GPM2, May the best manager win!

[tristan1117]

Raikkonen on two and Zonta on one please.

[Klon]

R. Schumacher - 19, 38, 58

R. Barrichello - 20, 39, 59

[Stramala]

Hakk on three & Dario on two.

[AdrianSutil]

Felipe Massa will one stop on lap 39. (if fuel tank not big enough, he will two-stop on laps 22 and 47)

Adrian Sutil will two stop on laps 25 and 51.

[andrew]

both 2 stoppers please

[Ferrim]

This being GPM2, one stopping is a very bad strategy at Monaco. In fact you can't make it unless you play with the sliders (which is forbidden) or with the suspension setups (which make you extremely slow).

[Shadaza]

This being GPM2, one stopping is a very bad strategy at Monaco. In fact you can't make it unless you play with the sliders (which is forbidden) or with the suspension setups (which make you extremely slow).

He is right, I should of said earlier but I forgot. Everyone who has chosen a 1 stop, I shall run an extra long first stint 2 stopper instead. I will give until 22:00 GMT for pit strategy,

[DanielPT]

This being GPM2, one stopping is a very bad strategy at Monaco. In fact you can't make it unless you play with the sliders (which is forbidden) or with the suspension setups (which make you extremely slow).

He is right, I should of said earlier but I forgot. Everyone who has chosen a 1 stop, I shall run an extra long first stint 2 stopper instead. I will give until 22:00 GMT for pit strategy,

This is ok for me.

[Shadaza]

The single greatest race on GPM2 I have ever witnessed. It had everything. Last lap drama, tears, unlikely heroes, memorable laps, actual overtaking. The top 3 on the podium of the race all fought for the win and in the last 10 laps all 3 of them led at some point. Wow just wow is all I can say. The performance of the cars was widley varied, on full fuel and new tires the cars were slow, on worn tires they were slow, the Goldilocks point meant different cars were quick at different times. It was fantastic. Not to mention that when lapping traffic, the Monaco tunnel proved an opportune moment for overtaking. A queue of 6 cars would enter and a new order would emerge every lap.

Build up aside here are the results



Ralf Schumacher would have dominated this race, but unfortunately for him (but fortunate for the neutral observer) his engine died. Creating a thrilling 3 way scrap for the victory.

Barrichello's 3 stop strategy was massively impaired by Mark Webber jumping him at the start, so much so that Barrichello had to overtake people, and overtake he did, in a 3 lap period in the middle of the race he went from 12th to 2nd place. But the crucicial time needed to pit and the laps needed to heat the tires Barrichello emerged from the final pit stop a few seconds ahead of an on form Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso and he dropped behind both of them, With Ralf Schumacher having retired with engine trouble, a worried Ferrari mechanic may have settled for 3rd, not Barrichello though who started to press on and begin his epic come back.

Meanwhile Alonso and Michael Schumacher were battling the entire race, the two of them establishing themselves as the best of the chasing pack once it became clear BAR, Williams and Asiatech (YES AITECH!) could not maintain as fast a pace as those two. At the end of the first pitstop Schumie led Alonso, depsite pitting on the same lap McLaren clearly wore their tires faster and a few laps before they would both pit again for fresh tires Alonso pounced and overtook Schumacher for then 2nd place. Conversly, McLaren also managed to heat their tires faster then the Renault and Michael repassed Alonso within two laps. The next lap on the exit of the tunnel Michael Passed former team mate Barrichello for the lead and immediately pulled off a quarter lap gap on Barrichello who had his hands full holding off Alonso. Alonso did manage to pull of a brave move in the tunnel to get by Barrichello, but it was short lived, Barrichello with fresher rubber now fully dialed in to the track pounced 1 lap later and started to chase o'l Michael. He took seconds out of Schumacher each lap and with 3 laps of the race remaining made a dive to take the most thrilling of race victories. As for Michael, his rapid pace earlier on had come to hurt him and he was facing massive pressure from Alonso.

