Alternate F1 - The Hydrogen Era - 2024 Season

[Hermann95]

Team Name: Audi
User: Hermann95

Team Owner Representation Vote #1: kevinbotz (Caterham)
Team Owner Representation Vote #2: Frogfoot9013 (Loonmotor)
Team Owner Representation Vote #3: Ferrari (Pasta)

Audi will hire 24 staffers, to get to the max of 80

Design philosophy: Conservative
No. of staff: 80
Front Wing staff: 16/16
Monocoque staff: 16/16
Engine Cover staff: 16/16
Ground Effects staff: 16/16
Rear Wing staff: 16/16

[Dom_Wings]

Team Name: Toyota Motorsport
User: Dom

Team Owner Representation Vote #1: Caterham
Team Owner Representation Vote #2: ROOKIE
Team Owner Representation Vote #3: Ferrari

Toyota will spend 22 million for 11 extra staffers, putting us to 64 staff (we should be left with 35 million).

Chassis designation: TM24-H
Design philosophy: Conservative
No. of staff: 64
Front Wing staff: 14/16
Monocoque staff: 11/16
Engine Cover staff: 11/16
Ground Effects staff: 15/16
Rear Wing staff: 13/16

[CaptainGetz12]

Team Name: MRT
User: Getz

Team Owner Rep #1: Loonmotor (Frogfoot9013/Aine)
Team Owner Rep #2: Ferrari (Pasta)
Team Owner Rep #3: Toyota (Dom)

Chassis Designation: M14
Design Philosphy: Aggressive
No of Staff: 76 (spend money for 23 new staff)
Front Wing staff: 15/16
Monocoque staff: 15/16
Engine Cover staff: 15/16
Ground Effects staff: 16/16
Rear Wing staff: 15/16

No Hunt for Davies? Melrose Silent

The history of James James Davies and Daniel Melrose is a storied rivalry among one of the greats. Yet with the most recent attempts to fan the flames Davies's rival has been quiet silent.

Earlier this week Davies's new F1 team, DARE, filed a copyright complaint for alleged use of a specific type of performance clause in their driver contracts. Despite the invitation Daniel Melrose has yet to reply. The multi-time F1 champion and team owner is still in Australia for family business while the team prepares for the first race of the season in New Zealand.

When asked team manager Mike Krack only mentioned ongoing litigation. "We have been contacted by the Contract Recognition Board regarding this development. If it leads to legal issue we will provide what details we can. I cannot speak on Daniel's perspective on the matter, better to ask him about this."

The rather mum response from the fiery Australian perhaps indicates a further distancing from the day-to-day operations of his team, hinting at a future buyout or departure that can occur as soon as this year.

[Forti]

Team Name: Aston Martin F1 Team
User: Forti

Team Owner Representation Vote #1: Kevinbotz (Caterham)
Team Owner Representation Vote #2: Frogfoot (Loonmotor)
Team Owner Representation Vote #3: Forti (Aston Martin)

Chassis designation: AMR24
Design philosophy: Aggressive
No. of staff: 70 (28 hired in addition to prior 42)
Front Wing staff: 14/16
Monocoque staff: 14/16
Engine Cover staff: 14/16
Ground Effects staff: 14/16
Rear Wing staff: 14/16

These calculations should leave the final budget at €4,500,000

[RealRacingRoots]

Team Name: ROOKIE Racing
User: RealRacingRoots

Team Owner Representation Vote #1: kevinbotz (Caterham)
Team Owner Representation Vote #2: RealRacingRoots (ROOKIE Racing)
Team Owner Representation Vote #3: Frogfoot9013 (Loonmotor)

Chassis designation: ROOKIE MK02
Design philosophy: Conservative
No. of staff: 78 (58 + 20 new staff)
Front Wing staff: 16/16
Monocoque staff: 16/16
Engine Cover staff: 14/16
Ground Effects staff: 16/16
Rear Wing staff: 16/16

[Gertrand Bachot]

Team Name: Williams
User: GB

Chassis designation: Williams FW46
Design philosophy: Conservative
No. of staff: 80
Front Wing staff: 16/16
Monocoque staff: 16/16
Engine Cover staff: 16/16
Ground Effects staff: 16/16
Rear Wing staff: 16/16

[Miguel98]

Sorry for the small delay, had a weird weekend.

