Chris Dagnall F1 Career -- 1984/????

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 30 Aug 2012, 12:13

MUGEN TO REVERT TO ONE TEAM OPERATION

After a good 1995 season, with Ligier finishing in 3rd place in the constructors championship, Japanese people at Mugen-Honda have announced they´re reverting to a single team operation after having supplied Minardi as well; the italian team was fairly competitive last season but they didn´t achieve the results they wanted with a 4th place at the Australian Grand Prix as their best moment of the season. It´s thought Minardi will be using a Ford ED V8 engine for 1996.

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 30 Aug 2012, 13:10

Williams wasn't interested in Dagnall's services?

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 30 Aug 2012, 13:13

JeremyMcClean wrote:Williams wasn't interested in Dagnall's services?

Dagnall signed with Jordan months ago!

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 30 Aug 2012, 13:15

JeremyMcClean wrote:Williams wasn't interested in Dagnall's services?

I'm suprised they went for Villeneuve over Deletraz....

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 30 Aug 2012, 13:17

Aerond wrote:
JeremyMcClean wrote:Williams wasn't interested in Dagnall's services?

Dagnall signed with Jordan months ago!

I know Dagnall signed with Jordan, but surely Williams didn't make an offer sometime??

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 30 Aug 2012, 13:19

JeremyMcClean wrote:
Aerond wrote:
JeremyMcClean wrote:Williams wasn't interested in Dagnall's services?

Dagnall signed with Jordan months ago!

I know Dagnall signed with Jordan, but surely Williams didn't make an offer sometime??

It was all press sumours... Dagnall never got a serious offer from Williams. It´s easy to understand as Williams already had a British #1 driver and they don´t usually run two drivers from the same country.

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 30 Aug 2012, 15:13

Aerond wrote:
Phoenix wrote::shock: Jan Lammers is back once again! And Minardi got a 4th at the last race!

Yes! and Forti will run Pedro Diniz, which means they keep the sponsorship, which means they´ll run Ford Zetec´s!!!

The up-to-date JD that Sauber will use, or the ECA?

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 30 Aug 2012, 20:33

Phoenix wrote:
Aerond wrote:
Phoenix wrote::shock: Jan Lammers is back once again! And Minardi got a 4th at the last race!

Yes! and Forti will run Pedro Diniz, which means they keep the sponsorship, which means they´ll run Ford Zetec´s!!!

The up-to-date JD that Sauber will use, or the ECA?

Similar to Sauber

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 17 Sep 2012, 22:53

1996 - ROUND 1 - AUSTRALIA - Melbourne

New season, new team, new track! Lots of novelties at Melbourne for me. Time to finally check out if the move to Jordan was worth it or not; and it seems so. The car is good, very good. Of course, it´s not going to fight for the championship (I didn´t expect that, anyway), but the prospect is that it´s going to be an exciting season to me and the team.

Things started well in qualifying as I got a great result on Friday, but I had a massive shunt on Saturday and I couldn´t improve my time, but I´m sure I could have done it!

RACE

I made a great start and jumped to 3rd by the first corner, only behind Alesi and Hill. Villeneuve passed Schumacher early and started to put some pressure on me. He was faster so I didn´t fight too much when he tried to pass me on Lap 3. Next lap I went a bit over the kerb at turn one and spun, losing many places. I was down in 16th but then I could quickly pass Katayama. A series of passes put me 10th by Lap 12. Then I passed Barrichello and Schumacher and Alesi would retire soon, leaving me 7th, which would turn into 6th when Irvine retired too after my first stop. Then both McLarens were going for one stop and I passed them during their pitstops, passing later Berger on track, leaving me 3rd, and then I climbed into 2nd as Hill retired on lap 36. On lap 41 I stopped for the 2nd time and fell to 5th, but with new tyres it was easier to catch the McLaren drivers and I passed Hakkinen on Lap 45 (touch included!) and Coulthard on lap 54 for a final 3rd place.

