Grand Prix World 1998: The Tyrell Challenge Part 29

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The mess we are not into: The 2001 Preseason

Welcome back to The Tyrell Challenge. 2001 was an excellent SEASON for Tyrell, scoring multiple wins and pole positions, all of them on merit. At a point, Tyrell was the best team of the season, which is not what I expected. We finished 2nd in the WDC and WCC which ... dear lord, wow.

If you remember Chapter 1, I said that Year 4 would be the year where I start getting the big contracts. You might expect us to maintain our form and be instant championship contenders ... That's not how Grand Prix World works.

As per usual, lots of new contracts kick in at the start of a new season. Not only that, but new regs affect everything, from teams to suppliers. We have to establish the playing field again. Lett's go, we have a lot of ground to cover.

Before we leave the 2000 season, we have to take a look at the FIA Rankings. We finish 3rd once again. This time, however, we are projecting that the FIA will give us $25m, +$1m compared to last year. We need to try to move up.

Let's take a few moments to appreciate we won 5 races. 5 races out of 16. With a car that was only competitive for the final 5 races. Harvey, Mike, Robert, you did a fantastic job for us through the years. Thank you all.

In other news, here's our final Income report. $70.6m, most of it being the FIA paying us a ton of Cash. Next best was Red Bull, then Diniz and Takagi paying top dollar to be F1 Race Winners.

$25.76m in the factory, $24m just on the Japanese GP. The reason is, as you might remember, we upgraded our factory to Level 5. That's where most of our expenses went this season.


Not just yet. Our time isn't just yet.

The Team Lineups

Just like last year, is time to review the changes. You might notice some already, if not, let me point them out.

  • Shinji Nakano: Sauber Driver 2 in 2000, Benetton Driver 1 in 2001
  • Juan Pablo Montoya: Benetton Test Driver in 2000, Benetton Driver 2 in 2001
  • Emmanuel Collard: Benetton Driver 2 in 2000, Benetton Test Driver in 2001
  • Jan Magnussen: Stewart Driver 2 in 2000, McLaren Driver 2 in 2001
  • Johnny Herbert: Arrows Driver 1 in 2000, Jordan Driver 1 in 2001
  • Heinz-Harald Frentzen: McLaren Driver 2 in 2000, Sauber Driver 2 in 2001
  • Giancarlo Fisichella: Jordan Driver 1 in 2000, Arrows Driver 2 in 2001
  • Ricardo Rosset: Minardi Driver 1 in 2000, Stewart Driver 2 in 2001
  • Nick Heidfeld: Tyrell Test Driver in 2000, Tyrell Driver 2 in 2001
  • Pedro De La Rosa: Free Agent, Tyrell Test Driver in 2001
  • Tora Takagi: Tyrell Driver 2 in 2000, Minardi Driver 1 in 2001 (I'm so sorry, Tora)
  • Mika Salo: Benetton Driver 1 in 2001, Free Agent

Lots of changes, all right. Ferrari and Williams still hold the best overall lineups. After that is either Prost, McLaren or Sauber. We are a bit meh, but we have a solid driver and we have a young driver with potential. I really hope Nick shows potential and improves. He'll be a liability until at least 2003.

As for the Driver 1 seat, this will be Pedro Diniz's final year under contract for Tyrell. We are in a target-rich Free Agency class, but we will talk about that later. We have bigger factors to worry about.

The Team Head Personnel

If you have a good eye, you might have noticed something wrong with one of the teams. We'll get there. Overall, Ferrari have the best personnel in all F1. Newey is OP when designing and building cars. Fisher is not as OP but is stupid good anyway. 2002 could well be another Ferrari year. Behind them? Tyrell. Our only issue is not having Lord Newey. We have John Barnard, who is a downgrade, but just barely. If we do things right, our 2002 car will be among the best in F1.

Minardi is just horrible, they have gone backwards. McLaren will do the same despite Rory Byrne. Williams and Sauber won't go down that bad. The team I can guarantee will drop most is Prost. Why? THEY HAVE NO CHIEF DESIGNER! Now, it could be worse. they could have a Chief Designer and no Tech Director which would torpedo their 2002 car. I do know of a Free Agent Chief Designer they could sign. Mike Gascoyne. I'll call Alain, see if he'll consider it.

I just love my All Level 4 Heads.

