GPM2, The Chairman Game.

[eurobrun]

The FIA is against having the Young Driver Test cancelled.

[FMecha]

Redon at first, Kristensen at second YDT.

We supports YDT and wants AWOL chairmen be kicked from the game.

[WaffleCat]

Sauber are in full support of the YDT.

[Ferrarist]

Mercedes is of course in full support of the YDT, and also agree with the choice the driver their customers have made.

[Shadaza]

Tom Kristensen leads rookie test.

Danish Ferrari rookie driver Tom Kristensen stole the headline time during rookie testing at Silverstone, his best lap of 1:27:755 was actually one second quicker then Michael Schumachers qualifying time last week! Conditions are of course different from last week but the result is sure to raise a few eyebrows. Behind him came the two Williams youth prospects, Official test driver Emmanuel Collard just pipped Dario Franchitti, the pair were half a second down on Kristensen. Ferraris official test driver Laurent Redon was 4th some way down on Kristensen. Redon wasn't the only official test driver embarrassed, Though the Gauthiers were 5th and 6th, de la Rosa was over a second faster then Heidfeld, both of whom were faster then Gauthier's qualy times last week as the reason for their slow times remains a mystery. Vincenzo Sospiri and Jeff Gordan for Lola and IBR also managed to beat their teams official test drivers by a big margin, even though this was the American drivers first taste of an open wheel car [Citation needed].

Oliver Gavin, Tony Kanaan and Ricardo Zonta all have reasons to be pleased with their lap times as they hope for a drive in the coming years.

Relative unknown Mark Webber did not disgrace himself in the Arrows and may be a star in a few years time, Bourdais seemed a little uncomftable but he is only 18 and has time to grow yet whilst Hattori also did not do too badly, though he has some way to go before he would become a top line driver and not just there for his money. Oliver Martini certainly isn't his older brother but he compares surprisingly well to Marquez and an out of form Katayama. Lowndes certainly has potential, just needs more open wheel practice the same can be said of Gordon. Burti needs to up his game, but the amount of mileage he has in that Lola is invaluable and he is bound to improve at this rate. The other drivers were clearly nervous at the test though Pescatori is frankly rubbish.

Full times:

1.Tom Kristensen 1:27.755 (Ferrari)
2.Emmanuel Collard 1:28.305 (Williams)
3.Dario Franchitti 1:28:340 (Williams)
4.Laurent Redon 1:29:172 (Ferrari)
5.Pedro de la Rosa 1:29:353 (Gauthier)
6.Nick Heidfeld 1:30:750 (Gauthier)
7.Oliver Gavin 1:31:382 (Sauber)
8.Vincenzo Sospiri 1:31:782 (Lola)
9.Mark Webber 1:31:885 (Arrows)
10.Tony Kanaan 1:32:539 (Champions)
11.Ricardo Zonta 1:32:574 (Minardi)
12.Sebastian Bourdais 1:33:115 (Arrows)
13.Shigeaki Hattori 1:33:175 (Sauber)
14.Luciano Burti 1:33:236 (Lola)
15.Oliver Martini 1:33:280 (Minardi)
16.Craig Lowndes 1:33:485 (Nissan)
17.Jeff Gordon 1:33:507 (IBR)
18.Shinji Nakano 1:34:177 (Jordan)
19.Hidetoshi Mitusada 1:34:210 (Nissan)
20.Paul Stokell 1:34:736 (Champions)
21.Christian Pescatori 1:35:279 (IBR)

Benetton did not attend the test and Jordan only sent one car.

[Klon]

I presume with the new system the Team Of Champions couldn't afford a Prost/Kanaan/Schumacher line-up for 1998?

[Shadaza]

I presume with the new system the Team Of Champions couldn't afford a Prost/Kanaan/Schumacher line-up for 1998?

Well I have not fully tiered drivers yet but Kanaan and Schumacher are both cheap drivers that offer good bang for buck so shouldn't be too expensive. The problem lies with Prost as he is one of the highest value (in terms of wage) drivers and the fact your team is, barring a shock run of form, going to be one of the worst three. It will come down to how other top drivers get rated (Hill, Coulthard, Alesi especially).

I was also thinking of offering discounts to teams that the driver is already in too, so if that is the case you may squeak him in.

[Klon]

Well then the Champions' Council shall make an offer to Kanaan as the second driver and see whether that works out or I need a pay driver.

