Grand Prix World 1998: The Tyrell Challenge Part 17

Wrapped up fights: The 1999 Italian and European GPs

(YES, European. Do not object!)

Welcome back, everyone. There's a dogfight going down right now in the points standings. We have a small, but real, chance to seize control of both P5 in the WDC and P3 in the WCC. The requirements are, of course, solid races. That's not the only fight going down right now, of course. Let's explore first, the points standings.

OK, time to explain the fights here. The notable ones of course.

• P1: MSC v HAK: Simple, whoever scores the other wins the WDC. I'm not totally aware of the tiebreakers, I will be on the next chapter.
• P3: VIL v FRE v DIN(?): Villeneuve has the lead here, amazingly. Frentzen would need to outscore Villeneuve by 6 points (No tiebreakers) to gain the position. Possible, since McLaren > Ferrari this year. Diniz is a very, VERY long shot. He would need to outscore Villeneuve by 13 AND Frentzen by 8. Unlikely because Tyrell.
• P5: DIN v SAL v HIL v COL (?) v TAK (?): Realistically and honestly, Collard and Takagi don't have a realistic shot at it, so let's talk about the first 3. Salo needs to outscore Diniz by 11 points, while Hill needs to outscore him by 14. Unlikely, since the current points system is not friendly in terms of midfield comebacks. That said ... being the Tyrell team principal ... I like this!

• P1: Ferrari v McLaren: McLaren needs to outscore Ferrari by 6 points which ... again, McLaren, they could.
• P3: Tyrell v Benetton v Prost: Tyrell with an advantage here. Benetton needs to outscore us by 9 points, Prost by 20. Prost is ... probably a non factor.

We need consistency. We need a few points to lock this thing away. Let's go.

Once upon a time, Tyrell was falling behind their opponents in Car Development. Then brought upgrades.

That full "Speed" bar tells you everything you need to know about the track. The "Heat" and "Braking" tells you what suffers too. Rain has an interesting habit of either never appearing, or appearing as if this was Spa. 

As for setup, I'm not bothering with "Rain". It's not likely that it will appear at this track anyway. Better to properly round out the setup.

Qualy was dry, forgot to take the pic.

Well, damn. We weren't able to truly flex the new upgrades because I focused on race strategy, we put the Hards on. Diniz seriously off pace during the Saturday runs, which is a shame. More concerning is Benetton locking up the 3rd row. Concern!

That wasn't in the plans ... That definitely was not in the plans ... NOT AS PLANNED™!

Oh ... uhhh ... that ... Not as planned™ either. OK, I feel I have to explain every podium finish because Tyrell. So ... Diniz had a stupid start that put him 5th(!!). There was some Diniz v Hill and Takagi v Alesi action (They are OP in the rain), but we kept it under control (read: held them up for quite a few laps) until the Very Wet stage. Switched on time, gained the places again. Then back to Wet, then Dry. It was at the Dry switch that Ferrari lost the race, leaving The Michael (who led ... pretty much lights to Dry) out on Inters for ... some reason, until Mika passed ... then refused to pit for the remainder of the race. Why? I don't know.

That ... that's a big hole, The Michael. That means we have our first championship match race. If The Mika outscores The Michael by at least a single point, game over. We have a similar match race down at P5. Takagi and Collard are out of it for P5, as expected. Salo needs to outscore Diniz by 6 points to stay in contention for the position.

The media said last chapter that Ferrari was sure to win the WCC now, therefore doing exactly what I was hellbent on preventing: A jinx! Anyway, match race for P3, Benetton needs to outscore Tyrell by at least 1 point to have a (mathematical) shot at taking the position at Suzuka.

I miss you, "Race Profit" message.

I hope these podium messages start becoming the norm the next year. Man can dream.

Ferrari has so many illegal driver aids, its funny. It should be noted, McLaren could keep an eye out, spot an illegal aid, complain to the FIA and that might get that aid banned, along with a driver. I WILL do that if I ever get into a championship fight, I don't give an F.

Number Juan.

OK, last time out, we saw two very good managers get fired for teams that are definitely not looking for evolution. The first was Stefano Domenicali, fired from Jordan for who knows why. He's chilling until next year, when Benetton's contract kicks in.

The other one was Pat Symonds, from Williams. Now, I COULD make him an offer and have him become our Technical Director right now. I won't for two reasons. First, Postlethwaite is under contract until next year and I'd have to pay redundancies. Second, man's expensive. So, my plan is to HOPE no one picks him up, then sign him next year so he starts operating in 2001. Sounds like a solid plan in my mind.

