Retro Silly Season

[S griffin]

At least March though made it onto the entry list. Interesting you mention they were hoping to secure Beta sponsorship. Would have been a nice throwback to the 70s, when they had the Monza Gorilla driving for them

[chunterer]

Would have been interesting if Middlebridge and Vollenberg cobbled their 2 teams together for '93?
Bit like AGS and Crypton tried to do.

Seem to recall BMS and Minardi were close to a merger at one point too.

[S griffin]

Close to? They actually did merge together in 94. Hence why Alboreto was one of Minardi’s race drivers and Badoer was their test driver

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Close to? They actually did merge together in 94. Hence why Alboreto was one of Minardi’s race drivers and Badoer was their test driver

Ah, thanks for the memory adjuster!

Yes of course, long time BMS chief Beppe Lucchini's logos featured on the M194's

[S griffin]

Probably helped Minardi in the long run before Flav bought a stake in them

[Theunser]

https://www.livegp.it/f1-alex-caffi-...n-la-williams/

Alex Caffi was talking with Frank Williams and Patrick Head about a 1990 seat.
Makes me wonder tho who Williams were going to let go for Caffi.

[chunterer]

Williams had a number of drivers linked to them after Nige left the first time round.

Boutsen got the drive eventually but was he first choice or merely a sensible interim option before they could identify the next Williams type of charger?

[gert]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Williams had a number of drivers linked to them after Nige left the first time round.

Boutsen got the drive eventually but was he first choice or merely a sensible interim option before they could identify the next Williams type of charger?

I think they really wanted Boutsen after he had a very good 1988 season.
However, he was always more Renault's choice than Williams' choice.

[S griffin]

Obviously Boutsen's stock would have been high after that very solid season he had in 88, with quite a few podiums. Although as you say there would have been a bit of politicking with Renault powering the Lotus cars. If only they got Prost sooner, that would have been a partnership to see

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Obviously Boutsen's stock would have been high after that very solid season he had in 88, with quite a few podiums. Although as you say there would have been a bit of politicking with Renault powering the Lotus cars. If only they got Prost sooner, that would have been a partnership to see

Prost was the only topline Frenchman around in the late 80's.

The others had been around the block a bit or hadn't been proven.

If Dalmas hadn't had problems in late 88 he is a driver that could well have become of interest to the top teams.

Raphanel and Grouillard were in F1 but not considered top line material.

Perhaps if the likes of Alesi, Comas or Bernard had come along a year or two sooner Renault/Elf might have pushed their cause for that Williams seat.

[Jiiiiiiim]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Prost was the only topline Frenchman around in the late 80's.

The others had been around the block a bit or hadn't been proven.

If Dalmas hadn't had problems in late 88 he is a driver that could well have become of interest to the top teams.

Raphanel and Grouillard were in F1 but not considered top line material.

Perhaps if the likes of Alesi, Comas or Bernard had come along a year or two sooner Renault/Elf might have pushed their cause for that Williams seat.

Of course Alesi did sign for Williams for 1991 but chose to go to Ferrari (story told many a time I know), really would have been interesting to see how Jean would have got on there.

[chunterer]

1989 big teams might well have been:

Mclaren Senna & Prost
Ferrari Mansell & Berger
Williams Patrese or Boutsen & Herbert
Benetton Nannini & Caffi or Herbert

[Theunser]

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/a...134/alex-caffi

Motorsport Magazine interviewed Caffi about his F1 career.
Interesting stuff.

[Theunser]

Recently I found the archives of brazilian newspaper, Globo on the web. It has many gossips about driver transfers. Some of them are sounding pretty crazy, but i guess thats part of the silly season itself.

For 1992 there were the following rumours about who goes where. It was the issue of 1991 3rd of November.

Mclaren:Their line up is settled, Senna-Berger, and Honda V12.

Williams-Renault:Nigel Mansell stays, but Prost might replace Patrese. Renault V10 here, of course.

Ferrari:Alesi stays, replacing Prost could be either Piquet, Capelli or Michael Andretti, or, in case Prost goes to Williams, Patrese could end up in Maranello.

Benetton:They are confirmed to be running Brundle and Schumacher, using the factory Ford engines.

Tyrrell:The engine is unknown yet. Drivers mentioned are Damon Hill, Paul Stewart. Mark Blundell and Emanuele Pirro.

Minardi:Changing to Lamborghini engines, there are many drivers in contention for the seat at the Faenza team. Namingly, current drivers, Pierluigi Martini and Gianni Morbidelli, two brazilians Roberto Moreno and Christian Fittipaldi, Andrea Chiesa, Emanuele Naspetti, Andrea Montermini and Stefano Modena.

