GPM2, The Chairman Game.

[Shadaza]

Sauber are giving Nick Heidfeld a chance to shine in F1.

Jarno Trulli will drive the second car

No can do, Trulli is currently driving for the Minardi team (Scored his first point last time out too!)

Any available drivers for testing?

Pick any real life racing driver from the era that hasn't already been picked! Drivers currently outwith the system will be added for this test, is my understanding.

This. Drivers not already in the game will be added in for testing.

[FMecha]

We'll test Andrea Montermini and Noberto Fontana if possible. And Mr Andreas Stefano also wants to put 'GO HOME ALASDAIR LINDSAY' during the test.

[Stramala]

We'll test Andrea Montermini and Noberto Fontana if possible. And Mr Andreas Stefano also wants to put 'GO HOME ALASDAIR LINDSAY' during the test.

IIRC Fontana is a Nissan driver, and Montermini is not an F1 rookie!

[Backmarker]

I'd like to run Ricardo Zonta (who we hear is running very well in International Formula 3000) and friend of the family/Italian Formula Three frontrunner Oliver Martini.

P.S. I can't be the only one who is suspicious of an Italian with the name Oliver?

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Sauber are giving Nick Heidfeld a chance to shine in F1.

Jarno Trulli will drive the second car

No can do, Trulli is currently driving for the Minardi team (Scored his first point last time out too!)

Any available drivers for testing?

Ack! Why the hell did I think they had Esteban Tuero?

In light of this, Gauthier will instead run... Pedro de la Rosa, why not.

[the Masked Lapwing]

Nissan will run Craig Lowndes and Juan Pablo Montoya, simply because I'm lazy and can't think of anyone better

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Nissan will run Craig Lowndes and Juan Pablo Montoya, simply because I'm lazy and can't think of anyone better

I'm pretty certain Montoya is a race driver for Williams and has been since the beginning of the year. And is thus completely ineligible.

[the Masked Lapwing]

Nissan will run Craig Lowndes and Juan Pablo Montoya, simply because I'm lazy and can't think of anyone better

I'm pretty certain Montoya is a race driver for Williams and has been since the beginning of the year. And is thus completely ineligible.

To be fair, I don't actually know who's leading the championship because I only go "Yep, Nissan's crap, Jordan's slightly better, hey, well done Sauber!". I pay 0 attention to the rest of the grid

[Stramala]

Nissan will run Craig Lowndes and Juan Pablo Montoya, simply because I'm lazy and can't think of anyone better

So basically you were planning to buy the RSM Marko F3000 team then?

Elsewhere, there are rumours starting to circulate that there could be big American involvement in Formula One soon. Two names have come to the fore; a driver and a manufacturer. The machine has a bow tie and the man hails from Vallejo. You do the math...

[Ferrim]

The F1 Fans Association would like to express its concerns about the mental health of several team bosses. It's worrying that so many of them seem to forgot what drivers are currently competing in F1 with other teams, and are thus ineligible to test for them.

[Shadaza]

The F1 Fans Association would like to express its concerns about the mental health of several team bosses. It's worrying that so many of them seem to forgot what drivers are currently competing in F1 with other teams, and are thus ineligible to test for them.

Indeed!

Here is the driver line ups for each team for those who do not know them.


Ignore the red "signed" text as that is the AI's work and can be easily fixed, Fittipaldi is also a Lola test driver. Thank you.

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Elsewhere, there are rumours starting to circulate that there could be big American involvement in Formula One soon. Two names have come to the fore; a driver and a manufacturer. The machine has a bow tie and the man hails from Vallejo. You do the math...

Aw shite, why didn't I think of that...

[tommykl]

Jordan will enter, as second rookie, Takuya Kurosawa, currently second in the Formula Nippon championship.

[FMecha]

Okay then, Ferrari's YDT will be Kristensen and Sospiri if possible.

[JeremyMcClean]

Okay then, Ferrari's YDT will be Kristensen and Sospiri if possible.

Sospiri is testing for Lola, so that is not possible.

[Shadaza]

Okay then, Ferrari's YDT will be Kristensen and Sospiri if possible.

Sospiri is testing for Lola, so that is not possible.

This, Kristensen is available though. Gauthier were the only team to test this round, focusing on driver skill between their two race drivers. Neither driver felt they improved with Panis topping the times with 1:24:777 beating Moore's 1:24:819.

Still plenty of spots to fill on the young driver test, here is Silverstone qualifying:

Williams dominate the session, hopeful to put a few bad rounds behind them. Their pace caught out IBR, Champions and Minardi who all fell over the 107% as a result, only one of each car will start. A rather inglorious end to Christian Pescatori's season as Barrichello should be back in the car next round. Also of note are the pace of the Lola team and the lack of pace of Gauthier. The French team are behind the Nissans!

[Stramala]

We will go testing at the end of this round and throw everything at improving chassis + engine performance.

