Retro Silly Season

[Theunser]

"For 1985 Lotus made me an offer, and I really wanted to go. Ken had given me my chance, but he hadn’t got a turbo engine, or a sponsor – the car just had Tyrrell written down the side. Ken had an option on me which he had to exercise by November 30, and he wouldn’t let me know what he wanted to do."

Interesting.....so Lotus made an offer to Brundle earlier than to Senna? Or they wanted Brundle to replace De Angelis and go with a Senna-Brundle duo?

The whole article:
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/a...martin-brundle

[Theunser]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Indeed! I recall his part F3000 season with GA the previous year was supported by the same sponsor/s that was supposed to fund the Lambo effort?
I do wonder if the real reason he withdrew from 3000 was because the money wasn't there in the first place!

I thought Apicella was going to get one of the drives but they signed EvdP instead alongside Larini. Suspect Eric brought a bit of much needed sponsorship from Leaseplan!

Wasn't Mauro Baldi supposed to drive for them? Or he only did the testing?

[S griffin]

Baldi definitely did most of the testing for them and I think was linked to a return with them

[S griffin]

About the Brundle to Lotus offer, I would hazard a guess they would have him alongside Senna. After all Lotus did sign Senna for 84, but JPS blocked it, as it would have meant dropping Mansell and they insisted having a Brit in the team. So having got Senna onboard for 85, I would say Lotus tried to get the Brit Brundle to keep JPS happy. And of course for 86 they signed a Brit, Warwick, with help from Renault, only for Senna to veto it and so they bought Dumfries another Brit. And then it was all change for 87, with Camel being the title sponsor and Honda insisting they had a Japanese driver in Nakajima

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by S griffin

About the Brundle to Lotus offer, I would hazard a guess they would have him alongside Senna. After all Lotus did sign Senna for 84, but JPS blocked it, as it would have meant dropping Mansell and they insisted having a Brit in the team. So having got Senna onboard for 85, I would say Lotus tried to get the Brit Brundle to keep JPS happy. And of course for 86 they signed a Brit, Warwick, with help from Renault, only for Senna to veto it and so they bought Dumfries another Brit. And then it was all change for 87, with Camel being the title sponsor and Honda insisting they had a Japanese driver in Nakajima

No, it wasn't as complicated as that. Brundle & Lotus were both from Norfolk, they were probably related!

[S griffin]

I highly doubt that. One was from Kings Lynn, the other was nearer Norwich. I think my theory could hold some weight here

[chunterer]

Would Senna have wanted Brundle in the other car? If he vetoed Warwick because it would stretch resources, surely he knew more about Martin's potential to create the same sort of issue.

[S griffin]

He didn't mind having Elio in the car for 85, but that was before he realised Lotus couldn't run two cars effectively

[S griffin]

There were quite a few linked to the second Jordan seat for 2004, Verstappen, McNish, Frentzen, Firman, Lyons, Wilson.

[Theunser]

Pedro Lamy got linked to Sauber during a succesful F3000 campaign.
"While Lamy, ’tis said, is courted by Sauber"
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/a...ing-the-strain

Also he was in talks with many teams for 1995. He tested a Sauber, a Tyrrell, an Arrows, talked to Pacific and Forti and yet he ended up replacing Martini mid-season at Minardi.
https://www.grandprix.com/news/pedro...for-forti.html

https://mobile.twitter.com/gorlovego...45539350814722

https://mobile.twitter.com/1990sf1/s...79963718373387

https://mobile.twitter.com/1990sf1/s...21199848873985

Also he tested for Sauber during 1997 as of the chart I posted earlier.

[chunterer]

If i recall Lamy was managed by one of the original AMG partners Domingos Piedade?
So the Sauber link makes sense even if they went for Frentzen instead.

[Theunser]

Éric Bernard was linked to join Ligier-Renault for 1992, and staying at Larrousse was also possible, before his accident in Suzuka happened.
(You can find the part in the "Présentation de l'épreuve" section)
Whoever can speak french this site worth checking.

https://www.statsf1.com/en/1991/espagne.aspx

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Theunser

Éric Bernard was linked to join Ligier-Renault for 1992, and staying at Larrousse was also possible, before his accident in Suzuka happened.
(You can find the part in the "Présentation de l'épreuve" section)
Whoever can speak french this site worth checking.

https://www.statsf1.com/en/1991/espagne.aspx

So that would likely have been the '89 DAMS 3000 line up once again? Or was he ahead of Comas?

