Grand Prix 4 Formula One Career Season 1999

[Milos]

great practice for my german reading test today, thanks milos !

 

[Lesley Buurlage]

View attachment 96588

Though it's great to practice reading, as you've to read very carefully to understand it all

 

[Benutzername]

1999 Japanese GP​

FIA Press Conference
@Benutzername: How does it feel to be champion?​

It feels like... Relief. Yeah, i think thats the right word. After having a decent start to my career in this series i've had some really bad moments in it - To name it, 1993, my first year without points, my last year with my favourite team - Beaten by my teammate and rival. That was really tough for me. After that i could show my pace again with Tyrrell, especially in Qualifying in the end, but the races were a bit unlucky so i had to leave the team - With many top 6 qualifyings! With Minardi it all went downhill - In 1997 i had so many retirements and had my worst season, still i got a seat with Stewart. After a mediocre start i had my moment in Austria, i won and from this point i really was focused again and delivered. The whole season i could outpace my teammate, too. I got hope again and were confident againand got a seat by Williams - Together with Rami, my rival and old teammate who kicked me out of Ferrari with his strong performance. We worked together and developed a great car. In the first half he had quite some bad luck, i had that in the second half. With an incredible lead i would have never expected we won the constructors championship, my first title in the series. The gao began to shrink as i had lots of retirements from top positions. Without that, i probably would have had a big lead in the championship, but it wasnt like that. In the end i became really nervous, but after a great battle in the first 40 laps in japan it turned out for the better for me. That's what i meant, relief. Not loosing this title after a season i never expected before - Especially after the down two season before. It could have been my last chance for the title. If i look at the whole season though, i think the title is ok. Rami was really quick and strong, especially in the late seasons qualifyings, but overall i think i was a tad faster. Still, i enjoyed this battle and thank @mystaaRS for his engagement with Williams - I think some seasons ago we both would have made different decisions, not leading into the title for anyone of us. Perfect season, just can get worse. Its more important for me than S3 and S4 in GPTCC for sure.

 

[the_sigman]

It feels like... Relief. Yeah, i think thats the right word. After having a decent start to my career in this series i've had some really bad moments in it - To name it, 1993, my first year without points, my last year with my favourite team - Beaten by my teammate and rival. That was really tough for me. After that i could show my pace again with Tyrrell, especially in Qualifying in the end, but the races were a bit unlucky so i had to leave the team - With many top 6 qualifyings! With Minardi it all went downhill - In 1997 i had so many retirements and had my worst season, still i got a seat with Stewart. After a mediocre start i had my moment in Austria, i won and from this point i really was focused again and delivered. The whole season i could outpace my teammate, too. I got hope again and were confident againand got a seat by Williams - Together with Rami, my rival and old teammate who kicked me out of Ferrari with his strong performance. We worked together and developed a great car. In the first half he had quite some bad luck, i had that in the second half. With an incredible lead i would have never expected we won the constructors championship, my first title in the series. The gao began to shrink as i had lots of retirements from top positions. Without that, i probably would have had a big lead in the championship, but it wasnt like that. In the end i became really nervous, but after a great battle in the first 40 laps in japan it turned out for the better for me. That's what i meant, relief. Not loosing this title after a season i never expected before - Especially after the down two season before. It could have been my last chance for the title. If i look at the whole season though, i think the title is ok. Rami was really quick and strong, especially in the late seasons qualifyings, but overall i think i was a tad faster. Still, i enjoyed this battle and thank @mystaaRS for his engagement with Williams - I think some seasons ago we both would have made different decisions, not leading into the title for anyone of us. Perfect season, just can get worse. Its more important for me than S3 and S4 in GPTCC for sure.

That's... that's big :o

 

[mystaaRS]

@mystaaRS: The gearbox failure robbed you of every chance, do you think you could have made it without it?
​

​

Maybe yes, if I didn't have to spend a large amount on reducing the COF which wasn't on the list, then I may have done better in the race. Since Ben is apparently the deserving champion, it would have been fairer for me if I could spend the money I earnt on Skills to make the battle better, rather than retire because of the increase in my car's COF.

