F1 Manager - Season 2004 (BAR, Minardi and Jordan available) - Japanese GP results on page 16

I'd wish everyone a happy new year but it's the middle of 2004

Jokes - Happy New Year everyone. Hopefully 2021 is a much better year for everyone.

Happy new year everyone! Can't be worse than 2020, at least I hope so

Argh!

Christel VXR driver #6.

Toyota

Not too bad for us.

Jordan

A poor session.

2004 French Grand Prix

Welcome to recap of the 2004 French Grand Prix raced on the Magny-Cours circuit. It’s the tenth round of the 2004 season.

Lap #1
There are no changes in the lead during the start or the first lap.

Lap #2
Juan-Pablo Montoya goes wide and drops down to 5th place.



Lap #4
Heikki Kovalainen slips wide and he drops down to 19th place.

Lap #5
Takuma Sato is leading the pack before Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso.



Lap #6
Vitaly Petrov has to pit with a technical problem and the Russian is able to continue in the race.

Lap #7
Rubens Barrichello makes a small mistake that costs him a spot as Mark Webber goes past him.



Lap #10
Kimi Räikkönen is pressuring Takuma Sato hard but he can’t find an overtaking spot anywhere on the track.



Lap #15
Jenson Button retires with his engine on fire.



Takuma Sato is still fighting off Kimi Räikkönen’s attempts at overtaking.



Lap #16
Fernando Alonso is the first man to pit today.

Lap #18
Ralf Schumacher pits. Sauber’s Neel Jani retires with a transmission problem.



Lap #19
Rubens Barrichello, Paul di Resta and Nico Rosberg pit.

Lap #20
Kimi Räikkönen is continually close to Takuma Sato but just can’t get the job done.



Lap #21
Takuma Sato can breathe a sigh of relief as the brakes of Kimi Räikkönen’s Williams car fail and he retires for the first time in 2004.



Lap #22
Felipe Massa spins off the track and drops down to 8th place.



Mark Webber, Dan Wheldon, Christian Klien and Nick Heidfeld pit.

Lap #23
Felipe Massa pits.

Lap #24
Giancarlo Fisichella spins but doesn’t lose any places. Nick Heidfeld spins on the same lap too but he has worse luck as his Renault gets stuck in the gravel and he’s forced to retire.



Lap #25
Takuma Sato has a clear lead over his team mate Juan-Pablo Montoya.



Lap #26
Giancarlo Fisichella pits.

Lap #27
Vitaly Petrov and Robert Kubica pit.

Lap #28
Giancarlo Fisichella spins again. Kazuki Nakajima, Takuma Sato, Michael Schumacher and Heikki Kovalainen pit.

Lap #29
Juan-Pablo Montoya and Antonio Pizzonia pit.

Lap #30
Takuma Sato is back in the lead after everyone has made a pit stop.



Lap #35
There’s a quiet period in the race with nothing of note happening.



Lap #37
Dan Wheldon and Christian Klien pit.

Lap #41
Takuma Sato makes a minor error but fortunately for him, he loses nothing but time. Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso pit.

Lap #42
Antonio Pizzonia pits.

Lap #43
Rubens Barrichello and Nico Rosberg pit.

Lap #44
Robert Kubica’s Arrows suffers an electrical failure and he retires from the 15th place.



Lap #45
Juan-Pablo Montoya has closed the gap with Takuma Sato down after Sato’s mistake.



At the end of the lap, Juan-Pablo Montoya, Heikki Kovalainen and Kazuki Nakajima pit.

Lap #46
Dan Wheldon spins and drops down to 10th place.

Lap #47
Paul di Resta, Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa pit.

Lap #48
Giancarlo Fisichella pits.

Lap #49
Takuma Sato and Ralf Schumacher pit.

Lap #49
Rubens Barrichello and Nick Heidfeld pit.

Lap #51
Takuma Sato is still leading after the latest round of pit stops.



Ralf Schumacher hits the barriers and his race is over after his car took a lot of damage.



Lap #52
Vitaly Petrov pits.

Lap #55
Takuma Sato is pulling away from Juan-Pablo Montoya who doesn’t have the speed to challenge him today.



Dan Wheldon and Christian Klien pit.

Lap #58
Antonio Pizzonia spins but he continues the race in 10th place.



Lap #59
Takuma Sato wants to make things interesting as he goes wide and onto the gravel. He gets back on the track quick enough that his team mate still stays behind him.



Lap #60
Takuma Sato leads by almost four seconds even after venturing onto the gravel.



Lap #65
Paul di Resta hits the wall and retires.



Takuma Sato has opened up a bigger gap to Juan-Pablo Montoya again.



Lap #69
Antonio Pizzonia is forced to pit with just two laps remaining after his car suffers a technical problem.

