1998 F1 Management Series - SEASON COMPLETE

[Ataxia]

Round 12 - Hungarian Grand Prix - 16 August, 1998

Qualifying


Race


Drivers' standings
1. Greg Moore - 53
2. Giancarlo Fisichella - 53
3. Michael Schumacher - 39
4. Dario Franchitti - 32
5. Jacques Villeneuve - 32
6. Mika Hakkinen - 25
7. Heinz-Harald Frentzen - 23
8. Jos Verstappen - 17
9. Tom Kristensen - 9
10. Alessandro Zanardi - 6
11. Alexander Wurz - 6
12. Eddie Irvine - 6
13. Jean Alesi - 3
14. Rubens Barrichello - 3
15. Damon Hill - 2
16. Olivier Panis - 1
17. Pedro de la Rosa - 1
18. Mika Salo - 1

Teams' standings
1. Ferrari - 92
2. McLaren-Mercedes - 85
3. Williams-Mecachrome - 55
4. Benetton-Playlife - 42
5. Jordan-Peugeot - 15
6. Sauber-Petronas - 9
7. Prost-Mugen Honda - 6
8. Stewart-Ford - 3
9. Tyrrell-Peugeot - 2
10. Lola-Ford - 1
11. Arrows - 1
12. Dome-Mugen Honda - 1

Adding testing bonuses now - I won't post times, because I want to just press on with the rest of the season and get to the fun bit!

[Ataxia]

Could Mika walk into a BAR?

Benetton's Mika Hakkinen has endured a disappointing 1998 season, despite his best efforts to overcome the Mecachrome-powered B198's shortfalls in performance and reliability. Although McLaren's decision to release him in place of Dario Franchitti doesn't look justified at this point, Hakkinen would be a worthy acquisition for a team with title aspirations - and could take over at Williams should either Jacques Villeneuve or Heinz-Harald Frentzen depart.

But BAR, armed to the teeth with a whopping warchest for 1999, is also rumoured to be vying for the Finn's services next year. The team is not expected to continue its relationship with Peugeot as it rebrands from Tyrrell, but is looking to prise a works Ford deal away from Stewart. Next year's Fords should be much more reliable as Northamptonshire-based Cosworth ups its involvement in the design of the much-anticipated CR-1 V10s.

Prost interested in the Gene genie

For the second year in a row, Prost has been a rather one-sided line-up thanks to the less-than-stellar performances of Shinji Nakano at the team. Although Nakano has offered the team a rather heady discount on Mugen Honda's powerplants this year, lead driver Alex Wurz has been lumbered with carrying the team's fortunes.

Rumour has it that Alain has cast his eye on the Spain-based Euro Open by Nissan series for a new star, with runaway championship leader Marc Gene angling for an F1 ride - backed by Spanish telecoms giants Telefonica. A Wurz-Gene line-up would add plenty of youthful promise to the Prost team - if Alain can hold onto his Austrian charge.

In addition, Ferrari, Sauber and Minardi are available.

Gertrand Bachot, CarloSpace and Aislabie, you may choose which one you'd like - first come first serve.

[Gertrand Bachot]

I'll take Sauber please.

[Aislabie]

Minardi please.

And my first act is to fire Vincenzo Sospiri and bring in Gonzalo Rodriguez in his place.

[Pilot]

May I be added to the reserve list, please?

[Kinnikuniverse]

Woohoo! Let's go, williams! This season is going much better than expected! And while getting Hakkinen would be marvelous indeed, our priority is on our two current drivers and building next year's car.

[Dom_Wings]

Dome Racing announcement
Our team decided to end its contract with Norberto Fontana with immediate effect, especially due to the Argentinian qualifying 2.6 seconds behind his teammate in Hungary.

We would like to sign Belgian driver Marc Goossens for Rds. 13-15 on the same salary as Fontana, with Juichi Wakisaka taking his scheduled drive at Suzuka.

[CarloSpace]

I guess that leaves Ferrari for me.

[Ataxia]

Gonzalo Rodriguez
1-80: Minardi
81-100: sticks to F3000 campaign
63! Rodriguez takes the drive for the final four rounds.