[JeremyMcClean]

After this round Magnussen and Unser will work on Driver performance while Burti will work on chassis performance and Fittipaldi will work on engine performance.

[BlindCaveSalamander]

... how the hell has that happened?

[Shadaza]

Williams hit Trouble again! Ferrari take another 1-2!

Hakkinen came through a thrilling battle with Michael Schumacher to take his 2nd career win and Ferrari's 5th straight victory. It all started so badly for Williams with Montoya not even making it off the grid as his car stalled. Villeneuve showed that Williams qualifying pace was no fluke as he just drove away 2 seconds a lap faster then anyone else and looked as if he would take a straight forward win. That was until he came across Magnussen and Fontana dueling for position. The Lola having stopped the lap previously was fending off the lighter Nissan when the Dane made a mistake and spun in to Fontana. Villeneuve was powerless to avoid the incident and let to Williams 5th straight double DNF. Meanwhile Ferrari managed to leapfrog Irvine over the pit stop period and were in a fierce battle between them. Hakkinen was the last of the pair to pit on the strategy and found himself ahead of Michael Schumacher. The German didn't stand for it and passed him the same lap. When the pitstops came around a second time, Hakkinen was again ahead this time for 3 laps before Michael could catch and pass. On the final stop Hakkinen emerged ahead and would not be caught, instead Schumacher elected to turn the engine mode down and cruised to a secure 2nd place some 30 seconds behind Hakkinen. The battle for 3rd was equally fierce, Irvine, Unser jnr and Hill spent the majority of the race in close formation. It looked like Irvine would win the battle only for his engine to give up the ghost. Then Unser Jnr under a lot of pressure from Hill let his inexpirience in F1 show and spun with just 6 laps remaining to give the defending British world champion his first podium this season and the first podium for Arrows since Gianni Morbidelli in Australia '95. Wurz took a lonely 4th to take an almost unnoticed unrejectification and Herbert makes it two points finishes in a row with a very good 5th place. The duel for 6th was very intense as Frentzen, Moore, Panis and Berger fought hard for it. Frentzen was clearly slower then the other three drivers and in the created log jam Berger tried an opportunistic move on Panis which worked a treat, unfortunatly he came in to the corner way too fast and could not avoid Greg Moore taking them both out of the race. Frentzen managed to hold on for the final championship point, his first this year in what has not been the greatest year for the German. Salo found himself lapped by his team mate as the pressure for next years race seat seems to be getting to the Fin, Salo was clearly the best Nissan engined runner at the start of the season! Considering the poor pace of the bottom three teams in qualifying Trulli did an excellent job to be able to hang on to Salo whilst Fisichella had another poor race. Prost's Champions car was woefully slow the entire race and despite being ahead of Trulli and Ralf Schumacher at the start they were by him within 10 laps and Prost never got close to being out of last.

FL: Jaques Villeneuve
First podium this season for Damon Hill.
Unrejectification for Alexander Wurz
First points this season for Heinz Harold Frentzen.

Rubens Barrichello is now fit from injury. There are currently no injured drivers


Just to be clear Jean Alesi is a free agent.

[Klon]

Question: when is the German Grand Prix coming up, because I want to replace Lavaggi with Schumacher for that event.

[Shadaza]

Question: when is the German Grand Prix coming up, because I want to replace Lavaggi with Schumacher for that event.

It will be held after the young driver test. But I do believe you agreed with IBR to loan Schumacher for the rest of the season?

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Unfortunately this race was not so good for us, we're really not sure why our car was off our usual pace, but we're confident we should be back on form in Germany. Olivier and Greg did their best, though, but Frentzen was very adamant in his defense, as he's entitled to do, and we just could not find a way past him. I'm also quite annoyed at Gerhard Berger, it was a very foolish move he made to take out Greg, certainly out of character for a driver of his considerable experience. Still, this is Formula 1, everybody has bad races from time to time, we just have to move on and put this behind us.

[FMecha]

HAHAHAHAHA! We will dominate this season!!

Would PDLR eligible as Ferrari's second YDT driver?

[JeremyMcClean]

We had the pace to podium today, unfortunately we had a technical problem and we had to stop the car.

[Shadaza]

HAHAHAHAHA! We will dominate this season!!

Would PDLR eligible as Ferrari's second YDT driver?

Arrows: 1.Mark Webber 2.Sebastian Bourdais
Williams: 1.Emmanuel Collard 2.Dario Franchitti
Ferrari: 1.Tom Kristensen 2.
Benetton: 1. 2.
Nissan: 1.Craig Lowndes 2.
Jordan: 1.Shinji Nakano 2.
Gauthier: 1.Nick Heidfeld 2.Pedro de la Rosa
Sauber: 1.Oliver Gavin 2.Shigeaki Hattori
IBR: 1.Christian Pescatori 2.
Minardi: 1.Ricardo Zonta 2.Oliver Martini
Champions: 1. Tony Kanaan 2. Paul Stokell
Lola: 1.Luciano Burti 2.Vincenzo Sospiri

No, de la Rosa is testing for Gauthier. Here is the list of drivers confirmed for the test so far. Fmecha you could use your actual test driver, Laurent Redon.

