F1 Manager 2004 Season

Latest News


Then there were two Well it all goes down to the final race to see who will win the WDC. With Montoya out of the running it's now down to Raikkonen and M Schumacher for the championship. Raikkonen leads by 6 points but M Schumacher won't let that effect him, as we've seen in the past! The WCC will also be up for grabs as McLaren battle it out with leaders Ferrari

Leinders joins BAR Rookie Leinders will be joining BAR for next season in what is thought to be a test role. It looks like Leinders has signed for £2m

Wirdheim opts for McLaren Another rookie joining the F1 scene is Wirdheim. He joins McLaren on a £2m contract as test driver after turning down offers from the likes of Sauber and Arrows

Teams still looking for their final line up The following teams have a complete line up ready for 2004...

Ferrari
Jordan
BAR

The following teams are not complete (What they need in brackets)...

Williams (Tyres)
McLaren (Tyres)
Renault (2nd Driver, 3rd Driver)
Sauber (Tyres, 3rd Driver)
Jaguar (2nd Driver, 3rd Driver)
Minardi (Tyres)
Toyota (Tyres, Brakes)
Arrows (3rd Driver)

Yeah it was a high amount of DNF's, but that's only the 2nd time it has happened this season and it kinda gives the lower teams more chance of scoring some points. The season should be complete by the weekend. Then we can get focused on 2004 :-D

Well that's 5th in the championship basically out of the window.

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

a poor result for the team. it seems we lost our motivation and the car hit its maximum performance.
from now, we decided to focus for the next year.

ROUND 16 - JAPANESE GRAND PRIX - PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING


Hello and welcome to the final race of the 2003 F1 Season! We are coming to you from the fantastic Suzuka circuit in Japan, a track that has always gave us fantastic races! And we're hoping this weekend is no different as Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher fight it out for the WDC. Raikkonen leads Schumacher by 6 points, while Schumacher's team Ferrari lead McLaren in the WCC. It means that McLaren driver Raikkonen will lift the title if he can finish in the top 4. Schumacher on the other hand will be pushing for a win and hoping Raikkonen finishes outside the top 5. Back for this race are Justin Wilson for Minardi after his recovery from an accident and Motoyama for Jordan who returns for his home grand prix. It's all lined up to be a great weekend so let's get it started and see how the drivers and teams get on in friday practice and qualifying


A look at Practice Results



Friday Practice Setup Reward

1. Arrows +0.498
2. BAR +0.015
3. Minardi -0.038
4. Sauber -0.203
5. Ferrari -0.332
6. Renault -0.496


M Schumacher takes pole on the first lap of the session, he wants this championship


A look at how Qualifying finished. Motoyama's time messed up for some reason

Schumi takes the pole like he is supposed to be, unlucky for him Ruben's was unable to finish in front of Kimi which makes it a though challenge in the race

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If you are racing, keep on racing and get some points!

GPG Super League S11 | Driver #41 | Team-manager | Snake Motorsports Racing Group | Next Race: Emmeloord - Flevoland GP | Constructors: 10th | Best Race Finish: 1st
GPG Super League Season 9 Testers Champion*

ROUND 16 - JAPANESE GRAND PRIX - RACE

Well the final race of the season is finally here. Yesterday we saw M Schumacher take pole for what could be the most important race of his career, as he goes head to head with Raikkonen for the 2003 F1 World Driver's Championship. Ferrari look to be favourites for the constructors, but lets get the race underway so all the questions can be answered....

51/51 M Schumacher leads the pack into the first corner, but Raikkonen has beat his team mate Coulthard into the corner and is in 2nd


50/51 Big crash further back in the pack. Frentzen runs wide and spins, that seems to unsettle Pizzonia as he runs wide and is collected by Verstappen back on track. Debri is scattered all over the track and both the Arrows pick up damage. They will both have to pit for new front wings along with Verstappen while Pizzonia's race is over. Frentzen rejoins in 18th



49/51 Alonso makes a mistake and spins off. He was in 8th but is now 17th


47/51 A couple of laps since his off and Alonso ends his stint with Renault with a DNF as he retires with Transmission problems


45/51 It's the end of the race for Wilson in 16th as he spins and gets stuck in the gravel trap. He won't be too down hearted though as rumours have it that he is about to sign a contract for next season with a top team. Bad news for Williams as Montoya passes team mate R Schumacher only for them to collide sending them both off track. Montoya is now 13th, one place ahead of R Schumacher. Trulli passes them but he seems to have smoke pouring from his engine



44/51 Major blow for McLaren as Coulthard spins off in 3rd. He's well down the order now. Trulli is also forced to retire as his engine lets go. Could that be his last ever F1 race??