DOTR -- Jacques Villeneuve -- Win on debut, what else?
ROTR -- Eddie Irvine -- Crashed against the pit wall when going for his first stop

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Drivers

1.Jacques Villeneuve -- 10 pts
2.Gerhard Berger -- 6 pts
3.Chris Dagnall -- 4 pts
4.David Coulthard -- 3 pts
5.Mika Hakkinen -- 2 pts
6.Heinz-Harald Frentzen -- 1 pt

Constructors

1.Williams-Renault -- 10 pts
2.Benetton-Renault -- 6 pts
3.McLaren-Mercedes -- 5 pts
4.Jordan-Peugeot -- 4 pts
5.Sauber-Ford -- 1 pt

Chris Dagnall:

All in all, a great debut with my new team. It´s a pity I made that childish mistake at the beggining but probably the final result would have been exactly the same, as I didn´t had much pace during my first stint: The tyres answered much better later on. Anyway, we shouldn´t get too excited as I think we don´t have a car to fight for bigger things right now, so a podium finish is something to remark and with a little bit of luck we´ll be able to repeat it more times along the season. I feel very comfortable at Jordan, the atmosphere is great and, sincerely, for the first time in my F1 career I´m just racing for fun. Eddie has taken off all the pressure and that´s the very best atmosphere to work.

Post by **Londoner** » 17 Sep 2012, 23:03

Huzzah! Dagnall is back! :mrgreen:

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 18 Sep 2012, 02:07

Wow, what a drive from the former champ! There's still plenty of life in him yet

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 11 Nov 2012, 21:35

1996 - Round 2 - Brazilian GP - Interlagos

QUALIFYING

Qualifying was bad as I couldn't find a good compromise with the setup; on friday I focused on a high downforce setup, while I tried the contrary on Saturday and neither was good, but I decided to go racing with the low downforce setup to have a chance to pass other cars on the straights.

RACE

I did a good start climbing up to 12th but I touched with a Sauber and the front wing flew off. I was 25th after pitting for a new one with Lavaggi being 9.8 sec ahead. On lap 4 I had already passed Lavaggi and Montermini and by lap 9 I was already passing Lamy for 19th. After passing Rosset and Fisichella I found myself 17.7 behind Verstappen. Panis retired shortly afterwards and after my first stop on lap 25 I was 15th. I then passed Katayama and Herbert retired. I managed to cut more and more time and I passed Frentzen on lap 36, with Salo and Brundle going into the pits that left me 9th. On lap 43 Alesi spun and I climbed into 8th and after my 2nd pitstop I went down to 11th, but in front of Irvine, making a mistake which cost me the position. Frentzen went into the pits on lap 49 and passing Irvine on lap 51 left me 10th; Berger spun aftwerwards and with Salo pitting and Brundle spinning that left me 7th which was my final position. A good race coming from the back but couldn't do any better for points. Would have probably ended up 7th as well without the first lap collission anyway...

DOTR; Jean Alesi; brilliantly recovered from a spin mid race to snatch two points.
ROTR; Gerhard Berger; Went off track when he had assured the 4th place

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Drivers

1.Jacques Villeneuve -- 14 pts
2.Michael Schumacher -- 10 pts
3.Damon Hill -- 6 pts
=.Gerhard Berger -- 6 pts
5.Mika Hakkinen -- 5 pts
6.Chris Dagnall -- 4 pts
=.David Coulthard -- 4 pts
8.Jean Alesi -- 2 pts
6.Heinz-Harald Frentzen -- 1 pt

Constructors

1.Williams-Renault -- 20 pts
2.Ferrari -- 10 pts
3.McLaren-Mercedes -- 9 pts
4.Benetton-Renault -- 8 pts
5.Jordan-Peugeot -- 4 pts
6.Sauber-Ford -- 1 pt

This spin of Salo made me go off track to avoid him

Keeping position in front of Irvine after 2nd pit

Brundle spinning

Chris Dagnall said:

I'm happy with the result even though we didn't score any points, specially having in count how things went on qualifying, we are quite sattisfied with the car's response on Sunday and it gives us hope for the future. I think I couldn't have done any better if nothing had happened on lap 1, so overall yes, I'm happy with the result and we did everything we could and even ended up ahead of cars which should be ahead of us.

