Grand Prix Rejects

Ragno Arrows North Star Beta Racing Team wrote:Ragno Arrows North Star Beta Racing Team is delighted to announce the signing of multiple-race winner Patrick Depailler for the 1981 Formula One World Championship season.

We are also coming to terms with the release of Gabriel Château and wish him the absolute best in all of his future endeavours.

J.O.U.R.N.A.L. wrote: B&S Fabrications in talks with Leyland

Though it appears too late for any such deal to come into effect for the start of the 1981 season, there are rumours that B&S Fabrications may be negotiating with Rover, the British Leyland owned marque, to sponsor their Hart engines. The Hart engines are well known for being the first British turbos in Formula One, and have improved rapidly since they were first used in 1980.

B&S Fabrications chief Bob Sparshott declined to...

*rest of the article is obscured by Sue Jawhard's homemade Richard Beeching calendar*

Motor Sport Magazine wrote: Sue Jawhard's 1981 Season Preview

The 1980 season is barely over and there are one or two things still up in the air, but as F1's Most Informed Journalist and British Bob Woodward™, Sue Jawhard feels confident enough to make her predictions for the coming season.

McLaren-Renault
1. Alan Jones
2. Clay Regazzoni

McLaren mean business in 1981, and what better way to do that than signing up Formula One's most powerful engine, and getting Formula One's two-time reigning World Champion to drive it? The discord at Williams is well known, and Jones may do better in the more neutral environment that Ron Dennis can offer.

Tyrrell-BMW
3. Robert Kagan
4. Harvey Jones

The all-British Tyrrell team is really on its way up, and they'll be looking to continue that trend with an unchanged driver pairing. Indeed, they've done well enough to attract the attention of German manufacturer BMW, who may have them looking at German talents in the future like Hans-Joachim Stuck and Stefan Bellof. For now though, no change.

Lotus-Renault
5. Nigel Mansell
6. Rupert Keegan

Lotus are one of the big movers in the 1980-81 off-season, with confirmation coming through that Colin Chapman's team - once considered the ultimate garagistas - have defected from Bernie Ecclestone's FOCA! One assumes they wouldn't have done this without reason, so they must be getting Renaults. Their junior driver agreement with Spartec has also borne fruit as Keegan gets promoted to the main team.

• EDITOR'S NOTE - Renault supplying two customer teams seems unlikely

Brabham-Ford
7. Nelson Piquet
8. John Watson

The Brabham team took a huge leap forward last year, propelling the enigmatic Nelson Piquet into a championship challenge. It seems likely that all that extra cash can be used to actually buy in a good driver, and Britain's young prospect John Watson seems like the best of a strong bunch of free agents. With Bernie Ecclestone's strong position in FOCA, we can expect Brabham to keep running Fords.

March-Ford
9. Thomas Nurmester
10. Derek Daly

The British team had a strong 1980 thanks to the efforts of Guillaume Gaulthier. This has attracted sponsorship from Guinness, who will be parachuting either David Kennedy or Derek Daly into one of those seats. In the other one, Thomas Nurmester was terribly unfortunate to have to sit out 1980, but his stellar 1979 should put him on everyone's shopping list. He's certainly on mine.

Williams-Ford
11. Gilles Villeneuve
12. Guillaume Gaulthier

Williams is the strongest team on the grid, but even though they won both Championships they did it with two openly warring drivers. Rather than doing that again, it seems likely that Frank will let one of them go and stick with the other one. To that end, they'll need a second driver, and who could be better than Guillaume Gaulthier, who showed his quality at March last year?

Renault
14. Didier Pironi
15. Alain Prost

The fastest engine in Formula One earned wins for each of the Renault drivers in 1980, and if they can improve the reliability just a little bit then this could be the year that Renault sheds its reputation as a maker of "interesting teapots" and instead earns its first-ever Formula One World Championships. They'd be my favourites. Bonne chance!