Marc Goossens
1-80: Dome
81-100: sticks to FNippon campaign
54! Goossens takes the drive for the final four rounds.

Sospiri "furious" at Minardi release

Ousted Minardi driver Vincenzo Sospiri has outlined his fury at being dropped by the Italian team with four races left.

Sospiri had claimed the team's best result of the season with a seventh place finish at Imola, and had also delivered a strong race at Hockenheim to finish eighth. However, the team has instead elected to bring F3000 driver Gonzalo Rodriguez into the fold for the final quarter of the season.

"I'm furious that Minardi turned their backs on me like that," Sospiri told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "I'd done everything required of me, I was super close to points, so I can't believe I've been dropped - especially because I won't get to race at Monza."

[Ataxia]

Round 13 - Belgian Grand Prix - 30 August, 1998

Qualifying


Race


Drivers' standings
1. Greg Moore - 59
2. Giancarlo Fisichella - 53
3. Michael Schumacher - 49
4. Dario Franchitti - 32
5. Jacques Villeneuve - 32
6. Mika Hakkinen - 29
7. Heinz-Harald Frentzen - 23
8. Jos Verstappen - 18
9. Tom Kristensen - 9
10. Eddie Irvine - 9
11. Alessandro Zanardi - 6
12. Alexander Wurz - 6
13. Jean Alesi - 3
14. Rubens Barrichello - 3
15. Damon Hill - 2
16. Pedro Lamy - 2
17. Olivier Panis - 1
18. Pedro de la Rosa - 1
19. Mika Salo - 1

Teams' standings
1. Ferrari - 102
2. McLaren-Mercedes - 91
3. Williams-Mecachrome - 55
4. Benetton-Playlife - 47
5. Jordan-Peugeot - 15
6. Sauber-Petronas - 12
7. Prost-Mugen Honda - 6
8. Stewart-Ford - 5
9. Tyrrell-Peugeot - 2
10. Lola-Ford - 1
11. Arrows - 1
12. Dome-Mugen Honda - 1

[Ataxia]

Round 14 - Italian Grand Prix - 13 September, 1998

Qualifying


Race


Drivers' standings
1. Greg Moore - 69
2. Michael Schumacher - 55
3. Giancarlo Fisichella - 53
4. Dario Franchitti - 32
5. Jacques Villeneuve - 32
6. Mika Hakkinen - 29
7. Heinz-Harald Frentzen - 23
8. Jos Verstappen - 21
9. Tom Kristensen - 9
10. Eddie Irvine - 9
11. Alessandro Zanardi - 8
12. Jean Alesi - 7
13. Alexander Wurz - 7
14. Rubens Barrichello - 3
15. Damon Hill - 2
16. Pedro Lamy - 2
17. Olivier Panis - 1
18. Pedro de la Rosa - 1
19. Mika Salo - 1

Teams' standings
1. Ferrari - 108
2. McLaren-Mercedes - 101
3. Williams-Mecachrome - 55
4. Benetton-Playlife - 50
5. Jordan-Peugeot - 17
6. Sauber-Petronas - 16
7. Prost-Mugen Honda - 7
8. Stewart-Ford - 5
9. Tyrrell-Peugeot - 2
10. Lola-Ford - 1
11. Arrows - 1
12. Dome-Mugen Honda - 1

[Ataxia]

Round 15 - Luxembourg Grand Prix - 27 September, 1998

Qualifying


Race


Drivers' standings
1. Greg Moore - 69
2. Michael Schumacher - 59
3. Giancarlo Fisichella - 53
4. Dario Franchitti - 42
5. Jacques Villeneuve - 35
6. Mika Hakkinen - 30
7. Heinz-Harald Frentzen - 29
8. Jos Verstappen - 21
9. Alessandro Zanardi - 10
10. Tom Kristensen - 9
11. Eddie Irvine - 9
12. Jean Alesi - 7
13. Alexander Wurz - 7
14. Rubens Barrichello - 3
15. Damon Hill - 2
16. Pedro Lamy - 2
17. Olivier Panis - 1
18. Pedro de la Rosa - 1
19. Mika Salo - 1

