GPW 1998 Prost

[lucasfawkes]

1998 Season

Once again (search my previous career here), I started a 90s manager game with an average team. This time, with Prost, a team that I have a strange fondness for, perhaps because their dark blue cars are very pretty, or perhaps because, even though I'm Brazilian, I've never been a big fan of Senna and I've always thought Prost was underrated, especially in Brazil. Oh, and Peugeot engines: I love the brand (yes, you can laugh at me).

Starting Grand Prix World was an accomplishment for me: since I was a teenager I've been trying to play this game but, due to language barriers, lack of time, patience and cleverness, I never got beyond the home screen and the occasional simulated race. Playing the main F1 manager games in chronological order, however, gave me a different perspective and expectations, particularly high for this game, not by chance considered, to this day, the most refined of the genre.

Without further ado, let's summarize the gameplay. Starting with Prost in 1998, we had a considerable challenge: to match the excellent 1997 that the team had, by scoring at least 15 points. As everyone knows, the game is tough for newcomers, and it correctly emulates the power correlations for 1998, so Prost was no longer a good enough car as it had been the year before. Fortunately, the team had a very solid financial package, with strong sponsors and a works contract with Peugeot, which gave us an advantage over other teams in the midfield.

Given this scenario, I also set my own goals: 1) finish ahead of all the teams behind me and challenge Jordan; 2) maintain a works contract with Peugeot every year and develop the engine for my car (aka the French mission, lol); 3) improve staff and drivers, trying to improve everything a little bit; 4) build the factory facilities; and 5) try to get a works contract with Bridgestone.

As it was my first time playing GPW, it was not an easy task to adapt to the game. Unlike the other managers I was used to, in GPW there are no free practice sessions and a usual setup system, which made it difficult to know what to do. Even more so because I decided to play this first season without reading (ok, sometimes I peeked at) the game's FAQ.

In general, the season was difficult due to Prost's average car and my initial inability, both in racing and in managing staff and sponsors. Everything seemed a bit confusing, but also exciting in this first playthrough. When we weren't making strategic mistakes, the drivers were making them, or they just had a bad day, something that happens to any team. But we also had good moments, scoring points in tricky races, specially those hit by rain. The car evolved well with mechanical parts, driving aids and aerodynamic improvements throughout the year (we even used the car's spec-C in the last races). Funny enough, the others team development, if anything, seemed a bit static, although they would often fluctuate over the course of the year due to different track layouts. Still, it wasn't enough to hit the game's target of 15 points.

From the point of view of staff and infrastructure, I decided to be bold for the future: I spared no expense in building facilities for the factory. As for the drivers, I hired Frentzen and Wurz for 1999. With sponsors and finances, it was much more difficult: until I understood the mechanics of the game of persuading sponsors and what I should do to keep them happy enough, I lost a lot of money. Despite everything, I managed to sign a new works contract with Peugeot and a title sponsorship with Red Bull, but without bonuses for each of them. Other than that, just one regular sponsor. But the lessons were learned in that tough 1998: the following year would certainly be better, with the retention of the competent staff from 1998 and a much better and more reliable pair of drivers, the outlook could only be positive.

The drivers' championship didn't bring any major surprises: as expected, McLaren was far superior, and Hakkinen won by a considerable margin, although Coulthard had his victories, as well as Schumacher, of course, who was always incredibly competent. Benneton's Wurz stood out, beating cars that were equal or better, despite still being more or less of a rookie. Villeneuve, on the other hand, didn't show what he was capable of. As for the teams, the scenario was similar. For our part, we managed to beat the other teams in the middle group, who were as fast or faster (for most of the calendar) than our team. Jordan, in particular, seemed to me to be performing well below expectations. The sweaty little point in the rain that came at the season finale Suzuka gave us 5th place and, with it, a large and welcome sum of prize money from the FIA ​​for 1999.

1998 WDC:

1998 WCC:

And that's it folks, I hope you enjoyed it!