Trulli who had pitted 1 lap earlier then Schumacher down the line was facing horrific tire wear, so much so that he was struggling to hold Heidfeld back, and in the final 3 lap period dropped from 4th to 7th! Under similar circumstances it was an incredible job for Michael Schumacher to hold on to 2nd, another lap and maybe Alonso would of got him. Either way it was a champions drive from all 3 podium men. I didn't think Monaco could produce such races.

Other great stories included Nico Rosberg running in 4th place when he retired! Jenson Button finally having pace only to throw it all away AGAIN, Raikkonen making a rare error, Webber making a less rare error, and Toyota finally scoring their first point this season! plus who wouldn't enjoy seeing Hakkinen overtake the guy who's second in the championship on the LAST lap of the race. (well last lap for them anyway, what with the top 3 lapping the field)

Also those Ansimov's were woefully slow, they must of taken a short-cut somehow in qualifying, when Pizzonia is on a 3 stop strategy clearly holding up cars with a full tank of fuel to the tune of seconds a lap it really makes you wonder.

1-3 already described.

4.Nick Heidfeld, BAR
Rather a quiet race for Heidfeld, who only really seemed to come alive in the closing stages. Passing Trulli is satisfying but with Ralf Schumacher, Alesi, Button and team mate Webber all retiring ahead of him Nick should feel lucky to secure 4th.

5.Giancarlo Fisichella, Williams
Didn't make his 3 stop strategy run as well as he could have, never really lighting up the time sheets at any point, nor was he woefully slow at any point. So a measured mediocre drive for mediocre points. Probably should have beaten Heidfeld.

6.Mika Hakkinen, Minardi
First points for the Finnish world champion, and he fought hard to earn them too! In the early stages of the race Hakkinen wasn't even on the lead packs pace despite being on a 3 stopper, however as the race progressed Hakkinen went faster and faster and over the last few laps was perhaps the fastest man out there!

7.Jarno Trulli, McLaren
This raced magnified Trulli's strengths and weaknesses. A good qualifying and opening stint but losing pace as the race went on, humiliated to lose out to cars he really should be beating.

8.Olivier Panis, Toyota.
Panis was, for want of a better phrase, slow for the opening half of this race, whilst Montoya was just about hanging on to the lead pack Panis dropped back considerably. However he kept his car running and in the 2nd half of the race was running at a much greater pace, he even recovered a lap whilst Barrichello and Schumacher were fighting. He was right on Trulli at the end, a solid result.

9.Antonio Pizzonia, Ansimov.
The Ansimov car seems to be falling further away from the field with every race, completely outclassed by everything, Pizzonia himself probably could of gone faster but he didn't have a hope in hell of scoring any points today besides attrition.

10.Jean Alesi, Renault. Spun Off.
Alesi was in the thick of the battle for fourth but such was the battle for the lead he was a lapped runner when he retired almost unnoticed. Shouldn't be spinning away points like this, but we should give him a little slack as he only just recovered from injury.

11.Kimi Raikkonen, Sauber Spun Off.
Another man who was in the battle for 4th place, Raikkonen rarely ever makes mistakes but he had been running the Sauber far higher up then it deserves to be.

12.Nico Rosberg, AItech. Spun Off.
By far the surprise package of the race, as the race went on Rosberg was overtaking more and more cars until he shockingly overtook Button for 4th place. So to see him in the wall at St. Devote was really heart breaking.

13.Ricardo Zonta, Sauber ENGINE.
Engine failure for Zonta, but he wasn't really looking as if he would score points, the Ansimov cars ruined his strategy and he was a long way behind Panis when his car died.

14.Jenson Button, Williams. Spun Off.
ROTR for Jenson Button, with all William's car issues fixed Button looked set to score his first points of the season and he screwed up AGAIN. Williams have much less points then they deserve and Button is largely responsible.