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 11 Nov 2012, 21:58

1996 - ROUND 3 - Argentina GP - Autódromo Oscar Galvez

QUALIFYING

Things went wrong on Friday with a heavy shunt but Saturday was great and ended up qualifying 4th

RACE

Alesi passed me at the start but then I could recover the 4th place at the back straight. Schumacher and both Williams very soon disappeared into distance and Berger slowly began to lose ground behind, so that left me to fight with Alesi head to head for the 4th place. On lap 10 Alesi passed me but I quickly could get the place back, on lap 16 it happened again but I touched Alesi when passing him and I almost took him off when he flought for a few meters. Alesi and Hill entered the pits, but the Williams was too far ahead to pass him, Schumacher stopped one lap later and I got into 3rd but he catched me easily after that and I decided not to put myself into trouble when he tried to take the place back. Hill spun so I got into 3rd anyway. I decided to pit on lap 21 and got back 5th, behind Alesi. Schumacher retired shortly afterwards and I started to slowly cut the gap with the Benetton but on Lap 26 I went off and lost the front wing, then I decided to switch to only one extra stop. I came back into 10th and I passed Frentzen and Panis by lap 29 but then spun and got 10th again. I was pursuing them but when I was attempting to lap Lavaggi I slightly lost control of the car at the pit straight, ran into the Pacific and flew off in spectacular fashion to retire. A real shame because I could have finished in the podium again.

DOTR; Damon Hill -- Brilliantly recovered from his spin to finish 2nd.
ROTR; Eddie Irvine -- If you drive a Ferrari and most of your rivals retire you're expected to score. // DAMS drivers -- You don't collide with your teammate at Turn 1.

1st corner order

Both DAMS drivers collided at Turn 1.

Fighting Alesi

Spinning off trying to recover

The shunt with the Pacific sequence

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Drivers

1.Jacques Villeneuve -- 24 pts
2.Damon Hill -- 12 pts
3.Michael Schumacher -- 10 pts
=.Gerhard Berger -- 10 pts
5.Mika Hakkinen -- 5 pts
6.Chris Dagnall -- 4 pts
=.David Coulthard -- 4 pts
=.Heinz-Harald Frentzen -- 4 pts
9.Jean Alesi -- 2 pts
=.Rubens Barrichello -- 2 pts
11. Ukyo Katayama -- 1 pt

Constructors

1.Williams-Renault -- 36 pts
2.Benetton-Renault -- 12 pts
3.Ferrari -- 10 pts
4.McLaren-Mercedes -- 9 pts
5.Jordan-Peugeot -- 6 pts
6.Sauber-Ford -- 4 pts
7.Tyrrell-Yamaha -- 1 pt

Chris Dagnall said:

A real shame I had that accident today because the car was really fast and we lost a great opportunity to score; however, I'm glad at the pace we had today and I'm also happy to see Rubens scoring because it shows the pace is there and we'll surely have more chances to score. About the accident, it was really weird. I just came off slipstream to lap Lavaggi, then I prepared to take the first turn and as I moved the car a little bit into the outside it just went from behind and I ended up touching wheels with him. Afterwards it was just a matter of waiting to hit the ground and the wall, but the impact wasn't as heavy as it seemed on TV.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 12 Nov 2012, 06:40

That looks like Schumacher's Adelaide flight, or more like Alesi's A1-Ring one :lol:

pycku · Post by **pycku** » 12 Nov 2012, 14:39

Wow, I came across that and I spent my day in reading it. Go on, Chris! I hope you give Jordan their first victory!

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 22 Nov 2012, 01:41

Having the forum been stopped for a few days, and having the same situation with the wiki before that, I continued with the Chris Dagnall career and have raced 5 more races now. As I don't want to spend two hours writing full reviews from those 5 races, I'll just post the results and a brief description of what happened in those races, as well as the championship standings after Canada, which is the last race I played.

EUROPEAN GP -- Nurburgring

Qualifying:

Race:

Did a good start, touched Coulthard at the first corner and then one of the Ligiers crashed into me and took out a rear wheel, finishing my race there.

DOTR -- Mika Hakkinen
ROTR -- Chris Dagnall

Round 5 -- SAN MARINO -- Imola

Qualifying:

Race:

Avoided some crashes in first corners but was too slow, so I spent the whole race behind Verstappen and the Tyrrells and ended up 8th thanks to all of the retirements ahead.

DOTR; Eddie Irvine
ROTR; DAMS drivers (crashed into each other on first lap)

Round 6 -- MONACO

Qualifying

Race:

I did a good start but lost control of the car at the end of lap one and Frentzen came from behind and hit me having to stop to fix damage. Three laps later I ran into the back of Montermini as he touched the wall and had to stop again. I started a slow recovery towards the points and in the end problems by Berger and Coulthard allowed me to finish 4th.

