1994 : The Commentator’s Predictions

After two seasons of technological warfare, FF1M resets itself for the 1994 season, banning active suspension, traction control, and standardising the semi-automatic gearboxes in the hope for a more open season… not to say that 1993 wasn’t open enough with an unprecedented seven drivers competing for the Drivers Championship in the final round at Adelaide, with Alessandro Zanardi remarkably triumphing at the expense of his teammate, Rubens Barrichello, throwing it all away with two and a half laps remaining. Despite his success, the continuing 11 teams preferred 22 other drivers to the Italian, who sadly won’t get a chance to defend his unlikely championship, but who out of the 22 drivers and 11 teams look in best shape for the upcoming season?

11th: Goomba Engineering-Yamaha (C)
One of three new teams from last season, Goomba endured a difficult start to their FF1M career with an uncompetitive and unreliable car with a less than 50% finishing rate, but at least they beat one of the other new teams to avoid finishing last, plus Martin Brundle won the coveted Bandit of the Year award for his antics during pre-season testing. This season, the Italian team have preferred a different Italian driver in the form of the returning Gabriele Tarquini, plus former Pedersen driver Mark Blundell, but curiously, they appear to have rejected a works deal from their Yamaha engine despite having plenty of finances available. It’s possible that they tried to secure a big name driver during the silly season period but failed to do so, hence the customer set-up, and this certainly won’t help their cause during the season.

10th: Tildesley GP-Mugen Honda (C)
The second of the new teams from 1993 experienced an even more torrid debut compared to Goomba with an even less competitive car and a gutless Judd engine. Not once did the team qualify off the back row and missing pre and mid season quizzes further exacerbated the situation. The performance reset will come as welcome news for Tildesley, who have opted for a customer Mugen Honda engine and former race winner Johnny Herbert, who did what he could with a middling Willows last season. His teammate will be rookie Jos Verstappen, the second youngest driver in the field. Both he and Herbert will have their work cut out to score points as the Mugen Honda engine, although more powerful than the Yamaha, needs more horsepower.

9th: Pedersen-Ferrari (W)
Considering the strong line-up this team has consisting of a works Ferrari engine deal and a solid driving pairing of the experienced Gerhard Berger and the rapid Rubens Barrichello, it may come as a surprise to see them so far down the predictions. Part of this is down to all of the budget being used towards the line-up leaving none for residual aero development, but most of this is down to an assumption that team boss Michael Pedersen may not be around for the car development quizzes as these have proved king in previous seasons… see Ayrton Senna’s disastrous 1992 season with an absent Darkfire. Hopefully for Berger and Barrichello’s sakes, they can prove me wrong!

8th: Willows Racing-Mugen Honda (W)
1993 was a strange season for Willows as they were pretty much stuck in the middle. They didn’t have the pace compared to the top four teams, yet they were comfortably ahead of the rest. There were highlights, such as Alain Prost’s well-worked podium finish at Barcelona, but the accomplished Frenchman went winless in his final season. Teammate Johnny Herbert could’ve won at Estoril, but needed to replace a damaged front wing. Before pre-season testing, this team looked promising with two former race winners in Mika Hakkinen and Martin Brundle, plus a works engine deal with Mugen Honda. However, plenty of budget was used up obtaining this line-up, and the new engine looked rather modest in terms of top speed, so Willows have some catching up to do.

7th: Mitchell-Ford (C)
Mitchell’s 1993 season was dictated by the effects of the 1992 season, as resisting technologies hamstrung a superstar line-up of Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill. Sporadic points finishes towards the end of the season helped them to overhaul Andrew Racing come the end of the season, and even a podium for Schumacher at Monza was possible but for a cruel last lap engine failure, but Mitchell would prefer to forget about the last two seasons and focus on 1994. Hill has remained loyal to the team and has convinced Ford to provide free engines. He will be joined by the newest Austrian on the grid, Roland Ratzenberger, who will be looking to showcase his talents and try to benefit from any leftover aero budget and car development quizzes. At the moment, the Ford engine is an issue as it appears to be underpowered, and being a customer engine certainly won’t help Mitchell in qualifying.