15.Mark Webber, BAR. Spun Off.
Poor Mark, after a great qualifying and start, he was running as high as second. But the BAR evidently had a lot of trouble switching it's tires on and by the end of the first pitstops the Renaults, McLarens, William's and Asiatechs had all got ahead of him. He was on the verge of a mini recovery when he spun off.

16.Ralf Schumacher, Ferrari. Engine
Engine woes again for Ralf and at the worst possible time, he had literally lapped the entire field when his car failed exiting the tunnel. The mechanics must be scratching their heads on this one because his car was unchanged from the one that won in Austria.

17.Fellipe Massa, Arrows. Electronics.
This was Massa's best race yet and a decent points haul looked possible, his pace may not have been steller after the first pitstop but before he was looking racy indeed. Unlapping himself when Ralf was struggling after coming out of the pitstops must of made a great sight to see.

18.Heikki Kovalainen, AItech, Collision.
The only retirement from collision damage, Heikki was blocking Ralf Schumacher so much that the German got frustrated and near enough barged his way through. A shame because Kovalainen probably would of scored a decent points haul.

19.Tiago Monteiro, Jordan, Spun off.
Tiago entered the tunnel on lap 31 and never emerged. He wasn't anywhere near as impressive as he was in Austria and really struggled around the difficult street track.

20.HWNSNBM, Jordan. Electronics
Considering the great things we have come to expect from the Hungarian, this really wasn't one of them, anonymous all race before gently grinding to a halt with fried electrics.

21.Pedro de la Rosa, Ansimov Electronics.
The only positive about the performance was de la Rosa consistently looks the better driver in the team.

22-26 All early retirements, hard to judge where they would of come in this race, as Hakkinen proved with his charge to the points from no where.

First points this season for Hakkinen, Panis and Toyota.

Championship
1.Michael Schumacher 48
2.Jarno Trulli 26
3.Rubens Barrichello 20
4.Ralf Schumacher 19
5.Nick Heidfeld 18
6.Alesi 17 (1 win)
7.Fisichella 17
8.Fernando Alonso 16
9.HWNSNBM 15 (1 2nd)
10.Kimi Raikkonen 16
11.Mark Webber 12
12.Luca Badoer 11
13.Takuma Sato 9
14.Heinz Harold Frentzen 6
15.Tiago Monteiro 5
16=Mika Hakkinen 3
16=Dario Franchitti 3
16=Pedro de la Rosa 3
19=Enrico Toccacelo 2
19=Ricardo Zonta 2
19=Alex Wurz 2
19=Tony Kanaan 2
23=Adrian Sutil 1
23=Olivier Panis 1

Teams
1.McLaren 76
2.Ferrari 39 (3 wins)
3.Renault 39 (2 wins)
4.BAR 30
5.Jordan 20 (1 2nd)
6.Jaguar 20 (2 3rd)
7.Sauber 19
8.Williams 17
9.Minardi 6
10.Ansimov 3
11.Asiatech 2
12=Arrows 1
12=Toyota 1

[AdrianSutil]

Arrows ftw!

How was Sutil and Massa's pace before the typical retirement?

Also, can we break into Toyota and steal anything to help our electronic gremlins.

[Stramala]

I thought we already fixed the motherf***ing steering?!

[Shadaza]

Arrows ftw!

How was Sutil and Massa's pace before the typical retirement?

Also, can we break into Toyota and steal anything to help our electronic gremlins.

Well, the only part Toyota had on their entire car that is better then yours is their cooling system. Say had, because you broke in and stole it .
Massa's pace was very good in the early stages, he had jumped Luca Badoers Jaguar and left him behind for dust and he was fighting with the leaders at the first round of pitstops. After the first pit stop though he began to drop back quite a lot and was soon behind the Asiatech cars. When Massa retired he was 1/4 lap ahead of Hakkinen and 1/2 a lap up on Panis, so a good points haul would of been possible. Sutil's race was ruined early on by the slow Ansimov cars.

I thought we already fixed the motherf***ing steering?!

