F1

Of Silly Seasons Past

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  • #129185
    Meander
    Participant

    The topic I opened earlier (due to this picture: http://www.ophidian.dj/uploads/piquetmclaren1990f1hond.jpg ) has inspired me to open one in which we can share pictures, videos and stories about silly season moves and tests of F1 drivers with unlikely or unexpected teams. I find it really interesting to see which drivers were considered for which jobs and the reasons it didn’t happen.

    Some questions I can think of right now:

    – I think many of us have seen videos on youtube of Senna’s early tests for McLaren and Williams, but I also heard a rumor in ’92 I think that he was talking to Benetton for the ’93 season. Is there any truth to that?

    – After his rather sensational debut for Tyrrell Jean Alesi signed 3 contracts for the ’91 season: Tyrrell, Williams and Ferrari. We all know how it played out… But did he in fact ever test for Williams and are there pictures of it?

    Please share if you have answers or anything else good :)

    #166200
    Meander
    Participant

    I only just realized that Piquet had actually already driven for McLaren before, namely in ’78: http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/42-18229666.html

    (google for more)

    P.S. The Team entrant name is stated as “BS Fabrications” which must be the best team name EVER in the history of F1.

    #166201
    Icthyes
    Participant

    Ron Dennis offered Damon Hill a pay-as-you-drive deal for 1998 but Hill thought it was an insult to a World Champion. Silly Damon!

    Michael Schumacher wanted Martin Brundle as his team mate at Ferrari but apparently it was Marlboro who wanted Eddie Irvine. I fully believe Brundle could have been champion in 1999 had things gone differently. We would have been robbed of a good commentator though!

    Ron Dennis wanted Prost to return to McLaren for 1994 and he even tested, but decided to go through with his retirement. Senna later spent hours on the phone trying to convince Alain to come back because he didn’t feel the same motivation.

    #166202
    Meander
    Participant

    Icthyes> nice! :)

    Here is an article with a picture of Prost driving the ’94 McLaren:

    http://f1ad.narod.ru/Articles/1993/art_prost_comeback.htm

    Clearly it was Williams who blocked this move.

    #166203
    GeeMac
    Participant

    No it wasn’t Williams who blocked it. In “Senna vs Prost” he said that he realised that the chassis and the Peugeot engine needed a lot of development work, and he didn’t have the motivation to do it…so he retired.

    #166204
    Meander
    Participant

    (CPR of a dead topic)

    Wow, thinking about Senna calling Prost is such a testament of great sportsmen, realizing that as fierce as they battled each other from the cockpit, they still needed each other to exist in the sport.

    Imagine Vettel calling the freshly retired Hamilton in 2021: “Come back bro, I need you here!” :'(

    #166205
    raymondu999
    Participant

    @Meander it would mean so much more if it was Hamilton calling a retired Alonso. Or vice versa :P

    One of the beauties of the Senna calling Prost thing was that they seemed (from the outside) to harbour such negative emotions towards the other – but it turned out they were great friends who really respected the other.

    #166206
    Meander
    Participant

    @raymondu999 Yes, that is actually a much better analogy than mine :)

    They have some work to do however – they’re lagging 4 WDCs behind!

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