(Note: All results came from messing around with the Python AltF1. I decided to write up the seasons in a short journal style. So meet the Montt F1 team, a Chilean-owned, Leicestershire-based team.)
January 16th, 1976 — Leicester — I suppose I should begin by mentioning why I'm doing this. I suppose it's because I want to make sure someone remembers this mad idea of mine. I've had friends tell me that it's a terrible idea, and all I'll achieve is losing a lot of money. But I think I'll get more enjoyment out of this than in having it sit in a bank. Of course, if it starts jeopardizing the future of my family, I'll stop. But until then, I can say that I own a Formula One team.
It's such an insane thing to think about. I own a Formula One team. Of course, we are not Ferrari, or McLaren. The car isn't great, and we can't exactly afford to have Fittipaldi or Lauda in the car. No, instead, we have Alex Ribeiro and Nestor Garcia-Veiga, who will be our drivers for the year. A Brazilian and an Argentinian driving a car in a red, blue and white livery. That's a little bit funny, at least for me. I must reiterate the fact that we may very well be here for a good time, rather than a good time.
Over the course of however many pages it takes, I will write about the results of the Montt F1 Team. And hopefully it goes well, considering I named the team after myself.
January 23rd, 1976 — São Paulo — Well, only one car was going to DNQ today. I'd say it just so happened to be one of ours, but truly, our car was by far and away the slowest. We were eight and a half tenths away from 25th with the car that actually qualified (Alex's). Nestor was three tenths away from that. 7.8 and 8.1 seconds from pole. I knew we'd be slow, but I was hoping to be a little closer to the rest of the field. Let's hope that Alex can get a decent result tomorrow. Honestly, I'll be pleased if he just brings the car home.
January 24th, 1976 — Alex finished 11th, behind two privateer Ferraris and a RAM, but he managed to come home one lap ahead of a Brabham. And for us, that's a small victory. To know that at least we managed to be faster than someone come race day. The M176 seems to be a decently reliable car, if a somewhat slow one.
February 21st, 1976 — Leicester — Word from the team is that we've just hit the limit of what the M176 can do. Whatever we get at Kyalami is as good as it will get for us for the rest of the year. Hopefully we won't be as far behind at Kyalami as we were at Interlagos.
March 5th, 1976 — Midrand — Well, things were better, but also worse. Alex qualified 23rd, 5.5 seconds behind Reutemann. But Nestor was 28th, 5.9 seconds behind Reutemann. So, he did not qualify, making this another DNQ for him. Once again, let's hope Alex can bring the car home.
March 6th, 1976 — He did not, in fact, bring the car home. The transmission decided it had enough and gave up when Alex was running 14th. With everyone else ahead of him that retired, that could have been a tenth place for us. But that's just the way it goes, I suppose.
March 21st, 1976 — Long Beach — We simply can not have two cars qualify. The car is fast enough to qualify and make it to a Grand Prix. However, it's also so slow that with everyone else trying to make it to the race, it means one car will not make it. This time it was Nestor who managed to qualify, with Alex just 54 thousandths shy of his time. I honestly don't expect much for tomorrow, even if this time we were just under 4 seconds from pole.
March 22nd, 1976 — Not surprised. I saw this coming yesterday. But it could have been worse. At least Nestor didn't crash. He had a pretty lonely race at the back, only running as high as 17th before retiring. An uneventful race, and one in which we never really had a chance at more.
April 19th, 1976 — Leicester — Truth be told, I'm already looking for drivers to replace Alex and Nestor. Gancia keeps telling me that he's talking to Boro and that if I want to keep Alex, I should make an offer sooner rather than later. Joke's on him, I don't plan on doing anything of the sort. Just need to find drivers who are good, preferably with large sponsorship and eager enough to get into F1 that they'll be willing to drive a car this bad.
May 1st, 1976 — San Sebastián de los Reyes — I honestly don't understand it. This time we had pace to spare. Nestor qualified 24th. He would have had to be half a second slower to not qualify. So the pace was there. And yet Alex was over a second slower. It's like we're cursed to never be able to qualify for the Grand Prix with both cars. With any luck, Nestor will do alright.
May 2nd, 1976 — Another uneventful race. Even if the gearbox hadn't failed, we could only have expected Nestor to come in 17th. One good thing, however, is that no matter what, we will have both cars in the race in two weeks, because there are only 25 entries for Zolder. So for the first time, Montt F1 will have both cars on the starting grid of a Formula One Grand Prix.
May 15th, 1976 — Heusden-Zolder — I seriously don't understand what's happening with Alex. Nestor qualified 17th, 3.5 seconds slower than Reutemann's pole time. It's our best qualifying position yet. But Alex was 25th, 1.6 seconds slower than Nestor. He should be much closer to Nestor. Regardless, I like our odds much better now that we've got two cars running. Maybe tomorrow will be a good day.
May 16th, 1976 — It was not, in fact, a good day. Galica went in too ambitious into turn 8 and crashed into Nestor. Because Lady Luck seems to hate us, Nestor had to pit for repairs, while Galica carried on without any damage to her car. Alex retired on lap 31, with an oil pressure issue, while Nestor managed to come home in 18th. But it should have been 14th. If it wasn't for Galica. Unfortunately, that's just how this sport is. With any luck, Monaco will go better.
May 29th, 1976 — Monte Carlo — It went worse. It went so much worse. Nestor was 5.9 seconds slower than the pole time, and Alex a further 1.2 seconds behind. Neither one of our cars qualified. We weren't even close to qualifying. Nestor would have had to be nine tenths faster to qualify. That's our first ever double DNQ, and it came in probably the biggest weekend of the year. Things can hardly go much worse at Sweden.
June 12th, 1976 — Anderstorp — The good is that Alex finally found enough pace to stay within a few tenths of Nestor in qualifying. The bad is that he was 74 thousandths slower than Galica in 26th, so that's his fourth DNQ in seven races. Despite starting the season better than Nestor, he fell apart after Kyalami. This string of performances is quickly becoming worrying.
June 13th, 1976 — Well, at least we finished. One lap behind the next car, but it's better than another DNF. 21st place. Not much to say. Last of the cars still running and only picked up places because of retirements. Although the stewards currently are talking with Merzario over a push start, so we might pick up another position.
As I thought, Merzario was disqualified, so that's 20th place for us. Off to France!
July 3rd, 1976 — Le Castellet — Alex qualified 25th, but Nestor didn't qualify. Alex is rather pleased at outqualifying Fittipaldi, though. Emerson, that is. As for Nestor, he just didn't have the pace today. One of those days, I guess.
July 4th, 1976 — Alex finished 18th. Another one of those uneventful races for us. Of course, it is much more eventful at the front, because that DNF for Reutemann might have doomed his title hopes. But that honestly matters very little here, because I'm more concerned with what's happening with my own team than the ones at the front.
July 17th, 1976 — West Kingsdown — Alex qualified 25th again, but Nestor once again failed to qualify. He wasn't even close this time. When it's not one, it's the other. I'm starting to believe that they have only one shred of talent between them and only one of them can use it during a given day. But at least we weren't anywhere near as slow as the BRM. Alex was 5.1 seconds off the pole time, and Nestor a full 6 seconds, but the BRM was 13 seconds off the pace. At least I have the consolation that we've never been that slow at any point in the year.
July 18th, 1976 — Well, for the first time, Alex managed to do some actual racing. He and his car survived a lunge from Pesenti-Rossi similar to Galica's at Zolder, without any damage. Pesenti-Rossi, on the other hand, was forced to retire after that. For the rest of the race, Alex fought quite fiercely with Lombardi for 22nd place. He lost that fight, but he fought for that position until the end, which is rather commendable.
July 31st, 1976 — Nürburg — Once again, because of there being only 26 entries, no matter what, we were guaranteed a place in the Grand Prix for tomorrow. Nestor qualified 17th, matching his best qualifying position from Zolder. Alex qualified 22nd. Of course, as usual, we're miles off the lead, but all things considered, this is quite the decent result for us. Hopefully, tomorrow will also be a decent result.
August 1st, 1976 — Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how it went for us. Some heavy attrition meant that Nestor and Alex ran in pretty decent positions. Ultimately, another oil pressure issue took Alex out of the race when he was running 12th, behind Nestor. Nestor, however, managed to hold position and bring the car home in 11th place, matching our best result at Brazil.
August 10th, 1976 — Vienna — I think I should write about how we are doing in the championship. As expected, we're not doing too well. We're still not classified, because obviously we haven't got any points. There are still nine teams who are yet to score a point, counting us. If we were classified even without points we'd be 15th, only ahead of Boro and BRM. RAM remains ahead of us because they've got a 10th place. One slightly frustrating thing is still being behind Hesketh, who have recently gone bust. Of the teams who still haven't scored, I think we should be looking to at least beat RAM. If we get lucky, maybe we'll manage to beat Hesketh, too.
August 14th, 1976 — Spielberg — Once again, we are guaranteed to have two cars in the race because there's only 26 entries. And one of them is the green tortoise called the BRM. But surprisingly, both of our cars had fairly strong performances. Nestor managed to qualify 15th, beating his own record for best qualifying position, outqualifying even the Shadow driven by Jochen Mass. Meanwhile, Alex qualified 20th, easily fending off the privateer Ferraris, the Copersucar, the RAM, the Surtees and the BRM. Nestor was 4.6 seconds off Reutemann's pole time, and Alex just shy of eight tenths further behind. Maybe Nestor and Alex work better when they don't have the pressure of knowing a bad time could see them not qualify. Anyway, I'll write again tomorrow after the race. Hopefully, with a decent result.
August 15th, 1976 — It could have been a decent result. But Alex's gearbox failed, and Nestor was a tad too aggressive in defending against the Copersucar, taking himself out of the race with that. If they had managed to make it to the end, Nestor would have done so in 10th place and Alex in 12th place. But instead, we've secured our first ever double DNF.
August 28th, 1976 — Zandvoort — For the first time ever, we've managed to get both cars to qualify on pure pace! We're two-thirds of the way through the season, but better late than never. Nestor was 3.9 seconds off pole, and Alex 4.3 seconds off. Which got us...22nd and 26th. Still, better than nothing.
August 29th, 1976 — It was an alright day, all things considered. Nestor managed to climb up to 16th place, and Alex was steadily climbing as well, but he was just as aggressive as Nestor was in the previous race, this time in defending against the Williams of Williamson. That aggresivity saw him retiring the car.
September 11th, 1976 — Monza — A decent result in qualifying, but I don't think anything could make me celebrate on this day. Nestor qualified 17th, 5.2 seconds off pole, and Alex qualified 20th, two tenths behind Nestor. Here's hoping I can celebrate something tomorrow.
September 12th, 1976 — I think we got a result worth celebrating. Of course, attrition helped us out for the most part, but Nestor and Alex still did a great job to bring the cars home where they did. For the first time, we've finished a Grand Prix with both cars, and we did so with Nestor in 9th place and Alex in 11th place. Not just that, but we finally managed to move ahead of RAM on the table, their two tenth places leaving them behind us. Of course, the now defunct Hesketh remain ahead of us because of that eighth place at Long Beach.
September 20th, 1976 — Leicester — I think I've already found our first driver for next year. Still looking for a second, however.
October 2nd, 1976 — Bowmanville — Once again, we qualified with our places in the race guaranteed. But on pace, we were quite a fair bit faster than the slower cars. Alex qualified 20th and Nestor 23rd. 3.6 and 3.7 seconds off Lauda in pole.
October 3rd, 1976 — Yet another uneventful race for the most part. We were doing alright. Alex ran as high as 15th, but he collided with Merzario on the exit of turn 8. Our luck being what it is, Merzario managed to continue, but Alex had to pit for repairs, but the damage was terminal and he had to retire a couple of laps later. After that, Nestor continued, managing to finish the race in 15th place.
October 9th, 1976 — Watkins Glen — This time, we were lucky that there were only 24 entries for the US Grand Prix, because if there had been any more, I guarantee we would have failed to qualify. Nestor and Alex were just dreadfully slow and I don't even want to write just how far behind Reutemann they were. Nestor 21st, Alex 23rd.
October 10th, 1976 — I am absolutely furious. Alex was doing fairly well, but Takahara in the Ensign crashed into him on lap 4. Alex had to pit the car for repairs while Takahara got off unscathed. Alex continued, and managed to catch up to the Ensign, only for the Ensign to be too aggressive in its defending, causing them to crash again, this time finally taking Alex out of the race. Takahara this time had to pit to repair the damages caused by his own idiocy. Nestor managed to finish 14th, behind, to add insult to injury, Takahara's Ensign. Oh, and Jones secured the championship. Had to mention that.
October 23rd, 1976 — Oyama — Well, I suppose that the season had to end in a similar manner to the one we began it. With one car qualifying comfortably, only for one car to fail miserably. Alex qualified 23rd, 4.1 seconds off pole. Nestor was the only driver to fail to qualify, ending up 5.2 seconds off pole. With today in mind, I don't have particularly high hopes for tomorrow.
October 24th, 1976 — Merzario and Lombardi must feel the same I did with Takahara at Watkins Glen, but towards Alex. Today, Alex was like a guided missile, with his target being his fellow drivers. First he took out Lombardi on lap 43, which forced him to pit for repairs, which placed him behind Merzario, who fell victim to the Brazilian missile on lap 46. Pescarolo practically waved him through at the end, rather than risk his chances with Alex. I'm surprised he wasn't black-flagged for his antics today.
November 1st, 1976 — Leicester — Well, the 1976 season is now behind us. It wasn't a particularly impressive debut season, but it was what it was. And I wonder what 1977 will have in store for us.
The Montt Journals (AltAltF1)
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SnakeOilSalesman
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The Montt Journals (AltAltF1)
Last edited by SnakeOilSalesman on 12 Apr 2024, 03:55, edited 2 times in total.
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SnakeOilSalesman
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Re: The Montt Journal (AltAltF1)
1977 SEASON
January 1st, 1977 — Leicester — I'm feeling pretty optimistic for this season. The M177 should be faster than the M176. Not just that, but I'm feeling pretty confident about our drivers. Nestor and Alex did their best in uncompetitive machinery, but I don't think they could have gotten us closer to the points. So out with the old, and hello to our two new drivers. Patrick Tambay and Loris Kessel. From two South Americans to two Europeans. As much as I wish that the team had at least one fellow South American driving, but ultimately I prefer to prioritize results. I think our biggest rivals this year will be newcomers ATS.
January 8th, 1977 — Buenos Aires — I should not have been so optimistic. I went in expecting us to carry on with a similar form to the end of the previous season, only to find ourselves back to square one, struggling to make the grid. Patrick managed to make the grid, qualifying 26th, but Loris did not qualify. We were 5.8 and 6.4 seconds off the pace, respectively. For comparison's sake, the two ATS cars were nine tenths and 1.2 seconds faster than Patrick. And they were 24th and 25th. We almost failed to qualify with both cars, actually. This is going to be a long season...
January 9th, 1977 — Everything seems to point out to a repeat of last year. Patrick fought with the Williams for a fair few laps, but then settled into another uneventful race like so many we had last year. Too fast for Pryce, but too slow to catch Pace or Kazato in their ATS cars. Ultimately, he came in 12th place. Well, it would have been 13th, but Scheckter was disqualified a few minutes ago. Patrick narrowly avoided getting collected by the crash between Ickx and Henton. Looks like Ickx might be out for the season.
January 22nd, 1977 — São Paulo — If there was any doubt that we're in for a repeat of 1976, I believe this confirms it. Loris had the pace to qualify comfortably in 24th, but Patrick was somehow 1.5 seconds slower, which meant he did not qualify for the race. I should probably say goodbye to any hopes of a good result this year.
January 23rd, 1977 — A bit of an uneventful race. Loris spun pretty early on and went down to last. He started to recover ground, passed Zorzi's privateer Ferrari, only for Zorzi to repass him not long after. Zorzi's engine then decided it had enough excitement and promptly started throwing up smoke, allowing Loris to take the place back. After that, Loris picked up positions through attrition to come home in 19th place. Yeah, it wasn't the greatest day for us. But I will admit to being somewhat amused by Zorzi's car breaking down immediately after passing Loris.
February 9th, 1977 — Copersucar have gone bust. The fact that they scored a point at Argentina means that for the second year running, we might end up getting beaten by a team that has ceased to exist. Lovely.
February 17th, 1977 — Leicester — I'm just writing this entry to add how little optimism I have for Kyalami up next.
March 4th, 1977 — Midrand — We just never can win when it comes to qualifying, can we? Patrick narrowly outqualified both Williams, which we expected to be our main rivals. But then, Loris went a full second slower and failed to qualify. Second DNQ for Loris in three races. Patrick qualified 23rd, 3.5 seconds behind Scheckter on pole.
March 5th, 1977 — Our luck is something to behold. Or the lack of it, to be more accurate. Patrick had a good start off the line, got overtaken by Andretti's Williams a few laps later and was doing fairly well before Jarier decided to crash into him. 7 laps in. Patrick soldiered on to the end with a damaged car, 4 laps down, 22nd and last of those still running. This is a disappointing result, and this was a race that I wasn't optimistic about, so clearly, despite a low bar, we've managed to limbo our way under it.
April 2nd, 1977 — Long Beach — New race weekend, same as the last one. Patrick barely qualified, but Loris was nowhere near, only beating Schuppan's privateer Brabham. This genuinely might end up worse than Kyalami.
April 3rd, 1977 — Well, I was wrong again. Sort of. Patrick had a good start again, but Pryce returned the favor, only for the two of them to crash into each other, forcing them both to pit. They continued to battle each other until the end, 3 laps down and quite far behind the rest. Pryce won their duel, by the way. Because clearly nothing can go our way this year. Zolder better be an improvement, or else I'll be tempted to shut this whole thing down.
May 4th, 1977 — Heusden-Zolder — Well, Patrick did improve. He qualified 19th, which does seem like a minor miracle, with the M177 being the way it is. But on the other side, Loris was 1.4 seconds slower, beating only the privateer Brabham and a privateer ATS. Once again, he failed to qualify. Fourth DNQ in five races. I swear to God, if he does not qualify at Jarama, I will sack him.
May 5th, 1977 — Zolder definitely was an improvement! Sure, reliabilty helped us somewhat, with ten cars ahead of us failing to finish, but Patrick managed to get some decent pace out of the car today, on his way to 13th place. Honestly, not a bad result for us.