Bernard has as much promise as Alesi but never got the same breaks. Ditto Comas.

[Theunser]

Originally Posted by chunterer

So that would likely have been the '89 DAMS 3000 line up once again? Or was he ahead of Comas?

Bernard has as much promise as Alesi but never got the same breaks. Ditto Comas.

Well, Boutsen had a contract, so I assume it's for Comas(who I belive also had a contract, but I'll check it and post it later). The rumours of Prost joining Ligier were already starting by then as well.

Actually the Alesi-Comas-Bernard trio is amongst my favourite.
Alesi. It's just so fun and enjoyable to watch him drive a car. The way he did it was so natural, no people could learn it.
Bernard lost a bit of momentum when his accident happened in Japan, I guess he never recovered entirely.
Comas was just unlucky. He was beating Boutsen in 1992, but couldn't agree on a deal with the team for '93, so he had to opt for Larrousse. Had he stayed at Ligier he might have grabbed some podiums, and his career could have gone in a different way.

But It's just one of the many generation of drivers who didn't fulfill their potential.

[Theunser]

Yeah, this article mentions that both Comas and Boutsen had some kind of contract for 1992. Both as we see now with the Perez-case, that doesn't mean anything.

https://www.statsf1.com/en/1991/belgique.aspx

[S griffin]

Chris Amon was asked to replace the injured JYS at Matra for the 68 Monaco GP, but Ferrari wouldn’t let him go. Typical Amon luck when you saw what Servoz Gavin did in that GP

[Jiiiiiiim]

Originally Posted by Theunser

Pedro Lamy got linked to Sauber during a succesful F3000 campaign.
"While Lamy, ’tis said, is courted by Sauber"
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/a...ing-the-strain

Also he was in talks with many teams for 1995. He tested a Sauber, a Tyrrell, an Arrows, talked to Pacific and Forti and yet he ended up replacing Martini mid-season at Minardi.
https://www.grandprix.com/news/pedro...for-forti.html

https://mobile.twitter.com/gorlovego...45539350814722

https://mobile.twitter.com/1990sf1/s...79963718373387

https://mobile.twitter.com/1990sf1/s...21199848873985

Also he tested for Sauber during 1997 as of the chart I posted earlier.

I recall he dropped out of the running for the Pacific seat when he told Keith Wiggins that he was testing for a better team (Tyrrell), obviously that didn’t go down too well with Keith!

[S griffin]

Lamy did very well to be back in F1 at all after that big crash he had at Silverstone. For me he was one of those drivers he didn’t do much wrong and could have had a longer career

[Theunser]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Lamy did very well to be back in F1 at all after that big crash he had at Silverstone. For me he was one of those drivers he didn’t do much wrong and could have had a longer career

Too many careers ended in 1994...

[S griffin]

Indeed and that was also the year we had the dreaded refuelling back, which would ruin the racing for the next 15 years

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Theunser

Too many careers ended in 1994...

True.
Half my passion for F1 went in '94. Rejuvenated briefly in 2001 but is now moee habit than raging fever!

[Theunser]

"Some trivia: Did you know that Colin Chapman was interested in James Hunt? He offered him for 1975 to become his first driver for Team Lotus. The deal never went on as Hunt asked Chapman to pay him on forehand championship money, even before he became a champion."

https://www.unracedf1.com/james-hunt...ever-happened/

[S griffin]

I knew about the Team Lotus talks and pretty much all the others, except for the Ligier offer in 79 to stand in for the injured Depailler. Certainly I could see Hunt rejuvenated by having a car that had already won races that season

[Theunser]

Hulkenberg would be at Mercedes, if Hamilton decides to stay with Mclaren or goes to somewhere else.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.for...HDR3ME9n6.html

[S griffin]

Eddie Cheever revealed on Beyond the Grid he had talks with Ron Dennis to drive for McLaren in 82