43/51 Heidfeld passes Panis for 5th


40/51 A look at the top 8 after over 10 laps


39/51 Webber passes home favourite Motoyama for 9th


38/51 R Schumacher is off again. It takes him a while to get going again, sending him 2 laps down in 18th


37/51 Heartbreak for Motoyama as he crashes out of 9th on his home debut. Surely we will see more from him next season


36/51 Montoya is recovering well and is already up into 9th


35/51 Drivers begin their first pit stops

33/51 Raikkonen is out of the pits but is getting slightly held up by Heidfeld who is yet to pit

32/51 Frentzen is back in the pits with an electrical problem


31/51 Button is forced to pit early with a throttle issue, but it's on the same lap as Sato was scheduled to pit. Sato is forced to wait while BAR sort out Button's problem. Sato rejoins in 13th


30/51 Salo spins off in 16th and is out of the race


26/51 Heidfeld spins off and retires from 5th


25/51 A look at the top 8 after those stops and around the halfway mark. This race has been thrilling so far and as things stand Raikkonen will walk away with the championship. R Schumacher is back in the pits after spinning and crashing into the barrier



24/51 Hope for McLaren's WCC challange are now fading as Coulthard retires from 13th after spinning off


22/51 Drivers begin their 2nd stops

20/51 Montoya now finds the gravel pit, sending him down to 8th from 5th


19/51 Montoya is straight back on track and passes Button for 7th


17/51 Montoya has now pitted and passes Webber for 8th. There are some drivers ahead of him who are yet to pit


14/51 Dear me, what a terrible race for R Schumacher as he is back in the pits with an electrical problem. Button goes off and loses 6th. He's now in 8th



12/51 A look at the top 8 after those stops


11/51 Bernoldi spins off and is nearly collected by Montoya as he spins off in 6th. Bernoldi gets it moving again but Montoya's day is over. He will be back next season with Williams again though


9/51 Fisichella is forced to pit from 4th with an electrical problem, robbing their hopes of clinching 5th place in the WCC from Sauber. Fisichella is now 7th


3/51 3 Laps remaining and M Schumacher is setting the pace, but Raikkonen is lapping faster then Barrichello and looks to have this in the bag...

0/51 M Schumacher crosses the line and wins the Japanese Grand Prix, but where is Raikkonen... there he is, he crosses the line in 2nd clinching the 2003 WDC, his first and i wouldn't like to bet about it being his last! Barrichello crosses the line in 3rd to give Ferrari the WCC.



Race Results

Japan - Suzuka
(51 Laps)

Pos Driver Time/Speed

1st Michael Schumacher 1h 19m 35.751s
Ferrari-
2nd Kimi Raikkonen +13.392s
McLaren-Mercedes
3rd Rubens Barrichello +15.905s
Ferrari-
4th Olivier Panis +1m 00.184s
Toyota-
5th Mark Webber +1m 13.698s
Jaguar-Cosworth
6th Jenson Button +1m 17.203s
BAR-Honda
7th Giancarlo Fisichella +1m 17.991s
Jordan-Ford
8th Ricardo Zonta +1m 23.866s
Toyota-
9th Takuma Sato -1 Lap
BAR-Honda
10th Jos Verstappen -1 Lap
Minardi-Cosworth
11th Heinz-Harald Frentzen -1 Lap
Sauber-Petronas
12th Enrique Bernoldi -2 Laps
Arrows-Cosworth
13th Ralf Schumacher -3 Laps
Williams-BMW
14th Juan Pablo Montoya Didn't Finish
Williams-BMW
15th David Coulthard Didn't Finish
McLaren-Mercedes
16th Nick Heidfeld Didn't Finish
Sauber-Petronas
17th Mika Salo Didn't Finish
Arrows-Cosworth
18th Satoshi Motoyama
Jordan-Ford Didn't Finish
19th Jarno Trulli Engine
Renault-
20th Justin Wilson Didn't Finish
Minardi-Cosworth
21st Fernando Alonso Transmission
Renault-
22nd Antonio Pizzonia Didn't Finish
Jaguar-Cosworth