ATS-Ford
16. Marc Surer
17. Rikky Leiviska

The ATS-Kauhsen team flies straight in the face of everyone's assumptions of German efficiency, but 1981 could be a bit different to that. They've got their 1980 driver Marc Surer locked in for 1981, and an open seat alongside him. That seat is expected to go to 1979 European F3 runner-up Rikky Leiviska, who spent 1980 driving and winning in F2. Formula One seems like the natural next step in his career.

Arrows-Ford
18. Bruno Giacomelli
19. Jeremy-Etienne Voeckler

The Arrows team had a horribly difficult 1980, and will be looking to make real changes for 1980. With Bruno Giacomelli out for Keegan at Lotus, and Hesketh out of the sport altogether, Giacomelli and Voeckler - both huge talents - are now available to be signed by other teams. It's just the obvious pair of signings for an ambitious team in tough times and I can't imagine them doing anything else.

• EDITOR'S NOTE - Patrick Depailler has already signed for Arrows in 1981.

Toleman-Ford
21. Riccardo Patrese
22. Eliseo Salazar

New team Toleman joins the team from Formula Two this season, and they will undoubtedly be looking to get a good chunk of money in from their drivers. With that in mind, two names really stand out: Riccardo Patrese, who raced for Arrows last year, and Eliseo Salazar, who didn't. This is a well-run racing organisation and we expect good things from them.

Alfa Romeo
23. Michele Alboreto
24. Eddie Cheever

The Italian manufacturer hasn't quite made the impact they might have liked in Formula One, but a brand new turbo engine design seems like it might freshen things up. With that in mind, they may also freshen up their driver line-up with a couple of Italian-born talents: Michele Alboreto and Eddie Cheever, both regarded as being part of the future of Formula One.

• EDITOR'S NOTE - I don't even know man. They already have two good drivers Sue.

Ligier-Matra
25. Gabriel Chateau
26. Patrick Tambay

The young French starlet of the month, Gabriel Chateau's performances for Arrows definitely mark him out as the best young French driver in F1 today. Put him alongside the sensible Patrick Tambay, and this really should help him to develop into the front-running driver F1 expects him to be. This man is no snail on the racetrack.

Ferrari
27. Keke Rosberg
28. Jean-Pierre Jarier

Keke Rosberg has had a really tough couple of years with Ferrari, but he and they are both so good that it seems difficult to imagine anything other than the pair of them bouncing back together in 1981. Alongside Rosberg, Jean-Pierre Jarier has been itching to strut his stuff with a full-time drive for years now, and a drive here would put an end to the stop-start saga of his career.

Spartec-Hart
29. Stephen South
30. Jonathan Palmer

With Rupert Keegan called up to the main Lotus team, it seems likely that B&S Fabrications will serve me with another restraining order if I try to get an interview at their factory again. With that in mind they may well sign up another young British driver to replace him: Jonathan Palmer is only 24, but he is highly regarded. Would it be too soon for him?

Osella-Ford
31. Teo Fabi
32. Luciano Sighinolfi

Osella have another difficult season in store, but one presumes that the seat of Denim-backed Sighinolfi is safe for now. Compared to his teammate, Matarazzo made the grid only once in 1980 and absolutely cannot expect to be rehired... can he?

de Villota-Ford
33. Emilio de Villota
34. Valentino Nicchi

• EDITOR'S NOTE - Sue didn't have anything for the Banco Occidental team, so I had to whip something up.

Well, what a grid that will be! I cannot wait to see what promises to be another tremendous season of Formula One racing. If I had to pick anyone to be World Champion, it would be the brooding Alain Prost for Renault. This year is their year.

AMuS wrote:ATS Kauhsen signs rookie Finn

ATS Kauhsen have announced that they've signed 1978 Swedish F3 champion Rikky Leiviskä to partner Marc Surer in their 1981 Formula One campaign. Leiviskä, 23, most recently won two races and finished 6th overall in last year's European Formula Two Championship.

Autosport wrote:Alfa agree to engine deal with Osella
Alfa Romeo and Osella have agreed to a new deal for the 1981 season, with the former agreeing to give away engines to the latter. The 115-12T 1.5L F12t has been announced as being sold to the backmarker squad for a total of £300,000 - £200,000 for the engines themselves and £100,000 for the intellectual property rights, meaning Osella will be able to badge them under their own moniker for the year.