Lap #70
Rubens Barrichello spins in the last lap of the race and drops down to 8th place.



Finish
Takuma Sato wins the 2004 French Grand Prix! It was complete domination by Ferrari this weekend as they got the pole, first and second place in the race and the fastest lap.



Juan-Pablo Montoya has been on fire since replacing Dario Franchitti. He has one win and two second place finishes in four races.



McLaren’s Fernando Alonso finishes up the podium behind the Ferraris. He’s been good in the last four races too with three podium finishes.

Sauber extends Klien, Hamilton stays with Toyota

The first driver dominoes for the 2005 season fell as Sauber announced they have re-signed Christian Klien for the upcoming season. Sauber has reportedly been content with Klien's performances this season and the amount of money he brings to the team probably brought his value for the team up.

Toyota team also announced they have extended the 19 year old wonderkid Lewis Hamilton for next season. Hamilton has shown some glimpses of his speed in test sessions this season and he gets an opportunity of a lifetime to race his first grand prix next week in his home race, the British GP.

Klien's contract brings 8.25 million to Sauber's budget and Hamilton's extension is worth 2 million.

Olivier Panis announces retirement

Olivier Panis has announced his retirement from F1 racing. The 38 year old French driver didn't get a spot for this season and at his age he doesn't think there will be much demand for his services. He keeps the door open for this season still. Paul Tracy and Chanoch Nissany have also announced that they'll hang up their driving gloves after this season.

Signing after the next race
Available drivers (name, salary, age)
Michael Schumacher 18M 36
Dan Wheldon 4.75M 27
Dario Franchitti 4.75M 32
Helio Castro-Neves 4M 30
Anthony Davidson 2M 26
Heikki Kovalainen 1M 24
Jose Maria Lopez 0.75M 22
Franck Montagny 0.75M 27
Neel Jani 0.75M 22
Enrico Toccacelo 0.5M 27
Sam Hornish 0.5M 26
Jerome d'Ambrosio 0.5M 20
Giedo van der Garde 0.5M 20
Scott Speed 0.5M 22
Michael Ammermuller 0.5M 19
Nico Hulkenberg 0.5M 18
Zsolt Baumgartner -2.75M 24
Sakon Yamamoto -3M 23
Ralph Firman -3M 30
Cristiano da Matta -4M 32
Pastor Maldonado -5M 20
Kazuki Nakajima -6.5M 20

Signing after two races
Available drivers (name, salary, age)
Giancarlo Fisichella 11.5M 32
Felipe Massa 11M 24
Timo Glock 3.25M 23
Ricardo Zonta 2.75M 29
Luca Badoer 1.25M 34
Tomas Enge 1M 29
Olivier Tielemans 0.5M 21
Andre Lotterer 0.5M 24
Franck Perera -2M 21
Karun Chandhok -2M 21
Christijan Albers -3M 26
Nelson Piquet -5M 20

Projected budgets for 2005 season:

Toyota

Happy with that result and delighted to see Lewis agree to stay with the team for 2005.

Jordan

Another poor result. We may look into giving Timo Glock a run in the car pending the result of the next GP at Silverstone.

If there is a manager space available, I would like to take it on please

________________________________________________________________
GPGSL
Christel VXR: S12 onwards | Wins: 3 | Poles: 3 | Fastest Laps: 2

Lucasinio is the new manager of McLaren. Welcome aboard!

Great to have you onboard Lucasinio...as long as my Toyota team beats you

Hi all - looking forward to getting started in my new role.

________________________________________________________________
GPGSL
Christel VXR: S12 onwards | Wins: 3 | Poles: 3 | Fastest Laps: 2

I'm already on the case making sure we stay 3rd

________________________________________________________________
GPGSL
Christel VXR: S12 onwards | Wins: 3 | Poles: 3 | Fastest Laps: 2

Montoya is in a serious contention for 3rd place in the standings.

Lucasinio Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm already on the case making sure we stay 3rd

To be honest I'd be more than happy with 4th given our driver line-p and engine power but one can dream

Parachki Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Montoya is in a serious contention for 3rd place
> in the standings.

He's been a revelation since joining!

Signing of the season so far surely?

________________________________________________________________
GPGSL
Christel VXR: S12 onwards | Wins: 3 | Poles: 3 | Fastest Laps: 2

McLaren

Another great weekend so far for Alonso. We are monitoring Fisichellas performance and will make a decision for the rest of the season after this race.

________________________________________________________________
GPGSL
Christel VXR: S12 onwards | Wins: 3 | Poles: 3 | Fastest Laps: 2



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2021 11:58AM by Lucasinio.

Toyota

As suspected, it's a little too early for Lewis to take up a full-time racing seat but this experience will stand him in good stead moving forward.