DOTR; Chris Dagnall (4th after 5 pitstops!)
ROTR; Ligier (Both drivers crashed at home race)

Round 7 - SPAIN - Montmeló

Qualifying:

Race:

I climbed to 3rd at the start but soon afterwards Schumacher decided to tackle and sent me off the track for a spin. Back in 10th place I was quite fast and an incredible number of retirements ahead (4 finishers!) coupled with good speed (only surpassed by Hill) allowed me to score my 1st win since 1994 Belgian GP and the 1st Jordan win!

DOTR; Mika Hakkinen (excellent recovery drive after 1st lap collision)
ROTR; Everyone who spun at the last corner.

Round 8 - CANADA - Montreal

Qualifying;

Race;

I climbed to 4th at the start and passed Alesi before the 1st round of stops. Schumacher and Hill were always out of reach although at some point I was faster than both, but never enough to get close. Villeneuve went for one stop and I had to push to overcome his strategy which I did a few laps before his car stopped, for a final 3rd place.

DOTR; Damon Hill (spotless win to take the championship lead)
ROTR; Jean Alesi (idiotic crash into Herbert put him out of contention for podium)

Championship standings

1.Damon Hill -- 48 pts
2.Jacques Villeneuve -- 46 pts
3.Chris Dagnall -- 21 pts
4.Mika Hakkinen -- 18 pts
5.Michael Schumacher -- 16 pts
6.Gerhard Berger -- 14 pts
7.Jean Alesi -- 9 pts
=.David Coulthard -- 9 pts
9.Rubens Barrichello -- 6 pts
10.Heinz-Harald Frentzen -- 5 pts
11.Eddie Irvine -- 4 pts
12.Giancarlo Fisichella -- 3 pts
13.Martin Brundle -- 2 pts
=.Olivier Panis -- 2 pts
15.Ukyo Katayama -- 1 pt
=. Johnny Herbert -- 1 pt

Constructors

1.Williams-Renault -- 94 pts
2.Jordan-Peugeot -- 27 pts
=.McLaren-Mercedes -- 27 pts
4.Benetton-Renault -- 23 pts
5.Ferrari -- 20 pts
6.Sauber-Ford -- 6 pts
7.Ligier-Mugen-Honda -- 4 pts
8.Minardi-Ford -- 3 pts
9.Tyrrell-Yamaha -- 1 pt

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 22 Nov 2012, 03:37

How does Damon Hill, with six cars on the track in Spain, manage to bin it?? :?:

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 22 Nov 2012, 05:21

Can Chris Dagnall confirm or deny the rumours that Luca di Montezemelo approached him to replace the hereunto disappointing Eddie Irvine for 1997?

EDIT: And for those Dagnall fans out there, his win at Spain came in his 200th race event while the next race at France will be his 200th career race start. I propose a toast to one of the legends of the sport for his upcoming milestone. To Daggers!

pycku · Post by **pycku** » 22 Nov 2012, 08:22

What Chris would say about the rumours that Damon Hill is not continuing his contract with Williams and the speculation that sir Frank is interested in hiring Dagnall?

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 22 Nov 2012, 14:25

How do you manage to have so many cars retiring through mechanical failures, Aerond? In most of my races it's pretty rare to get more than 8 cars retiring - and that's without counting those that fail but don't retire because they manage to get to the pits (loose wheel and electric problems). I suppose you don't have unreliability up to 16384 for every car because I see some regularity in which cars retire more often.

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 22 Nov 2012, 15:28

Before each season I take a look at the results for every GP for that year and I tweak the carset (roughly, one retirement because of mechanical reason = 1000 unreliability points; one retirement in the last few laps because of a mechanical reason or DNQ = 500 unrealiability points), I also tweak qualifying putting the exact average for that year for each driver and let random grip range do the variations.

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 12 Dec 2012, 23:42

I've actually raced Monza, but I'll go little by little to avoid another massive post;

1996 - ROUND 9 - FRENCH GP - Magny Course

Qualifying

Incredible qualifying and great feeling in the car made me get Pole Position, not after great fight with Hill and Schumacher!