In the mean time, we are developing Driving Aids and getting them authorized.

Right now, we can easily focus on Set Up testing nearly all races.

Running low on Spares, due to the Engineering department building another 2000 car and the Power Brakes Driving Aid. Still, cars are fresh.

Oh, yeah, we have FINALLY paid out our Loan ... "has invited us to take out further borrowing".

Buzz off!

As you can see, we could take another loan. It would be interesting to do so, as I could quickly improve the Factory ... but ... I'll wait. I want to build up the cash next year.

Year To Date column, Banking row. We have lost $10.28m to the Bank due to the loan. Imagine how much money we'll make next year we an actual Title Sponsor and no Loan!

Of all Suppliers, it is Elf who brought an improved Race Fuel. +3 Performance, so Fuel Efficiency should be better.

We've yet to receiver a new spec of tires, however. The manufacturers have improved the tires. Comparing them to the last time we saw a Tire upgrade:

• Bridgestone Hard: +1 Grip, +1 Resilience, +1 Stiffness, +1 Temperature
• Bridgestone Soft: Nothing
• Bridgestone Inter: Nothing
• Bridgestone Wet: Getting repetitive

• Goodyear Hard: +2 Grip, +1 Resilience, +1 Stiffness, +1 Temperature
• Goodyear Soft, Inter and Wet: Nothing.

Why must Goodyear not provide us with buffed tires? And we signed a tire deal with them again ... whatever. We'll do this with or without you G- ... actually, no, we do need you!

Moving on!

The Nurburgring, in its GP configuration. Quite an entertaining track, quite well rounded, but is annoying on low handling cars. We should be safe from that ... STILL ...

This race is known to have ... a pretty random weather (Paging 1999 Europe), and Italy left me in a bit of a shock, so I won't be taking any chances, "Rain" and "Wind" points, plus a "Grip" point because you can't never have enough Grip.

Lies, damned lies, and German weather. It WILL rain. Which means big time shenanigans will happen. How "Big Time"?

Does a Panis pole position interest you? How about a Tyrell front row lockout? The Michael at P13?

But wait, there's more! Call now ...

... and get yourself a Double H Frentzen DNQ and a Newhouse P18 start!

Seriously, Herbert?!

It WILL rain again. There is no escape!

Yes, The Michael and The Mika were THIS dominant back then. Anyway, you might notice Diniz is nowhere to be seen. He'll get his explanation later. The Michael will slightly dig himself out of that hole with that win. Dominant win at that. Alesi podium because of course. Takagi points, but his current rival, Collard one ups him. Just a typical Takagi day, nothing special.

Mugen-Honda, you were doing fine. Then you stopped ... well ... we had been very lucky. These engines have 4 points of Reliability which ... not good. Just ... don't let it be a recurrent theme. Diniz was net P3 at the time of his DNF. Fortunately, Salo's down here too. Great news ...

So ... we'll go more in depth in the next chapter, but ... we have a fight for P1, P3 and P6. Salo's DNF means the lowest Diniz can finish is 5th(!!). He could miracle himself into P3, but let's stop day dreaming.

Benetton have managed to drag the fight to Japan (Of course, wouldn't be surprised to hear that Mugen-Honda planned this to say they won SOMETHING at Japan, right? Right!). Prost could miracle themselves ahead of Benetton, BTW.

Free from the burden of the Loan, our profits will now sky rocket!

Hold that thought, put a pin on the "Going Cheap" headline. As for the regs, we will visit them on the next chapter.

So, we needed 2 more sponsors to fill out the roster. Here's one.

Here's two. F you media.

Of course, final race of the season, Mugen-Honda deploys that new Power Unit. Because what you need at Japan is more fuel efficiency. Our Power when?!?!?!

I actually stopped developing Aids and made a reliability upgrade that we'll carry over for next season. There's no purpose or reason to upgrade Hydraulics performance, BTW, don't bother ... well ... there's a reason, but it is way to low to consider.

We won't be using that Research, and the Research doesn't carry over to next year. Sad. Anyway, Set Up points!

The Race Cars are fully fixed. We should have NO issue at all.

We are expected to make $37m next year assuming our costs stay the same. That sounds ... lovely.

Damn it, Williams ... wait ... what ... uhh ... Williams fired him ... then ... rehired him ... ?????

Next chapter, the end of the 1999. A bit of a Chart Party, then we close the season at the Suzuka circuit, track that has seen many championship deciders, including 1998. Until then!

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