Your steering system is better no doubt about it, but the part is still new and maybe that contributed to the failure. At the end of the day random part failures are a part of GPM2. Though McLaren and BAR are yet to have a single mechanical failure! You should be happy at least you are now well clear of Ansimov, Arrows, Asiatech and Toyota. Beating any of the teams above of you now even with Honda engines is a big ask.

[East Londoner]

Which team(s) have better brakes than BAR? Because I fancy a bit of a raid to celebrate the 30-point mark being reached

[Stramala]

Which team(s) have better brakes than BAR? Because I fancy a bit of a raid to celebrate the 30-point mark being reached

You can't actually see which team has better brakes until you break into them. So basically, you have to guess which team has better brakes and break into them while crossing your fingers for the right component.

Speaking of which, Minardi will try to break into McLaren and nick anything that improves our car the most.

[Shadaza]

Which team(s) have better brakes than BAR? Because I fancy a bit of a raid to celebrate the 30-point mark being reached

You can't actually see which team has better brakes until you break into them. So basically, you have to guess which team has better brakes and break into them while crossing your fingers for the right component.

Speaking of which, Minardi will try to break into McLaren and nick anything that improves our car the most.

you are correct, you attempt to break in to McLaren but the security is too tight.

[East Londoner]

Fair enough then. I fancy heading up to the Jordan factory, see if there's something that could be taken.

[Shadaza]

Fair enough then. I fancy heading up to the Jordan factory, see if there's something that could be taken.

You managed to break in to Jordan but fail to take their Vanes, being "fined" 225,000 for bringing the sport in to disrepute. (Actually you get paid a handy sum but whatever)

[Stramala]

I think Minardi will take another run at BAR then, and if that fails, Jaguar.

[Shadaza]

I think Minardi will take another run at BAR then, and if that fails, Jaguar.

You nick BAR's rear wing.

[andrew]

Mclaren want to brake into Ferrari for steering

[Shadaza]

Mclaren want to brake into Ferrari for steering

you successfully steal Ferrari's steering.

[Wizzie]

Williams feel like breaking into a team and nicking some stuff. Guess what team it is

[Shadaza]

Williams feel like breaking into a team and nicking some stuff. Guess what team it is

You were unsuccessful in breaking in to the "mystery team"

[AdrianSutil]

Imagine if real Formula 1 was like this! I can just see Stefano Domenicalli sprinting down pit-lane with Vettel's exhaust system

[Wizzie]

Williams feel like breaking into a team and nicking some stuff. Guess what team it is

You were unsuccessful in breaking in to the "mystery team"

But we all know who the Mystery Team is

[Stramala]

Imagine if real Formula 1 was like this! I can just see Stefano Domenicalli sprinting down pit-lane with Vettel's exhaust system

Or Christian Horner taking a screwdriver to the Mercedes W03 and removing the secondary F-duct system

[tristan1117]

How is Sauber's sponsorship situation? If we have any sponsors calling, sign them immediately.

[Shadaza]

How is Sauber's sponsorship situation? If we have any sponsors calling, sign them immediately.

You still have 6 races remaining on your Petronas deal, at the moment you are not targeting any other sponsor, with Kingfisher and Dell still avaliable (not willing to sponsor Minardi/Jordan/Arrows yet!) and 5 star sponsor AMD has nobody going for it, though I doubt Sauber would be able to attract them as of yet.

I just realised I forgot to show everyone their money/updates.

Williams, Advanced steering level 2, 13.312 Million
Ferrari, 13.496 Million
McLaren, 8.503 Million
Renault, Semi Automatic gears maximum level 6, work on driver aids stopped,11.647 Million
BAR, 11.951 Million
Sauber, 11.128 Million
Jaguar 17.619 Million
Toyota, 9.696 Million (over half of budget spent in just 7 races!)
Jordan, 10.999 Million (Because of lack of prize money you lost more then normal this round despite having two pay drivers runnning)
Minardi, Semi Automatic gears level 3 15.330 Million
Arrows. 11.232 Million
Ansimov, 9.643 Million

Jaguar made a profit for the 3rd time in 4 races and Toyota lost the most this round, losing a staggering 1.5 million between Austria and Monaco.
Montreal is the next race of the season and marks the half way point of the championship, where I will produce the 2nd 2004 season preview.