Teams' standings
1. Ferrari - 112
2. McLaren-Mercedes - 111
3. Williams-Mecachrome - 64
4. Benetton-Playlife - 51
5. Jordan-Peugeot - 19
6. Sauber-Petronas - 16
7. Prost-Mugen Honda - 7
8. Stewart-Ford - 5
9. Tyrrell-Peugeot - 2
10. Lola-Ford - 1
11. Arrows - 1
12. Dome-Mugen Honda - 1

Moore scores maiden F1 title!

Despite his retirement from the Luxembourg Grand Prix, Greg Moore has secured the 1998 Formula 1 title as Michael Schumacher could not finish first or second to take the title to the final round.

Moore needed Schumacher to finish third or lower - and Schumacher's third means that even if he wins at Suzuka with Moore retiring, Moore would win the title on countback if the two were tied on points.

Schumacher attempted a two-stop strategy to climb from his fourth-place starting berth, but got caught in traffic after his first pitstop and allowed race winner Dario Franchitti and Heinz-Harald Frentzen to build enough of a gap to secure first and second.

Williams has all but secured third in the standings with a double-points finish, while Jordan opened out the gap to Sauber in the battle for fifth overall.

Hill to call time at the end of the season

Damon Hill has elected to bring his F1 career to an end after the 1998 season finale at Suzuka, having become disillusioned with the championship.

Hill has endured a miserable year with Tyrrell, and the prolonged period of poor reliability has resulted in him scoring just two points all year.

Fittingly, the 1996 world champion will bow out at the venue in which he memorably clinched the title two years ago.

[Ataxia]

Round 16 - Japanese Grand Prix - 1 November, 1998

Qualifying


Race


Drivers' standings
1. Greg Moore - 69
2. Michael Schumacher - 59
3. Giancarlo Fisichella - 53
4. Dario Franchitti - 42
5. Heinz-Harald Frentzen - 39
6. Mika Hakkinen - 36
7. Jacques Villeneuve - 35
8. Jos Verstappen - 23
9. Alessandro Zanardi - 13
10. Eddie Irvine - 10
11. Tom Kristensen - 9
12. Jean Alesi - 7
13. Rubens Barrichello - 7
14. Alexander Wurz - 7
15. Damon Hill - 2
16. Pedro Lamy - 2
17. Olivier Panis - 1
18. Pedro de la Rosa - 1
19. Mika Salo - 1

Teams' standings
1. Ferrari - 112
2. McLaren-Mercedes - 111
3. Williams-Mecachrome - 74
4. Benetton-Playlife - 59
5. Jordan-Peugeot - 22
6. Sauber-Petronas - 17
7. Stewart-Ford - 9
8. Prost-Mugen Honda - 7
9. Tyrrell-Peugeot - 2
10. Lola-Ford - 1
11. Arrows - 1
12. Dome-Mugen Honda - 1

[Kinnikuniverse]

Welp, this season went a lot better than IRL, so i already achieved my goal. Now, let's build next year's car, with hopefully Mugen-honda engines, this time.

[Dom_Wings]

Dome is happy with its debut season, as their goal of scoring at least 1 point in the WCC was accomplished.
The team is now looking forward to 1999, hopefully with a big Japanese sponsor on board.

[Aislabie]

Well, at least the only way is up for Minardi

[Gertrand Bachot]

Sauber are disappointed not to beat Jordan, but 6th in the championship with a podium is still respectable. Onwards and upwards though.

[CarloSpace]

Ever since I took the reigns at Ferrari, Fisichella scored zero points. Nice one, mate.

[CaptainGetz12]

Choke of the century by Fisi there, Moore is F1's first rookie champion

Jackie Stewart is very happy with the upward mobility of the team, proud of the strong package with the Ford engine for the second half of the season, Barrichello again getting a podium when the stars are right. The team presses on to 1999!

Also I unrejectified Pedro Lamy, you're welcome