In the next post I'll be back showing what's new in 1999, and how this season unfolded now that I had more experience and confidence in how to play. Spoiler alert: there will be fictitious paintings of the cars according to the changes that took place between sponsors and suppliers.

[lucasfawkes]

1999 Season

The 1999 season had important changes, some of them ridiculously funny, like Ferrari becoming a Mercedes client in terms of engines. But seriously, let's get to them: Ford had announced, at the beginning of the previous season, that it would leave F1, which would affect the weaker teams from 1999 onwards. During the 1998 season, the FIA ​​also announced the rules for 1999, and the main change was the new range for chassis: these would be high range, whatever that means, for that year.

As for the teams, Ferrari, in addition to the bizarre switch to Mercedes engines (which I voluntarily chose to pretend didn't happen), also ended its long and historic commercial partnership with Marlboro, switching to another red cigarette brand, Winfield. McLaren did something similar, dropping the iconic West paint job for a partnership with a clothing brand... from Benetton? Williams stole my master sponsor from the previous year, Gauloises, returning to a typical blue livery.

Check the fantasy liveries here:

[lucasfawkes]

Benetton stole B&H from Jordan, bringing back its yellow paint job from the Camel days. More importantly, the Italian team was looking to its home country for Ferrari's support with strong and reliable engines. As I said in the previous post, I (Prost) signed with Red Bull, then the weakest master sponsor in the game, a real financial downgrade compared to my deal with Gauloises. Jordan seemed to be coming in strong: with sponsorship from West and Mercedes engines, the Irish team was well positioned for 1999.

Attachments:

[lucasfawkes]

Furthermore, it is worth noting how the weaker teams were forced to sign engine contracts with Honda and Mecachrome, making up for Ford's absence. Special mention goes to Arrows, as they somehow managed to steal Marlboro from Ferrari... at least they would have money to take a step forward. (To avoid conflict with previous McLaren and Ferrari liveries they've opted to go with a golden look). Stewart was looking strong too, at least from a financial perspective, basically keeping the same look since 1997. Sauber lost their main sponsor Red Bull, but filled all the sponsors slots, returning to the black livery from the early 90s.

[lucasfawkes]

Finally, Tyrrell returned to its original blue and white, mixing the colors of some of its sponsors, none of them big enough to guide the team's design. Minardi also kept the 1998 identity with some changes. Apparently the team had to negotiate with Honda and Fiat to display both brands on the car.

[lucasfawkes]

As for the drivers, I would say that the surprise was certainly Hakkinen's absence: the current champion did not get the contract renewal he wanted. Or did he want to take a sabbatical? He certainly had not announced his retirement. Besides, the game does not tell us about his status. In the order of teams based on 1998, McLaren seemed well positioned, with Villeneuve and Irvine. Ferrari had lost Schumacher, and this would prove to be a wise decision by the German, as I will explain later. In his place came his then rival Coulthard. What did not make sense was for the team to hire the paying driver Tuero, a rookie and clearly a very weak driver. Williams recovered from the loss of Frentzen by bringing in the most famous compatriot on the grid in Schumacher. Just like Ferrari, however, Williams made the strange move of bringing in a paydriver from the back of the grid. Was it a financial necessity to pay off the hefty bills of hiring Schumi? Benetton was also making a strange move to hire paydrivers, with Rosset alongside the veteran and reliable Alesi. Prost, which I managed, had perhaps the most balanced pairing in the midfield and, I would dare say, better, on average, than some of the top teams. Stewart opted for a safe and experienced duo led by Hill, who had Salo at his side. The same happened with Arrows, which chose Barrichello and Herbert. The team, however, was about to struggle with Hart engines. Tyrrell had an interesting surprise: it hired Montoya, then a Williams rookie and promising CART driver, to make his F1 debut. Alongside him was the paydriver (yet  average/reliable) Pedro Diniz. Minardi, as expected, closed the grid with the weakest pairing, formed by yet another paydriver in Nakano, and the then test driver Sarrazin.

