Retro Silly Season

[S griffin]

Ken Tyrrell told the press he wanted a Brit in his car for 84 and listed Brundle, Palmer and Watson as the drivers he was considering

[S griffin]

Rick Mears was another one linked to Ferrari in 82

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Rick Mears was another one linked to Ferrari in 82

Never heard that before?

Presumably with a view to 1983?

What was the source for that out of interest?

[S griffin]

Look up the Twitter page Ye Olde Autosport. You’ll find plenty of little titbits from times past

[Armco Bender]

Back in the day everybody was going to drive for everybody else.
I'm sure the motor magazines of the day made most of it up to get suckers to buy their magazines.
Worked for me I bought plenty of motor mags to keep up with the goss..

[hoffman66]

This is indeed true, I have a stash of old bike racing magazines from the early 90's and I would say three quarters of the gossip type news in them is wrong and nothing came of it, you cold see why there was the story but most of it was made up!!

[S griffin]

Mexican Indycar Josele Garza was linked to Minardi for both 87 and 88. A little known fact is he did compete in F1, when he drove a Brabham during one of the practice sessions at the 86 Mexican GP. Long before Friday drivers became a thing

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Mexican Indycar Josele Garza was linked to Minardi for both 87 and 88. A little known fact is he did compete in F1, when he drove a Brabham during one of the practice sessions at the 86 Mexican GP. Long before Friday drivers became a thing

Seem to recall he had been mentioned as a possible for the Brabham no.2 around that time too.

I think 50% of the drivers at F2/F3000/F3 and Indycar level got linked to Brabham at some point or another during their latter days.

[S griffin]

Chris Amon was all set to join Marc for 73, before Jarier and his backers put paid to that

[Theunser]

Just read, Nick Fry said Hamilton was negotiating with Honda to make his F1 debut with the Japanese manufacturer in 2007.
But didn"t Button and Barrichello have long-term contracts?

[S griffin]

Prost was offered a third McLaren seat for the 79 US GP, but felt it was of little importance for his first full season in 1980.

Hamilton also turned down DLR’s McLaren seat at the 2006 Brazilian GP

[S griffin]

There was talk of Piquet and Boutsen doing a swap for 88, i.e. Boutsen to Williams and Piquet to Benetton. Both eventually happened...

[gert]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Seem to recall he had been mentioned as a possible for the Brabham no.2 around that time too.

I think 50% of the drivers at F2/F3000/F3 and Indycar level got linked to Brabham at some point or another during their latter days.

Thomas Kaiser certainly was, IIRC.

[S griffin]

Moreno came close to the Toleman seat in 85

[Theunser]

In 2012 Red Bull(Mr Marko) tried to put either Ricciardo or Vergne into Caterham. As they couldn't manage it, they put both of them into Toro and as a result Alguersuari had to leave.
Meanwhile Buemi was a candidate for Williams.

[Shawn19]

Not exactly F1,but after retiring from F1 at the end of 2000, Johnny Herbert was linked to various CART teams, including Ganassi, Sigma Autosport, Dale Coyne Racing and Newman Haas.

[Theunser]

Before signing for Caterham for 2013, Charles Pic had talks with Sauber and Force India.
He completely disappeared from racing, I belive he gave it up to run the family business.

[S griffin]

Interestingly they had a what could have been section in last week’s Autosport. Lucas di Grassi was linked to both Renault and Honda (later Brawn) for 2009. Instead he only had one season in a back of the grid Virgin to show for his F1 efforts

[Theunser]

Sir Jackie Stewart had an offer from Lotus to make his debut with them in 1965. But he felt it would be too much pressure to race alongside Jim Clark in his debut year. So he signed with BRM.
Also, he was linked to Ferrari a few times. He had offers in 1968 and in 1971.

[S griffin]

Patrese was offered a Ligier seat for 94, but declined, saying he didn't want to drive for a midfield team

[crmalcolm]

Reading a lot of 'Name' was due to sign for 'Team' but 'XXXX' happened in this thread.

Are any of these rumours/stories backed up with evidence, or are they all hearsay and personal recollections?

[S griffin]

We’re enjoying this thread with stories of old and that’s all that matters

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by S griffin

We’re enjoying this thread with stories of old and that’s all that matters

That's fine - just wondering if the stories were fact or fiction?

[Theunser]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

That's fine - just wondering if the stories were fact or fiction?

I read them in websites/magazines, and also interviews with the drivers, who mention it.
So all the stories has reality behind them.

[S griffin]

We try to avoid the stirring up rumours, preferring the ones that were quite plausable.