Team Name: Andretti
User: Miguel98

Team Owner Representation Vote #1: Pasta (Ferrari)
Team Owner Representation Vote #2: Kevinbotz (Caterham)
Team Owner Representation Vote #3: RealRacingRoots (ROOKIE Racing)

Chassis designation: MA02
Design philosophy: Conservative
No. of staff: 75 (hiring an additional 20 with the other 55 - should be left with 24M)
Front Wing staff: 16/16
Monocoque staff: 14/16
Engine Cover staff: 15/16
Ground Effects staff: 15/16
Rear Wing staff: 15/16

[pasta_maldonado]

Team Name: Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
User: Umatbru

Team Owner Representation Vote #1: Pinkd (Red Bull)
Team Owner Representation Vote #2: Aislabie (Loonmotor)
Team Owner Representation Vote #3: Pasta (Ferrari)

Chassis designation: Ferrari SF-24 H
Design philosophy: Aggressive
No. of staff: 80
Front Wing staff: 16/16
Monocoque staff: 16/16
Engine Cover staff: 16/16
Ground Effects staff: 16/16
Rear Wing staff: 16/16

[Frogfoot9013]

Team Name: Loonmotor
User: Frogfoot9013

Team Owner Representation Vote #1: Kevinbotz (Caterham)
Team Owner Representation Vote #2: RealRacingRoots (ROOKIE)
Team Owner Representation Vote #3: GB (Williams)

Design philosophy: Conservative
No. of staff: 60
Front Wing staff: 8/16
Monocoque staff: 16/16
Engine Cover staff: 10/16
Ground Effects staff: 16/16
Rear Wing staff: 10/16

[Salamander]

No Hunt for Davies? Melrose Silent

The history of James James Davies and Daniel Melrose is a storied rivalry among one of the greats. Yet with the most recent attempts to fan the flames Davies's rival has been quiet silent.

Earlier this week Davies's new F1 team, DARE, filed a copyright complaint for alleged use of a specific type of performance clause in their driver contracts. Despite the invitation Daniel Melrose has yet to reply. The multi-time F1 champion and team owner is still in Australia for family business while the team prepares for the first race of the season in New Zealand.

When asked team manager Mike Krack only mentioned ongoing litigation. "We have been contacted by the Contract Recognition Board regarding this development. If it leads to legal issue we will provide what details we can. I cannot speak on Daniel's perspective on the matter, better to ask him about this."

The rather mum response from the fiery Australian perhaps indicates a further distancing from the day-to-day operations of his team, hinting at a future buyout or departure that can occur as soon as this year.

I can't believe that Melrose is so cowardly he'd rather hide behind his BMW cronies than come out and actually own up to his own wrong-doing. Wait, no, I can absolutely believe that, it's exactly the kind of thing a guy as committed to being a lifelong loser like him would do. But even then, forcing your engine partner to come out and run damage control for you is a real new low, even for him. He seriously needs to get over himself and just accept the fact that he will always be pale imitation of a true racer.

U-Um, Mr. Davies, actually, there was a re-organisation--

Smoke and mirrors, it's blatantly obvious from the press releases that Melrose is still calling the shots over there. Everyone knows Daniel Melrose is incapable of accepting his own failures, but his own ego could never allow him to relinquish control of his own team. Factor in his undeniable jealousy towards yours truly, and this is really just a textbook example of plagiarism. I expect a very quick judgment from the courts on this one, it's a slam-dunk, open-and-shut case.