Entry list for the 1999 F1 Season:

Team	Engine	Tyre	Fuel	Drivers
Playlife McLaren Mercedes	Mercedes-Benz (works)	Good Year (works)	Mobil 1 (works)	0 – Jacques Villeneuve     2 – Eddie Irvine                 T – Luca Badoer
Scuderia Ferrari Winfield	Ferrari Mercedes???	Good Year (works)	Shell (works)	3 – David Coulthard          4 – Esteban Tuero            T – Ricardo Zonta
Gauloises Williams F1	Mecachrome (costumer)	Bridgestone (works)	Elf (partner)	5 – Michael Schumacher  6 – Toranosuke Takagi      T – Jörg Müller
Benson and Hedges Benetton F1 Racing Team	Ferrari (costumer)	Bridgestone (works)	Elf (costumer)	7 – Jean Alesi                   8 – Ricardo Rosset           T – Jason Watt
Red Bull Prost Peugeot Grand Prix	Peugeot (works)	Bridgestone (costumer)	Total (partner)	9 – Heinz H. Frentzen       10 – Alexander Wurz        T – none
West Jordan Grand Prix	Mercedes-Benz (partner)	Bridgestone (costumer)	Repsol (costumer)	11 – Olivier Panis             12 – Jarno Trulli               T – none
Team Sauber Formel 1	Peugeot (partner)	Bridgestone (partner)	Agip (partner)	14 – Giancarlo Fisichella  15 – Mario Haberfeld        T – Emmanuel Collard
HSBC Stewart Grand Prix	Mugen-Honda (partner)	Good Year (costumer)	Texaco (partner)	16 – Damon Hill                17 – Mika Salo                  T – Juichi Wakisaka
Marlboro Arrows F1 Team	Hart (costumer)	Bridgestone (partner)	Mobil 1 (partner)	18 – Rubens Barrichello   19 – Johnny Herbert         T – Jan Magnussen
Tyrrell Racing	Mecachrome (costumer)	Bridgestone (costumer)	Shell (works)	20 – Juan Pablo Montoya 21 – Pedro Diniz               T – Andrea Montermini
Minardi Formula One	Mugen-Honda (costumer)	Good Year (costumer)	Agip (costumer)	22 – Shinji Nakano           23 – Stéphane Sarrazin    T – Laurent Redon

[lucasfawkes]

Later in the day I'll write about the 99 season. Stay tuned!

[ferrim]

Great job! Keep it up!

You are playing an updated 1998 game, I assume?

[lucasfawkes]

Nov 13, 2024 19:38:06 GMT 2 ferrim said:

Great job! Keep it up!

You are playing an updated 1998 game, I assume?

Thanks!

Yes, the 1998 mod I've found here, which has for example Villeneuve and other minor changes. But for the 99 season I've also changed the liveries in game. It was actually easier than I've thought. And so I had the idea to draw them in this format that I've posted here too.

[lucasfawkes]

1999 Season summary

The season itself was again difficult, not because of my mistakes, learned from last season, but because my car was poorly made. In this sense, it was quite frustrating, because I thought that, having an average team, but with much better drivers, I could quickly establish myself as the best average team, fighting for podiums. In fact, I got the team's first podium of the season, in Argentina, courtesy of the rain and the game's total inability to pit at the right time (although, at times, the computer also won by betting that the rain would not last long). Frentzen was faster and more reliable, but he also seemed to wear out the car more. But Wurz was almost in no way inferior to his more experienced teammate, on the contrary.

Once I identified the problem with the car, I started to provide massive updates, and the car improved throughout the season, also due to the greater speed that the new facilities built for 1999 gave my technical staff. But, in general, at the beginning of the year, my car was so bad (I think its rating was a little under 40 or 42) that even with a good pair of drivers, qualifying almost always ended with 14th and 15th places. To make matters worse, despite the works contract with Peugeot, I didn't get the R&D bonuses, which means I was at the mercy of the French company giving me engine updates whenever it wanted, and in whatever way it thought best. The same thing with Bridgestone. I didn't know it would be like this when I signed the contracts in 1998, which shows how versatile the game is.