Race

I got the lead at the start and I quickly opened a small gap over both Williams; The gap was around 4 secs over Hill around lap 12 when I found in the straight Diniz fighting with a Minardi; I moved to the inside but at that the same moment Diniz did so to try pass the MInardi and I had nowhere to go but the gravel trap to avoid crashing with the Forti; so I lost ground to 4th place. I inmediately started chasing Villeneuve and everything went well from then on, except that I was on 3 stops and everybody else on 2. After Villeneuve's first stop I was still behind him but I could pass a few laps later and started chasing Schumacher, whom I passed on his second stop, after that I managed to keep on cutting the gap to Hill and I passed him several laps from the end to score my second win of the season in my 200th start!

DOTR; Chris Dagnall -- Amazing 200th race, won in style
ROTR; Jacques Villeneuve -- Careless when lapping a DAMS, it meant he lost valuable points.

Start

1st lap crash

Passing Hill for the win!

Villeneuve's retirement

Crossing the line!

Championship standings

1.Damon Hill -- 54 pts
2.Jacques Villeneuve -- 46 pts
3.Chris Dagnall -- 31 pts
4.Mika Hakkinen -- 22 pts
5.Gerhard Berger -- 17 pts
6.Michael Schumacher -- 16 pts
7.Jean Alesi -- 9 pts
=.David Coulthard -- 9 pts
9.Rubens Barrichello -- 7 pts
10.Heinz-Harald Frentzen -- 5 pts
11.Eddie Irvine -- 4 pts
=.Martin Brundle -- 4 pts
13.Giancarlo Fisichella -- 3 pts
14.Olivier Panis -- 2 pts
15.Ukyo Katayama -- 1 pt
=. Johnny Herbert -- 1 pt

Constructors

1.Williams-Renault -- 100 pts
2.Jordan-Peugeot -- 38 pts
3.McLaren-Mercedes -- 31 pts
4.Benetton-Renault -- 26 pts
5.Ferrari -- 20 pts
6.Sauber-Ford -- 6 pts
=.Ligier-Mugen-Honda -- 6 pts
8.Minardi-Ford -- 3 pts
9.Tyrrell-Yamaha -- 1 pt

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 13 Dec 2012, 00:30

Daggers 1996 World Champion, anyone? :mrgreen:

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 13 Dec 2012, 07:18

Wizzie wrote:Daggers 1996 World Champion, anyone?

At this rate, I certainly wouldn't be surprised. That was one hell of a race.

takagi_for_the_win · Post by **takagi_for_the_win** » 13 Dec 2012, 13:48

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:
Wizzie wrote:Daggers 1996 World Champion, anyone?

At this rate, I certainly wouldn't be surprised. That was one hell of a race.

Especially if the Williams drivers start taking points off each other

WeirdKerr · Post by **WeirdKerr** » 13 Dec 2012, 21:40

Have Peugeot won before in this alternate universe?

Bleu · Post by **Bleu** » 14 Dec 2012, 17:17

When I played this game I remember that quite rarely AI drivers were involved in race-ending crashes. Mostly on few circuits, I remember Aida being quite a crash-fest sometimes. But in this series about every race has them - why is that?

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 14 Dec 2012, 21:26

I believe it's related with the damage file. With the default settings it's hard to damage the cars, but it can be edited. Well, nearly everything can be edited in GP2.

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 15 Dec 2012, 19:17

1996 - ROUND 10 - BRITISH GP - Silverstone

QUALIFYING

After Peugeot's home race came Jordan's and my home race! Everyone at the team was confident regarding this race and it showed in Qualifying where I fought for Pole to the last minute!!

RACE

At the start I kept 3rd ahead of Schumacher while Villeneuve got the lead to be passed by Hill on Lap 1. I had chosen a one stop strategy and it became apparent very soon that it was the wrong choice; all the balance in the car was gone and I found myself with a very difficult car to drive; and both Williams being massively faster than me. I was trying to keep Schumacher behind when I made a mistake at Chapel and spun into the gravel trap; had to let lots of cars pass before being able to rejoin the track and at the end of lap 5 I was 20th. I quickly started to regain some places and I was 15th at the end of Lap 13; On lap 16 Alesi spun and lost his front wing and climbed to 14th, passed Barrichello on lap 17, and when drivers started to pit for their first time I climbed to 7th on lap 21; On lap 25 I was stilll trying to make ground when I lost my FW due to a mistake at the last corner but lost no time and did my only stop; falling to 13th. From then on I was concentrating on getting some minor points but when Villeneuve came to lap me I lost control of the car at Copse and spun into the wall. A really bad race when with the right startegy I could have finished in the podium comfortably.