[CaptainGetz12]

Peniston to Sell F1 Fuel Project: MRT, BMW Looking for New Operator

The change in partnerships at Melrose Racing Team continues with the announcement of Peniston Oils & Hydrogen seeking a buyout for its Formula One fuel supplier program. The rather humorously named company based in Yorkshire became MRT's fuel supplier for the then novel Hydrogen fuel cell formula since the team entered F1 in 2022.

The company's spokesperson, Jezza Clarks, provided an eclectic response to questions while visiting the Breagh Gas Field in the North Sea, calling the decision "Necessary, if regrettable. MRT are no baboons, but they are close. We hope they find a more compatible partner soon."

Neither MRT nor their engine supplier BMW provided comment on this development, but they did announce in a joint statement that they are looking for a company to take over or replace Peniston's fuel cell program. Insiders suggest the most likely candidates to take over are Norway's Norsk Hydro and Austria's OMV Aktiengesellschaft.

[Pinkd56]

I have nothing to say.

[Salamander]

(Yes, I am aware that applying these clauses to my own DEC, who I'm only employing in a Sim Driver role, looks absolutely insane, but please trust me when I say it is all in service of The Narrative™)

Okay it took a little longer than I'd planned, but yes, I can explain exactly why Kendrick has greater job security than Brendan Shanahan. (Bear in mind this is fairly long.

James James Davies walks back into the dining room of his luxurious new mansion, non-alcoholic beer in hand. Stepfather and daughter, George and Lauren Kendrick, snap their attention towards their ungracious host - having found themselves staring wordlessly out of the windows across the acres of beautiful Cotswolds scenery, all under the sole ownership of Davies himself. An idyllic location, a mere half-hour drive, if that, from the DARE team base in Leafield. The 2-bedroom home George spent years tirelessly paying off - only to wind up having to re-mortgage anyway - seemed the picture of tired, drab and desperate in comparison.

As Davies, wearing a woollen sweater and jeans, tersely nodded towards his pristine glass dining table and striking leather high-back dining chairs, George and Lauren took that as an indication to sit down. While George places his briefcase on the table, Lauren shies away from Davies. The thought of just looking at the man she knew wholeheartedly was her biological father, left her stomach churning with apprehension. George, sensing her anxiety, placed his hand over hers, somewhat quelling her inner turmoil.

"So." Davies broke the deafening silence, gruff and authoritative. This was his home - his life - that these people were waltzing into, practically against his will. Again. As if almost ruining his life a decade prior wasn't enough for them.

Smacking his lips, he dictated the opening of the conversation. "Explain why we're here."

Fortunately for the Kendricks, George was an expert in dealing with arrogant blowhards. He might've been passed over for partnership again and again, but everyone in his office knew he was the best contract lawyer they had. The first step, was to ease the tension a little bit.

"Aren't you going to offer us a drink?" He gestured, faking some nervousness, to Davies' non-alcoholic beer.

Davies took a drink before answering. "No need. You said this'd just be ten minutes, right?" Checking his watch, he then added, "Well, nine now."

That would have to do. George didn't waste any more time - with the automatic, unconscious flow of a man who had done this exact thing on countless occasions, he produced an immaculately preserved four-page document from his briefcase, then calmly slid it across the table towards Davies.

Davies stared blankly at the paper for a couple of moments, before redirecting his attention back to George. "What am I looking at, here?" His question lacked his usual arrogant exuberance - instead taking on a very dull, dry tone.

"You remember that DNA test your entire case hinged on a decade ago?" Davies took a sip of his non-alcoholic beer, but one eye was fixating on George the entire time. "Right there in front of you, are photocopied testimonies, proving that the entire thing was fabricated."

