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

JohnWarrington Wrote:
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> I didn't realise mid-season transfers were even a
> thing. Very interesting!

Since we pay salaries upfront you just pay another drivers' salary (proportional to races I think)

Exactly. Since there's 76% of the season to go after Monaco Montoya will cost 12.5 million for Ferrari. Just to make it clear, you don't get anything back from the driver you fire.

Oh BTW Syvis, I just wanted to ask you, since you removed the drivers we picked from the list of available ones. Could you still list their minimun salary somewhere, so we know mininum bids.

I'll put out a new list with current prices when the bidding starts.

2004 European Grand Prix

Welcome to recap of the 2004 European Grand Prix raced on the Nurburgring Circuit. It’s the seventh round of the 2004 season.

Lap #1
Takuma Sato takes the lead after the first corner. Kimi Räikkönen also gets a good start and he is 3rd after the start.

Lap #2
Juan-Pablo Montoya overtakes Kimi Räikkönen and is now back in 3rd in his first race of the season. Nick Heidfeld’s engine gives up after just one full lap and he’s forced to retire.



Lap #4
Rubens Barrichello and Antonio Pizzonia have both overtaken Michael Schumacher who has dropped down to 11th position.



Juan-Pablo Montoya overtakes Alonso too and is now 2nd!



Lap #5
Ferrari’s have the lead of the race.



Kazuki Nakajima goes wide but doesn’t lose any places. Something has also happened to Dan Wheldon as he’s in the last place currently.

Lap #7
Juan-Pablo Montoya is now on the back of Takuma Sato’s car. Montoya wants to show the world it was a mistake to leave him off the grid at the start of the season.



Lap #9
Rubens Barrichello spins trying to overtake Felipe Massa and he fall all the way back to 20th position.



Lap #10
The Ferrari’s are pulling away from the rest of the field.



Juan-Pablo Montoya tries to overtake Takuma Sato for the lead but he can’t get it done and spins instead. Neither of the Ferrari drivers lose any places though.

Lap #12
Kazuki Nakajima retires from the race with a suspension failure.



Lap #13
Christian Klien goes wide and drops down to the last place.



Lap #14
Juan-Pablo Montoya is now leading the race in his first start of the season!



Lap #15
Juan-Pablo Montoya is pulling away instantly.



Lap #16
Vitaly Petrov retires his Jordan car with a transmission failure.



Lap #19
Robert Kubica and Dan Wheldon park their cars on the side of the road back to back as both have a technical failure.



Lap #20
Juan-Pablo Montoya is just blitzing through the track. The gap to Takuma Sato is already eight seconds!



Lap #21
Rubens Barrichello is the first driver to pit.

Lap #22
Ralf Schumacher spins and drops down to 14th place.



Juan-Pablo Montoya pits from the lead and returns to the track in the 6th place. Mark Webber also pits.

Lap #23
Antonio Pizzonia and Paul di Resta pit.

Lap #24
Kimi Räikkönen overtakes Fernando Alonso for the second place.

Lap #25
Takuma Sato is back in the lead.



Lap #26
Juan-Pablo Montoya is already 4th!



Heikki Kovalainen pits.

Lap #30
Juan-Pablo Montoya overtakes Alonso for the third place!



Takuma Sato is still in the lead but he’ll have to pit soon.



Lap #31
Juan-Pablo Montoya tries to overtake Kimi Räikkönen but they hit eachother during the process. Räikkönen drops down to 3rd place and Montoya to 5th.



Rubens Barrichello overtakes Ralf Schumacher and is now 12th.

Lap #32
Heikki Kovalainen overtakes Ralf Schumacher too. Kimi Räikkönen pits.

Lap #33
Juan-Pablo Montoya overtakes Giancarlo Fisichella for the 3rd place. Nico Rosberg and Takuma Sato pit. Sato rejoins in the 5th place.



Lap #35
Fernando Alonso is leading the race after 35 laps.