May 18th, 1977 — San Sebastián de los Reyes — Well, after getting good pace out of the car last time around, Patrick could not get any pace today and failed to qualify. The surprising thing is that not only did Loris qualify (barely), but he did so by beating a works Lotus. As such, Loris has earned a stay of execution.
May 19th, 1977 — 22 laps. That's all the running that Loris managed to do before the radiator decided it did not want to continue functioning. In truth, he never looked like he was going to do anything beyond being way off at the back, and even if the radiator hadn't failed, reliability for cars ahead wouldn't have gone our way either. Off to Monaco we go.
June 3rd, 1977 — Monte Carlo — Well, I suppose this was bound to happen with 33 cars trying to qualify for a race with only 20 spots. Pre-qualifying. I honestly think Patrick might have gotten more pace out of the car if our failure to make it to qualifying hadn't been a foregone conclusion forced by Renault having to pre-qualify, despite being a front-runner. Needless to say, that's a double DNPQ for us. Loris gets another stay of execution, but only because we never stood a chance in this one. Next one will be his last chance. I've already been looking for drivers, but finding one has been difficult.
June 5th, 1977 — Farcical. Absolutely bloody farcical. Lafitte, Reutemann, Peterson and Hunt. The only men to actually make it to the end of the Monaco Grand Prix, one of them two laps down. Andretti and Patrese got points despite their DNFs. It was a crash-happy disaster and all involved should be ashamed for their involvement.
June 18th, 1977 — Anderstorp — Back to the usual. Patrick barely qualified in 25th, but Loris was miles behind, and once again failed to qualify. Qualifying at Jarama and our dismal performance at Monaco saved him, but this is the last straw. I am giving him his marching orders in a few minutes.
June 19th, 1977 — Not much to say. Miles off the pace, once again finished last of those still running. An unspectacular and uninspiring 19th place.
July 3rd, 1977 — Dijon — Now this is more like it! Both drivers qualified on pure pace, something I have not been able to say or write in a long time. Merzario was 21st, Tambay 23rd. 2.5 and 2.7 seconds off the pole time set by Reutemann, respectively.
July 4th, 1977 — Well, not a bad result. Patrick finished 9th at his home race, matching our best result from last year at Monza. But it could have been better, because Arturo had been running 8th before the transmission went. It could have been our best ever result, as well as our first double top 10 finish. But I suppose I can't complain much about matching our best result. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all.
July 17th, 1977 — Silverstone — Once again, we qualified on pure pace, which feels even better to say the second time this year. In two attempts, Arturo has made it for as many races as Loris did in eight. We never were in any danger of not qualifying. Patrick was safe by a full second and Arturo by four tenths. Patrick qualified 22nd, Arturo in 26th. Overall, pretty pleased with today.
July 18th, 1977 — Well, that could have gone better. Patrick held on to 22nd at the start, but was taken out of the race on lap 3 because of some idiot driving a privateer Ferrari. Arturo made it to the end, finishing 14th. A respectable result, all things considered.
July 31st, 1977 — Hockenheim — I don't understand what happened. Patrick qualified comfortably in 23rd, but Arturo was 2.7 seconds slower than Patrick and did not qualify. How in the blazes Arturo managed to go almost three seconds slower is something I don't understand.
August 1st, 1977 — An uneventful, but respectable race for us. Reliability for other cars went our way, so Patrick picked up positions. He also managed to hold his own against the cars behind, so he finished 13th.
August 14th, 1977 — Spielberg — Business as usual has resumed. Patrick barely qualified, Arturo was a decent distance away, but nowhere near enough to qualify.
August 15th, 1977 — Why do privateer Ferraris hate us? Why do they always seem to think the back of our cars is the finish line? Honestly, I don't even want to write more about this weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to write more for Zandvoort.
August 28th, 1977 — Zandvoort — Once again, both cars qualified on merit alone, with Patrick 21st, ahead of a Ligier and a Lotus! Arturo had it a bit more difficult, but still qualified in 26th, safe from another DNQ by a decent margin. My biggest takeaway from this past couple of races is that Patrick seems to qualify a lot better with a teammate that can be a viable challenge, something Loris could never do. That said, Arturo is probably not a driver for the future. I have my eye on a certain driver, but I think it'll depend on how quickly I act.
August 29th, 1977 — What a shame for Patrick. He'd been running well until the Cosworth engine gave up the ghost. As for Arturo...he fought well against Rosberg, and probably could have won their duel if he hadn't gone off the track on lap 67. Probably could have overtaken Villeneuve's stricken Renault before the flag, too. Still, that's a 16th place finish for Arturo. We move to Monza, the site of our joint-best result in our almost two years in F1, hoping for a repeat of last year.
September 10th, 1977 — Monza — Patrick once again qualified comfortably in 24th, but Arturo failed to qualify again, validating me in my belief that hiring him was best as a stop-gap to replace Loris and get someone new for '78.
September 11th, 1977 — Patrick didn't really do much, and just kept the car in one piece all the way to the finish, in 18th and last of those still running. Still, the biggest piece of news is further up the paddock, because although Lauda was 26 points clear of Reutemann after Anderstorp, he is now only 5 points ahead, with 3 races to go.
October 1st, 1977 — Watkins Glen — We once again qualified with both cars, with Patrick 21st, in a slight no-man's-land, too far behind Jabouille's Surtees (four tenths), but too far ahead of Kazato's ATS (also four tenths). As for Arturo, 26th again, but very close to both Brabhams.
October 2nd, 1977 — Arturo retired early in the race because of an issue with the suspension, but Patrick had a very good day, fending off Peterson, Kazato and Rosberg on his way to an 11th place finish. Could have been 10th, but Jarier was rather stubborn in not defending against Patrick. Some close calls, but fortunately no crashes.
October 8th, 1977 — Bowmanville — Patrick once again qualified fairly comfortably, nearly a second faster than Pryce, who did not qualify in his Williams. However, Pryce was also nearly half a second faster than Arturo, who failed to qualify. Patrick will start tomorrow's race in 23rd place.
October 9th, 1977 — Suddenly I'm reminded of Alex last year. More specifically, that race in which he turned into a guided missile targeting his fellow drivers. It happened again. First, he took out Kazato, then Pace. Schmid was quite cross with me, and I honestly couldn't really defend Patrick on that one. Both incidents were 100% his fault. Fortunately for the other drivers on the grid, the wall decided to put a stop to the rampaging Frenchman. In news from the teams that aren't terrible like we currently are, Lauda and Reutemann are level on points heading into the final race. This will definitely be a season for the ages.
October 22nd, 1977 — Oyama — We once again qualified with both cars. Very comfortably, too. Arturo was 22nd, and Patrick 23rd. 3.7 and 3.8 seconds behind Lauda on pole. Plenty of eyes will be watching tomorrow's race, and I can guarantee that almost none of them will be on us. But such is a backmarker's lot in life, I'm afraid.
October 23rd, 1977 — Well...that was rather anticlimactic for us. We qualified well, but Kazato took revenge for Mosport and took out Patrick, while Arturo took himself out, but took Jabouille with him. Of course, we had to finish with probably one of the dumbest double DNFs ever.
Oh, and as for the championship, Reutemann won. Lauda dropped to third on the first lap, Reutemann took the lead and that's how it finished.
A pretty embarrassing year for us. We expected to beat ATS, and we had the better of them in a fair few races, but their superior reliability pulled them ahead of us, mostly due to their results in the first half of the year. In the end, we only beat Boro, McGuire and RAM, who, this year, could only muster up one race start combined.
November 13th, 1977 — Leicester — 1978 will be better. We'll probably still be near the back, but we should not have as many issues in qualifying for the races. I quite like how the M178 is shaping up. I can't wait.
January 1st, 1977 — Leicester — I'm feeling pretty optimistic for this season. The M177 should be faster than the M176. Not just that, but I'm feeling pretty confident about our drivers. Nestor and Alex did their best in uncompetitive machinery, but I don't think they could have gotten us closer to the points. So out with the old, and hello to our two new drivers. Patrick Tambay and Loris Kessel. From two South Americans to two Europeans. As much as I wish that the team had at least one fellow South American driving, but ultimately I prefer to prioritize results. I think our biggest rivals this year will be newcomers ATS.
January 8th, 1977 — Buenos Aires — I should not have been so optimistic. I went in expecting us to carry on with a similar form to the end of the previous season, only to find ourselves back to square one, struggling to make the grid. Patrick managed to make the grid, qualifying 26th, but Loris did not qualify. We were 5.8 and 6.4 seconds off the pace, respectively. For comparison's sake, the two ATS cars were nine tenths and 1.2 seconds faster than Patrick. And they were 24th and 25th. We almost failed to qualify with both cars, actually. This is going to be a long season...
January 9th, 1977 — Everything seems to point out to a repeat of last year. Patrick fought with the Williams for a fair few laps, but then settled into another uneventful race like so many we had last year. Too fast for Pryce, but too slow to catch Pace or Kazato in their ATS cars. Ultimately, he came in 12th place. Well, it would have been 13th, but Scheckter was disqualified a few minutes ago. Patrick narrowly avoided getting collected by the crash between Ickx and Henton. Looks like Ickx might be out for the season.
January 22nd, 1977 — São Paulo — If there was any doubt that we're in for a repeat of 1976, I believe this confirms it. Loris had the pace to qualify comfortably in 24th, but Patrick was somehow 1.5 seconds slower, which meant he did not qualify for the race. I should probably say goodbye to any hopes of a good result this year.
January 23rd, 1977 — A bit of an uneventful race. Loris spun pretty early on and went down to last. He started to recover ground, passed Zorzi's privateer Ferrari, only for Zorzi to repass him not long after. Zorzi's engine then decided it had enough excitement and promptly started throwing up smoke, allowing Loris to take the place back. After that, Loris picked up positions through attrition to come home in 19th place. Yeah, it wasn't the greatest day for us. But I will admit to being somewhat amused by Zorzi's car breaking down immediately after passing Loris.
February 9th, 1977 — Copersucar have gone bust. The fact that they scored a point at Argentina means that for the second year running, we might end up getting beaten by a team that has ceased to exist. Lovely.
February 17th, 1977 — Leicester — I'm just writing this entry to add how little optimism I have for Kyalami up next.
March 4th, 1977 — Midrand — We just never can win when it comes to qualifying, can we? Patrick narrowly outqualified both Williams, which we expected to be our main rivals. But then, Loris went a full second slower and failed to qualify. Second DNQ for Loris in three races. Patrick qualified 23rd, 3.5 seconds behind Scheckter on pole.
March 5th, 1977 — Our luck is something to behold. Or the lack of it, to be more accurate. Patrick had a good start off the line, got overtaken by Andretti's Williams a few laps later and was doing fairly well before Jarier decided to crash into him. 7 laps in. Patrick soldiered on to the end with a damaged car, 4 laps down, 22nd and last of those still running. This is a disappointing result, and this was a race that I wasn't optimistic about, so clearly, despite a low bar, we've managed to limbo our way under it.
April 2nd, 1977 — Long Beach — New race weekend, same as the last one. Patrick barely qualified, but Loris was nowhere near, only beating Schuppan's privateer Brabham. This genuinely might end up worse than Kyalami.
April 3rd, 1977 — Well, I was wrong again. Sort of. Patrick had a good start again, but Pryce returned the favor, only for the two of them to crash into each other, forcing them both to pit. They continued to battle each other until the end, 3 laps down and quite far behind the rest. Pryce won their duel, by the way. Because clearly nothing can go our way this year. Zolder better be an improvement, or else I'll be tempted to shut this whole thing down.
May 4th, 1977 — Heusden-Zolder — Well, Patrick did improve. He qualified 19th, which does seem like a minor miracle, with the M177 being the way it is. But on the other side, Loris was 1.4 seconds slower, beating only the privateer Brabham and a privateer ATS. Once again, he failed to qualify. Fourth DNQ in five races. I swear to God, if he does not qualify at Jarama, I will sack him.
May 5th, 1977 — Zolder definitely was an improvement! Sure, reliabilty helped us somewhat, with ten cars ahead of us failing to finish, but Patrick managed to get some decent pace out of the car today, on his way to 13th place. Honestly, not a bad result for us.
May 18th, 1977 — San Sebastián de los Reyes — Well, after getting good pace out of the car last time around, Patrick could not get any pace today and failed to qualify. The surprising thing is that not only did Loris qualify (barely), but he did so by beating a works Lotus. As such, Loris has earned a stay of execution.
May 19th, 1977 — 22 laps. That's all the running that Loris managed to do before the radiator decided it did not want to continue functioning. In truth, he never looked like he was going to do anything beyond being way off at the back, and even if the radiator hadn't failed, reliability for cars ahead wouldn't have gone our way either. Off to Monaco we go.
June 3rd, 1977 — Monte Carlo — Well, I suppose this was bound to happen with 33 cars trying to qualify for a race with only 20 spots. Pre-qualifying. I honestly think Patrick might have gotten more pace out of the car if our failure to make it to qualifying hadn't been a foregone conclusion forced by Renault having to pre-qualify, despite being a front-runner. Needless to say, that's a double DNPQ for us. Loris gets another stay of execution, but only because we never stood a chance in this one. Next one will be his last chance. I've already been looking for drivers, but finding one has been difficult.
June 5th, 1977 — Farcical. Absolutely bloody farcical. Lafitte, Reutemann, Peterson and Hunt. The only men to actually make it to the end of the Monaco Grand Prix, one of them two laps down. Andretti and Patrese got points despite their DNFs. It was a crash-happy disaster and all involved should be ashamed for their involvement.
June 18th, 1977 — Anderstorp — Back to the usual. Patrick barely qualified in 25th, but Loris was miles behind, and once again failed to qualify. Qualifying at Jarama and our dismal performance at Monaco saved him, but this is the last straw. I am giving him his marching orders in a few minutes.
June 19th, 1977 — Not much to say. Miles off the pace, once again finished last of those still running. An unspectacular and uninspiring 19th place.
July 3rd, 1977 — Dijon — Now this is more like it! Both drivers qualified on pure pace, something I have not been able to say or write in a long time. Merzario was 21st, Tambay 23rd. 2.5 and 2.7 seconds off the pole time set by Reutemann, respectively.
July 4th, 1977 — Well, not a bad result. Patrick finished 9th at his home race, matching our best result from last year at Monza. But it could have been better, because Arturo had been running 8th before the transmission went. It could have been our best ever result, as well as our first double top 10 finish. But I suppose I can't complain much about matching our best result. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all.
July 17th, 1977 — Silverstone — Once again, we qualified on pure pace, which feels even better to say the second time this year. In two attempts, Arturo has made it for as many races as Loris did in eight. We never were in any danger of not qualifying. Patrick was safe by a full second and Arturo by four tenths. Patrick qualified 22nd, Arturo in 26th. Overall, pretty pleased with today.
July 18th, 1977 — Well, that could have gone better. Patrick held on to 22nd at the start, but was taken out of the race on lap 3 because of some idiot driving a privateer Ferrari. Arturo made it to the end, finishing 14th. A respectable result, all things considered.
July 31st, 1977 — Hockenheim — I don't understand what happened. Patrick qualified comfortably in 23rd, but Arturo was 2.7 seconds slower than Patrick and did not qualify. How in the blazes Arturo managed to go almost three seconds slower is something I don't understand.
August 1st, 1977 — An uneventful, but respectable race for us. Reliability for other cars went our way, so Patrick picked up positions. He also managed to hold his own against the cars behind, so he finished 13th.
August 14th, 1977 — Spielberg — Business as usual has resumed. Patrick barely qualified, Arturo was a decent distance away, but nowhere near enough to qualify.
August 15th, 1977 — Why do privateer Ferraris hate us? Why do they always seem to think the back of our cars is the finish line? Honestly, I don't even want to write more about this weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to write more for Zandvoort.
August 28th, 1977 — Zandvoort — Once again, both cars qualified on merit alone, with Patrick 21st, ahead of a Ligier and a Lotus! Arturo had it a bit more difficult, but still qualified in 26th, safe from another DNQ by a decent margin. My biggest takeaway from this past couple of races is that Patrick seems to qualify a lot better with a teammate that can be a viable challenge, something Loris could never do. That said, Arturo is probably not a driver for the future. I have my eye on a certain driver, but I think it'll depend on how quickly I act.
August 29th, 1977 — What a shame for Patrick. He'd been running well until the Cosworth engine gave up the ghost. As for Arturo...he fought well against Rosberg, and probably could have won their duel if he hadn't gone off the track on lap 67. Probably could have overtaken Villeneuve's stricken Renault before the flag, too. Still, that's a 16th place finish for Arturo. We move to Monza, the site of our joint-best result in our almost two years in F1, hoping for a repeat of last year.
September 10th, 1977 — Monza — Patrick once again qualified comfortably in 24th, but Arturo failed to qualify again, validating me in my belief that hiring him was best as a stop-gap to replace Loris and get someone new for '78.
September 11th, 1977 — Patrick didn't really do much, and just kept the car in one piece all the way to the finish, in 18th and last of those still running. Still, the biggest piece of news is further up the paddock, because although Lauda was 26 points clear of Reutemann after Anderstorp, he is now only 5 points ahead, with 3 races to go.
October 1st, 1977 — Watkins Glen — We once again qualified with both cars, with Patrick 21st, in a slight no-man's-land, too far behind Jabouille's Surtees (four tenths), but too far ahead of Kazato's ATS (also four tenths). As for Arturo, 26th again, but very close to both Brabhams.
October 2nd, 1977 — Arturo retired early in the race because of an issue with the suspension, but Patrick had a very good day, fending off Peterson, Kazato and Rosberg on his way to an 11th place finish. Could have been 10th, but Jarier was rather stubborn in not defending against Patrick. Some close calls, but fortunately no crashes.
October 8th, 1977 — Bowmanville — Patrick once again qualified fairly comfortably, nearly a second faster than Pryce, who did not qualify in his Williams. However, Pryce was also nearly half a second faster than Arturo, who failed to qualify. Patrick will start tomorrow's race in 23rd place.
October 9th, 1977 — Suddenly I'm reminded of Alex last year. More specifically, that race in which he turned into a guided missile targeting his fellow drivers. It happened again. First, he took out Kazato, then Pace. Schmid was quite cross with me, and I honestly couldn't really defend Patrick on that one. Both incidents were 100% his fault. Fortunately for the other drivers on the grid, the wall decided to put a stop to the rampaging Frenchman. In news from the teams that aren't terrible like we currently are, Lauda and Reutemann are level on points heading into the final race. This will definitely be a season for the ages.
