say. 2002 will be a good year if we can get anyone on the 3-5 Speed Range. What do you think? Who should I pursuit?
Note: The Mika is stuck at McLaren until 2002, just a bit too late for me. The Michael is stuck at Ferrari until 2004, way too late for me.
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