Scott Dixon, Giancarlo Fisichella, Felipe Massa and Jenson Button pit.

Lap #36
Michael Schumacher pits.

Lap #38
Juan-Pablo Montoya overtakes Fernando Alonso for the lead of the race.



Michael Schumacher pits again with a technical problem. His brother Ralf also pits. Fernando Alonso pits too and drops down to 5th place.

Lap #39
Christian Klien pits.

Lap #40
The Ferrari’s are leading the pack once again.



Lap #41
Juan-Pablo Montoya pits for the second time and rejoins the track in the 4th place. Rubens Barrichello also pits.

Lap #44
Antonio Pizzonia, Heikki Kovalainen and Paul di Resta pit.

Lap #45
Takuma Sato is leading the race with 15 laps to go.



Lap #48
Mark Webber pits.

Lap #50
It’ll be a close battle for the second place!



Lap #52
Juan-Pablo Montoya overtakes Kimi Räikkönen and is now in the second place! Ferrari 1-2 looking very likely!



Lap #53
Ralf Schumacher is on the gravel again and drops down to the last place.



Kimi Räikkönen makes a rare mistake in the same corner and he drops down to 5th place!



Lap #55
Takuma Sato is gunning for his third win of the season.



Ralf Schumacher caps his awful day by having to pit because of technical problems.

After the 57th lap started, some cars were starting to pit because they had no fuel. Some cars even ran out of fuel on the track. It was probably a magic file issue or something so I decided to take the standings from the start of the 57th lap as I thought it was the fairest for everyone. The race only had two laps to go so nothing major probably wouldn't have happened. Seems like I have to run a test race on every track so there won’t be these kind of problems in the future. Hope you understand.

Woohoo! If I had chosen Montoya at the start, we would’ve been unbeatable

Toyota

With Montoya going to Ferrari, we definitely should be happy with double points finish. That's the level we are at right now.

Jordan

A disappointing Grand Prix for us.

What a disastrous season for BAR, there might be some changes soon.

When you use higher car powers in the performance file (I think more than 1000) then some cars are often running out of fuel in the last lap, but not on all tracks, only on some.

Hmm. They aren't even close to that high but it still happened. I guess I'll just have to test it before the race to make sure.

Our engine power is really costing us right now

2004 Canadian Grand Prix

Welcome to recap of the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix raced on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. It’s the eight round of the 2004 season.

Lap #1
Fernando Alonso gets going better than Kimi Räikkönen and he jumps to the third position.



He tries to overtake Juan-Pablo Montoya too in the last turn of the track but he hits Montoya’s Ferari and Alonso spins dropping back all the way to the last place while Montoya didn’t lose anything other than time.



Lap #6
After the eventful first lap, nothing of note happens until the sixth lap where Vitaly Petrov retires with an engine failure.



Takuma Sato has gained a huge gap already after just 6 laps.



Lap #7
Dan Wheldon gets past his team mate Jenson Button after trying for a while and is now 12th.



Felipe Massa suffers a puncture and retires from the race after not so good weekend.



Lap #15
Fernando Alonso has already fought his path back to 15th place after he overtakes Nico Rosberg.




Lap #10
Takuma Sato is cruising in the lead while there’s a battle for the second place though.



Kimi Räikkönen gets an overtake done on Juan-Pablo Montoya in the last corner of the track! Good recovery after the poor start for the Williams driver.



Lap #11
After Mark Webber’s transmission gives up, both of the Toyota drivers are out after just 11 laps. Rotten luck for the season’s biggest surprise team.



Lap #12
On the next lap, Giancarlo Fisichella retires from the race with the same failure that Mark Webber had.



Lap #15
Takuma Sato continues growing his lead in the race.



Lap #17
There’s a battle for the fourth place with Rubens Barrichello leading both Schumachers.



Paul di Resta pits because of a technical problem.

Lap #19
Both Schumachers pit. Renault’s pit crew gets the job done more quickly and Michael jumps Ralf during the pits.