[Wizzie]

400k loss... I think I can live with that.

In order to save costs, Williams will like to downgrade from excellent accommodation to merely good and stop bringing Briscoe to races on the basis that we won't need him.

Toyota, 9.696 Million (over half of budget spent in just 7 races!)

... and Toyota lost the most this round, losing a staggering 1.5 million between Austria and Monaco

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down.

[Wizzie]

And before I forget, Williams will like to focus 60% on AMD as a sponsor to replace Lucky Strike for next year with 10% each on Williams' other four sponsors. We'll also like to renew any merchandise contracts on the bottom half of the merchandise screen that have expired. Finally, Williams will try their luck with breaking into Toyota for the heck of it.

[Shadaza]

And before I forget, Williams will like to focus 60% on AMD as a sponsor to replace Lucky Strike for next year with 10% each on Williams' other four sponsors. We'll also like to renew any merchandise contracts on the bottom half of the merchandise screen that have expired. Finally, Williams will try their luck with breaking into Toyota for the heck of it.

Ok I have all of that, and the stuff you mentioned on the post before. You broke in to Toyota but got caught trying to take their vanes and "fined" 150k.

[the Masked Lapwing]

Is Jaguar working on anything at the moment? If not, get them started on something or rather.

[Shadaza]

Is Jaguar working on anything at the moment? If not, get them started on something or rather.

You are currently manufacturing an EMS and a Rear wing, both are about 50% done, you are not working on any driver aids at the moment.

Advanced steering is very likely to be available next season so I will start work on that unless you want to pick something else.

[Wizzie]

I've decided to go back into micro-management mode on the basis that I've got nothing better to do so I'd like to know how long Williams' sponsorship contracts go for. I'd also like to know how much progress we've made on the sidepods and the new car.

[the Masked Lapwing]

Yeah, let's get working on the steering.

[Wizzie]

Yeah, let's get working on the steering.

Dude, at this rate, you'll get nothing finished until next year

I highly recommend only working on one car component at a time. Two at the absolute maximum.

[Shadaza]

I've decided to go back into micro-management mode on the basis that I've got nothing better to do so I'd like to know how long Williams' sponsorship contracts go for. I'd also like to know how much progress we've made on the sidepods and the new car.

HSBC and Intel have 4 races remaining, Pepsi 6, Luckystrike 9 (end of season) and West 9 (end of season)
Sidepods seems to be about 60-70% and your new car is 86% complete.

and Wizzie I think Masked Lampwig is refering to the advanced steering driver aid, not manufacturing.

[Wizzie]

and Wizzie I think Masked Lampwig is refering to the advanced steering driver aid, not manufacturing.

In which case, can't Williams just sell Jaguar our system and our EMS for some cash?

[the Masked Lapwing]

and Wizzie I think Masked Lampwig is refering to the advanced steering driver aid, not manufacturing.

In which case, can't Williams just sell Jaguar our system and our EMS for some cash?

Normally I'd say "bugger off" but since I'm making a profit for some strange reason (mostly because Sato hasn't thrown it into a wall yet), I like this idea

[Wizzie]

and Wizzie I think Masked Lampwig is refering to the advanced steering driver aid, not manufacturing.

In which case, can't Williams just sell Jaguar our system and our EMS for some cash?

Normally I'd say "bugger off" but since I'm making a profit for some strange reason (mostly because Sato hasn't thrown it into a wall yet), I like this idea

Ok, the deal is 75k for the EMS, 50k each for Level 1 Advanced Steering, Level 1 Semi-Automatic Gears and Level 1 Traction control, and 15k for each subsequent level. I'll let Shadaza do the maths