The Team Entry List and Main Sponsors

Ferrari FORD still feels so wrong. Anyway, I love, love, love that 2nd in the Championship Order. Stewart with the West sponsor despite being at the bottom of this list is ... wow. Minardi is 4th(!!) thanks to a certain Japanese driver than helped a certain English team go super nova. Benetton Ford is back! So is Mecachrome. Out went Hart/Arrows, no one signed an engine deal with them. Not even Arrows, who went full beans and signed a Merc engine deal.

Red Bull Tyrell Mugen-Honda (Petronas) is still the most ironic team name, knowing what Tyrell is nowadays and what the drinks company, the Japanese bikes company and Petronas are doing.

So many Ford deals. Benetton gets the Works Ford deal, McLaren gets the Works Merc (all right in the world), Prost gets the Works Peugeots and Sauber gets the Works Ferrari deal. The only Ferrari deal on the grid. Also, EVERYONE went Goodyear now. Because of course. We wrestled the Bridgestone Works deal from Benetton. Time to make the 2004 spec OP Bridgestones! Hopefully the tire wars tilts in Bridgestone's favor. That said ... we have a Works deal ...

As for fuels, something interesting happened. Mobil 1 isn't giving out Works deals anymore, is all Partner or lower. Their R&D rating also went down. This means that they left the sport and then came back. However, they were still in F1 last year so ... simple, they just downgraded themselves. That means Shell (Works deal) and Elf (Highest R&D) are the best fuel suppliers in F1.

The Suppliers

Fuel

Remember that, during the last post, I showed the specs of each supply? Here's when they become relevant. I'll be comparing each 2001 Spec to the latest 2000 Spec. In the case of fuels, the FIA said "No Change". These fuel specs are exactly the same as the 2000 Specs.

Tires

FIA did ask for a downgrade of Tires and Engines, so we'll talk about those. Bridgestone v Goodyear then, comparing them to the latest 2000 Spec.

Hard

  • Bridgestone: -1 Grip, -1 Stiffness, -2 Temperature
  • Goodyear: -1 Grip, -2 Resilience, -2 Stiffness, -1 Temperature
  • Advantage: Bridgestone, so long as the driver doesn't massively overwork the tires

Soft

  • Bridgestone: -2 Resilience, -4 Temperature
  • Goodyear: -2 Stiffness, -1 Temperature
  • Advantage: Bridgestone

Inters

  • Bridgestone: -2 Resilience, -1 Temperature
  • Goodyear: -2 Grip, -2 Stiffness, -1 Temperature
  • Advantage: Bridgestone? They are very even, actually. Goodyear's last longer while Bridgestone's are stiffer and less heat sensitive.

Wets

  • Bridgestone: -1 Grip, -1 Resilience, -1 Stiffness
  • Goodyear: -1 Grip, -3 Resilience, -1 Stiffness
  • Advantage: Goodyear. The Grip advantage is too much for the other factors to be a concern.

Engines

Finally the engines. Merc's era of dominance is over, but ... let's take a deep look, comparing them to last season's Spec.

  • Mercedes-Benz: -3 Heat, -2 Power, -2 Reliability, -3 Response, -2 Rigidity. Not the best engine on the grid anymore. It IS solid but ... it wasn't the Plug and Play beast it used to be. Can't push it as it overheats.
  • Ferrari: -4 Heat, -1 Reliability, -1 Response, -2 Rigidity. Ferrari is now the best engine on the grid by solid margin. Only Merc and Mecachrome are close to their power output. We might soon match it but ... a Ferrari would be nice. You can't exactly push it, but you don't need to.
  • Peugeot: -2 Heat, -1 Power, -1 Reliability, -1 Response. A Peugeot would also be real nice. Power is solid, the reliability is the best on the grid and you can push it quite a bit. Hope you enjoy them Minardi.

  • Mugen-Honda: -1 Fuel, -3 Heat, -1 Reliability, -1 Rigidity. We are the sole user of Mugen-Honda PUs. Fortunately, Power didn't drop so we should start the season all right. It isn't as good as Ferrari or Mercedes PUs, We will just remap our Engine Spec for max power.
  • Ford: No changes. Somehow Ford survived with NO CHANGES! Once again, the Fords are boosted Mugen-Hondas basically.
  • Mecachrome: I won't compare the Mecachrome because they weren't on the sport last year. I feel sorry for those teams that have to use a Rigidity Level 2 engine. The cooling system is bad. Power is solid, tho. These teams could be quick.
  • Hart: Not on the grid, so we don't talk about Hart/Arrows.