DOTR; Jos Verstappen; Magnificient drive in the underpowered Arrows.
ROTR; Chris Dagnall; Seemed out of depth during the race after incredible qualifying.

My spin into retirement

Championship standings

1.Damon Hill -- 64 pts
2.Jacques Villeneuve -- 52 pts
3.Chris Dagnall -- 31 pts
4.Mika Hakkinen -- 26 pts
5.Gerhard Berger -- 17 pts
6.Michael Schumacher -- 16 pts
7.Jean Alesi -- 12 pts
8.David Coulthard -- 9 pts
9.Rubens Barrichello -- 7 pts
10.Heinz-Harald Frentzen -- 5 pts
11.Eddie Irvine -- 4 pts
=.Martin Brundle -- 4 pts
13.Giancarlo Fisichella -- 3 pts
14.Olivier Panis -- 2 pts
=.Jos Verstappen -- 2 pts
16.Ukyo Katayama -- 1 pt
=. Johnny Herbert -- 1 pt
=. Mika Salo -- 1 pt

Constructors

1.Williams-Renault -- 116 pts
2.Jordan-Peugeot -- 38 pts
3.McLaren-Mercedes -- 35 pts
4.Benetton-Renault -- 29 pts
5.Ferrari -- 20 pts
6.Sauber-Ford -- 6 pts
=.Ligier-Mugen-Honda -- 6 pts
8.Minardi-Ford -- 3 pts
9.Tyrrell-Yamaha -- 2 pts
=.Arrows-Hart -- 2 pts

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 17 Dec 2012, 01:37

1996 - ROUND 11 - GERMAN GP - Hockenheim

Qualifying

Not really good, average at best as I couldn't find rythm through the chicanes. Both DAMS suffered massive accidents pictured above;

Race

Luckily the Jordan was really good on top speed and, although I lost two positions at the first corner, after the first chicane was 8th!; Then I passed Schumacher at the third chicane... The local hero went off the trackand out of the race. Alesi retired on lap 9 and I climbed to 6th; then 5th when Hakkinen went into the pits on Lap 15. I was having a quiet race when the engine gave up one lap later, and then I lost an opportunity to score some extra points.

FLAP -- Unknown, but probably Hill.

DOTR -- Damon Hill; Led solidly and scored a very important win towards the championship.
ROTR -- Michael Schumacher; The local hero crashed on first lap.

Verstappen spun

Schumacher's accident

1st lap fight

The engine gave up early

Championship standings

1.Damon Hill -- 74 pts
2.Jacques Villeneuve -- 58 pts
3.Chris Dagnall -- 31 pts
4.Mika Hakkinen -- 29 pts
5.Gerhard Berger -- 21 pts
6.Michael Schumacher -- 18 pts
7.Jean Alesi -- 12 pts
8.David Coulthard -- 9 pts
9.Rubens Barrichello -- 7 pts
10.Heinz-Harald Frentzen -- 5 pts
=.Eddie Irvine -- 5 pts
12.Martin Brundle -- 4 pts
13.Giancarlo Fisichella -- 3 pts
14.Olivier Panis -- 2 pts
=.Jos Verstappen -- 2 pts
16.Ukyo Katayama -- 1 pt
=. Johnny Herbert -- 1 pt
=. Mika Salo -- 1 pt

Constructors

1.Williams-Renault -- 132 pts
2.McLaren-Mercedes -- 40 pts
3.Jordan-Peugeot -- 38 pts
4.Benetton-Renault -- 33 pts
5.Ferrari -- 21 pts
6.Sauber-Ford -- 6 pts
=.Ligier-Mugen-Honda -- 6 pts
8.Minardi-Ford -- 3 pts
9.Tyrrell-Yamaha -- 2 pts
=.Arrows-Hart -- 2 pts

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 17 Dec 2012, 01:40

Chris Dagnall said:

To be honest, I never thought fighting for the championship was possible, but it's a pity we suffered our first mechanical issue this season. The car's been very reliable until now and I hope it continues like this in the next few races; we must concentrate on getting the 2nd place in the constructors championship.