Lap #20
Takuma Sato has almost opened up a pit window to 4th place already.



Robert Kubica and Scott Dixon pit.

Lap #21
Takuma Sato comes into the pits and is third at the end of the pit lane. Rubens Barrichello just has enough speed to overtake Sato in the first turns of the track.



Lap #23
Antonio Pizzonia overtakes Takuma Sato and is now 4th. Sato is struggling with a heavier fuel load than the guys around him.



Pizzonia comes in to the pits at the end of the lap and Sato climbs back up to 4th. Heikki Kovalainen also pits on this lap.

Lap #26
Kimi Räikkönen leads the race now. It’ll be interesting to see if we have different strategies between the top runners.



Lap #27
Fernando Alonso overtakes Nico Rosberg for 12th place.



Lap #30
Kimi Räikkönen is still leading. It does seem he and Juan-Pablo Montoya are on different strategies compared to Takuma Sato.



Lap #32
Kimi Räikkönen comes into the pits from the lead and rejoins the track in the 4th place.

Lap #33
Kazuki Nakajima pits.

Lap #34
Rubens Barrichello has a technical problem but he’s able to limp to the pits. He falls down to 9th place due to this though. Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg also pit on this lap.

Lap #35
Nick Heidfeld pits.

Lap #36
Juan-Pablo Montoya has inherited the lead but he has yet to pit.



Christian Klien pits.

Lap #37
Michael Schumacher overtakes Dan Wheldon for the 4th place.



Dan Wheldon pits at the end of the lap.

Lap #38
Juan-Pablo Montoya pits from the lead and drops back to 4th place. Jenson Button also pits.

Lap #40
Takuma Sato leads the race again.



Fernando Alonso overtakes Heikki Kovalainen for the 11th place.



Michael Schumacher and Antonio Pizzonia pit.

Lap #41
Paul di Resta pits.

Lap #43
Scott Dixon pits.

Lap #44
Takuma Sato pits for the second time and drops down to 3rd place. Heikki Kovalainen and Ralf Schumacher also pit.

Lap #45
Kimi Räikkönen is back in the lead. Can he go to the end of the race without pitting?



Lap #48
Robert Kubica pits.

Lap #49
Dan Wheldon crashes into the wall and retires. BAR’s season continues getting more miserable.


Lap #50
Kimi Räikkönen is still in a comfortable lead.



Lap #55
Ferrari’s are closing in on Kimi Räikkönen but is it enough?



Lap #57
The car that’s been the most reliable on the grid with no retirements due to technical issues so far this season gives up on Juan-Pablo Montoya. He retires from the second place with an engine issue.



Lap #58
Robert Kubica retires with a transmission failure with only 12 laps to go.



Lap #60
There’s now only one Ferrari chasing Kimi Räikkönen who seems to be on his way to a comfortable win.



Lap #65
Scott Dixon retires from the race with an engine failure.



Nico Rosberg also pits with technical issues. Takuma Sato is closing the gap but it isn’t enough at this pace.



Lap #67
Nick Heidfeld narrowly avoids hitting the wall of champions but it’s enough for Ralf Schumacher to overtake him for the 5th place.



Lap #69
Takuma Sato has been much quicker than Kimi Räikkönen and the gap is only 3.5 seconds but it’s the last lap of the race.



Finish
Kimi Räikkönen comes home to win the Canadian Grand Prix! It became interesting in the last few laps as Räikkönen’s tires were completely shot.



Takuma Sato got the gap under 2 seconds before the finish line. Maybe a couple of more laps and the Ferrari driver could’ve challenged Räikkönen for the win.



Rubens Barrichello takes the third podium place JUST beating Michael Schumacher. It was the same story as with Räikkönen. Just a lap more and the tire advantage could’ve changed Michael Schumacher’s fortunes.

You can now PM me if you want to participate in the test session. Every team except Minardi and Arrows have the money to do so. It's the usual drill: just let me know which two drivers will take part and if you test for power or reliability.