It is unknown precisely why Alfa Romeo has decided to ditch its turbo engine so soon after developing it, although a team source has been quoted as saying "we have come to the conclusion that natural aspiration is preferable for us". On the other side of the coin, the extra power compared to the likely field of Ford Cosworth DFVs in pre-qualifying should help Osella with getting out of pre-qualifying and even making it onto the grid.

Gertrand Bachot wrote: ↑21 May 2022, 23:10

Autosport wrote:Alfa agree to engine deal with Osella
Alfa Romeo and Osella have agreed to a new deal for the 1981 season, with the former agreeing to give away engines to the latter. The 115-12T 1.5L F12t has been announced as being sold to the backmarker squad for a total of £300,000 - £200,000 for the engines themselves and £100,000 for the intellectual property rights, meaning Osella will be able to badge them under their own moniker for the year.

It is unknown precisely why Alfa Romeo has decided to ditch its turbo engine so soon after developing it, although a team source has been quoted as saying "we have come to the conclusion that natural aspiration is preferable for us". On the other side of the coin, the extra power compared to the likely field of Ford Cosworth DFVs in pre-qualifying should help Osella with getting out of pre-qualifying and even making it onto the grid.

Osella Press Release wrote:Osella Squadra Corse did NOT agree to this engine deal nor the sale of property rights. We admit that we have entered negotiations with Alfa Romeo regarding their Turbo Flat-12 engine, but we did not put to writing any approval of any offer. This press release by Alfa Romeo is not correct to the current situation and does not signal any official actions that we agree to.

If Alfa Romeo does not rescind their intention and try to forward a non-approved deal, we will take legal action against them.

Kinnikuniverse wrote: ↑22 May 2022, 16:11 I announce my withdrawal from alt-F1, and i will give control of Lotus to rob dylan. Also, pls reset my decisions to none so that Rob can make his own decisions.

Autosport wrote:Alfa agrees deal with Toleman; vows to "destroy" Osella
The engine deal outlined previously between Alfa Romeo and Osella is no more - the latter team insinuated that they had not agreed to a deal and thus any potential deal would be off. Instead, Alfa Romeo announced that they have agreed to a deal on the same terms with the new Toleman squad. The British team will take on the 115-12T engine and the intellectual property rights, rebranding it as they see fit.

Alfa also made it clear that they squarely blamed Osella for the failure of the first deal, insisting the backmarker squad agreed to a deal and them decided to "unjustifiably" withdraw after it was publicly announced. The manufacturer therefore seems to have declared war on the little team, stating that "we will not rest until they have been buried into the ground" and that Alfa would seek nothing but the "destruction" of Osella. It will be seen what actual ramification this will have on events going forward.

Da Rules wrote:: Designers
- Designers are like drivers – they have team preferences, must be paid a wage, can be hired for a maximum of 1 year, and are subject to RNG.
- Designer contracts are now 1-year.
- Designers do not affect mid-season upgrades
- You must pick one bonus and one penalty for your chosen designer. This cannot be changed after they have been hired.
- NEW: You can get 2 bonuses for double the designers wage with only 1 penalty.
- A designer can only be offered the wage stated on the spreadsheet OR double the wage stated on the spreadsheet.
- All teams must sign a designer to build and upgrade chassis.
- NEW: If you select the ???? Designer bonus, you will be PM'd the results on discord or the forums.
- More information is provided on the Designers tab of the spreadsheet.