6th: Shake ‘n’ Bake-Mercedes (C)
The top half of the grid is extremely difficult to predict due to six teams holding water for different reasons. This particular Yorkshire team is peak Shake ‘n’ Bake with one of the best drivers in FF1M teamed up with potentially one of the worst. Team boss Courtney Cass’ silly season gamble paid off as he was able to obtain customer Mercedes engines for free along with Michael Schumacher, but at the expense of having to take on the unproven Taki Inoue. Although it would be unfair to judge the Japanese novice at this stage, he is not expected to be anywhere near Schumacher’s level, so while the 1992 champion could be an outside shot for the championship if the quizzes go to plan, winning the Teams Championship seems a pipedream.

5th: Tornado Motorsport-Ford (W)
1993 can be added to the list of championships Tornado could’ve won but just missed out for one reason or another. This time around, they lost out by the smallest of margins as unreliability at Adelaide denied Riccardo Patrese in his final season. All has changed for 1994 with works Ford engines and an all-British line-up of David Coulthard and Eddie Irvine, forming the least experienced partnership out of the 11 teams. Despite a good aerodynamic package, the Ford engine appears to be underpowered compared to Renault and Ferrari with the team not featuring in the top ten at Paul Ricard, but the canny team boss Tobias Wolff can usually pluck a good season out from very little. A championship winning season however may be too much of an ask.

4th: FJR-Mercedes (W)
In a way, FJR overperformed in 1993. They didn’t have the quickest car, nor was it particularly reliable, and neither did they have a star driver at their disposal, yet somehow, both JJ Lehto and Karl Wendlinger found themselves in championship contention at the final race by virtue of some very plucky performances and a strong middle part of the season. Both drivers were overlooked during the silly season and the legendary Honda engines are no more, so team boss James Brickles has opted for brand new Mercedes engines made more affordable courtesy of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and also poached 1988 champion Nigel Mansell. The Englishman is looking to rediscover himself after a wretched 1993 where he went the entire season without scoring any points, and Paul Ricard showed signs of a resurgence. Some budget for aerodynamic development was leftover, but not much, and this hindered them at the Hungaroring. However, the Mercedes engine has shown good top speed, so Mansell has the potential to return to winning ways if things go perfectly in the quizzes.

3rd: Andrew Racing-Ferrari (C)
As seems to be their tradition now, Andrew Racing’s latest entry has a distinct Italian flavour to it with a switch from Lamborghini to customer Ferrari engines and interestingly, the same two Italian drivers from last season, although with Pierluigi Martini running the number 27 instead of Gianni Morbidelli. Both managed a couple of points finished each last season with Morbidelli’s 4th at Barcelona the best of them, and both will be looking to progress beyond infrequent points finishes. They had plenty of leftover budget from the silly season and combined with a strong Ferrari engine, they’ve sprung a surprise by being highly competitive during pre-season testing with Martini topping the timesheets at Paul Ricard. Race wins are now on the cards, but they might have to work for them with no works advantage in qualifying.

2nd: CBA Racing-Renault (W)
1993 was a fairytale debut season for CBA Racing as the benefit of accelerated technological development combined with a reliable car helped the team to both championships, even if Rubens Barrichello’s championship-losing crash soured the taste slightly. CBA were keen to keep the mighty Renault engines, and they managed to recruit Jean Alesi and Olivier Panis to make sure… a line-up so French, it faintly smells of Gitanes. Both drivers looked very quick in pre-season testing, particularly in the hands of Panis, so it would be reasonable for the team to target more wins and possibly another championship to add to their speedily put together trophy cabinet. They could be leaving the competition behind in a trail of dust, smoke, and fumes from their exhaust pipes and many a Gauloises, but they have one team potentially in their way…

1st: Gojira-AutoSport-Renault (W)
Theoretically, this season could be a walkover as Ayrton Senna has his best and last possible chance to clinch his fourth drivers championship before retiring from FF1M at the end of this season. This is in part thanks to Gojira obtaining the best engine courtesy of teammate Erik Comas, who managed to cheapen the price of the works Renault and assist the team in being able to afford the three-time champion. Senna will certainly be hungry this season after arguably throwing it away in 1993 with two race wins lost due to inexplicable crashes from the race lead. The Teams Championship could be close if Comas’ abilities don’t match up to his teammate, but if Senna is expected to dominate, then that alone should help Gojira to another pair of championships, even if pre-season testing has suggested some deficiencies in the aerodynamics thanks to having no leftover budget.

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