The first batch of drivers that you can bid for next season will become available sometime tomorrow. I'll probably make technical directors available for bids too at some point but I'll have to work out how they work next year as I'm thinking about changing them a bit.

Either way, merry Christmas everybody!

Toyota

Ouch.

Jordan

Another poor race.

Bad stuff for Montoya, if he didn’t retire, he could make it easier for Sato to win.

I've meant to respond to this so here goes.

Calligaris Wrote:
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> I agree about bidding for the drivers, maybe I'd
> say designer too, basically bid for personnel
> during season, and for tech and parts between
> season.

That's a good idea. I'll have the technical directors available for bids later in the season when I sort them out. I was thinking that some tech directors would give the team power, some driveability (this would be added to driver's perf) and some reliability. The high end directors would give boost to all of these at differing levels.

>
> I like the opportunity for teams to challenge
> driver bids fro other teams.
>
> The home team advantage might be too small, 500k
> really isn't significant compered to the size of
> our budgets, maybe make it a full million unless
> the driver is dissatisfied. I suggest to not make
> it a discount (I mean not apply it to minimum
> salaries) but rather a preference (so, for
> example, if Trulli wants 10m he won't accept 9m
> with the discount, but a 10m offer from his own
> team will be better than a 10.9m from another
> team).

I'll make it a million so the teams have a better chance to keep their drivers and of course, the "home town discount" wouldn't apply to their minimum asking price. Exactly like you wrote in your Trulli example.

>
> Could we get some indication of which parts are
> more important, not precise numbers, but there is
> no way of knowing if investing in tyres is better
> than investing in, for example, brakes.

I'll change tyres and brakes to effect driver's perf for next season. So next season engine and fuel will impact the car's power with brakes and tyres impacting the driver's value. I'll indicate the part ratings with symbols or something.

>
> The way test drivers work is a bit convoluted,
> maybe a straight shootout between test drivers in
> practice would be more obvious for setup points, i
> know that cars would then matter more than you'd
> like in that score, but after all better teams are
> better at setting up cars.

I like the way the test drivers work currently so I don't think I'll change them. This gives lower ranked teams a chance to gain some help for the weekends. The boost isn't big but it can make a difference in a tight battle. It also makes managers think a bit who they hire as their test driver.

Everyone else is welcome to make suggestions too.

The first batch of drivers is now available for bidding. Every batch will have a initial negotiation period of two races so these drivers will sign contracts after the French GP, the second batch after British GP etc. After the initial two week period the drivers will sign on weekly basis.

Available drivers (name, salary, age)
Michael Schumacher 18M 36
Anthony Davidson 2M 26
Heikki Kovalainen 1M 24
Jose Maria Lopez 0.75M 22
Lewis Hamilton 0.75M 20
Franck Montagny 0.75M 27
Scott Speed 0.5M 22
Michael Ammermuller 0.5M 19
Nico Hulkenberg 0.5M 18
Sakon Yamamoto -3M 23
Ralph Firman -3M 30
Christian Klien -8.25M 22

For next season I'm also implementing a rule that if you hire a pay driver as your test driver, you only get half of their sponsorship money. So for example if you hire Sakon Yamamoto as a test driver, you'll only get 1.5M of their sponsorship money.

Is there any way of knowing how much our teams will have to spend on our budget? That massively affects driver choices.

JohnWarrington Wrote:
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> Is there any way of knowing how much our teams
> will have to spend on our budget? That massively
> affects driver choices.

Well, you can make a pretty good estimate based on your team's current placement in the standings. For example Toyota is third in the championship and you currently have 12.75M so Toyota's next year's budget at this point would be 52.75M. Of course Toyota will get more prize money this season too with over half of the season to go so it'll be bigger when the season concludes.

I can make a predicted budget table for all the teams after I get back home on Sunday or Monday.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2020 02:06PM by Syvis.