Fastest Lap - M Schumacher - 1m32.002s
DOTD - M Schumacher - Won the race like he had to and was miles faster then anyone else on the track

Final Standings

WDC

1. Raikkonen 101
2. M Schumacher 97
3. Montoya 80
4. Barrichello 72
5. R Schumacher 58
6. Trulli 50
7. Coulthard 46
8. Alonso 39
9. Fisichella 18
=. Heidfeld 16
11. Panis 14
12. Button 10
13. Sato 8
14. Webber 7
15. Wurz 5
=. Frentzen 5
17. Bernoldi 3
18. Verstappen 2
=. Zonta 2
20. Pizzonia 1


WCC

1. Ferrari 169
2. McLaren 152
3. Williams 128
4. Renault 89
5. Sauber 21
6. Jordan 18 (Best Finish in a race 5th)
7. BAR 18 (Best Finish in a race 6th)
8. Toyota 16
9. Jaguar 8
10. Arrows 3
11. Minardi 2


Wins

Raikkonen 6
M Schumacher 6
Montoya 2
Barrichello 1
Alonso 1

DOTD

M Schumacher 4
Montoya 2
Raikkonen 2
Barrichello 1
Heidfeld 1
Alonso 1
Trulli 1
R Schumacher 1
Fisichella 1
Sato 1
Panis 1

Fastest Race Lap

Raikkonen 5
M Schumacher 5
Montoya 3
Alonso 2
R Schumacher 1

Poles

Raikkonen 4
M Schumacher 3
Coulthard 2
R Schumacher 2
Barrichello 2
Montoya 1
Trulli 1

Great race for Ferrari, it's a same Schumi didn't take the WDC. But he will strike back next year! We are happy to have collected the WCC though! We have been strong all season and we expect to be next one as well!

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If you are racing, keep on racing and get some points!

GPG Super League S11 | Driver #41 | Team-manager | Snake Motorsports Racing Group | Next Race: Emmeloord - Flevoland GP | Constructors: 10th | Best Race Finish: 1st
GPG Super League Season 9 Testers Champion*

Latest News

Raikkonen Delight at Winning Title

Kimi Raikkonen could not hide the emotions after winning the World Drivers CHampionship for the first time at the age of 24. The Finn won the title in his McLaren by 4 points from reigning world champ Michael Schumacher. Raikkonen was heard to be shouting "I'm the champ!" as he got out of the car after today's race. In the after race press confrence, Raikkonen said "The team have been great this season, they gave me a car that was one of the best out there. But i now face a new challenge and i hope i can achieve the same with Renault next season!"

R Schumacher leaves on a sour note

R Schumacher raced his last race for Williams today, but it was possibly the worst race ever in the German's history. When asked about what was going on out there he had the following to say, "The mistakes were mainly my own fault, but their is no hiding the fact that Williams were focusing on Montoya as they wanted him 2nd in the WDC" The accusation is yet to be replied to by Williams as R Schumacher leaves the team for BAR. Williams have retained Montoya, who will race alongside Barrichello next season to give the team a South American feel

Firman joins Sauber

R Firman is following current team mate to Sauber for next season. The Irishman had been dropped by Jordan mid season, but it is thought he is joining Sauber on a £4m contract for 2004 as a test driver for the team, with Fischella partnering Heidfeld in the race driver positions

Trulli to take Sebatical from F1

Jarno Trulli looks like he will take a year out of F1 after not reaching an agreement with any of the current teams. When asked about his future the Italian had the following to say, "Well it looks like it isn't going to happen for me next season. I'm thinking of looking at racing in America to stay fresh and i hope to return in 2005 if the oppertunity arrises"

Montagny joins Arrows

Frenchman Frank Montagny will join Arrows next season as test driver. It is thought his contract will be worth around £2m

Surprise move by Renault

Renault have decided to drop Jarno Trulli for next season, and have offered drives to Justin Wilson and Marc Gene to partner 2003 Champion Kimi Raikkonen. Wilson joins the team after a disapointing season at Minardi, with a contract for £5.5m while Gene joins from Williams as a test driver with a contract in the region of £3m. Renault could be feeling the financial strains after signing such a big name as Raikkonen, but with the team improving, can they mount a serious challenge in 2004?