[takagi_for_the_win]

Is it possible to sign Webber and Bourdais on long term/option contracts i.e. Arrows get first dibs on them and/or if a different team wishes to sign either of them, they have to ask my permission?

[Stramala]

Is it possible to sign Webber and Bourdais on long term/option contracts i.e. Arrows get first dibs on them and/or if a different team wishes to sign either of them, they have to ask my permission?

I think until the final 1-2 races of the season, drivers are locked in and cannot be signed without permission from their current team. However, after that point, it's a free for all. And it's only one year at a time, no multi-year contracts I think. But basically no-one can snatch a driver away mid-season from under your nose.

[Shadaza]

Is it possible to sign Webber and Bourdais on long term/option contracts i.e. Arrows get first dibs on them and/or if a different team wishes to sign either of them, they have to ask my permission?

I think until the final 1-2 races of the season, drivers are locked in and cannot be signed without permission from their current team. However, after that point, it's a free for
all. And it's only one year at a time, no multi-year contracts I think. But basically no-one can snatch a driver away mid-season from under your nose.

This, the way it is setup I do not wish for there to be long term contracts. That being said you can let it known that they are "your drivers" and anyone who would want to take them would be going against you personally and you can raise any issues with the board and the FIA.

Of course you could make them both your official test drivers. Lola currently have four drivers, their race drivers and their test drivers Fittipaldi and Burti.
Arrows might not be able to afford to do that however as Damon Hill is very expensive and Wurz isn't exactly cheap either.

[takagi_for_the_win]

Right then, I'll replace Diniz with Webber as test driver now if thats allowed and I'll consider Bourdais' future at the end of the season.

[Shadaza]

Following a successful young driver test, the Champions team have announced their intentions to sign Kanaan for a race drive next season whilst Arrows have announced they wish to sign Mark Webber as their Official test driver for the remainder of this season, also claiming to be impressed with French teenager Bourdais.

The IBR and Champions team have continued their close ties, The Champions team want to see what Ralf can do in their car, whilst Alain Prost wants to see what he can learn from the IBR team. Likewise the IBR team are glad to have someone like Prost to provide feedback. This straight swap is for one race only. This round also sees the return of Rubens Barrichello.

The Next round is Hockenheim, with it's long straights it favours teams with powerful engines.



Jaques Villeneuve takes another pole posistion but with no where near the level of dominance at Silverstone, with Ferrari taking a good 2-3 behind the Canadian. Though 5th and 6th Benetton could be a little disappointed as they were hoping to challenge for pole here. Gauthier seem to have put their Silverstone woes behind them with only an amazing lap from a resurgent Damon Hill stopping them from being the top Mercedes runners. Trulli has given Minardi their best grid slot in a long time with 15th place. Whilst Ralph Schumacher on his Champions debut just beats Prost on his IBR debut. It wasn't the nightmare Nissan predicted as Sauber and the factory Nissan team didn't do too badly with their lightweight-low power engines but the Jordan team had a horrible session with Fisichella nearly missing the 107%, Lavaggi missed the cut by over 3 seconds...

[Shadaza]

Michael Schumacher in commanding posistion after controversial win.

Ferrari take another 1-2 finish in a race covered with controversy. Villeneuve again had his race ended early, this time crashing in to Alain Prost. This left Ferrari clear to romp home, despite a brief rain shower towards the end. The controversy however revolves around the race result, with 3 laps to go Hakkinen had a 30 second lead over Michael Schumacher when for some reason the Fin visited the pitlane for "precautionary checks" he then exited the pitlane just 6 seconds ahead of Schumacher and the gap shrank over the last two laps when on the final straight Hakkinen appeared to slow and Michael Schumacher dived through to take the win. The German fans were unsure what to do, celebrate the home hero or boo the obvious team orders (Hence the timing error) . The majority cheered but many boos were heard, especially from the Finnish contingent! Almost unnoticed was the fact Montoya spun off from 3rd place towards the end, the Colombian was in the hunt for victory early on but had dropped away even before the rain showers, he was far enough ahead of Irvine though to still be given a podium place. Luca Badoer's awful season continues as he recieved a drive through for jumping the start then promptly collided with Al Unser JR after exiting the pit lane. IBR seem to be having regular tire problems since the switch to Tristan-Yameha engines (Don't ask me how that works!) with both cars retiring almost in sinc just as the rain began to fall. The only victim of the rain was Alex Wurz, it only drizzled a little and it only lasted a few laps. Tarso Marques unfortunately ran out of fuel, he came in for his scheduled pitstop only to find the team were servicing Trulli, so he continued in the hope to eek out another lap, he did not make it.