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 19 Dec 2012, 22:51

1996 - ROUND 12 - HUNGARIAN GP - Hungaroring

QUALIFYING

Good effort as I managed to finish 7th; On Saturday I had to abort both tries.

RACE

I managed to squeeze into 5th by the first corner but I was quite slower that the cars ahead, so I concentrated on my own business, only to slid off track (very slippery) on lap 7, to fall to 10th place. I inmediately passed Irvine and started to pursue Barrichello, passing him on Lap 9, then Berger on lap 11. On lap 20 Coulthard was the first of many victims, while Alesi came into the pits, prompting me to 5th. Villeneuve and Hill both crashed on lap 21 and I did my first stop that lap.Salo retired on lap 22 and Irvine came into the pìts so I climbed to 6th, on lap 23 I passed Katayama and Hakkinen and Berger crashed as well so I climbed to 3rd. By Lap 42 everybody but me had crashed out of the race so I won this crazy Hungarian Grand Prix! The team told me to stop the car as FIA would grant full points despite not having reached 75% so they could grant points a few drivers at least...

DOTR -- Chris Dagnall -- Not very fast, but at least managed to keep the car on track
ROTR -- All the crashers, but specially Williams for throwing away a potential 1-2

Two solitary pics; one at the start and the other when I slid off track

Chris Dagnall said:

I can't believe it! Not in my wildest dream I could imagine a race like this! For some reason, the track was like driving on ice and I managed to keep it on the asphalt most of the time, and in the end I was told by the team I could stop the car as I was going to be given full points anyway and got the chequered flag at the end of Lap 42, and I thought... How can this happen? It's almost halfway through only!" All in all, very happy that Rubens got some points too, we're in good shape and we'll attack Spa with full confidence.

1996 - ROUND 13 - BELGIAN GP - Spa

Qualifying

The Jordan was straight fast around Spa and I almost got the pole, but Hill was just a bit faster. Great to start from the front row anyway.

Race

Schumacher passed me and Hill at the start, and exiting La Source Hill got trapped between me and a Benetton and his launched into air and crashed out of the race!! I quickly passed Schumacher and got the lead with the gap to the Ferrari evolving favourably:

Lap 2 --> 0.4
Lap 5 --> 2.0
Lap 10 --> 4.2

On lap 13 Schumacher retired and Alesi got the second, but he was almost 20 secs behind; I kept the lead on my first stop on lap 16 and Berger was second, pressured by Villeneuve, then I made my usual stupid mistake and I went off track and lost my front wing on lap 20, which made me do an extra stop, however, I managed to keep the lead, but now only 6.9 secs to Villeneuve, who was quite fast. Alesi retired quickly afterwards and Villeneuve spun, so the gap got over 20 secs. On lap 29 I did my 2nd pitstop and from then on it was just a matter of managing the gap over the Williams to score another win at Spa!

DOTR -- Mika Salo; Managed two points in the underpowered Tyrrell
ROTR -- Ferrari; Again a lack of points due to horrible reliability.

Hill accident!

Losing my fw

Chequered flag

Chris Dagnall said:

This is amazing! I was just hoping for the odd podium before the season began and now I find myself with 4 wins! A big, big thank you to Jordan and Peugeot for giving me the perfect car today, the championship is not a realistic goal so we'll try to see the season out with some good results

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

1.Damon Hill -- 74 pts
2.Jacques Villeneuve -- 64 pts
3.Chris Dagnall -- 51 pts
4.Mika Hakkinen -- 29 pts
5.Gerhard Berger -- 25 pts
6.Michael Schumacher -- 24 pts
7.Rubens Barrichello -- 13 pts
8.Jean Alesi -- 12 pts
9.David Coulthard -- 10 pts
10.Martin Brundle -- 8 pts
11.Heinz-Harald Frentzen -- 5 pts
=.Eddie Irvine -- 5 pts
13.Giancarlo Fisichella -- 3 pts
=. Mika Salo -- 3 pts
15.Olivier Panis -- 2 pts
=.Jos Verstappen -- 2 pts
17.Ukyo Katayama -- 1 pt
=. Johnny Herbert -- 1 pt

Constructors

1.Williams-Renault -- 138 pts
2.Jordan-Peugeot -- 64 pts
3.McLaren-Mercedes -- 39 pts
4.Benetton-Renault -- 37 pts
5.Ferrari -- 27 pts
6.Ligier-Mugen-Honda -- 10 pts
7.Sauber-Ford -- 6 pts
8.Tyrrell-Yamaha -- 4 pts
9.Minardi-Ford -- 3 pts
10.Arrows-Hart -- 2 pts

Now, I've received an offer to join Williams-Renault for 1997. Meanwhile, Jordan wants me to stay with the promise of a better engine and chassis for the 1997 season. Should I stay loyal to Jordan (and Peugeot) or leave to the current championship dominators?