Keep these ratings in mind. We are looking for a new engine supplier.

The Team Performance Ratings

In a vaccum, we are actually better than we were at the start of the previous year. We don't carry over the performance at the end of last season because this is a new car design. We have a good car. The Big 3 are still ahead ... the problem is that Sauber, Williams and Prost went from backmarkers (midfielders for Sauber) to top teams. There are 5 (FIVE, CINCO) teams that could be considered the "Best" team in F1. Remember, we improved our car designed compared to the end of last season ... and yet we are the 6th best team in F1. 

This is Grand Prix World for you. This is F1.

Maybe the fact that there are 5 teams at the top means we get a 2010/2012 type of season ... we'll see ...

Of course, we are going to try our best to get there. If we can trigger a new "Silverstone Split", then so be it.

The 2002 Free Agency Class

Before we go to the Driver Ratings Changes, we have to talk about who will replace Diniz ... or if I'm going to replace Diniz at all.

Here's the list. I'll first list all of the Free Agents. I'll list them as "Name (Speed/Skill/Wet Weather)". So for example, "Mika Salo (4/1/5)" means Mika Salo has 4 Speed, 1 Skill and 5 Wet Weather ratings.

  • Jos Verstappen (1/2/2)
  • Tom Kristensen (1/1/1)
  • Max Wilson (1/1/2)
  • Enrique Bernoldi (1/1/1)
  • Norberto Fontana (2/1/1)
  • Gaston Mazzacane (1/1/1)
  • Tarso Marques (1/2/1)
  • Alessandro Zanardi (2/2/1)
  • Mika Salo (4/1/5)

Why Mika Salo is a FA, I don't know.

The next list will have all drivers that are on a team right now. Inside the parenthesis, I'll write the team that driver is on right now, so you can find him on the next section.

  • Giancarlo Fisichella and Jorg Muller (Arrows)
  • Emmanuel Collard and Juan Pablo Montoya (Benetton)
  • Luca Badoer (Ferrari)
  • Johnny Herbert, Esteban Tuero and Juichi Wakisaka (Jordan)
  • Alexander Wurz (McLaren)
  • Tora Takagi and Mario Haberfeld (Minardi)
  • Rubens Barrichello (Prost)
  • Jean Alesi (Sauber)
  • Ralf Schumacher (Stewart)
  • Pedro Diniz (Tyrell)
  • David Coulthard, Eddie Irvine and Olivier Panis (Williams)
I like this class. The announcement of our Driver 1 will be made after the Brazilian GP.

The Driver Rating Changes

Williams

  • David Coulthard: -1 Skill, +1 Overtaking, +1 Concentration
  • Eddie Irvine: -1 Skill, +1 Wet Weather

Ferrari

  • Michael Schumacher: -1 Skill, -1 Stamina
  • Jacques Villeneuve: +1 Experience

Benetton

  • Shinji Nakano: +1 Skill
  • Juan Pablo Montoya: +2 Stamina (I actually made this change using the savegame editor)

McLaren

  • Mika Hakkinen: -1 Speed, +1 Overtaking
  • Jan Magnussen: +1 Skill, +1 Wet Weather

Jordan

  • Johnny Herbert: -1 Skill, +1 Overtaking
  • Esteban Tuero: +1 Concentration

Prost

  • Damon Hill: -1 Skill, +1 Overtaking

Sauber

  • Jean Alesi: -1 Skill, +1 Wet Weather
  • Heinz-Harald Frentzen: +1 Skill, +1 Overtaking

Arrows

  • Giancarlo Fisichella: +1 Skill, +1 Overtaking, +1 Concentration

Stewart

  • Ralf Schumacher: +1 Overtaking, +1 Wet Weather
  • Ricardo Rosset: +1 Wet Weather, +1 Concentration

Tyrell

  • Pedro Diniz: +1 Overtaking, +1 Concentration

Minardi

  • Tora Takagi: +1 Concentration

That's it for this chapter. Next up, we have the opening race of the season. The aim of the season will be to make a run during the second half of the season, but for the first ... if this is the 2012 season, we are Ferrari. Or ... at least ... I hope so.

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