From a financial point of view, I stopped following the strategy of the previous year, trying to please current sponsors and attract new ones. This time, and having read the FAQ, I focused much more on master sponsors, since Peugeot was guaranteed until 2000. I also sought a works contract with Good Year, with R&D bonuses, since tire performance was key at that time. Having good results here and there, I managed to get TV exposure bonuses and similar, which helped me boost my negotiations. I also used my sales staff more wisely to keep Peugeot and Red Bull in particular with a minimum of 3 stars support, since I only realized late in 98 that the drop in support was resulting in lower payments. However, the reality is that, from a financial point of view, my 99 was saved by the high prize money from the FIA ​​given my above the average performance in 98, and also by the much faster and more consistent driver duo bringing great results and not crashing the cars (which of course resulted in higher maintenance and repair costs).

The season itself was quite curious, showing how creative the game is in randomizing the teams' performances. Even Ferrari, with one of the best technical staff, suffered an absurd drop in performance. In fact, they were consistently slower than us, even with Coulthard, Ferrari Mercedes engines and Good Year Works tires. McLaren maintained its lead, but Villeneuve and Irvine missed many chances throughout the year. The surprise, however, was Williams: recovering from a mediocre 1998, the Grove team returned to glory with Schumacher, even though they had to cope with Mecachrome engines. Schumacher certainly had help from his teammate, Takagi, who did not hinder him by taking points, as happened with the McLaren duo. In fact, McLaren threw away so many races that Benetton's Alesi, another surprise, bravely finished second in the WDC!

In the midfield, everything had changed. In fact, teams that had been weak until then, such as Tyrrell and, especially, Arrows, began to challenge the traditional midfielders, such as Jordan and Sauber. Arrows, in particular, was surprising with Barrichello, specially considering the fact that they were running Hart engines. Jordan was (once again) very inconsistent: it even won a difficult race, but, from the middle to the end of the season, it did not keep up with the pace of upgrades. Sauber was also very competent, especially with Fisichella. However, we at Prost capitalized on the inconsistency of our rivals, and on the fact that they generally had very weak number 2 drivers, who did not extract the maximum potential of the car. Thus, with a car with a rating of 50, we were able to challenge average teams with a rating of 70 occasionally. But the truth is that most of our good races still depended on retirements and, mainly, rain. My strategy at the beginning of the year was simple: put on the hard tires and half a tank of gas, keeping a strong pace in the first stint and waiting for the rain to come so we could make one less stop. I also never pushed the cars to the point of risking accidents or mechanical failures.

At the end of the year, Schumacher was winning brilliantly with a good car, although it was certainly slower than the McLarens. As mentioned, Alesi had a great season, also benefiting from a weaker teammate. Irvine showed greatness by overcoming his famous teammate. Takagi had a very weak season for the car he had, being crushed by Schumacher. Fisichella had an excellent campaign with Sauber, as did Barrichello with Arrows. Panis and Trulli showed that they were indeed good drivers, but certainly did not get the most out of the Jordan Mercedes package (I guess it was more on the team side). Wurz and Frentzen, my drivers, had an excellent year, achieving two podiums and solid points, generally the result of good strategy, pace and, of course, a good dose of luck here and there.