However, I look to next season.

 

[kedy89]

Short update, I hope to get the new thread up at some point this week. The mod still requires some work. A proper season ending post should also come, with a bit of statistics and stuff. Delays might be caused by good weather, as well as my current Skyrim obsession.

 

[Aidan Keranen]

SKYRIM IS GOOD
also, don't get into mods, that is a deep chasm that you will never get out of

 

[Tim.E]

I don't play SkyRim, but I can image it can work addicting. It's just like joking your pesky little brother, can't get any better than that.

 

[kedy89]

SKYRIM IS GOOD
also, don't get into mods, that is a deep chasm that you will never get out of

too late

 

[kedy89]

Utzer crowned '99 champion​

In the end it was closer than it looked at certain points during the season, still Ben Utzer managed to win his first F1 title, beating his teammate Rami Saidy by 12 points. Except for Buurlage's uber-dominant 1993 season and Martins' unchallenged '94 campaign, this marked the first time the the best driver of the first half could take the title in the end. While some argued about the fairness of his actions before the final round, there's no doubt that he's a deserved champion, seeing that only rotten luck prevented him from taking it sooner, costing him various podium finishes.
In hindsight, Saidy lost the title in the first few races, considering he was 37 points behind Utzer after round 5. Same goes for 3rd placed Kederer, who on top of that wasn't able to convert most of his 6 poles into proper results. Engberink impressed with 4th, especially considering that he didn't take a win. 5th placed Hunsley had a strong mid-season, while his early and late season performances were rather disappointing.
Steven Poirier trippling his career total of wins, and also his first ones since winning his home GP in 1992. Said also made it back on the top step of the podium, the win at the Monaco GP certainly was the highlight of his season.
The biggest disappointments this year probably were James McNamara and Ben Herbert. Having finished in the top 5 last season, they both dropped to the back end of the table. Lesley Buurlage on the other hand one of the surprises of the season, scoring 13 points and an almost win at Hungary, when he crashed out from the lead with only 11 laps to go.

The top 6: you can clearly see how Utzer pulled away early on, but got stuck a bit from round 7-12. Saidy with an incredible late season charge, which almost paid off. Engberink with a strong 2nd half, scoring 6 podiums in 8 races.

Some more infos and statistics:
- Utzer is the 8th different champion in 10 seasons.
- both Saidy and Utzer scored 5 wins this season, the same amount they had together in the 9 seasons before.
- Hunsley's win promoted him to shared second with Keranen in the most wins ranking
- 3 drivers of 2 teams got all the pole positions this season. Utzer doubled his career total, while Kederer now shares 1st in the most poles ranking with Hunsley.
- 8 fastest laps for Utzer is the most since Keranen's 11 in 1996, and the third most achieved in one season (2nd Herbert with 10 in 1991, shared 3rd Buurlage with 8 in 1993).
- 5 drivers who have participated in all races since the start of this series, namely Keranen, Laad, Herbert, Saidy and Wolf. Poirier and Rautavaara have entered the 100 races club.
- Utzer broke the 200 points mark, and is 7th now in the most points ranking. Engberink and Poirier both with more than 100 points.
- 4th constructors title for Williams puts them on level with Tyrrell (4 titles from 88-93).
- Williams is now in first in the most wins ranking with 36, 3 more than Tyrrell.

 

[Milos]

While some argued about the fairness of his actions before the final round, there's no doubt that he's a deserved champion, seeing that only rotten luck prevented him from taking it sooner, costing him various podium finishes.

not like rotten luck cost Rami a couple of podium finishes at the start of the season

 

[kedy89]

not like rotten luck cost Rami a couple of podium finishes at the start of the season

1 at Melbourne to be precise, but that's about it.

Edit:
R1: retired from the lead in lap 32
R2: finished 7th, not once close to a podium
R3: finished 7th, not once close to a podium
R4: finished 5th, in first for one lap during pitstops. You can't count that as possible podium finish.
R5: retired in lap 3