Team Name:
User:

Designer #1:
Wage: (Base or Double)
Bonus:
Bonus 2: (if applicable)
Penalty:
Designer #2: (If applicable)
Wage: (Base or Double)
Bonus:
Bonus 2: (if applicable)
Penalty:

Driver #1
Name:
DEC: (Fictional drivers only)
Wage: (Per race or per season, please state)
Contract Length: (Max 2 years)
Races: (Which races will the driver take part in? Part time drivers only.)
Repeat as many times as necessary

Driver #2
Name:
DEC: (Fictional drivers only)
Wage: (Per race or per season, please state)
Contract Length: (Max 2 years)
Races: (Which races will the driver take part in? Part time drivers only.)
Repeat as many times as necessary

The Rise and Fall of Ron Dennis, Episode II wrote:The short-lived marriage between Nissan and McLaren turned rather sour. While Dennis had hoped it would be his ticket to being impervious to the ongoing FISA-FOCA conflict, that plan hinged on a high level of competitiveness. The Nissan engine, while in many ways indeed an underrated engineering masterpiece, simply lacked in forward thrust. The relatively slow, curvy Tsukuba Circuit that was used as testing venue managed to hide that the Nissan engine was down an estimated 120 horsepowers on the turbo engines of Renault and Ferrari.

Many in the team felt that Nissan had sold them a bill of goods and the Japanese engineers send out by the company were subject to racist bullying by McLaren trackside staff. Dennis and the Nissan engineers publicly said the right things about learning and further developing the VRT30, but the tension was obvious to all but the most willfully blind observers. The straw that broke the camel's back came, fittingly enough, in the Arabian desert. The inaugural Dubai Grand Prix would see the end of the Nissan-McLaren partnership.

After Masahiro Hasemi failed to qualify for the race, he was informed by Dennis on the Monday afterwards that he would no longer be with the team in 1982. Appalled by that decision, Nissan immediately ended their contract with McLaren in loyalty to their works driver, despite not having any legal basis to exert influence over McLaren's driver lineup. Knowing that the nature of the contract would pretty much mean Nissan could just deliver their current engine without any improvements, Dennis chose against pursuing legal options.

However, this left the idea of McLaren as a neutral entity in the FOCA-FISA conflict untenable. Even with the very generous severance fee paid by Nissan, their economic position was not strong enough to ignore the two large factions and their political will. Given his personal dislike of Bernie Ecclestone and the latter's ruthless attitude towards turncoats, going back to FOCA was not an option. Therefore, Dennis was left with no choice but to join the alliance backed by the FIA president, hoping one of the FISA manufacturers would supply McLaren with turbo engines.

Paddock Magazine wrote: Sighinolfi furious after Osella snub


Sighinolfi's 1980 driver portrait

Denim-backed Formula One driver Luciano Sighinolfi has hit out at the Osella Formula One team after he was not offered a contract by the team for the 1981 season.

"From my perspective this is unacceptable but unsurprising," he told journalists, "for some time now it has felt like Sig. Osella has been trying to force me out of his team. First it was an attempt to bench me for non-Championship events, then they tried to axe me for the last few races to get Patrick to drive instead. I can't say I didn't see this coming."

This could be a huge setback for the Sicilian driver, who recently turned 29 after completing his first ever full Formula One season. In World Championship events he managed to qualify the sluggish Osella FA1 on five occasions, including a solitary race finish in France. Sighinolfi has shown more of his potential in non-championship events: at the Race of Champions he was running in second place until his car expired on the last lap, leaving him to be classified in third place. In South Africa he also came home in ninth place, while in 1979's events he recorded finishes of 14th, 12th and 4th in non-championship events despite racing in shoddy cars.

This could also have some implications for the Osella team: Sighinolfi came with the backing of team sponsor Denim Aftershave. Now that Osella have shown him the door, it remains to be seen how the sponsors will react.

Meanwhile, Sighinolfi is left to find a drive in Formula One at short notice, with several teams' line-ups already set in stone. One hopes this will not be the end of his Formula One ambitions.

Autosport wrote:Osella: "Our contract with Denim is good going forward"

In response to recent allegations that Osella is violating a sponsorship agreement, Team Owner Enzo Osella clarified that Denim is still the team's title sponsor for the 1981 Formula One Season.

"We renegotiated for a more generous package for this season, and, with some stricter performance requirement, we agreed on it, hence our change to driver roster."

Osella refused to eleborate on why he let go of his two drivers, particularly Arsenio Matarazzo's suspected mafia connections.