Davies' sip of beer quickly returned to the bottle from whence it came. Nervously, frantically, he set the bottle down - then picked it up again immediately, when realising some droplets remained stubbornly on the outside of the bottle, threatening to collect and spoil his otherwise flawless table. He couldn't allow that - after all, he had a pretence of superiority to maintain here. He couldn't possibly let *these people* know they had rattled him. Never mind the fact that they already obviously had; that part didn't matter, as long as Davies refused to acknowledge it.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve, it took him just another moment before he mustered any kind of answer. "T-This doesn't prove anything, you know. It's your word against mine, and mine will always carry more weight. I'm a *champion*, and you're nobody. Both of you are nobodies." Neither George nor Lauren's expressions moved a millimetre. "Besides," he continued, regardless, finding his feet once more, "That case is ten years old. Statute of limitations, isn't it? You're a lawyer, George, you know these things at least as well as I do." Finding his swagger once more, Davies treated himself to another sip of his non-alcoholic beer.

"Fabrication of evidence." Three words from George were enough to wipe the smirk right back off Davies' face. "Even if you can scuttle the case, I've made damn sure there's enough here that we can tie you back up in the courts for years."

"But I'll win," Davies insisted, locking eyes with George.

"I don't care," George answered, more forcefully this time, leaning into their impromptu starting contest. He was completely in his element here, Davies a fish out of water, and they both knew it. "I'm not the same lawyer I was last time. This case will stay in court for as long as it takes to drag you into the gutter that you deserve to be in."

It was Davies who blinked first, withering under George's icy, laser-focused stare, his mind lurching chaotically from thought to thought. Everything he had worked for, fought for, earned and deserved, brought down... like this? By this... pencil-necked... pencil-pusher? No. No way, it couldn't be, *it wasn't fair*-- then it hit him. Something wasn't quite right about this situation. More than the fact that someone like him should never ever face a fate like this.

"S-So," Davies asserted, more to steady himself, than anything else. Placing his forearm on his immaculate table, and shifting his weight on to it, he was trying to at least feebly give the impression that he wasn't fearing for the end of his world. "If you've got this all worked out... w-why are you coming to me with this? Just to make me suffer?"

This time, it was Lauren's turn to answer. She'd spent the entire time up until now working up the nerve to talk directly to Davies "No. You've had everything your own way your whole life. All we want, is for me to get the slightest chance to prove I deserve that, too." Cracking an eyebrow in response, Davies was wondering - what on earth was this girl talking about? "You're going to give me a chance in an F1 car."

Davies laughed, once. The total anxiety in him had now been matched, by the confusion, the utter befuddlement, that *her* - Lauren Kendrick - deserved anything more than to just *look* at an F1 car.

"You? Your career is on life support. Frankly, the plug should've been pulled years ago." He shook his head in pure stupefaction, "You can't be serious - you two cooked this entire thing up, just so you can sit in one of my cars?" He looked back over at George, but there was no answer to be found in his perfectly neutral expression. "Is this some kind of twisted joke?"

"I'm your daughter," was Lauren's reply. Davies' only response was to exhale dramatically, pinching the bridge of his nose and hunching over his table, eyes firmly shut. That was the last thing he needed to hear.

It was no deterrent to Lauren, who continued regardless. "You know damn well the fire I feel every day. I *have* to race. It's in my blood. It's what I'm *for*."

"No, no no no no, you can't do this to me..." Davies shook his head slowly - but firmly - side to side, still refusing to open his eyes. "I can't do this again - this-- this is *blackmail*. You can't do this, you-- you *can't*--!" He inhaled sharply, then finally opened his eyes. "You'll never get away with this, I-- I need to call my lawyer."

In one motion, Davies got out of his chair, turning to leave the room and simultaneously grabbing his phone out of his back pocket. He was already halfway to the door when George called to him. "Before you do that James, we can make it so you never have to deal with this again." That stopped Davies in his tracks, forcing him to turn back towards the Kendricks, eyebrow raised.