1999 FIA F1 World Drivers Championship

Driver	Team	Points
1. Michael Schumacher	Gauloises Williams Mecachrome	84
2. Jean Alesi	Benson & Hedges Benetton Ferrari	66
3. Eddie Irvine	Playlife McLaren Mercedes	62
4. Jacques Villeneuve	Playlife McLaren Mercedes	59
5. Toranosuke Takagi	Gauloises Williams Mecachrome	48
6. Giancarlo Fisichella	Team Sauber Formel 1 Peugeot	20
=. Ricardo Rosset	Benson & Hedges Benetton Ferrari	20
8. Rubens Barrichello	Marlboro Arrows F1 Team Hart	14
9. Olivier Panis	West Jordan Mercedes	13
10. Alexander Wurz	Red Bull Prost Peugeot	10
= . H.H. Frentzen	Red Bull Prost Peugeot	10
= . Jarno Trulli	West Jordan Mercedes	10
-- . Esteban Tuero	Scuderia Ferrari Winfield	0
-- . Pedro Diniz	Tyrrell Racing Mecachrome	0
-- . Damon Hill	HSBC Stewart Mugen-Honda	0
-- . Mario Haberfeld	Team Sauber Formel 1 Peugeot	0
-- . Shinji Nakano	Minardi Team Mugen-Honda	0
-- . Juan Pablo Montoya	Tyrrell Racing Mecachrome	0
-- . Stephane Sarrazin	Minardi Team Mugen-Honda	0
-- . Mika Salo	HSBC Stewart Mugen-Honda	0
-- . Johnny Herbert	Marlboro Arrows F1 Team Hart	0
-- .  David Coulthard	Scuderia Ferrari Winfield	0

In the constructors' championship, Williams also managed to steal the title from a humiliated McLaren. But perhaps the biggest humiliation was Ferrari, which simply had its worst season in history, scoring zero points. Benetton had a solid third place, maintaining the momentum seen since the early 90s. Jordan, Prost and Sauber were in the middle of the pack, along with Arrows. Stewart, despite a good technical and driver package, simply lacked pace throughout the year. Tyrrell surprised in some races, but was always unlucky with breakdowns and accidents. Minardi closed the pack again.

1999 FIA F1 World Constructors Championship

Team	Points
1. Gauloises Williams Mecachrome	132
2. Playlife McLaren Mercedes	121
3. Benson & Hedges Benetton Ferrari	86
4. West Jordan Mercedes	23
5. Red Bull Prost Peugeot	20
=. Team Sauber Formel 1 Peugeot	20
7. Marlboro Arrows F1 Team Hart	14
8. Scuderia Ferrari Winfield	0
9. HSBC Stewart Mugen-Honda	0
10. Tyrrell Racing Mecachrome	0
11. Minardi Team Mugen-Honda	0

For the year 2000, the scenario seemed, this time, really better for us at Prost. With the renewal of the driver duo and finally having a top staff, in addition to excellent contracts with sponsors (B&H with all bonuses and fixed payment) and suppliers (Peugeot and Good Year work deals) and the expansion of the factory, I feel ready to compete for podiums more regularly, perhaps even finish in the top 3. The biggest lesson learned this year was that, before having a good driver duo, it is necessary to seriously invest in designers and engineers. Even mediocre drivers like Takagi can get poles and podiums with a good Williams. The question is, again, to know how much the new FIA rules will affect the performance of the cars. The Ferrari case scares me, but hey, it is not possible that our car will be poorly designed AGAIN. We will see!

P.S.: I hope you like the paintings I made. Most of the time I tried to stick to what the aesthetics of the 90s were like, respecting traditional colors etc.

[ferrim]

What the hell happened to Ferrari? Did they fire some key personnel in 1998? That happens sometimes, and means their car for the following year is absolutely terrible.

[lucasfawkes]

Nov 14, 2024 11:13:26 GMT 2 ferrim said:

What the hell happened to Ferrari? Did they fire some key personnel in 1998? That happens sometimes, and means their car for the following year is absolutely terrible.

Now that you've mentioned that I checked a save from late 98 and yes, Ferrari were at that time running with Rory Byrne (design), Nigel Stepney (mechanics), Stefano Domenicali (commercial), but no one at the engineering department. Wow! Some real trouble there lol

But for 2000 yes, they have a chief engineer running the place... and also recruited Montoya from Tyrrell... some great things coming Ferrari's way?