October 22nd, 1977 — Oyama — We once again qualified with both cars. Very comfortably, too. Arturo was 22nd, and Patrick 23rd. 3.7 and 3.8 seconds behind Lauda on pole. Plenty of eyes will be watching tomorrow's race, and I can guarantee that almost none of them will be on us. But such is a backmarker's lot in life, I'm afraid.
October 23rd, 1977 — Well...that was rather anticlimactic for us. We qualified well, but Kazato took revenge for Mosport and took out Patrick, while Arturo took himself out, but took Jabouille with him. Of course, we had to finish with probably one of the dumbest double DNFs ever.
Oh, and as for the championship, Reutemann won. Lauda dropped to third on the first lap, Reutemann took the lead and that's how it finished.
A pretty embarrassing year for us. We expected to beat ATS, and we had the better of them in a fair few races, but their superior reliability pulled them ahead of us, mostly due to their results in the first half of the year. In the end, we only beat Boro, McGuire and RAM, who, this year, could only muster up one race start combined.
November 13th, 1977 — Leicester — 1978 will be better. We'll probably still be near the back, but we should not have as many issues in qualifying for the races. I quite like how the M178 is shaping up. I can't wait.
Last edited by SnakeOilSalesman on 17 Feb 2024, 02:43, edited 1 time in total.
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SnakeOilSalesman
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Re: The Montt Journal (AltAltF1)
1978 SEASON
January 5th, 1978 — Leicester — I'm feeling pretty good about the coming year. '77 was bad, but we did learn a lot from it. The M177 is gone and buried. And I doubt any driver will ever infuriate me more than Loris. Plus, I'm pretty happy about managing to snag Eddie out of Theodore's hands. With Patrick and Eddie at the wheel, '78 might actually be the year in which we score our first point. I admit it would take some serious luck for that to happen, but you can never rule out a freak result in this sport.
As for expectations...it would be delusional of me to claim we'll be fighting for points regularly. However, I expect us to drastically reduce DNQs (10 last year + 2 DNPQs). We probably will be in the lower ends of the midfield.
I can't wait for the season to begin.
January 14th, 1978 — Buenos Aires — Qualified pretty comfortably. Sure, Eddie is 21st and Patrick 24th, but we would have had to go almost two seconds slower to not qualify. After a season like last one, you take what you can get.
January 15th, 1978 — Reliability mostly went our way, although an electrical issue struck down Patrick's car when he was running 19th. However, Eddie managed to finish the race in 10th place! To start the season with a top 10 finish makes me very optimistic about what's coming next.
January 28th, 1978 — Rio de Janeiro — I will admit that I was a bit scared that Eddie wouldn't make the grid, but he managed to do a lap that got him safe by half a second. Meanwhile, Patrick managed to qualify 19th, and very close to the two Lotuses (Lotusi? Lotusae?).
January 29th, 1978 — That...could have gone better. If Patrick had managed to hold his position against Schuppan and Zorzi, that could have been a 7th place for us. However, we finished 9th, which means we once again matched our best ever result. Meanwhile, Eddie finished 13th, 3 laps down, last of those still running. I guess this just wasn't his weekend.
March 3rd, 1978 — Midrand — Now this is more like it! Patrick 18th and Eddie 19th in a Lotus sandwich between Amon and Stuck. That said, I would feel better about fighting with Lotus if I didn't know that it's mostly because they messed up rather than through our own merit. But again, you take what you can get.
March 4th, 1978 — Once again, that could have gone better. Another electrical issue for Patrick took him out when he was 16th, while Eddie lost position to Amon and Jabouille, on his way to a 10th place finish, that could have been 8th. It seems we've got work to do on our race pace. Still, three races in and three top 10 finishes? Can't complain too much about that!
April 1st, 1978 — Long Beach — Well, neither Eddie nor Patrick had a brilliant qualifying, and they will start 22nd and 23rd, respectively, qualifying within 5 hundredths of each other, even if almost 4 seconds slower than Watson's pole time.
April 2nd, 1978 — Of course, we had to ruin our good streak by being complete and utter morons. Eddie and Patrick fought for position, but Patrick got a little too ambitious and took Eddie out. Not content with keeping the car running, he chased after Stuck to this time destroy both of their cars. Double DNF in the worst way possible. I will have some very cross words for Patrick in a moment. The idiot.
May 5th, 1978 — Monte Carlo — Pre-qualifying is once again upon us at Monaco. It seems that Eddie wasn't feeling at his best, so he failed to make it through. Patrick, however, did. Here's hoping that we can finally get a car onto the grid tomorrow. Two years, and we've yet to qualify for Monaco.
May 6th, 1978 — He's in! He made it! All is forgiven, Patrick! We've finally qualified for the Monaco Grand Prix! In case you can't tell, I am very happy about this. 3.2 seconds behind Ickx, but he's in, and that's all that counts.
May 7th, 1978 — Did I write that all is forgiven? I retract my statement. God damn it, Patrick picked up precisely where he left off at Long Beach, so he took himself out of the race by needlessly crashing into Jabouille. To make matters worse, with attrition at Monaco being what it is (although not as ridiculous as last year), if he'd made it to the end and just held position, that could have been another 9th place. But instead, it's another DNF.
May 20th, 1978 — Heusden-Zolder — Something is wrong with Eddie. Ever since Long Beach, he's not been at the level we expect of him. While he never was in any danger of not qualifying, he was almost two seconds slower than Patrick. So, Eddie starts 25th, and Patrick 17th. It's been a while since we qualified this well. Patrick better not ruin this again, or I swear I will sack him.
May 21st, 1978 — Much better! Now that was more like what I wanted to see. Reliability did not help us, but it didn't go after us, either. So Patrick finished 16th, and Eddie 20th.
Correction, 15th and 19th. Watson got disqualified for a wheel change outside of the pits.
June 3rd, 1978 — San Sebastián de los Reyes — I don't even know what to say. We simply didn't have the pace today at Jarama. It is a disappointing result, but this sport has its ups and downs. Patrick 25th, 3.6 seconds off Nilsson's pole time, Eddie DNQ. Eddie's drop in form is seriously concerning.
June 4th, 1978 — Not much to say about this one. Patrick drove a lonely race, miles off at the back, and finished 20th. It's like we've traveled in time back to 1977. I don't like it.
June 17th, 1978 — Anderstorp — Now this is more like it. Eddie finally got to within a respectable distance of Patrick. It seems he might finally be getting back to his best. Patrick 20th, Eddie 22nd, 3.5 and 3.6 seconds off Ickx on pole.
June 18th, 1978 — I might have spoken too soon. Eddie just went backwards during the race, and spent most of the race as the last of those still running, only picking up positions due to attrition. Meanwhile, Patrick held his position as he also picked up a few positions through attrition, finishing one lap ahead of Eddie. Patrick 14th, Eddie 18th.
July 2nd, 1978 — Le Castellet — Once again, Eddie stayed close to Patrick in qualifying, but we simply didn't have the pace. Patrick was 24th and Eddie 25th, 3.8 and 3.9 seconds off Nilsson's (who seems to be on another level since Jarama) pole time.
July 3rd, 1978 — I don't know how to feel about this one. Bit of a quiet race again, mostly picking up positions through attrition again. But Eddie, after going backwards for the first couple of laps, remembered how to drive, started to overtake cars little by little, made a good move on Patrick, ran as high as 13th, until Brise in the Surtees crashed into him, forcing him to pit for repairs. Ultimately, they finished together, 15th and 16th, both ahead of only Jabouille.
July 16th, 1978 — West Kingsdown — After a few races staying close to Patrick in qualifying, he again lost a lot of pace in qualifying after being crashed into, this time being almost half a second slower than Patrick. However, even if he stayed close, it wouldn't have made much of a difference, as he only would've gotten one position. Patrick 19th (3.4 seconds behind Scheckter) and Eddie 21st (3.8).
July 17th, 1978 — Our old friend Electrical Issues decided to pay us a visit once more, this time going after Eddie. He'd been going backwards for a while, though, so it didn't make much of a difference either. Patrick had been running 14th, and was close to the end, but a hydraulic issue took him out, so it's another double DNF for us.
July 30th, 1978 — Hockenheim — 1.1 seconds. That was the difference between Patrick and Eddie today. I'm starting to wonder if Eddie was really all that he was cracked up to be last year. Because last year's finest driver outside of F1 is foundering quickly now that he is in F1. Yes, Patrick has a year of experience more than Eddie. But experience can only go so far in justifying these dismal performances as of late. Then again, he could have been a tenth behind, or 2 seconds slower, and still have qualified 24th. Patrick and Eddie will start tomorrow's race 23rd and 24th, together in the penultimate row.
July 31st, 1978 — Oh, for crying out loud. Patrick had a good start, overtook Reutemann and Jarier, until Jarier decided that was apparently worth declaring a vendetta on Patrick, crashing into him and taking both of them out of the race. As for Eddie, not much to say. He passed Reutemann and was running 20th until the fuel pump decided to give up. I do believe this is our first ever back-to-back double DNF.
August 4th, 1978 — Leicester — Patrick is getting a little bit cross. In his opinion, we've only been going backwards since the start of the season. He's not wrong, but at the same time, we had pretty good momentum up until he decided to play demolition derby at Long Beach. I don't think he liked hearing that.
August 12th, 1978 — Spielberg — It's been ages, but Eddie showed a spark of what he could do. He went seven tenths faster than Patrick and qualified in 21st, with Patrick right behind him for tomorrow's grid in 23rd.
August 13th, 1978 — A bit of an uneventful, and yet good race for us. Through little merit of our own, we picked up places through attrition, with Eddie finishing 12th and Patrick 14th. I can't complain too much. It's better than another double DNF.
August 26th, 1978 — Zandvoort — A decent qualifying for us. Patrick was just under 3 seconds under the pole time, with Eddie being 3.2 seconds behind the pole. Patrick qualified 18th, Eddie 20th. What surprises me is that Pace and ATS somehow managed to get a front-row start for tomorrow. Weird.
August 27, 1978 — Well, we've just had a direct intervention in the championship, but not in the way we would have wished for. Nilsson has been very good since Jarama, and he's been chipping away at Scheckter's lead in the championship. Well, we've helped him in that regard, because Eddie thought he'd try unlapping himself against Scheckter, and took both of them out of the race. Not ideal. And because Nilsson got a podium, suddenly, the Swede is just two points behind Scheckter, when he was thirty-one points behind before Jarama.
It puts a little bit of a damper on Patrick scoring another 9th place for the team. For some reason, we seem to really love 9th place. That's four times we've scored a 9th place.
September 10th, 1978 — Monza — An okay qualifying for Patrick, but a torrid one for Eddie. Eddie went eight tenths slower than Patrick, landing him in 24th, while Patrick qualified 18th.
September 11th, 1978 — A mostly uneventful race. Eddie showed some good race pace, attrition helped us a bit, and both cars finished close to each other in 15th and 16th, with Patrick leading Eddie home.
September 30th, 1978 — Watkins Glen — It's Eddie's home race, and it seems he saved up all his qualifying pace for this one, because he qualified 17th, going two tenths faster than Patrick. Eddie will start 17th (once again matching our best qualifying result) and Patrick 20th.
October 1st, 1978 — Patrick stalled on the grid, so his race ended before it even started. However, Eddie held off everyone who started behind him, holding his position as he picked up places through attrition on his way to a 14th place.
October 7th, 1978 — Montreal — After apparently using all his qualifying pace on last week's race, Eddie could only manage to go one and a half seconds behind Patrick, getting him 23rd on the grid, while Patrick qualified 20th.
October 8th, 1978 — I don't believe it. Why? Why now of all times? Patrick retired early on with a transmission failure. But Eddie was making up spots with some blistering pace. I think today we've just seen the best driving that the M178 has ever been subjected to. Eddie was one lap down, but running in 8th place. And then our old friend Electrical Issue decided to strike again, five laps from the end. It would have been our best ever race finish. So close, and yet so far. To make matters worse, Reutemann got that 8th place finish that the electricals denied us, putting us behind Williams.
October 13th, 1978 — Leicester — Patrick's just told me that he is leaving when his contract ends. I guess I should have seen this coming. Guess I have to start seriously looking for a driver for next season.
October 21st, 1978 — Oyama — In an extremely rainy afternoon, Patrick managed to qualify 19th. Eddie, however, went almost two seconds slower and qualified 26th. I think we probably won't finish the season with a bang.
October 22nd, 1978 — Well, I was wrong, in a way. Because if you stretch it a bit, a bang is very much what the M178 did when Patrick crashed it against the wall on lap 62. Eddie had a bit of a quiet race, dispatching Merzario and Lees with ease on his way to a 12th place finish.
November 10th, 1978 — Leicester — Three seasons of Grand Prix racing under our belts, but things seem broadly the same. We had a good start to the season, made huge improvements compared to last year, but we quickly got outdeveloped by the other teams. Two steps forward, one step back. Bring on 1979.
January 5th, 1978 — Leicester — I'm feeling pretty good about the coming year. '77 was bad, but we did learn a lot from it. The M177 is gone and buried. And I doubt any driver will ever infuriate me more than Loris. Plus, I'm pretty happy about managing to snag Eddie out of Theodore's hands. With Patrick and Eddie at the wheel, '78 might actually be the year in which we score our first point. I admit it would take some serious luck for that to happen, but you can never rule out a freak result in this sport.
As for expectations...it would be delusional of me to claim we'll be fighting for points regularly. However, I expect us to drastically reduce DNQs (10 last year + 2 DNPQs). We probably will be in the lower ends of the midfield.
I can't wait for the season to begin.
January 14th, 1978 — Buenos Aires — Qualified pretty comfortably. Sure, Eddie is 21st and Patrick 24th, but we would have had to go almost two seconds slower to not qualify. After a season like last one, you take what you can get.
January 15th, 1978 — Reliability mostly went our way, although an electrical issue struck down Patrick's car when he was running 19th. However, Eddie managed to finish the race in 10th place! To start the season with a top 10 finish makes me very optimistic about what's coming next.
January 28th, 1978 — Rio de Janeiro — I will admit that I was a bit scared that Eddie wouldn't make the grid, but he managed to do a lap that got him safe by half a second. Meanwhile, Patrick managed to qualify 19th, and very close to the two Lotuses (Lotusi? Lotusae?).
January 29th, 1978 — That...could have gone better. If Patrick had managed to hold his position against Schuppan and Zorzi, that could have been a 7th place for us. However, we finished 9th, which means we once again matched our best ever result. Meanwhile, Eddie finished 13th, 3 laps down, last of those still running. I guess this just wasn't his weekend.
March 3rd, 1978 — Midrand — Now this is more like it! Patrick 18th and Eddie 19th in a Lotus sandwich between Amon and Stuck. That said, I would feel better about fighting with Lotus if I didn't know that it's mostly because they messed up rather than through our own merit. But again, you take what you can get.
March 4th, 1978 — Once again, that could have gone better. Another electrical issue for Patrick took him out when he was 16th, while Eddie lost position to Amon and Jabouille, on his way to a 10th place finish, that could have been 8th. It seems we've got work to do on our race pace. Still, three races in and three top 10 finishes? Can't complain too much about that!
April 1st, 1978 — Long Beach — Well, neither Eddie nor Patrick had a brilliant qualifying, and they will start 22nd and 23rd, respectively, qualifying within 5 hundredths of each other, even if almost 4 seconds slower than Watson's pole time.
April 2nd, 1978 — Of course, we had to ruin our good streak by being complete and utter morons. Eddie and Patrick fought for position, but Patrick got a little too ambitious and took Eddie out. Not content with keeping the car running, he chased after Stuck to this time destroy both of their cars. Double DNF in the worst way possible. I will have some very cross words for Patrick in a moment. The idiot.
May 5th, 1978 — Monte Carlo — Pre-qualifying is once again upon us at Monaco. It seems that Eddie wasn't feeling at his best, so he failed to make it through. Patrick, however, did. Here's hoping that we can finally get a car onto the grid tomorrow. Two years, and we've yet to qualify for Monaco.
May 6th, 1978 — He's in! He made it! All is forgiven, Patrick! We've finally qualified for the Monaco Grand Prix! In case you can't tell, I am very happy about this. 3.2 seconds behind Ickx, but he's in, and that's all that counts.
May 7th, 1978 — Did I write that all is forgiven? I retract my statement. God damn it, Patrick picked up precisely where he left off at Long Beach, so he took himself out of the race by needlessly crashing into Jabouille. To make matters worse, with attrition at Monaco being what it is (although not as ridiculous as last year), if he'd made it to the end and just held position, that could have been another 9th place. But instead, it's another DNF.
May 20th, 1978 — Heusden-Zolder — Something is wrong with Eddie. Ever since Long Beach, he's not been at the level we expect of him. While he never was in any danger of not qualifying, he was almost two seconds slower than Patrick. So, Eddie starts 25th, and Patrick 17th. It's been a while since we qualified this well. Patrick better not ruin this again, or I swear I will sack him.
May 21st, 1978 — Much better! Now that was more like what I wanted to see. Reliability did not help us, but it didn't go after us, either. So Patrick finished 16th, and Eddie 20th.
Correction, 15th and 19th. Watson got disqualified for a wheel change outside of the pits.
June 3rd, 1978 — San Sebastián de los Reyes — I don't even know what to say. We simply didn't have the pace today at Jarama. It is a disappointing result, but this sport has its ups and downs. Patrick 25th, 3.6 seconds off Nilsson's pole time, Eddie DNQ. Eddie's drop in form is seriously concerning.
June 4th, 1978 — Not much to say about this one. Patrick drove a lonely race, miles off at the back, and finished 20th. It's like we've traveled in time back to 1977. I don't like it.
June 17th, 1978 — Anderstorp — Now this is more like it. Eddie finally got to within a respectable distance of Patrick. It seems he might finally be getting back to his best. Patrick 20th, Eddie 22nd, 3.5 and 3.6 seconds off Ickx on pole.
June 18th, 1978 — I might have spoken too soon. Eddie just went backwards during the race, and spent most of the race as the last of those still running, only picking up positions due to attrition. Meanwhile, Patrick held his position as he also picked up a few positions through attrition, finishing one lap ahead of Eddie. Patrick 14th, Eddie 18th.