Damon Hill and Olivier Panis completed the points scorers, the Brit comming ahead of the French driver after a race long duel. Whilst the other cars should just be glad to have made it to the end on such a grueling circuit on engines.

[FMecha]

Looks like somebody is rigging Hakkinen's final-lap pitstop. I will investigate it before anyone else protests.

[Wizzie]

Forgive me if I've missed something but I don't think you've posted the entire championship standings in a while now.

[Backmarker]

Does Ricardo Zonta have any sponsorship behind him? His showing in the YDT was encouraging, we are interested in giving him his break.

[tommykl]

What the bathplug? I said that Takuya Kurosawa was driving the second Jordan for the YDT

[Shadaza]

What the bathplug? I said that Takuya Kurosawa was driving the second Jordan for the YDT

oh man, sorry about that. Once I get back on to the game I will do his runs and add him to the times.

Could teams put forward any testing plans they have for me to run on Tuesday, with the next round to be expected either Wednesday or Thursday. Apologies for not being around all that much.

It may also be worth considering engine partners for the next season. With Nuppiz's engine tool, engines will not be fixed on the same power/weight they were on last year. There are also plenty of engine slots free if anyone wants to create their own engine.

[Stramala]

Rubens will work on Car Improvements and Ralf will work on Car Performance. Pescatori will do yet more work on his driving skill.

[JeremyMcClean]

Lola will test Magnussen, Unser, Fittipaldi and Burti, and all will work on car performance.

Because why not?

[takagi_for_the_win]

Arrows willl test Hill, Wurz and Webber. Hill will work on car performance and Wurz and Webber will work on driver skill.

[tommykl]

Jordan will test Fisichella, Berger and Nakano. Nakano and Fisichella will work on driver skill, while Berger will work on car performance.

Oh, and how is the 1998 car coming along?

[Shadaza]

Jordan will test Fisichella, Berger and Nakano. Nakano and Fisichella will work on driver skill, while Berger will work on car performance.

Oh, and how is the 1998 car coming along?

Jordan have completed 75% of the car, with 5 races to go you are on schedule to have the car finished in time. I will report to progress on all teams after the next race, as Belgium marks the 3/4 mark of the season.

[the Masked Lapwing]

Nissan will test Frentzen, Fontana and Takagi, all working on car performance except Takagi (driver skill). Nissan would also like to sign Craig Lowndes as a test driver from now onwards.

[Shadaza]

At the Young Driver test, Jordan hopeful Takuya Kurosawa struggled in his first taste of an F1 car, his time of 1:35:947 put him last overall 7tenths down on even Pescatori.

Moving on to testing:
None of those testing teams specified where they wanted to test, so I used their home circuit.

Imola: IBR
IBR had a varied work scheme for all three drivers and can come out of the test largely satisfied though rain did hinder the test somewhat. Ralf Schumacher tested upgrades and claimed the "results look good." whilst Rubens Barrichello worked on the car's pace cutting his time by half a second across the day claiming the car had improved. Pescatori worked on driver skill but did not improve. All drivers claim that the engine performs well whilst being pushed to the limit.

Rubens Barrichello: 1:40.582
Ralf Schumacher: 1:42.540
Christian Pescatori: 1:47.549

The bigger test Is at Silverstone, as Lola, Arrows, Jordan and Nissan are all in action.
Lola went first, heavy rain interupted Unser and Burti's attempts and they found no improvements. The cars were then adjusted for Fittipaldi and Magnussen and the rain stopped, so on a now damp track Fittipaldi and Magnussen came out to record faster time though they did only find a small improvement and it wasn't a great test for the Lola team. Next out was Arrows, with Hill working on the car and the youngsters Wurz and new TD Mark Webber worked on driver skill. It was a fruitless session for the team with neither the car nor driver reporting any improvements, still, Hill goes top whilst Webber isn't all that far away from Wurz. Jordan tested next with mixed results, Fisichella and Nakano were working on driver skill and neither reported any improvement, but Berger was working on the car and reported an improvement. Fisichella went out in the car again and knocked half a second off his best, though Berger did not share the same improvement and set a similar time to his previous best. The Final team to test was Nissan who announce the signing of Craig Lowndes as a test/development driver, though he will not be driving at this test, that honor falls to Frentzen, Fontana and Takagi. Frentzen found one improvement in his car that may have made the team a few tenths faster but it was rather inconclusive. Takagi did not improve.