George had already retrieved three identical sheets of paper from his briefcase. Placing them beside the photocopied testimony, he told Davies, "Here is our formal proposal." Walking back towards the table, and craning his head over to peer at the tiny legalese outlining the particulars of the proposal, Davies' lip curled in abject bewilderment.

"Obviously, throwing Lauren in a Formula 1 car right away doesn't do anyone any favours. That's not what we're asking," clarified George. "So, in short, you instead sign her to a 2-year contract as a sim driver, with an option - and only an option - to sign her to an entry-level contract at the end of that. This document will oblige you to do nothing more." Now fully invested in everything George was saying, Davies was left staring unblinkingly at the lawyer.

"In exchange," George continued, "We will formally withdraw any claim that you are Lauren's biological father, with all that entails."

"Okay, so what's the point of this, then?" Davies gestured down at the proposal document beneath him.

"Insurance for yourself," George replied. "It's a legally binding document outlining, in full, the particulars of our agreement, as I've explained it to you."

"Legally binding?" Davies shook his head, "This doesn't sound like any legal document I've ever heard of. What judge is going to enforce this? It sounds shady as hell."

"Obviously, I wouldn't be so stupid as to mention the evidence we have in that proposal. It's a simple transaction, detailing each of our obligations, and including specific details for reparations, should either of us fail to honour them."

As Davies wordlessly scanned the document himself, parsing the dense legalese to the best of his ability, George added, "Furthermore - though for obvious reasons this isn't detailed in the document - once you sign Lauren to that sim driver contract, I will hand you the certified original copies of the evidence to do with as you please." He then spun his briefcase, so that Davies could see the original copies held within, date-stamped and signed.

He nodded slightly, then returned to reading the document, as he weighed up the options in his mind, taking his seat once more. This could very well be a bluff on George's part, Davies considered - he certainly knew how to push the former champ's buttons, at the very least. But even so, this was a chance to consign his greatest fear to the dustbin of history, never to be seen again. Was it not worth it to go along with this? Davies knew he could explain the whole thing away in the media - they ate up anything he said, regardless of what their opinion of him was.

There was just one more thing he had to know. “You know, there's every chance this blows up in your face, and you're left with absolutely nothing,” Davies stated, looking directly at Lauren. “Why are you taking this kind of a risk with your only leverage?”

“Because it's not a risk,” she answered, without hesitation. “I'm going to win. It's what I was born to do.”

Immediately on hearing that, Davies signed the agreement. Taking a copy for himself, and exhaling in relief, he then rose once again from his seat. Taking another sip of his non-alcoholic beer, and trying to steady his nerves after what was surely the most stressful experience of his life.

“You two can see yourselves out,” he snidely shot over his shoulder, on his way out of the room.

George was already collecting the remainder of his documents, placing them back in his briefcase. Neither of them wanted to spend another second in Davies’ odious company, either.

They were both completely silent, until George drove them out of Davies’ mansion grounds.

As George waited to join the public road from Davies’ drive, he asked Lauren, “Are you sure this'll work? You know he's got a lot of money, connections, lawyers… he could still find a way out.”

“All I need is the sim driver contract, Dad,” she responded, firm. “I know you'll make sure it's watertight. And then, once he sees me race…” Lauren smirked to herself as she trailed off - and, for the first time, George wasn't sure what was going through her head.

She never finished speaking aloud what was on her mind, and that worried him. Ever since Lauren's mother, Sarah, introduced him as Sarah's boyfriend, he'd been committed to ensuring they were clear and honest in what they felt. But ever since Lauren came back from that year she spent racing for that Russian sportscar team… she'd gained an edge that was never there before.

Well, ultimately, that didn't matter. Lauren was his daughter, blood be damned. He'd be on her side in this to the bitter end.

TLDR: Kendrick and her family are blackmailing JJD into ensuring she has a legitimate shot at carving out an F1 career. Yes, I could've just said that from the start, but when I came up with the idea I also wanted to write the "contract negotiations", so here we are.