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 19 Dec 2012, 23:32

I heard Adrian Newey was going to McLaren in 1998, so I think you should aim there...

Aerond · Post by **Aerond** » 19 Dec 2012, 23:46

JeremyMcClean wrote:I heard Adrian Newey was going to McLaren in 1998, so I think you should aim there...

McLaren is now relatively happy with Coulthard - Hakkinen, it doesn't seem a very realistic option..

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 20 Dec 2012, 06:27

What happened on our racetrack? Everyone except you crashing out? Wow. :lol:

I think you should wait with the decision until you're out of the picture for this year's WDC. I think Sir FW will probably put Hill out the team after that rejectful Spa accident.

pycku · Post by **pycku** » 20 Dec 2012, 10:48

With Hill and Villeneuve under pressure they make too many mistakes. Maybe Chris has real chance of fighting for the title until the last lap of the last race, which is great! Go on, CD, you're far better than DC

As for Williams offer - all fans would like to see Dagnall snatching his second championship (if he doesn't make it even this year), so we (or at least me) think that it would be way easier if it is in the fastest possible car. So do not hesitate, Williams is your place!

Additionally to that once Aerond said he will finish his career trying to give back the glorious days of a big team. So, the bestt possible solution is going to Williams and trying to keep their domination for 1998 and 1999

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 20 Dec 2012, 11:20

pycku wrote:As for Williams offer - all fans would like to see Dagnall snatching his second championship (if he doesn't make it even this year), so we (or at least me) think that it would be way easier if it is in the fastest possible car. So do not hesitate, Williams is your place!

Additionally to that once Aerond said he will finish his career trying to give back the glorious days of a big team. So, the bestt possible solution is going to Williams and trying to keep their domination for 1998 and 1999

From my workstation in a Changi Airport transit lounge, I second this sentiment :mrgreen:

WaffleCat · Post by **WaffleCat** » 20 Dec 2012, 11:59

Wizzie wrote:
pycku wrote:As for Williams offer - all fans would like to see Dagnall snatching his second championship (if he doesn't make it even this year), so we (or at least me) think that it would be way easier if it is in the fastest possible car. So do not hesitate, Williams is your place!

Additionally to that once Aerond said he will finish his career trying to give back the glorious days of a big team. So, the bestt possible solution is going to Williams and trying to keep their domination for 1998 and 1999

From my workstation in a Changi Airport transit lounge, I second this sentiment

You're in Singapore?

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 20 Dec 2012, 12:40

Aerond wrote:
JeremyMcClean wrote:I heard Adrian Newey was going to McLaren in 1998, so I think you should aim there...

McLaren is now relatively happy with Coulthard - Hakkinen, it doesn't seem a very realistic option..

That is true, but I'm pretty sure McLaren operates on the principle of getting the two best drivers available (at least, that's what Whitmarsh said after signing Perez). You're clearly leagues better than Coulthard, so I'd see if they're interested before committing to Williams. Besides, the 1997 McLaren was a pretty quick car in it's own right - it just broke down a lot.

pycku · Post by **pycku** » 20 Dec 2012, 12:45

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:
Aerond wrote:
JeremyMcClean wrote:I heard Adrian Newey was going to McLaren in 1998, so I think you should aim there...

McLaren is now relatively happy with Coulthard - Hakkinen, it doesn't seem a very realistic option..

That is true, but I'm pretty sure McLaren operates on the principle of getting the two best drivers available (at least, that's what Whitmarsh said after signing Perez). You're clearly leagues better than Coulthard, so I'd see if they're interested before committing to Williams. Besides, the 1997 McLaren was a pretty quick car in it's own right - it just broke down a lot.

But McLaren rarely get a driver back once he left them, at least when Ron Dennis was there.