Teams still looking for their final line up


The following teams have a complete line up ready for 2004...

Ferrari
Jordan
BAR
Williams
Renault
Arrows

The following teams are not complete (What they need in brackets)...

McLaren (Tyres)
Sauber (Tyres)
Jaguar (2nd Driver, 3rd Driver)
Minardi (Tyres)
Toyota (Tyres, Brakes)

McLaren Statement

We are delighted for Raikkonen securing the WDC title after a sterling drive in Suzuka and although we missed out on the WCC the result capped what has been a fantastic season for the team. We would also like to wish both Kimi and Alex well for 2004 after a great 2003 season with the team and welcome Fernando and Bjorn, hopefully, for an even better 2004. Finally we can confirm that we will still be using Michelin tyres for 2004.

Interested in managing an F1 team? Sign up for the Grandprixgames F1 Manager game here

Renault Statement

we had strong fourth place in WCC in 2003, so thank you alonso and jarno. we hope they have many good moments in their future careers.

for the next season, we want to say "Welcome Champion". we beleive that kimi , marc and justin will help us to improve our performance.

Jordan Statement

This season has certainly been an interesting one, and considering the package we have, we did well to get 6th in the championship. Giancarlo was incredible, and if he continues his form for Sauber next year, we have reason to be worried! We wish him the best of luck, and thank him for such a great performance. Certainly, we expect some good performances from both Jenson and Pedro next season, and we wish to say thanks to Ralph and Zsolt for being valued team members next season. Satoshi is staying as our test driver, so we hope for a very strong season for next year.
We are also looking forward to starting our technical tie-up with Honda, and would like to thank Ford for their good service this year.

Here's hoping for a good season!

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

ARROWS STATEMENT

It was a long, tough year for us but we are happy to come
away with 10th in the championship and hope to build on
our development with the money that comes from that.

We feel we are in a good position to move forward with the
signing of a new engine deal with Ford Motors and a much
stronger driver line up.

We have every faith in former WDC Jacque (Villeneuve) and
we belive that Alex (Wurz) can provide some great support
as we aim to move up the table next season and make that
leap into the mid pack.

We are also delighted to sign a great young talent in Frank
(Montagny) to help us develop the car in those all important
test sessions.

All in all, as a team, we have got as much as we could out of
this season and we look forward to coming back next year
with fresh inthusiasum injected into the team.

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Retro Liveries on the SMD-ZG02![www.grandprixgames.org]
Retro Renders 2.0 on the SMD-ZG02LN![www.grandprixgames.org]

R Schumacher is a c**k

Great season,just didn't like the last race,but i hope for 2004

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My GPGSL Career

Very pleased with 5 place in the Championship. I would certainly take that next year. I can also confirm that Sauber will use Bridgestone rubber next season

Toyota Statement

Toyota are pleased to announce that their 2004 campaign starts here. Team boss Captinfranko said that "For a long time we have been building towards 2004. Our Driver lineup shows our ambition for next season and we are confident and ready for the challeneges that it will present". The team boss also went onto confirm that the team will keep its current tyre supplier and use AP Racing brake systems.

GPGSL - Christel VXR team Boss S6-S8, S12 Onwards

Right here's the plan for 2004 so far....

Everything will be ran like this season. Apart from a few changes. The first is that we will have pre-season testing. There will be approx 4-6 pre season test sessions which you will have to chose 2-3 to attend. You can choose wether to work on your performance or your reliability (You will be sent your reliability rating and other info by pm). I will then randomise which test sessions get a larger gain, medium gain or smaller gain. The reason for this is to mix things up slightly. Afterall it's about getting your team to the top, not just following what happened in real life. Timing results of each session will be shown.

Once pre-season testing is done then we will get on with the 2004 season. Although this season we will have test sessions throughout the season, which will cost £250k for a team to participate (as mentioned in the signings thread). This could give a team a small increase in performance or better reliability. Once again it depends what your team wants to focus on...

Most other things will run as normal like last season. I can't think of any other changes right at this minute. Let me know what you's think

Oh and we're just waiting on kizz and mclarenaustralia to announce their line ups before we move on to pre season testing

That all seems good, Chris. Looking forward to where the team goes for the next season.

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski