THE PERFECT GRID

Pick your all time perfect grid.....

The Minardi apparel, Honda-Mclaren possibility and Kimi returning to Williams threads got me to thinking, what would be my favourite all time grid if all past drivers and teams were at their optimum ?

Who would you love to see driving 2012 cars utilizing teams and drivers from any era ? Select your favourite drivers and your favourite teams.

13 teams, 26 drivers. Who would you select and what team would you place them in as drivers for 2012 if you were Bernie's CEO, perpetual FIA uber-God and then some... (ie; Fangio and Kubica in the latest Zakspeed 012...).

And of course, they don't have to be celebrated as the best, just your particular favorites of both team and driver are fine. Verstappen and Trulli in the revised 2012 Forti will work ..... Throw in an unlikely chassis-engine combination if you're so inclined.

If you're an F1 nut, this should be difficult but fun.

Let's see what you come up with. I haven't picked my own yet (I'll probably have more than a few weird ones...) but I'd be interested to know what the Fchat Usual Suspects F1 crew comes up with.... .

 

Difficult!.... Dayum girl! Closer to impossible.....

I'd have to set up a few of the all time "what if" teammate battles all down the grid; Say, Ayrton & Jimmy in Minardis (nee STR). Michael & Fangio would have to be in Ferraris. JYS & the Professor - Tyrrell or Mclaren. After that I'd *really* need to get the records out and start thinking!

Great question though - This could run & run

Cheers,
Ian

 

Can you imagine the possibilities...?

I thought it might be easier to design my perfect grid, but it's tough to narrow it down, isn't it ? I keep debating one team's merits over another and factory vs. privateer. The other issue I've run into is if it would be correct to enter two of what was essentially the same team, ie March and Leyton House or Toleman and/or Benetton. Hmm..

Drivers alone are difficult enough.....

 

Some of my dream team:

- Porsche with Dan Gurney
- Lotus with Clark and Siffert
- Ligier powered by Matra driven by Pironi and Laffite
- Brabham powered by a BMW turbo driven by Piquet I
- JPS Lotus with a Cossie with Fittipaldi
- Renault turbo with Arnoux and Prost
- ground effect Williams with Jones
- turbo Williams with Rosberg
- V6 turbo Ferrari with Villeneuve I
- Toleman with Senna
- Tyrrell with Bellof
- Benetton with Schumacher I

 

Perfect Grid.

 

Or not!.... Seems you've more or less silenced some of the most opinionated and vociferous folk on here!

Difficult?!.... Hell yeah! - I'm not even sure it can be done!.... FWIW, there have been 122 *constructors* over the years - This doesn't count customer cars in the early days (thru the early 80's) so I would guess can be pretty much doubled if we talk entrants rather than constructors. I also learnt there have been 857 GP's and 800 drivers (Danny Boy became the 800th at Silverstone this year). Data as of Abu Dhabi 2011 btw.

I was going to suggest that we may be better coming up with 26 drivers and then plug them into the 2012 cars, but that's a *long* way from the perfect grid - No Matra V12's for example, and I can't have that! Then I thought only WDC's should make the grid but that would eliminate Gilles, and I can't have that either!......

I dunno! - Difficult indeed - So much so that nobody's given it a real shot in over a hundred views - Unless everyone is pouring over their record books right now. By which I mean Wikipedia of course - The F1 sections alone there make a donation to Wikipedia worthwhile IMO.

I think I'm gonna try and come up with 13 teams first and then plug the drivers into 'em as I see fit. What a time sink!

Cheers,
Ian

 

Bernie wouldn't like it! There's only 15 guys lining up, and he can't have that!

"Must do better!"

Cheers,
Ian

 

Great lineup, Andreas!

 

Ok, we can add in Patrese, Andrea De Crashres, Eddie Cheever, Ivan Capelli, and a few others. Although Chris Amon and Jacky Ickx would compliment this grid.

 

OK, my 02c in no particular order;

1. Ferrari F1-2004 - Michael & Fangio. Lets answer that question once & for all!
2. Mclaren MP4/4 - Gilles & Jimmy. Say no more.
3. RBR7 - Fred & Niki. Who's better?
4. Williams 15c [Active suspension] - Donohue & Prost. Both engineers.
5. Maserati 250f - Ascari & Seb. Should be fun.
6. Ligier JS5 Matra V12 - Black Jack & NPK Snr. Dunno why really.
7. Lotus 78 - Mario & JYS
8. BMW Kablamo turbo - Kimi & Mika. "Let 'em at it!"
9. Brabham ground FX - Montoya & Fittipaldi #1. Both damn quick.
10. Tyrell anything - Peterson & Rindt. Both super talented.
11. Vanwall whatever - Farina & Keke. [A quick pairing.]
12. Early Honda - Surtees & Lewis (! )
13. BRM V16 - Hill snr. & Hulme. Another cool pairing.