[Klon]

Question: when is the German Grand Prix coming up, because I want to replace Lavaggi with Schumacher for that event.

It will be held after the young driver test. But I do believe you agreed with IBR to loan Schumacher for the rest of the season?

Indeed, now that you say it.

@kostas22: What would IBR say about having Alain Prost in their car for the next race, swapping Ralf for Alain?

[Stramala]

Question: when is the German Grand Prix coming up, because I want to replace Lavaggi with Schumacher for that event.

It will be held after the young driver test. But I do believe you agreed with IBR to loan Schumacher for the rest of the season?

Indeed, now that you say it.

@kostas22: What would IBR say about having Alain Prost in their car for the next race, swapping Ralf for Alain?

Yeah, we're ok with this! Will this be for the rest of the season? Or will we get Schumacher back? As long as we get one of the two for the rest of the season we are happy

[Klon]

It would go this way:

IBR could use Alain Prost in the German Grand Prix and Champions will use Ralf Schumacher. Afterwards we reverse that swap and until the end of the 1997 season you can do with Schumacher whatever you want whereas Prost will resume his usual duty.

[Stramala]

It would go this way:

IBR could use Alain Prost in the German Grand Prix and Champions will use Ralf Schumacher. Afterwards we reverse that swap and until the end of the 1997 season you can do with Schumacher whatever you want whereas Prost will resume his usual duty.

Agreed.

[WaffleCat]

It's Official:Alesi to Sauber

In a press conference just after the British Grand Prix,Jean Alesi has struck a deal with Sauber for the last three races of 1997.If the three-race trial all goes well,Alesi will definitely be staying on for 1998.

"We have possibly one driver who could challenge titles given the opportunities."said Sauber Chairman,Mr Gavin Pereria."Who he's going to replace is tough.I'm planning for Herbert to be rplaced at Jerez,with Salo being replaced in the last two races of the season.We want to keep Salo as test driver,though,for the next season."

[Shadaza]

Young Driver test to be delayed?

Despite supposedly being days away from the Silverstone young driver test, not many teams have finalised their line up, indeed, Williams, Benetton and Arrows have yet to push forward any drivers at all. An emergency meeting has therefore been called for feedback, with a final word possible from the FIA.

The options are:

Option a) Go ahead with the young driver test as planned with non-conforming teams missing the chance to test youngsters(This would be held tomorrow IRL)
b) Postpone the test until later (possibly until after Jerez, the last round of the European season, round 14/16)
c)Cancel the young driver test all together.

(If the YDT gets postponed/canceled I will run the German Grand Prix tomorrow instead.)

In the meantime I am happy to confirm that Ralf Schumacher and Alain Prost have swapped seats for Germany (1 race deal or rest of season deal?) Sauber have signed Alesi for the last rounds of 1997 and for 1998 and Rubens Barrichello will replace Pescatori in the 2nd IBR seat for the rest of the season.

[takagi_for_the_win]

Arrows are in favour of the YDT, and want it to go ahead. We intend to run Mark Webber, a 21 year old front runner in F3, and Sebastian Bourdais, a promising 18 year old who has impressed in the French Formula Renault series.

Also, belated congratulations to Damon and Alex for their fine performances in recent Grands Prix and we fully intend to continue our fine form until the end of the season.

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Gauthier are in full support of the YDT, and would like it to go forward as planned. As far as we're concerned, if Williams and Benetton do not wish to run drivers, it's their loss.

[Klon]

It's a one race deal and the YDT must go ahead at any cost, so let Williams and Benetton drown in their ... failure to nominate drivers. Damn, where did my great metaphor go?

[dr-baker]

The Champions' Council would like to enter Tony Kanaan in the upcoming young driver's test and will leave the second spot open for a suggestion by the Engine Of Champions manufacturer. Should none follow, we'd enter Paul Stokell.

Oh, that's my engine, isn't it? Geez, with so much going on, this engine project has gone on the backburner somewhat! With us not really participating, we have no driver preference at all, so Paul Stokell (whoever he is) can run.

[Stramala]

BREAKING NEWS: Jeff Gordon to test for Il Barone Rampante

In a shock move, NASCAR Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon will test a Formula One car for the first time, as part of Il Barone Rampante's lineup for the upcoming Young Driver Test. Details are scarce but it is believed the move has been given a seal of approval by General Motors, who are currently assessing the possibility of a Formula One programme in future. More details to follow.

[DanielPT]

Williams will test Emanuel Collard and Dario Franchitti.

[the Masked Lapwing]

I'm too lazy to find a second driver, so just put the best placed available driver from Formula Nippon in the second Nissan.

[Klon]

That would be former (as for 2012) Benetton test driver Hidetoshi Mitsusada.