July 2nd, 1978 — Le Castellet — Once again, Eddie stayed close to Patrick in qualifying, but we simply didn't have the pace. Patrick was 24th and Eddie 25th, 3.8 and 3.9 seconds off Nilsson's (who seems to be on another level since Jarama) pole time.
July 3rd, 1978 — I don't know how to feel about this one. Bit of a quiet race again, mostly picking up positions through attrition again. But Eddie, after going backwards for the first couple of laps, remembered how to drive, started to overtake cars little by little, made a good move on Patrick, ran as high as 13th, until Brise in the Surtees crashed into him, forcing him to pit for repairs. Ultimately, they finished together, 15th and 16th, both ahead of only Jabouille.
July 16th, 1978 — West Kingsdown — After a few races staying close to Patrick in qualifying, he again lost a lot of pace in qualifying after being crashed into, this time being almost half a second slower than Patrick. However, even if he stayed close, it wouldn't have made much of a difference, as he only would've gotten one position. Patrick 19th (3.4 seconds behind Scheckter) and Eddie 21st (3.8).
July 17th, 1978 — Our old friend Electrical Issues decided to pay us a visit once more, this time going after Eddie. He'd been going backwards for a while, though, so it didn't make much of a difference either. Patrick had been running 14th, and was close to the end, but a hydraulic issue took him out, so it's another double DNF for us.
July 30th, 1978 — Hockenheim — 1.1 seconds. That was the difference between Patrick and Eddie today. I'm starting to wonder if Eddie was really all that he was cracked up to be last year. Because last year's finest driver outside of F1 is foundering quickly now that he is in F1. Yes, Patrick has a year of experience more than Eddie. But experience can only go so far in justifying these dismal performances as of late. Then again, he could have been a tenth behind, or 2 seconds slower, and still have qualified 24th. Patrick and Eddie will start tomorrow's race 23rd and 24th, together in the penultimate row.
July 31st, 1978 — Oh, for crying out loud. Patrick had a good start, overtook Reutemann and Jarier, until Jarier decided that was apparently worth declaring a vendetta on Patrick, crashing into him and taking both of them out of the race. As for Eddie, not much to say. He passed Reutemann and was running 20th until the fuel pump decided to give up. I do believe this is our first ever back-to-back double DNF.
August 4th, 1978 — Leicester — Patrick is getting a little bit cross. In his opinion, we've only been going backwards since the start of the season. He's not wrong, but at the same time, we had pretty good momentum up until he decided to play demolition derby at Long Beach. I don't think he liked hearing that.
August 12th, 1978 — Spielberg — It's been ages, but Eddie showed a spark of what he could do. He went seven tenths faster than Patrick and qualified in 21st, with Patrick right behind him for tomorrow's grid in 23rd.
August 13th, 1978 — A bit of an uneventful, and yet good race for us. Through little merit of our own, we picked up places through attrition, with Eddie finishing 12th and Patrick 14th. I can't complain too much. It's better than another double DNF.
August 26th, 1978 — Zandvoort — A decent qualifying for us. Patrick was just under 3 seconds under the pole time, with Eddie being 3.2 seconds behind the pole. Patrick qualified 18th, Eddie 20th. What surprises me is that Pace and ATS somehow managed to get a front-row start for tomorrow. Weird.
August 27, 1978 — Well, we've just had a direct intervention in the championship, but not in the way we would have wished for. Nilsson has been very good since Jarama, and he's been chipping away at Scheckter's lead in the championship. Well, we've helped him in that regard, because Eddie thought he'd try unlapping himself against Scheckter, and took both of them out of the race. Not ideal. And because Nilsson got a podium, suddenly, the Swede is just two points behind Scheckter, when he was thirty-one points behind before Jarama.
It puts a little bit of a damper on Patrick scoring another 9th place for the team. For some reason, we seem to really love 9th place. That's four times we've scored a 9th place.
September 10th, 1978 — Monza — An okay qualifying for Patrick, but a torrid one for Eddie. Eddie went eight tenths slower than Patrick, landing him in 24th, while Patrick qualified 18th.
September 11th, 1978 — A mostly uneventful race. Eddie showed some good race pace, attrition helped us a bit, and both cars finished close to each other in 15th and 16th, with Patrick leading Eddie home.
September 30th, 1978 — Watkins Glen — It's Eddie's home race, and it seems he saved up all his qualifying pace for this one, because he qualified 17th, going two tenths faster than Patrick. Eddie will start 17th (once again matching our best qualifying result) and Patrick 20th.
October 1st, 1978 — Patrick stalled on the grid, so his race ended before it even started. However, Eddie held off everyone who started behind him, holding his position as he picked up places through attrition on his way to a 14th place.
October 7th, 1978 — Montreal — After apparently using all his qualifying pace on last week's race, Eddie could only manage to go one and a half seconds behind Patrick, getting him 23rd on the grid, while Patrick qualified 20th.
October 8th, 1978 — I don't believe it. Why? Why now of all times? Patrick retired early on with a transmission failure. But Eddie was making up spots with some blistering pace. I think today we've just seen the best driving that the M178 has ever been subjected to. Eddie was one lap down, but running in 8th place. And then our old friend Electrical Issue decided to strike again, five laps from the end. It would have been our best ever race finish. So close, and yet so far. To make matters worse, Reutemann got that 8th place finish that the electricals denied us, putting us behind Williams.
October 13th, 1978 — Leicester — Patrick's just told me that he is leaving when his contract ends. I guess I should have seen this coming. Guess I have to start seriously looking for a driver for next season.
October 21st, 1978 — Oyama — In an extremely rainy afternoon, Patrick managed to qualify 19th. Eddie, however, went almost two seconds slower and qualified 26th. I think we probably won't finish the season with a bang.
October 22nd, 1978 — Well, I was wrong, in a way. Because if you stretch it a bit, a bang is very much what the M178 did when Patrick crashed it against the wall on lap 62. Eddie had a bit of a quiet race, dispatching Merzario and Lees with ease on his way to a 12th place finish.
November 10th, 1978 — Leicester — Three seasons of Grand Prix racing under our belts, but things seem broadly the same. We had a good start to the season, made huge improvements compared to last year, but we quickly got outdeveloped by the other teams. Two steps forward, one step back. Bring on 1979.
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SnakeOilSalesman
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Re: The Montt Journal (AltAltF1)
1979 SEASON
January 6th, 1979 — Leicester — I don't know how to feel about the upcoming season. The M179 is better than the M178, but not by a lot. I'm hoping Eddie can go back to the level he was at before Long Beach, the level he showed he can reach in some few sparks of brilliance throughout the year. And with any luck, Marc will be close to him. Patrick's gone to Martini, God knows why, they were even worse than we were. Surtees are gone, Williams and Shadow might be in the same boat. Lotus are also gone.
Two teams that had a better 1978 than us. With this, we'll probably be essentially where we were last year, but with less people behind us.
January 20th, 1979 — Buenos Aires — Only 23 entries today. Last year there were 30, at this very same track. Bit of a sad spectacle to see so few cars. As for qualifying...Eddie and Marc were way off the pace. Then again, Henton's pole time was so fast that only the reigning world champion could keep up. Everyone else was at least a second behind the Ferrari. We were 5.9 (Eddie) and 6.8 (Marc) seconds off Henton's time. On paper, that's dismal. But we're still 19th and 20th. Could be worse.
January 21st, 1979 — Finally! It's not points, but it's an 8th place finish for us! Attrition helped us massively, even if a suspension issue took out Marc. At long last, we have a finish better than 9th! I spent a lot of the race wishing reliabilty took out Reutemann's Williams and or either of the ATS cars, but I'll take what I can get.
February 3rd, 1979 — São Paulo — Once again, massively off the pace from an insanely quick pole lap, this time from Villeneuve. We are 6.6 (Marc) and 7.9 (Eddie) seconds off pole, qualifying 17th and 21st, respectively. If you think we're slow, you should see Schuppan's cars. 9.3 and 10.1.
February 4th, 1979 — Agh, this could have been another good result. Marc was on pace for a 12th place finish until the Cosworth engine decided that it didn't like the weather in Brazil and went on strike. Eddie managed to continue and finished 14th.
March 2nd, 1979 — Midrand — Well, we were closer to the pole time. However, we're a bit further down the time table. Eddie was 4.1 seconds slower than Hunt and Marc was three tenths behind, so they qualified 19th and 21st. Still, this one usually has a fair bit of attrition, so hopefully, it helps us out a bit.
March 3rd, 1979 — Well...attrition helped us, right up until it didn't. Eddie had good pace, up until he crashed on lap 10. While Marc had terrific pace, climbing up to 12th, and then had to retire the car because of a tyre burst on lap 58. If he'd made it to the end, it would have been a 10th place for us.
April 7th, 1979 — Long Beach — I'm wary of something happening at this track. Our season started to unravel last year after we were done here, so I'm obviously concerned about it happening again. I know that it is a bit unlikely for the same to happen again, especially considering how unlikely it is that Eddie and Marc decide to make a repeat performance of Patrick's antics last year. As for qualifying, it wasnot great. Eddie was 4.1 seconds slower than Villeneuve, and Marc just under 4.5 seconds. That means they'll start 22nd and 24th, with Marc only ahead of a RAM.
April 8th, 1979 — This one was just bad. We were unlucky last time around. Marc was unlucky to retire early on with a gearbox issue, but Eddie simply didn't have the pace, and finished 15th, after Villeneuve was disqualified because of a technical infringement by Renault. However, it was marginally better than our result here from last year. Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I still see Patrick crashing into Eddie.
April 14th, 1979 — West Kingsdown — For the first time, we're taking part in the Race of Champions. Marc qualified 9th, 4.5 seconds off Lauda on pole. The impressive bit was that there were three Ferraris in the top 6, with the two works Ferrari cars 2nd and 4th, but the privateer Ferrari entered by Zorzi qualified 6th, just a couple of tenths behind Henton's works Ferrari.
April 15th, 1979 — Overall, it's fair to say that I wasn't expecting much out of this one. Not when McLaren, Ferrari and March were out in full force. Overall, we spent most of the race watching Marc fight Watson's Brabham and Jones' Tyrrell. He held off Watson, but couldn't do the same to the 1976 world champion.
April 28th, 1979 — San Sebastián de los Reyes — I am impressed. Of 28 entries, we qualified 16th (Marc) and 18th (Eddie). That's pretty good, plus our new best ever result in qualifying. We beat Tyrrell, and landed smack-dab into a Brabham sandwich. I am, however, slightly concerned about Zorzi. His privateer Ferraris somehow qualified 12th (Zorzi) and 13th (Patrese).
April 29th, 1979 — I was right to be concerned. For a moment, I thought luck was lending us a hand when I saw Zorzi crash into Patrese, but to my horror, Patrese managed to somehow get out of it largely unscathed and managed to snag a 5th place finish. Meanwhile, in our side of the paddock, a wheel on Marc's car came loose when he was running 13th. Through other cars ahead breaking down, Eddie managed to cross the line in 11th. Between this and the Race of Champions (because I've realized I didn't mention him in that entry), I'm seriously considering this Patrese guy for next year, considering that Eddie doesn't seem to want to continue with us.
May 12th, 1979 — Heusden-Zolder — Right after Marc beat our best qualifying spot by one position, Eddie apparently took that as a challenge and decided he would beat that by two positions, qualifying 15th. Meanwhile, Marc had a torrid time in qualifying, and could only qualify in 20th place. For comparison, Eddie was 3.1 seconds behind pole, Marc was 4.8 seconds behind.
May 13th, 1979 — A mixed bag, this one. Eddie had alright pace, but Marc decided he would make up for his poor qualifying by driving out of his skin. However, he was hampered by two crashes, one of which wasn't his fault, and the other was a tad more questionable. In the first one, Laffite lost the car and hit Marc, then hit the wall. It seems like the Frenchman will miss Monaco due his to injuries, but should be able to return for his home race at Dijon.
As for the latter one, Marc closed the door on Keegan a little too much, but at the same time, Keegan probably could have backed away a lot sooner. The first crash forced Marc into the pit lane with damage, but he got away from the second one with nothing but a slightly bruised ego. It got better when he managed to come home ahead of Eddie, finishing 14th, to the American's 15th.
If not for that forced entry into the pit lane caused by Laffite, Marc might have even finished ahead of Lauda in 13th. Wouldn't that have been a sight. A Montt finishing ahead of a McLaren. A man can dream, right?
May 26th, 1979 — Monte Carlo — Damn it, Marc... We could have had two cars in the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time, but he got a bit too complacent during qualifying, and fell 39 thousandths of a second short of Schuppan in 20th. Anywhere else, 21st might slide. Here in Monaco, however, it's a DNQ. On the flip side, at least Eddie did qualify, and did so in 16th place. Not bad. But I am slightly scared at the fact that Patrick's Martini starts immediately behind Eddie. Yes, I am once again scared of a Long Beach repeat, especially in the tight streets of Monaco.
May 27th, 1979 — I shouldn't have worried. Eddie only managed to run for 13 laps before our old friend Electrical Issue reared its ugly head for the first time this year. There was a lot of attrition, but if Eddie had managed to make it until the end, it probably would have been a 9th or 10th place.
June 15th, 1979 — Anderstorp — This qualifying wasn't great for us. Marc decided to make up for Monaco by going faster than Eddie, but that was a bit of a low bar as today, Eddie only went faster than Arturo. Still, Marc qualified 18th. Much faster than Schuppan's privateer Brabhams this time, but nowhere near Jones in the Tyrrell, let alone Peterson. In short, Marc landed in qualifying no-man's-land. Eddie should probably be thankful that Anderstorp isn't Monaco, because if it were, it would have been a DNQ for him. But it's not, so he will start tomorrow in 21st.
June 16th, 1979 — This time it wasn't our old friend Electrical Issue that paid us a visit, but rather his brother, Hydraulics Issue, who proceeded to take out Marc when he was running 14th. After a race wher attrition struck down nearly half the field, Eddie finished the race in 11th place.
June 23rd, 1979 — Leicester — While I do wish we were better off in results, I must say that I do think we're slowly getting there. Last year, we'd finish largely somewhere between 15th and 19th when we did finish. This year it's usually between 11th and 15th. Of course, that's more due to other teams bowing out from the sport since the previous year. But last year, we'd usually be last of those still running. While we're still backmarkers, we aren't that far from the lower midfield.
June 30th, 1979 — Dijon — A pretty good qualifying for us. A full field of 26, and we landed 17th (Eddie) and 19th (Marc). 3.2 and 3.5 seconds behind Ickx on pole. I'm feeling good. I have a good feeling for tomorrow. Yes, I know that most of the times I've written that down, some disaster befalls our cars, making my entries of the previous days ironic. But I know that this time, it will be good.
July 1st, 1979 — I knew it! I knew I had a good feeling for today and I was right! After a cracking start, Eddie retired early on with transmission issues when he was running 14th. Which wasn't great, but attrition began to give us a hand. Cars began breaking down left and right. And when reliability didn't strike our rivals, our rivals struck themselves, with Marc getting two free positions when the two Tyrrell cars crashed with each other. All that combined for our best ever result. 7th place. Just on the verge of points. Marc was 7th by lap 38 and held that position until the end, 42 laps later. I spent 41 laps praying for attrition to give us a hand once more, but it only struck down cars behind Marc instead of those ahead.
July 2nd, 1979 — Somewhere over the British Channel — I'm still very thrilled about yesterday's result. While 7th place gets us as many points as last, I can't help but feel that we're doing things right and we just need one final stroke of luck to start scoring points. Just one.
July 7th, 1979 — Leicester — Apparently, Shadow are bringing a new car for Silverstone. Rumour has it that it's their final roll of the dice to try and bring sponsors. This could be their make-or-break moment, and they're bringing Jarier and Galica. Bold. As for us, the result got us something good. Attention from a sponsor that could be very good for us. Here's hoping conversations go well. Would be nice if I wasn't the main source of the team's funding, after all.
July 13th, 1979 — Silverstone — What even was that qualifying lap from Villeneuve? I think that was probably one of the finest things I've ever seen in Grand Prix racing. It speaks volumes when Nilsson, his teammate, who is one point off the lead of the championship, was almost a full 3 seconds slower. As for our cars, Eddie was 18th, 5.4 seconds off Villeneuve's time, and 4.1 seconds off people who weren't temporarily possessed by the racing gods. Marc, however, was eight tenths behind Eddie and will line up 22nd. As for Shadow, Jarier landed in between Eddie and Marc, qualifying 20th. Galica wasn't even close to qualifying.
July 14th, 1979 — Due to the sensitive and tragic nature of what has transpired today at Silverstone, I am not going to write much about the race, as I don't think I can bring myself to do so. Marc finished 16th and Eddie retired with electrical issues on lap 39. And may God rest Roger's memory.
July 28th, 1979 — Hockenheim — While I did have some doubts about continuing this journal, here I am, writing again. Because of what happened at Silverstone, I neglected to mention that Shadow decided to pack it in after the British Grand Prix. I must say, I am rather sad to see another team go. Anyways, back to on-track action, Marc and Eddie were close to each other in qualifying. How close? 97 thousandths. Which gets them 19th and 20th on the grid, so they will start tomorrow on the tenth row.
July 29th, 1979 — Jesus Christ, that was carnage. If I thought Dijon saw cars breaking down left and right, I was not prepared for the first eight laps of this year's German Grand Prix. Some light rain and everything went to hell. Let's go over it one at a time. First, Lauda hit the wall on lap 2. Then Pace and Arnoux went off, all in separate incidents. Pace and Arnoux didn't even make it past Lauda's stricken McLaren. Then a wheel on Mass' March came off, two laps later. Then Merzario's Ferrari engine blew up the following lap. Followed up by Nilsson's Renault engine the lap after that. Which would have been very good news for Hunt, to try to extend his lead in the championship. Then Watson's Brabham spun off on lap 7. It seemed like things would go back to normal until Hunt completed the carnage when his Ferrari engine decided it wanted to copy Merzario's.
By that time, Marc was fighting Pironi for 12th. But our Swiss driver was on a rampage today. The good kind. By lap 9, Marc was all the way up in 9th. A position he held for most of the race, before overtaking Peterson for 8th on lap 39. He was fighting Rosberg for 7th when he crossed the line. One more lap and he would have had him. As for Eddie, he was also showing some good pace. However, he lost the gearbox with 15 laps to go and retired.
25 cars, 8 of which were out before we even reached lap 10. And another 7 would follow, most of them between laps 26 and 32.
August 12th, 1979 — Spielberg — To call today's qualifying in any way a car race would be too simplistic, because with the amount of water falling down today, it was closer to a boat race. I wish I were exaggerating. Regardless, Marc and Eddie were 19th and 20th again, but this time 7.3 and 7.4 off Hunt's pole lap. Mind you, Nilsson in second was 2.1 seconds off, which says something about today's events.
August 13th, 1979 — Marc spun off in the rain on the first lap. Eddie finished 10th, 4 laps down. Not much to say about this one. Attrition helped us out a bit, but Eddie was driving alone, practically in his own world for practically the entire race. The most time he spent close to any driver was when Nilsson was coming to lap him. Mind you, Nilsson lapped everyone at least twice, so at least there's that.
August 26th, 1979 — Zandvoort — After one weekend with torrential rain, comes another one just like it. A decent effort from us today. Eddie qualified 17th, 2.8 seconds behind Hunt's Ferrari and Marc was half a second behind, which got him 19th. Mind you, we were miles ahead of the backmarkers.
August 27th, 1979 — Another unremarkable race. Not a lot of attrition, so we ended up with both Marc and Eddie both finishing the race, Marc 14th and Eddie 15th. The most interesting thing about this race is that Renault and Ferrari are level in points coming out of the Netherlands.
September 8th, 1979 — Monza — Once again, the rain is here. Although this time, it is more of a drizzle, rather than a torrential downpour like the last couple of times. Eddie was 17th and Marc was 20th. Way off the pace this time.
September 9th, 1979 — Yet again, it was another unremarkable race for us. Attrition hit hard behind us, but not much up ahead. For the second race in a row, both of our cars finished the race. This time in 16th and 17th, with Eddie leading the way this time around. The tifosi will go home heartbroken after seeing Henton retire from pole and Hunt fighting for the win against his championship rival Nilsson, but failing. Three races to go, advantage Nilsson 63-62.
September 15th, 1979 — Imola — We remain in Italy for the Dino Ferrari Grand Prix. Just like the Race of Champions, Ferrari, March and McLaren are out in force. But it is Ligier who have stolen eyes, because Ickx has snatched pole right out under Ferrari's nose. Between today and last week, the Ferrari faithful are not enjoying Ferrari's home races all that much. As for Marc, he qualified 11th, way off at the back.
September 16th, 1979 — That could have gone better. Attrition hit, and hard. Unfortunately, it hit us too, and saved us for last. Electrical Issue, our old friend. I haven't missed it, but apparently, it missed us. How lovely.
September 29th, 1979 — Montreal — Over these past few years, I think it is fair to say we've never shined precisely for our pace over one lap. Or any amount of laps, really, but that's besides the point. The point is that qualifying has never been our strong suit. But today, Marc was just phoning it in, which explains why he qualified 21st, behind Arnoux's RAM and Schuppan's privateer Brabham. Both cars that we tend to beat, and by a lot. Eddie was 18th, but far ahead of them. Tomorrow better be a much better day.
September 30th, 1979 — Another race with very little in the way of reliability woes. Five cars retired, but mostly behind us. Marc once again made up for an awful qualifying by showing some good race pace, overtaking a fair few cars, including Eddie. We finished 16th and 17th. That's three races in a row which both of our cars have made it to the flag. I'd be more happy about our reliability, if it didn't come off the back of races where there were very little reliability failures all over the grid.
October 6th, 1979 — Watkins Glen — Good Lord, our qualifying pace is getting even worse. This time both Eddie (21st) and Marc (22nd) were beaten by Amon's Martini and Binder's privateer Brabham. This time there wasn't a lack of concentration or anything. No, this time, the pace simply wasn't there. I'm not feeling good about tomorrow.
October 7th, 1979 — Well, for once, I am glad that so many of my entries look ironic by the next day. Because it has happened again, and this time in our benefit. While the numbers of cars still running by the end was similar to Hockenheim, this time, it wasn't a carnage that saw a third of the field out of the race before lap 10, being spread out more evenly. However, Eddie fell prey to reliability woes, being taken out by issues with the suspension on lap 26, putting an end to our streak of three consecutive finishes with both cars. As for Marc, he took advantage of the attrition and managed to finish 10th.
In other news, both Nilsson and Hunt retired. Henton won, putting Ferrari back in front of the Cup for Manufacturers. It will all go down to the wire in Japan, with Nilsson ahead of Hunt 65 to 62.
October 20th, 1979 — Fuji — I see it and I don't believe it. Yes, Ferrari locked out the front row, giving Hunt an advantage. But the biggest thing on my mind is how in the blazes did Eddie manage to qualify 13th!? Yes, only 21 cars were entered for the Japanese Grand Prix. But even then, we expected to qualify somewhere between 16th and 19th. In fact, Marc qualified 19th.
However he did it, the eyes of the world will be watching tomorrow, because this title fight will definitely go down in history as an all-time classic season in the history of Grand Prix racing.
October 21st, 1979 — With five races to four, on countback, James Hunt is champion of the world. Incredible. Now, as for us, over at Montt F1? Well, Eddie definitely caught a lot of eyes with his qualifying yesterday, and today, as, with millions watching, he put his car into the wall on the second lap. Marc once again made up for being behind Eddie in qualifying by showing some excellent race pace, and even two spins couldn't stop him from getting 12th place.
November 15th, 1979 — Leicester — This season was...a bit of a mixed bag. Yes, we technically had a better year than others, but that's mostly because Martini, RAM and Shadow are out, with the first two packing it in after Japan, and Williams teetering on the edge. Honestly, what saved us is the fact that Williams didn't run the whole season, because if he had, Reutemann might have gotten them points.
Still, we'll have a title sponsor (for which my wallet is immensely thankful) next year and we've shown definite signs of improvement. Bring on 1980! A new decade, a new start for Montt F1.
January 6th, 1979 — Leicester — I don't know how to feel about the upcoming season. The M179 is better than the M178, but not by a lot. I'm hoping Eddie can go back to the level he was at before Long Beach, the level he showed he can reach in some few sparks of brilliance throughout the year. And with any luck, Marc will be close to him. Patrick's gone to Martini, God knows why, they were even worse than we were. Surtees are gone, Williams and Shadow might be in the same boat. Lotus are also gone.
Two teams that had a better 1978 than us. With this, we'll probably be essentially where we were last year, but with less people behind us.
January 20th, 1979 — Buenos Aires — Only 23 entries today. Last year there were 30, at this very same track. Bit of a sad spectacle to see so few cars. As for qualifying...Eddie and Marc were way off the pace. Then again, Henton's pole time was so fast that only the reigning world champion could keep up. Everyone else was at least a second behind the Ferrari. We were 5.9 (Eddie) and 6.8 (Marc) seconds off Henton's time. On paper, that's dismal. But we're still 19th and 20th. Could be worse.
January 21st, 1979 — Finally! It's not points, but it's an 8th place finish for us! Attrition helped us massively, even if a suspension issue took out Marc. At long last, we have a finish better than 9th! I spent a lot of the race wishing reliabilty took out Reutemann's Williams and or either of the ATS cars, but I'll take what I can get.
February 3rd, 1979 — São Paulo — Once again, massively off the pace from an insanely quick pole lap, this time from Villeneuve. We are 6.6 (Marc) and 7.9 (Eddie) seconds off pole, qualifying 17th and 21st, respectively. If you think we're slow, you should see Schuppan's cars. 9.3 and 10.1.
February 4th, 1979 — Agh, this could have been another good result. Marc was on pace for a 12th place finish until the Cosworth engine decided that it didn't like the weather in Brazil and went on strike. Eddie managed to continue and finished 14th.
March 2nd, 1979 — Midrand — Well, we were closer to the pole time. However, we're a bit further down the time table. Eddie was 4.1 seconds slower than Hunt and Marc was three tenths behind, so they qualified 19th and 21st. Still, this one usually has a fair bit of attrition, so hopefully, it helps us out a bit.
March 3rd, 1979 — Well...attrition helped us, right up until it didn't. Eddie had good pace, up until he crashed on lap 10. While Marc had terrific pace, climbing up to 12th, and then had to retire the car because of a tyre burst on lap 58. If he'd made it to the end, it would have been a 10th place for us.
April 7th, 1979 — Long Beach — I'm wary of something happening at this track. Our season started to unravel last year after we were done here, so I'm obviously concerned about it happening again. I know that it is a bit unlikely for the same to happen again, especially considering how unlikely it is that Eddie and Marc decide to make a repeat performance of Patrick's antics last year. As for qualifying, it wasnot great. Eddie was 4.1 seconds slower than Villeneuve, and Marc just under 4.5 seconds. That means they'll start 22nd and 24th, with Marc only ahead of a RAM.
April 8th, 1979 — This one was just bad. We were unlucky last time around. Marc was unlucky to retire early on with a gearbox issue, but Eddie simply didn't have the pace, and finished 15th, after Villeneuve was disqualified because of a technical infringement by Renault. However, it was marginally better than our result here from last year. Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I still see Patrick crashing into Eddie.
April 14th, 1979 — West Kingsdown — For the first time, we're taking part in the Race of Champions. Marc qualified 9th, 4.5 seconds off Lauda on pole. The impressive bit was that there were three Ferraris in the top 6, with the two works Ferrari cars 2nd and 4th, but the privateer Ferrari entered by Zorzi qualified 6th, just a couple of tenths behind Henton's works Ferrari.
April 15th, 1979 — Overall, it's fair to say that I wasn't expecting much out of this one. Not when McLaren, Ferrari and March were out in full force. Overall, we spent most of the race watching Marc fight Watson's Brabham and Jones' Tyrrell. He held off Watson, but couldn't do the same to the 1976 world champion.
April 28th, 1979 — San Sebastián de los Reyes — I am impressed. Of 28 entries, we qualified 16th (Marc) and 18th (Eddie). That's pretty good, plus our new best ever result in qualifying. We beat Tyrrell, and landed smack-dab into a Brabham sandwich. I am, however, slightly concerned about Zorzi. His privateer Ferraris somehow qualified 12th (Zorzi) and 13th (Patrese).
April 29th, 1979 — I was right to be concerned. For a moment, I thought luck was lending us a hand when I saw Zorzi crash into Patrese, but to my horror, Patrese managed to somehow get out of it largely unscathed and managed to snag a 5th place finish. Meanwhile, in our side of the paddock, a wheel on Marc's car came loose when he was running 13th. Through other cars ahead breaking down, Eddie managed to cross the line in 11th. Between this and the Race of Champions (because I've realized I didn't mention him in that entry), I'm seriously considering this Patrese guy for next year, considering that Eddie doesn't seem to want to continue with us.
May 12th, 1979 — Heusden-Zolder — Right after Marc beat our best qualifying spot by one position, Eddie apparently took that as a challenge and decided he would beat that by two positions, qualifying 15th. Meanwhile, Marc had a torrid time in qualifying, and could only qualify in 20th place. For comparison, Eddie was 3.1 seconds behind pole, Marc was 4.8 seconds behind.
May 13th, 1979 — A mixed bag, this one. Eddie had alright pace, but Marc decided he would make up for his poor qualifying by driving out of his skin. However, he was hampered by two crashes, one of which wasn't his fault, and the other was a tad more questionable. In the first one, Laffite lost the car and hit Marc, then hit the wall. It seems like the Frenchman will miss Monaco due his to injuries, but should be able to return for his home race at Dijon.
As for the latter one, Marc closed the door on Keegan a little too much, but at the same time, Keegan probably could have backed away a lot sooner. The first crash forced Marc into the pit lane with damage, but he got away from the second one with nothing but a slightly bruised ego. It got better when he managed to come home ahead of Eddie, finishing 14th, to the American's 15th.
If not for that forced entry into the pit lane caused by Laffite, Marc might have even finished ahead of Lauda in 13th. Wouldn't that have been a sight. A Montt finishing ahead of a McLaren. A man can dream, right?
May 26th, 1979 — Monte Carlo — Damn it, Marc... We could have had two cars in the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time, but he got a bit too complacent during qualifying, and fell 39 thousandths of a second short of Schuppan in 20th. Anywhere else, 21st might slide. Here in Monaco, however, it's a DNQ. On the flip side, at least Eddie did qualify, and did so in 16th place. Not bad. But I am slightly scared at the fact that Patrick's Martini starts immediately behind Eddie. Yes, I am once again scared of a Long Beach repeat, especially in the tight streets of Monaco.
May 27th, 1979 — I shouldn't have worried. Eddie only managed to run for 13 laps before our old friend Electrical Issue reared its ugly head for the first time this year. There was a lot of attrition, but if Eddie had managed to make it until the end, it probably would have been a 9th or 10th place.
June 15th, 1979 — Anderstorp — This qualifying wasn't great for us. Marc decided to make up for Monaco by going faster than Eddie, but that was a bit of a low bar as today, Eddie only went faster than Arturo. Still, Marc qualified 18th. Much faster than Schuppan's privateer Brabhams this time, but nowhere near Jones in the Tyrrell, let alone Peterson. In short, Marc landed in qualifying no-man's-land. Eddie should probably be thankful that Anderstorp isn't Monaco, because if it were, it would have been a DNQ for him. But it's not, so he will start tomorrow in 21st.
June 16th, 1979 — This time it wasn't our old friend Electrical Issue that paid us a visit, but rather his brother, Hydraulics Issue, who proceeded to take out Marc when he was running 14th. After a race wher attrition struck down nearly half the field, Eddie finished the race in 11th place.
June 23rd, 1979 — Leicester — While I do wish we were better off in results, I must say that I do think we're slowly getting there. Last year, we'd finish largely somewhere between 15th and 19th when we did finish. This year it's usually between 11th and 15th. Of course, that's more due to other teams bowing out from the sport since the previous year. But last year, we'd usually be last of those still running. While we're still backmarkers, we aren't that far from the lower midfield.
June 30th, 1979 — Dijon — A pretty good qualifying for us. A full field of 26, and we landed 17th (Eddie) and 19th (Marc). 3.2 and 3.5 seconds behind Ickx on pole. I'm feeling good. I have a good feeling for tomorrow. Yes, I know that most of the times I've written that down, some disaster befalls our cars, making my entries of the previous days ironic. But I know that this time, it will be good.
July 1st, 1979 — I knew it! I knew I had a good feeling for today and I was right! After a cracking start, Eddie retired early on with transmission issues when he was running 14th. Which wasn't great, but attrition began to give us a hand. Cars began breaking down left and right. And when reliability didn't strike our rivals, our rivals struck themselves, with Marc getting two free positions when the two Tyrrell cars crashed with each other. All that combined for our best ever result. 7th place. Just on the verge of points. Marc was 7th by lap 38 and held that position until the end, 42 laps later. I spent 41 laps praying for attrition to give us a hand once more, but it only struck down cars behind Marc instead of those ahead.
July 2nd, 1979 — Somewhere over the British Channel — I'm still very thrilled about yesterday's result. While 7th place gets us as many points as last, I can't help but feel that we're doing things right and we just need one final stroke of luck to start scoring points. Just one.
July 7th, 1979 — Leicester — Apparently, Shadow are bringing a new car for Silverstone. Rumour has it that it's their final roll of the dice to try and bring sponsors. This could be their make-or-break moment, and they're bringing Jarier and Galica. Bold. As for us, the result got us something good. Attention from a sponsor that could be very good for us. Here's hoping conversations go well. Would be nice if I wasn't the main source of the team's funding, after all.
July 13th, 1979 — Silverstone — What even was that qualifying lap from Villeneuve? I think that was probably one of the finest things I've ever seen in Grand Prix racing. It speaks volumes when Nilsson, his teammate, who is one point off the lead of the championship, was almost a full 3 seconds slower. As for our cars, Eddie was 18th, 5.4 seconds off Villeneuve's time, and 4.1 seconds off people who weren't temporarily possessed by the racing gods. Marc, however, was eight tenths behind Eddie and will line up 22nd. As for Shadow, Jarier landed in between Eddie and Marc, qualifying 20th. Galica wasn't even close to qualifying.
July 14th, 1979 — Due to the sensitive and tragic nature of what has transpired today at Silverstone, I am not going to write much about the race, as I don't think I can bring myself to do so. Marc finished 16th and Eddie retired with electrical issues on lap 39. And may God rest Roger's memory.
July 28th, 1979 — Hockenheim — While I did have some doubts about continuing this journal, here I am, writing again. Because of what happened at Silverstone, I neglected to mention that Shadow decided to pack it in after the British Grand Prix. I must say, I am rather sad to see another team go. Anyways, back to on-track action, Marc and Eddie were close to each other in qualifying. How close? 97 thousandths. Which gets them 19th and 20th on the grid, so they will start tomorrow on the tenth row.
July 29th, 1979 — Jesus Christ, that was carnage. If I thought Dijon saw cars breaking down left and right, I was not prepared for the first eight laps of this year's German Grand Prix. Some light rain and everything went to hell. Let's go over it one at a time. First, Lauda hit the wall on lap 2. Then Pace and Arnoux went off, all in separate incidents. Pace and Arnoux didn't even make it past Lauda's stricken McLaren. Then a wheel on Mass' March came off, two laps later. Then Merzario's Ferrari engine blew up the following lap. Followed up by Nilsson's Renault engine the lap after that. Which would have been very good news for Hunt, to try to extend his lead in the championship. Then Watson's Brabham spun off on lap 7. It seemed like things would go back to normal until Hunt completed the carnage when his Ferrari engine decided it wanted to copy Merzario's.
By that time, Marc was fighting Pironi for 12th. But our Swiss driver was on a rampage today. The good kind. By lap 9, Marc was all the way up in 9th. A position he held for most of the race, before overtaking Peterson for 8th on lap 39. He was fighting Rosberg for 7th when he crossed the line. One more lap and he would have had him. As for Eddie, he was also showing some good pace. However, he lost the gearbox with 15 laps to go and retired.
25 cars, 8 of which were out before we even reached lap 10. And another 7 would follow, most of them between laps 26 and 32.
August 12th, 1979 — Spielberg — To call today's qualifying in any way a car race would be too simplistic, because with the amount of water falling down today, it was closer to a boat race. I wish I were exaggerating. Regardless, Marc and Eddie were 19th and 20th again, but this time 7.3 and 7.4 off Hunt's pole lap. Mind you, Nilsson in second was 2.1 seconds off, which says something about today's events.
August 13th, 1979 — Marc spun off in the rain on the first lap. Eddie finished 10th, 4 laps down. Not much to say about this one. Attrition helped us out a bit, but Eddie was driving alone, practically in his own world for practically the entire race. The most time he spent close to any driver was when Nilsson was coming to lap him. Mind you, Nilsson lapped everyone at least twice, so at least there's that.
August 26th, 1979 — Zandvoort — After one weekend with torrential rain, comes another one just like it. A decent effort from us today. Eddie qualified 17th, 2.8 seconds behind Hunt's Ferrari and Marc was half a second behind, which got him 19th. Mind you, we were miles ahead of the backmarkers.
August 27th, 1979 — Another unremarkable race. Not a lot of attrition, so we ended up with both Marc and Eddie both finishing the race, Marc 14th and Eddie 15th. The most interesting thing about this race is that Renault and Ferrari are level in points coming out of the Netherlands.
September 8th, 1979 — Monza — Once again, the rain is here. Although this time, it is more of a drizzle, rather than a torrential downpour like the last couple of times. Eddie was 17th and Marc was 20th. Way off the pace this time.
September 9th, 1979 — Yet again, it was another unremarkable race for us. Attrition hit hard behind us, but not much up ahead. For the second race in a row, both of our cars finished the race. This time in 16th and 17th, with Eddie leading the way this time around. The tifosi will go home heartbroken after seeing Henton retire from pole and Hunt fighting for the win against his championship rival Nilsson, but failing. Three races to go, advantage Nilsson 63-62.
September 15th, 1979 — Imola — We remain in Italy for the Dino Ferrari Grand Prix. Just like the Race of Champions, Ferrari, March and McLaren are out in force. But it is Ligier who have stolen eyes, because Ickx has snatched pole right out under Ferrari's nose. Between today and last week, the Ferrari faithful are not enjoying Ferrari's home races all that much. As for Marc, he qualified 11th, way off at the back.
September 16th, 1979 — That could have gone better. Attrition hit, and hard. Unfortunately, it hit us too, and saved us for last. Electrical Issue, our old friend. I haven't missed it, but apparently, it missed us. How lovely.
September 29th, 1979 — Montreal — Over these past few years, I think it is fair to say we've never shined precisely for our pace over one lap. Or any amount of laps, really, but that's besides the point. The point is that qualifying has never been our strong suit. But today, Marc was just phoning it in, which explains why he qualified 21st, behind Arnoux's RAM and Schuppan's privateer Brabham. Both cars that we tend to beat, and by a lot. Eddie was 18th, but far ahead of them. Tomorrow better be a much better day.
September 30th, 1979 — Another race with very little in the way of reliability woes. Five cars retired, but mostly behind us. Marc once again made up for an awful qualifying by showing some good race pace, overtaking a fair few cars, including Eddie. We finished 16th and 17th. That's three races in a row which both of our cars have made it to the flag. I'd be more happy about our reliability, if it didn't come off the back of races where there were very little reliability failures all over the grid.
October 6th, 1979 — Watkins Glen — Good Lord, our qualifying pace is getting even worse. This time both Eddie (21st) and Marc (22nd) were beaten by Amon's Martini and Binder's privateer Brabham. This time there wasn't a lack of concentration or anything. No, this time, the pace simply wasn't there. I'm not feeling good about tomorrow.
October 7th, 1979 — Well, for once, I am glad that so many of my entries look ironic by the next day. Because it has happened again, and this time in our benefit. While the numbers of cars still running by the end was similar to Hockenheim, this time, it wasn't a carnage that saw a third of the field out of the race before lap 10, being spread out more evenly. However, Eddie fell prey to reliability woes, being taken out by issues with the suspension on lap 26, putting an end to our streak of three consecutive finishes with both cars. As for Marc, he took advantage of the attrition and managed to finish 10th.
In other news, both Nilsson and Hunt retired. Henton won, putting Ferrari back in front of the Cup for Manufacturers. It will all go down to the wire in Japan, with Nilsson ahead of Hunt 65 to 62.
October 20th, 1979 — Fuji — I see it and I don't believe it. Yes, Ferrari locked out the front row, giving Hunt an advantage. But the biggest thing on my mind is how in the blazes did Eddie manage to qualify 13th!? Yes, only 21 cars were entered for the Japanese Grand Prix. But even then, we expected to qualify somewhere between 16th and 19th. In fact, Marc qualified 19th.
However he did it, the eyes of the world will be watching tomorrow, because this title fight will definitely go down in history as an all-time classic season in the history of Grand Prix racing.
October 21st, 1979 — With five races to four, on countback, James Hunt is champion of the world. Incredible. Now, as for us, over at Montt F1? Well, Eddie definitely caught a lot of eyes with his qualifying yesterday, and today, as, with millions watching, he put his car into the wall on the second lap. Marc once again made up for being behind Eddie in qualifying by showing some excellent race pace, and even two spins couldn't stop him from getting 12th place.
November 15th, 1979 — Leicester — This season was...a bit of a mixed bag. Yes, we technically had a better year than others, but that's mostly because Martini, RAM and Shadow are out, with the first two packing it in after Japan, and Williams teetering on the edge. Honestly, what saved us is the fact that Williams didn't run the whole season, because if he had, Reutemann might have gotten them points.
Still, we'll have a title sponsor (for which my wallet is immensely thankful) next year and we've shown definite signs of improvement. Bring on 1980! A new decade, a new start for Montt F1.
Last edited by SnakeOilSalesman on 12 Apr 2024, 03:58, edited 1 time in total.
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SnakeOilSalesman
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Re: The Montt Journal (AltAltF1)
[Editor's Note: The following page was included in the 1980 journal of Ricardo Montt, founder of Montt F1.]
Estadio (translated from Spanish) wrote:A GUIDE TO THE UPCOMING 1980 F1 SEASON:Scuderia Ferrari (Ferrari 312T5)
Tyres: Michelin
1.James Hunt
2.
The defending world champions will certainly be looking to keep their crown in Maranello. With the signing of the highly-rated Italian driver Elio de Angelis from McLaren, Ferrari look like the favorites to retain both championships.
Saudia Equipe Renault (Renault RS04)
Tyres: Michelin
3.Ronnie Peterson
4.Gilles Villeneuve
Renault have come close to the crown already, finishing second in 1977, fourth in 1978 and just barely falling short of usurping Ferrari during the past 1979 season. While two-time championship runner-up Gunnar Nilsson left for Tyrrell, with the French giants making steady improvements, many are saying that this could be the year in which they consolidate themselves as the best in the world. Only time will tell.
Tyres: Michelin
5.Jody Scheckter
6.Nelson Piquet
While Scheckter's decision to leave March after winning the world title in 1978 seemed like a good one, Scheckter did not have a chance at retaining his crown, taking only one win in 1979, as the championship was dominated by Ferrari and Renault. However, Ligier showed good pace, especially during the tail end of 1979, so they will be aiming to keep that form going into 1980. To replace the departing Jacky Ickx, Ligier have once again found their man in March, poaching Nelson Piquet from Bicester.
Tyres: Michelin
7.Jochen Mass
8.Niki Lauda
March have been one of the best teams in Grand Prix racing in the past few years. While the sport has been mostly dominated by the likes of Ferrari and Renault, March have often been the match of these two in recent years. The signing of Niki Lauda from McLaren is a clear statement of intent by March, as the Austrian will be wanting to reclaim his 1975 crown, and exorcise the ghosts of the one that eluded him in 1977 when he lost to his teammate Reutemann, despite having a 23-point lead by the middle of the season. March have been very quick in pre-season testing, so they will be ones to watch.
Tyres: Goodyear
9.
10.Mario Andretti
McLaren would always have a hard time in replacing the departing Lauda and de Angelis, but the decision to sign rookie Nigel Mansell is one that will raise eyebrows, and perhaps not for the better, considering his underwhelming 1979 season in British Formula Three. The signing of Mario Andretti, however, is one that should placate concerns somewhat. While his short stint of six races at Brabham last year was largely unproductive, it is expected that Andretti will lead the team back to the top level of the sport, as their results of the past two years have been largely disappointing.
Tyres: Goodyear
11.
12.
ATS is a team that has been making a slow and steady progress towards the front. While largely just outside of the points last year, the signing of Brian Henton from Ferrari to replace the retiring Carlos Pace is a good one, as the German outfit continues to chase that elusive first podium that Pace was denied at Zolder in 1978 and Dijon last year.
Tyres: Goodyear
14.
15.
If other teams have been making progress towards the front, Brabham seem to be steadily dropping further and further back. They were second in 1975, but fell to tenth in 1976 and have remained down. While they have climbed up somewhat from the depths of 1976 and 1977, they scored only 6 points in both 1978 and 1979. Whether or not Brabham will return to their former glory is yet to be seen, as the Chessington team hope that Pryce and Giacomelli can bring better results than Rosberg, Watson and Andretti did last year.
Tyres: Michelin
16.
17.
Tyrrell is another team that has fallen from grace in recent years. Third in 1976 and 1978, 1979 saw Tyrrell sink down to eighth, scoring only 3 points during the year, which came from a superb drive from Ronnie Peterson in Monaco. However, Peterson departed at the end of the year, headed to Renault. Having taken Nilsson's seat, Nilsson took Peterson's former seat. To replace the departing Alan Jones, Tyrrell have made a good signing in Emerson Fittipaldi. While the former world champion is coming off a one-year sabbatical from the sport, he has shown decent pace in testing. Meaning that Tyrrell will have a potent pair of drivers for this year, with a two-time world champion, and the runner-up of 1978 and 1979.
Tyres: Michelin
18.
19.
Not much is expected of customer cars, who typically run adapted year-old machinery in efforts made with more hopes than anything else. However, Zorzi defied expectations last year in 1979, scoring three points last year in Spain and Austria, all of which were scored by Patrese. Will they continue to defy expectations, or will they return to the back of the field?
Tyres: Michelin
20.Marc Surer
21.
Perennial backmarkers during their time in F1, they have nonetheless come close to points on a few occasions. But if the signing of Fittipaldi by Tyrrell despite a one-year sabbatical was a statement of intent, the signing of Regazzoni after a two-year absence from the sport is questionable at best and foolish at worst, especially when considering that rumors placed Patrese in the second Montt seat.
Tyres: Michelin
22.
23.
While Williams did not have a good year in 1979, eyebrows were suddenly raised when they announced they'd be running Alfa Romeo engines. Williams reduced their operation to one car in 1979, with Carlos Reutemann entering three rounds and Rupert Keegan entering ten, with the Argentine close to scoring points once, and the Englishman anything but. In an age where F1 teams have been dropping like flies, many expect that this team will be next.
Unipart Vern Schuppan Racing Team (Brabham-Matra BT48)
Tyres: Michelin
24.
Another team that is expected to disappear sooner rather than later. This one-man team is reduced its operation from two cars last year to one this year. Last year, they were usually found at the very back, usually only ahead of the now extinct RAM and Shadow.
Tyres: Goodyear
25.
Another backmarker one-man team, although this time, it seems its eponymous founder has finally decided to call it a day on his Formula One career, choosing instead to run his team from outside the track, and leaving the driving to young gun Andrea de Cesaris, with the young man a few months shy of his 21st birthday and having a promising future ahead of him, having taken six wins last year in British Formula Three, but losing out on more due to recklessness that he will have to grow out of.
Tyres: Goodyear
26.
27.
No one expected the Formula Two outfit to make the leap into Formula One, let alone with a works contract with Alfa Romeo, with a highly-rated prospect like Alain Prost or an experienced hand in Patrick Depailler. And yet, they have done all of these, making them ones to watch in this upcoming season, as they might be one of the most well-prepared new entries into Formula One in a long, long time.
Tyres: Michelin
28.
29.
A new entry into the sport, running modified year-old McLaren cars. If not much is expected of customer cars, then expectations of this team will be even further below that, as they will be running a car that was steadily dropping down the field by the end of the season.
Scuderia Ferrari (Ferrari 312T5)
James Hunt
Saudia Equipe Renault (Renault RS04)
Ronnie Peterson
Gilles Villeneuve
Nelson Piquet
Jochen Mass
Niki Lauda
Mario Andretti
Marc Surer
Unipart Vern Schuppan Racing Team (Brabham-Matra BT48)-
SnakeOilSalesman
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Re: The Montt Journals (AltAltF1)
1980 SEASON
January 4th, 1980 — Leicester — I wish we could have signed Patrese. Unfortunately, we could not come to an agreement. Our second option was Reutemann, but he was too expensive for us. But who knows? Maybe Clay will be just what we need. An experienced hand to show us how it's done.
January 12th, 1980 — Buenos Aires — Oh Dear God, no. I think it's fair to say that the M179 was in the lower end of the midfield. The M180, however, is a flat out backmarker. We've once again gone backwards! We expected to be fighting Tyrrell for 16th-19th. But instead, we've been outqualified by Schuppan and one of Purley's cars. And that's with Marc, who qualified 19th. Clay, however, qualified 22nd and last. Half a second slower than Purley in 21st and eight tenths behind Marc.
January 13th, 1980 — Clay's race ended after seven laps with an issue with the fuel system. Marc, meanwhile, ended up 16th, fighting Keegan for 15th. While the M180 seems to be awful on qualifying pace, we do seem to have a better race pace. Good enough to not be a complete embarrassment, that is.
January 26th, 1980 — São Paulo — Well, this was a more decent result for us in qualifying. Marc qualified 18th, outqualifying both Osellas, the Williams and both Purleys. Clay, meanwhile outqualified only de Cesaris in the Merzario, qualifying 24th.
January 27th, 1980 — Well, Marc continued his fight from Buenos Aires with Keegan, this time over 14th. And this time, he won. Reliability was not particularly kind for us. 9 DNFs, but 5 of them were for the 7 drivers that Marc outqualified. Clay included, this time because of an issue with the throttle. Not much to say. Marc held his position, and simply got as many places as the reliability gremlins saw fit to give him.
February 29th, 1980 — Midrand — Outqualified by Schuppan yet again, but outqualifying Patrese. Marc, that is. Clay was 26th and last. Shockingly, he was a whole two seconds slower than Marc. And Marc qualified 19th. Mind you, Clay was almost a second slower than the next car, which was de Cesaris. If he didn't have a very good contract, I'd be tempted to sack him a la Kessel. Okay, I'm being slightly unfair. He's been very good at helping us improve how we operate outside the track. Which I hope will pay off next year, because I've already decided to not improve the M180 and focus on 1981.
March 1st, 1980 — The good part of today is that Marc continued his tangle with Keegan, coming out ahead again and that we saw the flag with both cars, with reliability being good to us. The bad part is that he was beaten to 11th place by de Cesaris near the end of the race. So that's 12th and 14th for us.
March 29th, 1980 — Long Beach — Past 12th place, we had everyone next to their teammates, if they had any. The two Tyrrells, then Prost's Osella, Watson's Williams, the two McLarens, Schuppan, us, and Purley's cars.
March 30th, 1980 — Well, there were a fair few DNFs, but nowhere near enough to dream about points. Marc's transmission gave up after just two laps, leaving only Clay for us on the track. It seems that he wanted to see what was so fun for Marc in fighting for position with Keegan, because he fought with him practically the whole race. And he won that particular bout, too, coming home in 13th.
May 3rd, 1980 — Heusden-Zolder — Well, this is unexpected. Marc 17th, outqualifying the works Ferrari of reigning world champion James Hunt. What a bizarre world we live in. Meanwhile, Clay qualified 25th, barely ahead of Keegan, but miles ahead of de Cesaris, who did not qualify.
May 4th, 1980 — This was our chance! We were so close! Damn, it's like something wants us to not score points at all costs. Clay's race ended on lap 19 with an electrical issue. But Marc, after surviving being rammed by Schuppan, kept going, and was up to 11th until his suspension failed. He was ahead of Nilsson, who managed to get the final point of the race. I guarantee you, with the pace that Marc had today, he would have kept him behind. Attrition truly is a double-edged blade. And a cruel one. Of all times, it had to strike us when we finally had a chance at a point. To make matters worse, Prost and Keegan were the last cars still running. Meaning that Purley is now ahead of us. This just hurts.
May 17th, 1980 — Monte Carlo — I suppose I should have expected this. I think it is fair to say that Clay has lost a step or two in qualifying. Or seven. So I am not too surprised to see him not make the grid for Monaco. Marc, however, for the second time in a row, outqualified a works Ferrari (Arnoux, deputizing for an injured de Angelis). In fact, Marc was a mere three thousandths behind Mansell's McLaren in 16th.
May 18th, 1980 — Not much to say about this one. We got a few places through attrition, but once again, not enough to dream about points. But for the first time, we made it to the end of the Monaco Grand Prix. Marc didn't really show a lot of pace, so he ended up 11th, last of those still running.
May 31st, 1980 — San Sebastián de los Reyes — A pretty decent result. Marc was 18th, fairly close to Depailler and the two Tyrrells. Clay, however, was 24th, outqualifying only Purley.
June 1st, 1980 — No! No! Absolutely not! [Editor's Note: This section is followed up by a lot of unreadable gibberish]. 15 DNFs! Fifteen! And all that combined to somehow allow Schuppan to score a bloody point! Clay was in a somewhat remote contention for that, as the last five cars still running were all fairly close in the end. But he was the last of those still running, ending up 10th. As for Marc, his engine blew up in a very exhaustive manner. And if it hadn't, it'd be us scoring that point.
June 9th, 1980 — Leicester — I still can't get over what happened at Jarama. Or Zolder, for that matter. Those were two chances at scoring points that went begging because attrition struck down the wrong driver.
June 28th, 1980 — Le Castellet — Qualifying was roughly as we expected. Marc 17th, just under Schuppan, whose face after scoring that point at Jarama makes me want to scream. Clay, meanwhile, went 2.3 seconds slower, and qualified in 23rd, just ahead of Purley, who decided to stop losing to Keegan by putting Tony Brise in Keegan's old seat.
June 29, 1980 — Well, attrition didn't strike Marc this time. This time, we did dream of points, but it depended on a few extra DNFs that never came. Clay retired on lap 18 with gearbox issues. Marc finished in 9th.
July 12th, 1980 — West Kingsdown — Very poor qualifying from us today. How poor? Marc was outqualified by Clay. Still, both were much faster than Purley.
July 13th, 1980 — Clay retired on lap 48, when he was running in 15th, because of an issue with the gearbox (again). Marc, meanwhile, just ran way off at the back, seeing the flag in 10th, five laps down, and two laps behind the next car (Nilsson). It wasn't a good race, but on positions, it's our second best of the year. We are quite simply, awful.
July 15th, 1980 — Leicester — If there is any consolation to this awful season, is that we're more than halfway through it so far. Just six races to go.
August 9th, 1980 — Hockenheim — Awful qualifying once more. And Marc going a second faster than Clay helps us in absolutely nothing, because he could have been a second and a half faster, and it still would have gotten us 21st and 22nd. I can't wait for 1981.
August 10th, 1980 — Once again, we saw the chequered flag with both cars. But it was a pretty uneventful race. Attrition gave us quite a fair few positions (that tends to happen when you're outqualified by almost everybody). Still, we were nowhere near the points. Marc 12th and Clay 14th.
August 16th, 1980 — Spielberg — Once again, we qualified terribly. This time it was Marc who decided to see what was fun about qualifying at the back, going a second and a half slower than Clay, who didn't qualify that well to begin with.
August 17th, 1980 — Another uneventful race. Clay actually showed some decent pace until a wheel came off his car. Marc, in the meantime, was absolutely nowhere all race long and eventually came home in 12th, last of those still running. If Regazzoni hadn't had that issue, I think it would have been a 10th or 11th place for him. But instead, it's another DNF.
August 30th, 1980 — Zandvoort — Once again, absolutely dreadful qualifying. 21st (Marc) and 22nd (Clay). We only outqualified Needell's Williams. If Watson hadn't left them, maybe we wouldn't have. At least we were somewhat close to Osella.
August 31st, 1980 — If it wasn't for Marc doing a few overtakes (on Fittipaldi, Patrese, Brise and Depailler), this race would have been a total procession. All cars save for Fittipaldi, Patrese and Needell made it to the end. Marc did so in 17th, Clay in 20th. Just three races to go, and this nightmare of a season will be over.
September 13th, 1980 — Imola — This qualifying was actually decent. Which we needed after a small streak of dismal qualifying. Marc qualified 18th and Clay 21st. Beating Patrese, Zorzi, Needell, Purley and Fittipaldi quite comfortably.
September 14th, 1980 — We were having a fairly good race. Marc was running 13th, ahead of Brise and even Peterson's Renault. But Brise went in too deep into the Variante Alta and ended up crashing into Marc. Brise managed to keep going, Marc did not. Clay made it to the end in 15th. Luck is simply not on our side this year.
September 27th, 1980 — Montreal — Back to poor qualifying it is. Marc 22nd, Clay 23rd. Oh well. At least this season is almost over.
September 28th, 1980 — If it wasn't clear that we have had absolutely no luck this year, then a double DNF should help. Clay was first, with his engine giving up the ghost and Marc having an issue with his brakes. Just another race and this season will be over.
October 4th, 1980 — Watkins Glen — And we've gone back to a decent qualifying, with Clay qualifying 18th and Marc 21st. It's Clay's last race for us, and quite possibly in the sport. Speaking of this possibly being the end, Needell qualified his Williams right behing Marc.
October 5th, 1980 — Marc decided to show some pretty good race pace, working his way up to 14th. Attrition helped him somewhat, but he did the best he could with what he had. Clay, meanwhile, was relatively close behind, in 16th. Lauda won the championship, but all I really care about is that this dreadful season is over. Literally all but Zorzi and Merzario had a 1980 than we did. Embarrassing.
December 13th, 1980 — Leicester — Based on what I have seen of the M181, I am feeling quite excited for the season to come. This should be good.
January 4th, 1980 — Leicester — I wish we could have signed Patrese. Unfortunately, we could not come to an agreement. Our second option was Reutemann, but he was too expensive for us. But who knows? Maybe Clay will be just what we need. An experienced hand to show us how it's done.
January 12th, 1980 — Buenos Aires — Oh Dear God, no. I think it's fair to say that the M179 was in the lower end of the midfield. The M180, however, is a flat out backmarker. We've once again gone backwards! We expected to be fighting Tyrrell for 16th-19th. But instead, we've been outqualified by Schuppan and one of Purley's cars. And that's with Marc, who qualified 19th. Clay, however, qualified 22nd and last. Half a second slower than Purley in 21st and eight tenths behind Marc.
January 13th, 1980 — Clay's race ended after seven laps with an issue with the fuel system. Marc, meanwhile, ended up 16th, fighting Keegan for 15th. While the M180 seems to be awful on qualifying pace, we do seem to have a better race pace. Good enough to not be a complete embarrassment, that is.
January 26th, 1980 — São Paulo — Well, this was a more decent result for us in qualifying. Marc qualified 18th, outqualifying both Osellas, the Williams and both Purleys. Clay, meanwhile outqualified only de Cesaris in the Merzario, qualifying 24th.
January 27th, 1980 — Well, Marc continued his fight from Buenos Aires with Keegan, this time over 14th. And this time, he won. Reliability was not particularly kind for us. 9 DNFs, but 5 of them were for the 7 drivers that Marc outqualified. Clay included, this time because of an issue with the throttle. Not much to say. Marc held his position, and simply got as many places as the reliability gremlins saw fit to give him.
February 29th, 1980 — Midrand — Outqualified by Schuppan yet again, but outqualifying Patrese. Marc, that is. Clay was 26th and last. Shockingly, he was a whole two seconds slower than Marc. And Marc qualified 19th. Mind you, Clay was almost a second slower than the next car, which was de Cesaris. If he didn't have a very good contract, I'd be tempted to sack him a la Kessel. Okay, I'm being slightly unfair. He's been very good at helping us improve how we operate outside the track. Which I hope will pay off next year, because I've already decided to not improve the M180 and focus on 1981.
March 1st, 1980 — The good part of today is that Marc continued his tangle with Keegan, coming out ahead again and that we saw the flag with both cars, with reliability being good to us. The bad part is that he was beaten to 11th place by de Cesaris near the end of the race. So that's 12th and 14th for us.
March 29th, 1980 — Long Beach — Past 12th place, we had everyone next to their teammates, if they had any. The two Tyrrells, then Prost's Osella, Watson's Williams, the two McLarens, Schuppan, us, and Purley's cars.
March 30th, 1980 — Well, there were a fair few DNFs, but nowhere near enough to dream about points. Marc's transmission gave up after just two laps, leaving only Clay for us on the track. It seems that he wanted to see what was so fun for Marc in fighting for position with Keegan, because he fought with him practically the whole race. And he won that particular bout, too, coming home in 13th.
May 3rd, 1980 — Heusden-Zolder — Well, this is unexpected. Marc 17th, outqualifying the works Ferrari of reigning world champion James Hunt. What a bizarre world we live in. Meanwhile, Clay qualified 25th, barely ahead of Keegan, but miles ahead of de Cesaris, who did not qualify.
May 4th, 1980 — This was our chance! We were so close! Damn, it's like something wants us to not score points at all costs. Clay's race ended on lap 19 with an electrical issue. But Marc, after surviving being rammed by Schuppan, kept going, and was up to 11th until his suspension failed. He was ahead of Nilsson, who managed to get the final point of the race. I guarantee you, with the pace that Marc had today, he would have kept him behind. Attrition truly is a double-edged blade. And a cruel one. Of all times, it had to strike us when we finally had a chance at a point. To make matters worse, Prost and Keegan were the last cars still running. Meaning that Purley is now ahead of us. This just hurts.
May 17th, 1980 — Monte Carlo — I suppose I should have expected this. I think it is fair to say that Clay has lost a step or two in qualifying. Or seven. So I am not too surprised to see him not make the grid for Monaco. Marc, however, for the second time in a row, outqualified a works Ferrari (Arnoux, deputizing for an injured de Angelis). In fact, Marc was a mere three thousandths behind Mansell's McLaren in 16th.
May 18th, 1980 — Not much to say about this one. We got a few places through attrition, but once again, not enough to dream about points. But for the first time, we made it to the end of the Monaco Grand Prix. Marc didn't really show a lot of pace, so he ended up 11th, last of those still running.
May 31st, 1980 — San Sebastián de los Reyes — A pretty decent result. Marc was 18th, fairly close to Depailler and the two Tyrrells. Clay, however, was 24th, outqualifying only Purley.
June 1st, 1980 — No! No! Absolutely not! [Editor's Note: This section is followed up by a lot of unreadable gibberish]. 15 DNFs! Fifteen! And all that combined to somehow allow Schuppan to score a bloody point! Clay was in a somewhat remote contention for that, as the last five cars still running were all fairly close in the end. But he was the last of those still running, ending up 10th. As for Marc, his engine blew up in a very exhaustive manner. And if it hadn't, it'd be us scoring that point.
June 9th, 1980 — Leicester — I still can't get over what happened at Jarama. Or Zolder, for that matter. Those were two chances at scoring points that went begging because attrition struck down the wrong driver.
June 28th, 1980 — Le Castellet — Qualifying was roughly as we expected. Marc 17th, just under Schuppan, whose face after scoring that point at Jarama makes me want to scream. Clay, meanwhile, went 2.3 seconds slower, and qualified in 23rd, just ahead of Purley, who decided to stop losing to Keegan by putting Tony Brise in Keegan's old seat.
June 29, 1980 — Well, attrition didn't strike Marc this time. This time, we did dream of points, but it depended on a few extra DNFs that never came. Clay retired on lap 18 with gearbox issues. Marc finished in 9th.
July 12th, 1980 — West Kingsdown — Very poor qualifying from us today. How poor? Marc was outqualified by Clay. Still, both were much faster than Purley.
July 13th, 1980 — Clay retired on lap 48, when he was running in 15th, because of an issue with the gearbox (again). Marc, meanwhile, just ran way off at the back, seeing the flag in 10th, five laps down, and two laps behind the next car (Nilsson). It wasn't a good race, but on positions, it's our second best of the year. We are quite simply, awful.
July 15th, 1980 — Leicester — If there is any consolation to this awful season, is that we're more than halfway through it so far. Just six races to go.
August 9th, 1980 — Hockenheim — Awful qualifying once more. And Marc going a second faster than Clay helps us in absolutely nothing, because he could have been a second and a half faster, and it still would have gotten us 21st and 22nd. I can't wait for 1981.
August 10th, 1980 — Once again, we saw the chequered flag with both cars. But it was a pretty uneventful race. Attrition gave us quite a fair few positions (that tends to happen when you're outqualified by almost everybody). Still, we were nowhere near the points. Marc 12th and Clay 14th.
August 16th, 1980 — Spielberg — Once again, we qualified terribly. This time it was Marc who decided to see what was fun about qualifying at the back, going a second and a half slower than Clay, who didn't qualify that well to begin with.
August 17th, 1980 — Another uneventful race. Clay actually showed some decent pace until a wheel came off his car. Marc, in the meantime, was absolutely nowhere all race long and eventually came home in 12th, last of those still running. If Regazzoni hadn't had that issue, I think it would have been a 10th or 11th place for him. But instead, it's another DNF.
August 30th, 1980 — Zandvoort — Once again, absolutely dreadful qualifying. 21st (Marc) and 22nd (Clay). We only outqualified Needell's Williams. If Watson hadn't left them, maybe we wouldn't have. At least we were somewhat close to Osella.
August 31st, 1980 — If it wasn't for Marc doing a few overtakes (on Fittipaldi, Patrese, Brise and Depailler), this race would have been a total procession. All cars save for Fittipaldi, Patrese and Needell made it to the end. Marc did so in 17th, Clay in 20th. Just three races to go, and this nightmare of a season will be over.
September 13th, 1980 — Imola — This qualifying was actually decent. Which we needed after a small streak of dismal qualifying. Marc qualified 18th and Clay 21st. Beating Patrese, Zorzi, Needell, Purley and Fittipaldi quite comfortably.
September 14th, 1980 — We were having a fairly good race. Marc was running 13th, ahead of Brise and even Peterson's Renault. But Brise went in too deep into the Variante Alta and ended up crashing into Marc. Brise managed to keep going, Marc did not. Clay made it to the end in 15th. Luck is simply not on our side this year.
September 27th, 1980 — Montreal — Back to poor qualifying it is. Marc 22nd, Clay 23rd. Oh well. At least this season is almost over.
September 28th, 1980 — If it wasn't clear that we have had absolutely no luck this year, then a double DNF should help. Clay was first, with his engine giving up the ghost and Marc having an issue with his brakes. Just another race and this season will be over.
October 4th, 1980 — Watkins Glen — And we've gone back to a decent qualifying, with Clay qualifying 18th and Marc 21st. It's Clay's last race for us, and quite possibly in the sport. Speaking of this possibly being the end, Needell qualified his Williams right behing Marc.
October 5th, 1980 — Marc decided to show some pretty good race pace, working his way up to 14th. Attrition helped him somewhat, but he did the best he could with what he had. Clay, meanwhile, was relatively close behind, in 16th. Lauda won the championship, but all I really care about is that this dreadful season is over. Literally all but Zorzi and Merzario had a 1980 than we did. Embarrassing.
December 13th, 1980 — Leicester — Based on what I have seen of the M181, I am feeling quite excited for the season to come. This should be good.
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SnakeOilSalesman
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Re: The Montt Journals (AltAltF1)
1981 SEASON
February 6th, 1981 — Midrand — The grid has changed somewhat between this year and the last. Williams and Merzario are gone, in come Toleman and Theodore. Clay is gone, but Marc remains here, which will make him our longest-serving driver, with three seasons, and 49 starts, if nothing goes horribly wrong between now and the end of 1981. Which, mind you, with how most of my entries tend to turn out, is a disturbingly real possibility.
Anyway, I can see that signing Eliseo was probably not the greatest idea, even if he does bring a fair bit of money in sponsors. I'll fully admit to being blinded by the idea of a Chilean driver driving a car with our colors. As for qualifying, it seems we've picked up mostly where we left off. If I were to bet, I'd say Toleman will be our main rivals this year, with Purley a bit behind. Maybe ATS, too, because it seems they've taken a major step backwards. I'm not concerned about Theodore, they look incredibly slow.
February 7th, 1981 — Overall, a pretty decent race. Some cars retired, and we capitalized on that. Marc finished 13th and Eliseo 17th. Eliseo had a rough first few laps, but began to recover ground in the second half of the race. Marc battled Ickx's Toleman for practically the whole race and came out ahead.
March 14th, 1981 — Long Beach — Bit of a rough go in qualifying. Marc was comfortably 19th, but Eliseo was 23rd, and most worryingly, outqualified by Zorzi of all people.
March 15th, 1981 — See, this is a perfect example to show how so many of my entries age like milk in less than 24 hours. Just yesterday, I wrote about Eliseo being outqualified by Zorzi. And I thought that was bad enough. But the universe decided to show me things could always be worse. And that is how, with very little race pace to either car today, both of our cars (Marc 19th, Eliseo 21st) finished behind Zorzi(18th).
Marrch 28th, 1981 — Rio de Janeiro — Well, we did qualify 16th (Marc) and 19th (Eliseo), which is an improvement on Long Beach, however, there is a caveat to this. 25 cars were entered for Long Beach, 21 for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Marc was a bit in no man's land, sandwiched between the two ATS cars. Too far behind Villeneuve in 15th, but also too far ahead of Giacomelli in 17th.
March 29th, 1981 — I cannot believe what I've just seen. Yes, attrition helped us quite a bit, but Eliseo was very good today. He passed Marc on lap 7 and was never in risk of losing the position again, somehow going on to battle away with Mansell's McLaren for the rest of the race. A battle that he lost, but the fact that he was somehow in a position to bring the fight to Mansell? That's impressive. To add, Mansell's coming off a fourth place finish in Long Beach. In the end, that's 11th place for Eliseo and 12th for Marc, a lap down in a lonely race, because he was miles ahead of the two Theodore cars behind. Overall, a quite decent result for us.
April 12th, 1981 — Buenos Aires — Remember that caveat I mentioned back at Brazil? Yes? Well, it's gone out the window. Because this time, with 25 cars on the grid, same as in Long Beach, we qualified 16th (Eliseo) and 18th (Marc), this time with Eliseo sandwiched between the two ATS cars, behind Giacomelli, but behind Villeneuve.
April 13th, 1981 — This is the year. I can feel it. This is the year in which we'll finally break our points-scoring duck. Marc decided to have a great day and drove out of his skin. Eliseo also had a pretty good day, but a small off-track excursion on lap 46 caused him to lose his position to Villeneuve. Marc's biggest fight was with Brise's Tyrrell, a fight he was winning until the Tyrrell's suspension decided to call it a day.
The final result is Marc finished 7th, and Eliseo 9th. Of course, we did have a lot of luck with attrition and reliability, but we were extremely close to a point. For the final ten or so laps, I was hoping for something to strike down Andretti's Brabham, Hunt's Renault or the March, but we weren't that lucky. Of course, we have scored a 7th place before (Marc at the '79 French GP), but Marc was two laps down on the next car. This time, he was on the same lap as Hunt and Mass, and getting closer to Mass in the March.
86 Grand Prix entries for Montt F1 and now I am certain that we'll score points sooner rather than later.
May 2nd, 1981 — Imola — Well, after our 86th Grand Prix entry was a very good one, our 87th seems like it will be a bad one. The ups and downs of the sport. Marc was 21st and Eliseo was 23rd, with the Schuppan driven by Perkins in between them.
May 3rd, 1981 — Of course this is one of the few entries I make that doesn't age like milk. Eliseo spun off in the rain early on and Marc followed him late in the race. We never looked anywhere near the pace, so I can't complain too much about this double DNF, because it was more like the rain put us out of our racing misery.
May 16th, 1981 — Heusden-Zolder — A decent qualifying from Marc (17th), but a dreadful one from Eliseo (24th). If Schuppan was any better, he might have made Eliseo qualify last. I don't know what to say. This one could go either way for us.
May 17th, 1981 — IT HAPPENED! AT LONG LAST, IT FINALLY HAPPENED! WE GOT POINTS! I REPEAT, WE GOT POINTS! 5 years, 88 entries and finally we have something to show for it! 3 points! 3 points that taste like glory.
Yes, we were massively lucky with reliability, considering that only 7 cars made it to the end (mind you, 2 of them behind a stricken one). But of those seven, Marc made it to the end in 4th place, by largely just keeping his nose clean. Eliseo was unlucky to have a suspension failure, because he probably would have gotten 6th, as he was massively ahead of Prost and likely would have pipped Villeneuve's stricken ATS for sixth place. And Andretti was complaining about a throttle issue near the end, but managed to limp home in third. If he had been a little more unlucky, that would have been our first podium.
But considering how today went, I can't complain too much. It could have been better, but this result is more than good enough.
May 29th, 1981 — Monte Carlo — I am still positively giddy over our result at Belgium last time around. Even if we can't match that result here, nothing will be able to bring me down.
May 30th, 1981 — Marc qualified 19th, whilst Eliseo failed to qualify, missing out on the final spot on the grid by one hundredth of a second. I'd be a little more forgiving about that if the man who beat him to that spot wasn't Schuppan.
May 31st, 1981 — Not much to say. Bit of a rubbish weekend for us. Marc just wasn't on the pace and for once, Monaco decided it didn't want to be a race of attrition. So Marc ended up 16th, five laps down on the race-winner de Angelis.
June 20th, 1981 — San Sebastián de los Reyes — I think I understand now. We've used up all the luck we saved up from all those unlucky moments since 1976 to get that 4th place at Zolder and we're paying for it by being awful again. Marc qualified 19th and Eliseo 21st.
June 21st, 1981 — Honestly, I can't complain too much. We never looked fast at any point in Jarama, so to get struck down in the race by a hydraulics issue (Marc) and an engine issue (Eliseo) was to simply put us out of our misery.
July 4th, 1981 — Dijon — I take it back. We're back to basically where we've been almost all of this season. Marc qualified 18th and Eliseo 20th.
July 5th, 1981 — Did we get lucky by the fact so many people ahead of us crashed into each other? A little, yes. However, we did have fairly decent pace, which is how we ended up with Marc 13th and Eliseo 14th. Which is a fairly decent result, considering we're far from the likes of March, Ferrari, Renault and Ligier at the front.
July 17th, 1981 — Silverstone — If I had told people we'd be fighting McLaren five years ago, they would have called me crazy. And yet, we are. But I will admit that it's less because of our own merits and more because McLaren have not been told that when you're in a hole, it's time to stop digging. Eliseo qualified in 17th, behind Jones, but ahead of Mansell, while Marc was 19th.
July 18th, 1981 — Another pretty decent result from us. But rather than McLaren, our rival this race turned out to be ATS, with Villeneuve finishing ahead of Marc and Rosberg (Editor's Note: Rosberg replaced Giacomelli after Belgium) ahead of Eliseo. It could have been better, but I will not complain about an 8th place and a 10th place, even if ATS ended up ahead this once. Because they didn't score a point either and I know for a fact that they are driving themselves crazy over being stuck on one point while we remain on three.
Plus, we actually had fairly decent pace today. So fairly pleased with today's result.
August 1st, 1981 — Hockenheim — Another fairly decent qualifying effort. We locked out the ninth row, with Eliseo leading Marc. 17th and 18th. I'm almost hoping for attrition to give us a helping hand.
August 2nd, 1981 — Attrition gave us the very opposite of a helping hand. An electrical issue took out Marc 11 laps in and Eliseo spun off into the barriers six laps later. Looking at how things turned out, if we had made it to the end, since we looked to have decent pace, we probably would have finished 12th and 13th. But that is just the way F1 goes.
August 15th, 1981 — Spielberg — Another fairly decent effort in qualifying. Marc was 17th and Eliseo 20th. Not much to say.
August 16th, 1981 — If it were up to me, that rookie Alboreto should be out of F1 with the kind of stunt he pulled today. First, he took out Villeneuve, which I wouldn't have been too angry with, except that 30 laps later, he did the same to Eliseo, taking both of them out.
As for Marc, he retired on lap 26 with a hydraulics issue.
August 29th, 1981 — Zandvoort — Marc qualifying 18th is roughly in line with what's expected. Eliseo qualifying 22nd behind Zorzi and Schuppan is, needless to say, very disappointing. And it just makes me regret saying yes to such a long contract.
August 30th, 1981 — Marc did fairly well in a race without a lot of attrition, making it up to 15th, pulling off a very nice move on Villeneuve on lap 52. As for Eliseo, he made up for being outqualified by Zorzi and Schuppan by finishing the race ahead of them in 20th. Overall, this one was a race to forget.
September 12th, 1981 — Monza — A good qualifying from us. Marc qualified 16th and Eliseo 19th. Marc just pulled off what I think is the best possible lap the car could have made around this circuit.
September 13th, 1981 — Overall, I can't say I'm displeased with how things went down. Yes, Eliseo crashed his car in a completely avoidable incident. However, in a race where there weren't a lot of retirements ahead of us (one), Marc made it to the end in 14th.
September 26th, 1981 — Montreal — Once again, we qualified quite well. Marc qualified 16th and Eliseo 18th.
September 27th, 1981 — For once this year, I wanted things to remain exactly as they were, even with us outside of the points. Yes, Marc 10th and Eliseo 12th is a fine result, but what's better for us was Villeneuve in 8th. I'm aware that Belgium might be our only points-scoring race of the year, especially now that there's only two races left. Which is why I want ATS to stay behind us.
As for our race, not much to say as far as Marc is concerned. Eliseo, however, did get into a scrap with Rosberg for several laps. One that my fellow countryman managed to win.
October 3rd, 1981 — Watkins Glen — Well, this is not ideal. Whilst ATS does its best to try to beat us, qualifying 14th and 17th, we'll start tomorrow's race from...20th and 24th. I hope this isn't a race of attrition.
October 4th, 1981 — Well, nearly half the grid had to retire from the race, but it was almost entirely the cars in between us and ATS. Yes, we were 13th (Marc) and 14th (Eliseo), but we were about as far from points as ATS were, and that's what matters most.
October 16th, 1981 — Las Vegas — We've been fighting in qualifying for ATS for the whole season, but now that we need to keep within touching distance, Marc's form in qualifying hits a slump and we're miles away. Once again, I'm hoping that attrition won't play too much of a role in the race. I'm honestly hoping for a boring procession tomorrow. I'll be fine with Eliseo and Marc holding onto 19th and 23rd respectively, if it means ATS won't be in the points.
October 17th, 1981 — That was close. We were never close to either Rosberg or Villeneuve on the track, and reliability did make things fairly close. But in the end, we were 12th (Eliseo) and 13th (Marc), whilst ATS ended up 8th and 9th, their final roll of the dice to beat us falling short.
November 25th, 1981 — Leicester — I love looking at the table for the Constructor's Championship. It's beautiful. You've got established manufacturers like Ferrari and Renault, rising constructors like March and Ligier. Respected teams in the likes of Brabham, McLaren and Tyrrell. And right behind them, in eighth place, is us. Montt F1.
I love it.
February 6th, 1981 — Midrand — The grid has changed somewhat between this year and the last. Williams and Merzario are gone, in come Toleman and Theodore. Clay is gone, but Marc remains here, which will make him our longest-serving driver, with three seasons, and 49 starts, if nothing goes horribly wrong between now and the end of 1981. Which, mind you, with how most of my entries tend to turn out, is a disturbingly real possibility.
Anyway, I can see that signing Eliseo was probably not the greatest idea, even if he does bring a fair bit of money in sponsors. I'll fully admit to being blinded by the idea of a Chilean driver driving a car with our colors. As for qualifying, it seems we've picked up mostly where we left off. If I were to bet, I'd say Toleman will be our main rivals this year, with Purley a bit behind. Maybe ATS, too, because it seems they've taken a major step backwards. I'm not concerned about Theodore, they look incredibly slow.
February 7th, 1981 — Overall, a pretty decent race. Some cars retired, and we capitalized on that. Marc finished 13th and Eliseo 17th. Eliseo had a rough first few laps, but began to recover ground in the second half of the race. Marc battled Ickx's Toleman for practically the whole race and came out ahead.
March 14th, 1981 — Long Beach — Bit of a rough go in qualifying. Marc was comfortably 19th, but Eliseo was 23rd, and most worryingly, outqualified by Zorzi of all people.
March 15th, 1981 — See, this is a perfect example to show how so many of my entries age like milk in less than 24 hours. Just yesterday, I wrote about Eliseo being outqualified by Zorzi. And I thought that was bad enough. But the universe decided to show me things could always be worse. And that is how, with very little race pace to either car today, both of our cars (Marc 19th, Eliseo 21st) finished behind Zorzi(18th).
Marrch 28th, 1981 — Rio de Janeiro — Well, we did qualify 16th (Marc) and 19th (Eliseo), which is an improvement on Long Beach, however, there is a caveat to this. 25 cars were entered for Long Beach, 21 for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Marc was a bit in no man's land, sandwiched between the two ATS cars. Too far behind Villeneuve in 15th, but also too far ahead of Giacomelli in 17th.
March 29th, 1981 — I cannot believe what I've just seen. Yes, attrition helped us quite a bit, but Eliseo was very good today. He passed Marc on lap 7 and was never in risk of losing the position again, somehow going on to battle away with Mansell's McLaren for the rest of the race. A battle that he lost, but the fact that he was somehow in a position to bring the fight to Mansell? That's impressive. To add, Mansell's coming off a fourth place finish in Long Beach. In the end, that's 11th place for Eliseo and 12th for Marc, a lap down in a lonely race, because he was miles ahead of the two Theodore cars behind. Overall, a quite decent result for us.
April 12th, 1981 — Buenos Aires — Remember that caveat I mentioned back at Brazil? Yes? Well, it's gone out the window. Because this time, with 25 cars on the grid, same as in Long Beach, we qualified 16th (Eliseo) and 18th (Marc), this time with Eliseo sandwiched between the two ATS cars, behind Giacomelli, but behind Villeneuve.
April 13th, 1981 — This is the year. I can feel it. This is the year in which we'll finally break our points-scoring duck. Marc decided to have a great day and drove out of his skin. Eliseo also had a pretty good day, but a small off-track excursion on lap 46 caused him to lose his position to Villeneuve. Marc's biggest fight was with Brise's Tyrrell, a fight he was winning until the Tyrrell's suspension decided to call it a day.
The final result is Marc finished 7th, and Eliseo 9th. Of course, we did have a lot of luck with attrition and reliability, but we were extremely close to a point. For the final ten or so laps, I was hoping for something to strike down Andretti's Brabham, Hunt's Renault or the March, but we weren't that lucky. Of course, we have scored a 7th place before (Marc at the '79 French GP), but Marc was two laps down on the next car. This time, he was on the same lap as Hunt and Mass, and getting closer to Mass in the March.
86 Grand Prix entries for Montt F1 and now I am certain that we'll score points sooner rather than later.
May 2nd, 1981 — Imola — Well, after our 86th Grand Prix entry was a very good one, our 87th seems like it will be a bad one. The ups and downs of the sport. Marc was 21st and Eliseo was 23rd, with the Schuppan driven by Perkins in between them.
May 3rd, 1981 — Of course this is one of the few entries I make that doesn't age like milk. Eliseo spun off in the rain early on and Marc followed him late in the race. We never looked anywhere near the pace, so I can't complain too much about this double DNF, because it was more like the rain put us out of our racing misery.
May 16th, 1981 — Heusden-Zolder — A decent qualifying from Marc (17th), but a dreadful one from Eliseo (24th). If Schuppan was any better, he might have made Eliseo qualify last. I don't know what to say. This one could go either way for us.
May 17th, 1981 — IT HAPPENED! AT LONG LAST, IT FINALLY HAPPENED! WE GOT POINTS! I REPEAT, WE GOT POINTS! 5 years, 88 entries and finally we have something to show for it! 3 points! 3 points that taste like glory.
Yes, we were massively lucky with reliability, considering that only 7 cars made it to the end (mind you, 2 of them behind a stricken one). But of those seven, Marc made it to the end in 4th place, by largely just keeping his nose clean. Eliseo was unlucky to have a suspension failure, because he probably would have gotten 6th, as he was massively ahead of Prost and likely would have pipped Villeneuve's stricken ATS for sixth place. And Andretti was complaining about a throttle issue near the end, but managed to limp home in third. If he had been a little more unlucky, that would have been our first podium.
But considering how today went, I can't complain too much. It could have been better, but this result is more than good enough.
May 29th, 1981 — Monte Carlo — I am still positively giddy over our result at Belgium last time around. Even if we can't match that result here, nothing will be able to bring me down.
May 30th, 1981 — Marc qualified 19th, whilst Eliseo failed to qualify, missing out on the final spot on the grid by one hundredth of a second. I'd be a little more forgiving about that if the man who beat him to that spot wasn't Schuppan.
May 31st, 1981 — Not much to say. Bit of a rubbish weekend for us. Marc just wasn't on the pace and for once, Monaco decided it didn't want to be a race of attrition. So Marc ended up 16th, five laps down on the race-winner de Angelis.
June 20th, 1981 — San Sebastián de los Reyes — I think I understand now. We've used up all the luck we saved up from all those unlucky moments since 1976 to get that 4th place at Zolder and we're paying for it by being awful again. Marc qualified 19th and Eliseo 21st.
June 21st, 1981 — Honestly, I can't complain too much. We never looked fast at any point in Jarama, so to get struck down in the race by a hydraulics issue (Marc) and an engine issue (Eliseo) was to simply put us out of our misery.
July 4th, 1981 — Dijon — I take it back. We're back to basically where we've been almost all of this season. Marc qualified 18th and Eliseo 20th.
July 5th, 1981 — Did we get lucky by the fact so many people ahead of us crashed into each other? A little, yes. However, we did have fairly decent pace, which is how we ended up with Marc 13th and Eliseo 14th. Which is a fairly decent result, considering we're far from the likes of March, Ferrari, Renault and Ligier at the front.
July 17th, 1981 — Silverstone — If I had told people we'd be fighting McLaren five years ago, they would have called me crazy. And yet, we are. But I will admit that it's less because of our own merits and more because McLaren have not been told that when you're in a hole, it's time to stop digging. Eliseo qualified in 17th, behind Jones, but ahead of Mansell, while Marc was 19th.
July 18th, 1981 — Another pretty decent result from us. But rather than McLaren, our rival this race turned out to be ATS, with Villeneuve finishing ahead of Marc and Rosberg (Editor's Note: Rosberg replaced Giacomelli after Belgium) ahead of Eliseo. It could have been better, but I will not complain about an 8th place and a 10th place, even if ATS ended up ahead this once. Because they didn't score a point either and I know for a fact that they are driving themselves crazy over being stuck on one point while we remain on three.
Plus, we actually had fairly decent pace today. So fairly pleased with today's result.
August 1st, 1981 — Hockenheim — Another fairly decent qualifying effort. We locked out the ninth row, with Eliseo leading Marc. 17th and 18th. I'm almost hoping for attrition to give us a helping hand.
August 2nd, 1981 — Attrition gave us the very opposite of a helping hand. An electrical issue took out Marc 11 laps in and Eliseo spun off into the barriers six laps later. Looking at how things turned out, if we had made it to the end, since we looked to have decent pace, we probably would have finished 12th and 13th. But that is just the way F1 goes.
August 15th, 1981 — Spielberg — Another fairly decent effort in qualifying. Marc was 17th and Eliseo 20th. Not much to say.
August 16th, 1981 — If it were up to me, that rookie Alboreto should be out of F1 with the kind of stunt he pulled today. First, he took out Villeneuve, which I wouldn't have been too angry with, except that 30 laps later, he did the same to Eliseo, taking both of them out.
As for Marc, he retired on lap 26 with a hydraulics issue.
August 29th, 1981 — Zandvoort — Marc qualifying 18th is roughly in line with what's expected. Eliseo qualifying 22nd behind Zorzi and Schuppan is, needless to say, very disappointing. And it just makes me regret saying yes to such a long contract.
August 30th, 1981 — Marc did fairly well in a race without a lot of attrition, making it up to 15th, pulling off a very nice move on Villeneuve on lap 52. As for Eliseo, he made up for being outqualified by Zorzi and Schuppan by finishing the race ahead of them in 20th. Overall, this one was a race to forget.
September 12th, 1981 — Monza — A good qualifying from us. Marc qualified 16th and Eliseo 19th. Marc just pulled off what I think is the best possible lap the car could have made around this circuit.
September 13th, 1981 — Overall, I can't say I'm displeased with how things went down. Yes, Eliseo crashed his car in a completely avoidable incident. However, in a race where there weren't a lot of retirements ahead of us (one), Marc made it to the end in 14th.
September 26th, 1981 — Montreal — Once again, we qualified quite well. Marc qualified 16th and Eliseo 18th.
September 27th, 1981 — For once this year, I wanted things to remain exactly as they were, even with us outside of the points. Yes, Marc 10th and Eliseo 12th is a fine result, but what's better for us was Villeneuve in 8th. I'm aware that Belgium might be our only points-scoring race of the year, especially now that there's only two races left. Which is why I want ATS to stay behind us.
As for our race, not much to say as far as Marc is concerned. Eliseo, however, did get into a scrap with Rosberg for several laps. One that my fellow countryman managed to win.
October 3rd, 1981 — Watkins Glen — Well, this is not ideal. Whilst ATS does its best to try to beat us, qualifying 14th and 17th, we'll start tomorrow's race from...20th and 24th. I hope this isn't a race of attrition.
October 4th, 1981 — Well, nearly half the grid had to retire from the race, but it was almost entirely the cars in between us and ATS. Yes, we were 13th (Marc) and 14th (Eliseo), but we were about as far from points as ATS were, and that's what matters most.
October 16th, 1981 — Las Vegas — We've been fighting in qualifying for ATS for the whole season, but now that we need to keep within touching distance, Marc's form in qualifying hits a slump and we're miles away. Once again, I'm hoping that attrition won't play too much of a role in the race. I'm honestly hoping for a boring procession tomorrow. I'll be fine with Eliseo and Marc holding onto 19th and 23rd respectively, if it means ATS won't be in the points.
October 17th, 1981 — That was close. We were never close to either Rosberg or Villeneuve on the track, and reliability did make things fairly close. But in the end, we were 12th (Eliseo) and 13th (Marc), whilst ATS ended up 8th and 9th, their final roll of the dice to beat us falling short.
November 25th, 1981 — Leicester — I love looking at the table for the Constructor's Championship. It's beautiful. You've got established manufacturers like Ferrari and Renault, rising constructors like March and Ligier. Respected teams in the likes of Brabham, McLaren and Tyrrell. And right behind them, in eighth place, is us. Montt F1.
I love it.