Scuderia Italia:As they get the Ferrari V12 engine, there are many drivers rumoured to partner JJ Lehto. Capelli had a contract with rhe team, but might go to Ferrari. So the candidates are: Pierluigi Martini, Stefano Modena, Gianni Morbidelli and Alex Zanardi.

Footwork/Arrows:Changing to Honda V10s, the team retains Alboreto and replaces Alex Caffi with japanese Aguri Suzuki.

Larrousse:They get back the V12 Lambo engines, with Katayama as one of the drivers. Candidates to partner him are Bertrand Gachot, Alex Caffi, Gabriele Tarquini and having driven for the team the previous 2 years, Éric Bernard.

Ligier:Getting the V10 Renault's, Piquet or Prost could partner Boutsen.

Brabham:They are planning to run Van de Poele and Nakaya with a Judd V10 engine in the back.

Jordan:The team will use Yamaha V12s, with Stefano Modena likely to drive for them. Others mentioned are De Cesaris, Christian Fittipaldi, and Zanardi.

Leyton House:The team is looking to continue with Gugelmin and Wendlinger, with a V10 Ilmor engine.

Lotus:Hakkinen stays, Herbert, Bartels or Coulthard could partner him. The engine might be a V12 Isuzu.

Fondmetal:Tarquini is likely to stay, other possibilities are Chiesa, Blundell, Naspetti or Larini. The team will either use Ford V8 or Judd V10 engines.

Lambo:Larini could stay, they might use Ford V8s.

Andrea Moda:Masahito Kageyama and Alex Caffi are mentioned as possible drivers, using a Ford V8.

Il Barone Rampante:They are looking to enter F1 using Judd V10s. Names linked are Martini, Moreno, Fittipaldi and Zanardi.

AGS:The team is in financial trouble, if they survive they might enter with Grouillard driving, using a V8 Ford.

Link to the article:
https://acervo.oglobo.globo.com/busc...o=&esportes=on

[P38 in workshop]

I really wish we had that many cars trying to get on the grid these days.

[chunterer]

Great throw back to the end of 91 sill season there Theunser. Cheers for that.

[Theunser]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Great throw back to the end of 91 sill season there Theunser. Cheers for that.

That was just part one....

I don't know how I will do it, there will be one more post about the '92 silly season at least, but if there are too much material I might make more.

Globo looks like a gold mine of old driver transfer rumours.

[Theunser]

Some rumours about the last champion of the 20th century, Mika Hakkinen.

After Nannini had his unfortunate accident, british media wrote, that Hakkinen might replace the italian for 1991, tho the main candidate for the seat is Pupo Moreno. The brazilian might go to Brabham, in case Benetton doesen't choose him.

Source:
https://www.hs.fi/urheilu/art-2000003026232.html

After Hakkinen was demoted to test driver at Mclaren, due to Senna's sudden comeback, both Benetton and Jordan were trying to get him literally on loan.
Benetton was unhappy with Patrese, and a swap between Mclaren and the Enstone team could have happened. Benetton gets Hakkinen, Mclaren gets the factory Ford V8's, that Benetton exclusively uses.
Jordan sacked Ivan Capelli due to his lack of sponsorship and performance, and wanted Mika to partner Barrichello. Both Boutsen and Coulthard are mentioned as candidates for the number 15 car.
Well, both the Schumacher-Hakkinen, or the Hakkinen-Barrichello duo would be interesting to see.

Source:
https://www.hs.fi/urheilu/art-2000003224171.html

[chunterer]

Haha there was a period during '94 when Hakkinen and Rubinho kept taking each other off!

[Theunser]

Nicola Larini turned down an offer to drive for Scuderia Italia in order to drive for the Lamborghini team, according to his italian Wikipedia site.

[Theunser]

Both Ivan Capelli and Stefano Modena were talking to Ligier for a 1993 seat. Capelli had further options, namingly Scuderia Italia, Jordan and Tyrrell. Modena was also rumoured to be going back to Tyrrell.

Sources are:Globo, Corriere Della Serra, Autosprint

[S griffin]

Interesting that both those Italians were talking to Ligier for 93. Of course that was the only year they didn't have a French driver racing for them

[Theunser]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Interesting that both those Italians were talking to Ligier for 93. Of course that was the only year they didn't have a French driver racing for them

The more surprising is that they had their worst season in F1, yet they were able to negotiate with Ligier.

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by Theunser

The more surprising is that they had their worst season in F1, yet they were able to negotiate with Ligier.

I guess it would sort of be similar to Ricciardo negotiating with Alpine for 2023

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by Theunser

The more surprising is that they had their worst season in F1, yet they were able to negotiate with Ligier.

Yes, they seemed very unlikely to get seats again after that