Now that would be one helluva grid.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Ferrari: J Villeneuve and Ickx
Alfa: Fangio and Nuvolari
Tyrrell: Jackie Stewart and Michele Alboreto
Lotus: Rindt and Clark
Benetton: Schumacher and Boutsen
Williams: Jones and Mansell
Brabham: Piquet and Lauda
Ligier: Pironi and Lafitte
Renault: Prost and Kubica
Mc Laren: Senna and Hamilton
Hesketh: Hunt
Red Bull: Vettel and Alonso
Mercedes: Hakkinen and Carraciola

All of them off course with 1.5 turbo charged engines, wide slicks, 200cm wide and qualifying tyres.
I think this would make an interesting grid ...

 

Ferrari - G. Villeneuve and M. Schumacher
Tyrrell - Stewart and Alesi
Lotus - Clark and Andretti
McLaren - Senna and Hunt
Mercedes - Fangio and Button
BRM - G. Hill and Moss
Renault - Prost and Alonso
Brabham - Gurney and Brabham
Benetton - Piquet and Nannini
Red Bull - Vettel and Lauda
Alfa Romeo - Ascari and Farina
Jaguar - Hawthorn and Peterson
March - Rindt and Hakkinen

 

26 Yuji Ides in Jaguars.

Lots of crashes and a bad car which nobody is going to cry for when it's crashed and run by a big corporation with deep pockets to fix them when necessary.

 

Here goes my shot.... dream grid 2012

1. Ferrari - Schumacher / Nouvalari / Lauda
2. Mclaren - Bruce Mclaren / Dan Gurney
3. Matra/ Tyrrel - Jackie Stewart / Vettle
4. BRM - G Hill / D Hill
5. Renault - Alain Prost / Ayrton Senna
6. Auto Union ( Audi ) Reuteman / Cracciciolla
7. Mercedes - JM Fangio / Stirling Moss
8. Brabham BMW - Jack Brabham / Nelson Piquet
9. Lotus -Jim Clark / Emmerson Fittipaldi / Andretti
10 Williams - Alan Jones / Nigel Mansell
11 Bugatti - Gilles Villeneuve / Jaques Villeneuve

 

I've avoided checking out anyone else's list before posting my own, but now I see there are a few names that are recurring... . Never thought about the updated version of the exact car specification either, but that's a fine idea. Turbos and V-16s, why not?

I wonder if there's a computer game where you could race your perfect grid and on your perfect list of tracks? Christmas gift for me that one...

I went with as many nationalities as I could along with a few personal favourites I'd want to see next season.

Might not be the perfect grid, but it's MY perfect grid. Surprisingly, no place for Mario, Shunt or either Rosberg (maybe they'll grab a ride when silly season begins...) and a few teams that are extremely creative thinking...have to think of paint schemes next......

No sponsor names for teams either, bothers me no end, although Benetton and Red Bull are naturals. 13 different manufacturers and powerplants were a must.

1. Ferrari -- Fangio /Alonso

2. Honda -- Senna/Kobayashi

3. Williams Porsche -- Mansell/Jones

4. Lamborghini -- Raikkonen/P. Rodriguez

5. BMW Sauber -- Montoya/Kubica

6. Renault -- Prost/Ickx

7. Mercedes-Benz-Tyrrell -- M. Schumacher/Hakkinen

8. McLaren-Peugeot -- Hulme/Hamilton

9. Lotus-Toyota -- Clark/Warwick

10. Brabham-Alfa Romeo -- Lauda/Ascari

11. Wolf-Matra -- G. Villeneuve/Alesi

12. Toleman-Cosworth-Ford -- Stewart/Vettel

13. Eagle-Ilmor-Chevrolet -- Gurney/Ginther

 

Well there is Grand Prix III for the PC. It was the last one that could be truly hacked, err modified. All those cars, drivers and liveries are out there. Problem is that the game only allows one body shape per season (same for the physics model).

 

And have them race at Monaco so all the cars would have diamonds in the nose. I'll volunteer and become a course worker at the first corner and inevitably become a very rich man.

 

Part 2 is the perfect grid sans WDCs AND WCC winners.

Possibly less difficult, but a boon for Boutsen and Ensign fans....

 

Level of difficulty depends on whether WDC/WCC winners pertains only to one particular year or overall for the history of F1. In which case teams like Ferrari and McLaren are out of the equation. However if you go by year,then obviously pretty much all teams are back in.

Anyway, going by the interpretation of never having won the WDC/WCC, here some of my candidates:

Gurney in the Porsche
Siffert in a Surtees
Surrer/Boutsen in the Arrows
Borgudd/Winkelhock in the ATS
Regazzoni in the Ensign
Pironi/Laffite in the Ligier
Warwick in the Toleman
Stuck in the Wolf
Gartner in the Osella
Nannini in the Larrouse Lambo
Schneider in the Zakspeed
Alboreto in the Footwork/Porsche
Schumi II in the Jordan
Kobiyashi in the Sauber
Alesi in the Prost/Ferrari
Weber in a Minardi
BADoer in a Forti/Ford
Herbert in a Stewart
Kubica in a BMW

 

WCC has to exclude past winners no matter what year. But remember, your car can be anything you want it to be, even something as preposterous as a Coloni-Subaru.....


Hey, wait a second....

 

How about Foitek in a Colani

Or better yet:

Simona de Silvestro in a Monteverdi/Chevrolet

Swiss Trifecta!