Damon Hill 1:29:781
Christian Fittipaldi 1:30:718
Heinz Harold Frentzen 1:32:157
Gehard Berger 1:32:348
Alex Wurz 1:33:518
Jan Magnussen 1:33:822
Mark Webber 1:34:082
Noberto Fontana 1:35:350
Giancarlo Fisichella 1:35:542
Shinji Nakano 1:37:230
Tora Takagi 1:37:729
Al Unser JNR 1:43:135
Luciano Burti 1:45:451

[Shadaza]

Does Ricardo Zonta have any sponsorship behind him? His showing in the YDT was encouraging, we are interested in giving him his break.

No Zonta will not be a "pay driver." However he would be very cheap and on the soon to come "tier list" he would class as a rookie which would be the 2nd cheapest category behind "pay driver." I apologise for taking so long to reply.

[Shadaza]

Round 12 Belgium.

Spa is another circuit which favors Engine power.


Montoya takes his 2nd career pole, pipping team mate Montoya by two tenths of a second, with Ferrari over a second back once more. It was a session to forget for Benetton, despite the most powerful engine in the field, Irvine just about held off the Gauthiers and Badoer was once again nowhere. IBR seem to be getting to grips with their Yameha engines a bit better whilst Jordan have a nightmare session, The Champions team are the slowest of the bunch with Lavaggi not making it, a real shame as they had been showing signs of a recovery in the previous few rounds.

[Shadaza]

Williams take dominant 1-2.

Villeneuve finally returned to winning ways after another race rocked by apparent team orders.



Montoya dominated the race, he had pace early on and seemed to cut through traffic much better then the chasing pack, a pack that consisted of Villeneuve, M.Schumacher, Hakkinen, Irvine, Panis, Moore and surprisingly the two Lola cars. Jarno Trulli made an awful start and was running last, whilst Marques was keeping pace with the Nissan runners, Trulli fell back until he pulled over after just 7 laps, it appears he is Ill and looks set to miss the next round. The key to this race is fuel, with the traffic causing the leaders to slow down, the higher fuel runners were the the ones to benefit as tire wear was minimal, Montoya had pulled out such a gap that even though he stopped first, he still lead, Hakkinen also stopped early and this was a disaster for the Finn as he dropped right off the lead pack as he struggled to get heat in to the tires. The man who befitted most was Jan Magnussen, who was fueled one lap longer then all of the leaders, this put him up to 5th place just behind Irvine! The Lola of Unser JR. though did not reach such lofty heights and soon retired with gearbox issues. Greg Moore was facing enormous pressure from Mika Hakkinen whilst battling for 7th place. The Canadian let his inexperience show as he spun off, though to Moore's credit such mistakes have been rare this season.

A key part of this race was the pace, or lack of, from Luca Badoer. Despite having an identical engine to that of the leading Williams team, his car just didn't seem to have any pace and soon a queue of seven cars had built up behind him, both Saubers, both Nissans, Berger, Ralf Schumacher and Tarso Marques were all over him. This caused chaos when the race leaders came up to this train. This bunch up of cars was exactly what Mika Hakkinen did not want to see as stopping first, this would put him even further behind. As the pits cycled once more Montoya saw himself not leading for the first time as Villeneuve eked ahead, though only for a lap as the Canadian had to pit. Hakkinen fell behind Damon Hill and down to 8th place whilst the late stopping Magnussen was now in a fabulous 4th place on merit. Irvine and Panis were sitting in 5th and 6th. The race looked to finish that way when surprisingly on lap 42/44 Montoya made a late late pit stop and emerged in 2nd place, just behind Jaques Villeneuve, it seems Williams have decided to focus on Jaques for the championship bid! This put Montoya just 5 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher, who suddenly fancied a shot at 2nd place. The German however got it all wrong trying to catch Montoya and spun out the race within spitting range of Montoya. This put Magnussen on the podium and this is how the race finished.

Villeneuve and Montoya barely looked each other in the eye on the podium and their celebration was very low key. Magnussen on the other hand was waving his arms around crazily and punching the air, nobody would of called a Lola on the podium here yet the new team managed it, what a result! Panis managed to jump Irvine in the closing laps as the Benetton car just seemed to give up late on, Badoer even finished behind Marques and there is just no excuse for that. Hakkinen finishing behind Hill in 7th meant Ferrari take no points at all!

So this is how the championships looks with just 4 race remaining.

Jean Alesi has been signed by Sauber for the final 3 races of the season.

IBR scored all their points under the "Wind-Lamborghini" guise.

[JeremyMcClean]

We're very proud of Jan's podium finish today at Belgium. As a result, we have given Jan a contract extension to the 1998 season. We will also announce that we will use Mercedes engines next year.

Also, how done is Lola's car for 1998?

[DanielPT]

Jacques Villeneuve, you better start packing!

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Another good, solid performance for us. Obviously, it's a bit of a shame Greg made that mistake, but at this stage I think he's more than proven himself as being worthy of competing in F1, and such things can be forgiven, I feel. 3rd was our ultimate target once both Ferrari's had their setbacks, and Olivier drove very well, but ultimately we did not really have the pace, strategy, or setup to match Magnussen today. At this stage of the season, we are not really focusing on this year's car as much as next year's, where we hope to close to gap to Ferrari and Williams.

[FMecha]

So, Ferrari got ROTR on this race?

[MigelNansell]

I'm loving this it's more fun than the real F1 all you need is a angry Brazilian feeling victimized by the FIA President and a British Driver playing the politics card and it's like history repeating itself. I so want in

[takagi_for_the_win]

Sorry for the massive bump, but is this dead or hibernating or what?

[Shadaza]

I really can't find a lot of time for this right now, but it is not dead yet. I apologise for the wait though.

[Shadaza]

The series is back, however I can confirm that there will not be a tier list rather a free for all on drivers (with priority to those who had the driver for this season)



As expected at the Monza arena of speed, Williams are the kings. Villeneuve needs all the points he can considering he is 24 points behind Schumacher with just 4 races to go. The cars are for the most part 2 by 2 on the grid whilst Lavaggi DNQ once again.

The race features perhaps one of the worst drives ever seen, a shock injury/illness combo and a further twist in the Championship, don't miss it!

[Shadaza]

Villeneuve keeps title hopes alive as the Tifosi go home dissapointed.


Jaques Villeneuve keeps his title hopes alive as he closes the gap to Schumacher down to 18 points with 3 races remaining. Irving helps the Williams-Renault combo with a superb 2nd place ahead of an off colour Ferrari team. Schumacher was 3rd but Hakkinen was absoluteness nowhere and his title challenge is now over.

Damon Hill and Arrows continued their recent good form, though Wurz should have really secured 4th before he span off. Still this was to the benefit of Al Unser and Fontana who drove consistent races to finish in the points, Nissan scoring on theoretically their 2nd weakest circuit is good news as we move on to the twistier Jerez circuit to finish off the Europe leg.

The race was notable for some shocking drives, Hakkinen lost a lap early on and lost all motivation. Both Gauthiers were off the pace and Montoya also lost 3 laps! Hakkinen drive is easy ROTR.

[JeremyMcClean]

Why is Hakkinen 8 laps down in a Ferrari?

We're very pleased with Al's points finish today as we add more points to our total in the constructors'. Unfortunately Jan was unable to finish the race and we are looking into the trouble. We would also like to add that we have signed on for another two years with engine supplier Mercedes.

[Shadaza]

Jan Magnussen Injured, Mika Hakkinen Ill! During the Grand Prix Jan Magnuessen suffered a high speed puncture and hit the barriers fairly hard and as a result picked up concussion, he has thus been ruled out of the next race. Mika Hakkinen's awful race may be explained by the fact he had to be assisted out of the car in the end, he seems to be very ill and will miss the next race. Laurent Redon will be the replacement for Hakkinen unless otherwise stated. Whilst who should replace Magnussen, Burti or Fittipaldi?

Why is Hakkinen 8 laps down in a Ferrari?

We're very pleased with Al's points finish today as we add more points to our total in the constructors'. Unfortunately Jan was unable to finish the race and we are looking into the trouble. We would also like to add that we have signed on for another two years with engine supplier Mercedes.

It comes down to the manufacturer in the end , but unless Ferrarist says otherwise it should be fine.