Rumoured/possible driver moves which did not happen?

Racing events, drivers, cars or anything else from the past.
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OSNOF
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#46

Post by OSNOF »

Bottom post of the previous page:

kals wrote:The last rumour I remember involving JV was that a new ChampCar team was being setup for him by Craig Pollock, probably for 2004 which was when JV lost his BAR drive in F1.
That ChampCar team did happen (PK Racing), but it happened in 2003, when JV was still under contract to BAR. By the time he was let go, Pollock had left the team, and he was replaced by Dan Pettit and Jimmy Vasser, the team being renamed PKV Racing.
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#47

Post by Andy »

futuretiger9 wrote:
Everso Biggyballies wrote:Stefan Bellof was wanted by McLaren..... He did test for them, along with Brundle and Senna, and impressed, but Rothmans, who sponsored the Porsche he was driving in WSC, vetoed Bellof from driving with any team sponsored by a tobacco company, so the deal fell over. Then the sudden availability of Alain Prost knocked any further chance or negotiation of chances of a drive with the team.
It was strongly rumoured that Bellof was going to Ferrari for the '86 season. It is thought that Enzo Ferrari had earmarked the German driver for an F1 seat. Discussions were already under way before the fateful weekend at Spa....

In a similar vein, I read somwhere recently that Ferrari had made an approach to Francois Cevert to drive for them in 1974. At the time of course, Francois did not know that he was set to take over Jackie Stewart's mantle at the end of '73, and may have been looking to establish himself elsewhere as a No.1 driver.
Bellofs former manager and close friend Rainer Braun revealed in his Bellof biography that Bellof already signed at Ferrari for 1986.
I am just looking for the corresponding lines in said book.
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#48

Post by futuretiger9 »

Two other drivers who almost joined Ferrari for 1974 were Peter Revson and Jean-Pierre Jarier.

In early 1975, Ronnie Peterson (Lotus) and Tom Pryce (Shadow) almost swapped teams....
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#49

Post by Andy »

found it ...
Image
Source: "Stefan Bellof-Eine viel zu kurze Karriere" by Braun/Kräling, p.130
Die Begeisterung über ein anderes Thema behält er lieber für sich: Unter strengster Geheimhaltung wurde im Juli in Monaco ein Vertrag mit Ferrari für 1986 perfekt gemacht.
my crumpled translation tries says:
The enthusiasm on another topic he keeps to himself: Under highest level of secrecy he signed a contract with Ferrari for 1986 at Monaco in July
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#50

Post by xavier28 »

I remember a reading that Paul Tracy from champcar was going to test for Beneton in the mis 90's buti never heard anymore on it!

Does anyone remember?
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#51

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xavier28 wrote:I remember a reading that Paul Tracy from champcar was going to test for Beneton in the mis 90's buti never heard anymore on it!

Does anyone remember?
Image February 1994 : Silverstone

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Post by futuretiger9 »

Andy wrote:
my crumpled translation tries says:
The enthusiasm on another topic he keeps to himself: Under highest level of secrecy he signed a contract with Ferrari for 1986 at Monaco in July
I presume that Johansson would have been forced to make way, or was Alboreto reaching the end of his contract at that point?
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#53

Post by Andy »

futuretiger9 wrote:
Andy wrote:
my crumpled translation tries says:
The enthusiasm on another topic he keeps to himself: Under highest level of secrecy he signed a contract with Ferrari for 1986 at Monaco in July
I presume that Johansson would have been forced to make way, or was Alboreto reaching the end of his contract at that point?
I guess it would have been Jonhansson since he just replaced Arnoux for the reminder of the 85 season.
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#54

Post by kals »

Seppi wrote:
xavier28 wrote:I remember a reading that Paul Tracy from champcar was going to test for Beneton in the mis 90's buti never heard anymore on it!

Does anyone remember?
Image February 1994 : Silverstone

Seppi
I thought Tracy actually tested the Benetton at Estoril late in the year. I'll have to double check that. Anyway, as the story goes Tracy turns up for the test and before getting into the car a contract for the following season (and subsequent years) was thrust into hands and he was told to sign it. It was considered by his manager and Tracy was told not to sign it as it was not good for Tracy in anyway. The test was also a disappointment as Paul was given very old tyres to use, and never got a decent / fair try out/
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#55

Post by futuretiger9 »

Another CART/Indycar driver to be linked to F1 teams was Al Unser junior. He was mentioned in connection with possible moves to both Williams and Benetton in the early 1990s. I know he tested a Williams, but did he also try out a Benetton-Ford at some stage?
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#56

Post by theracer120 »



There's an interesting anecdote at around 11:20 from Mike Raymond that I'd never heard... apparently A.J. Foyt had an agreement to drive a Holden Torana in the '77 Bathurst 1000 alongside John Harvey (presumably for the Holden Dealer Team) but nothing ever came of it because A.J. wanted to have a look over the car before the race and it was never sent to him. That would have been a pretty cool story had it happened... I imagine he could have done alright too, he was quite strong in NASCAR on the road courses and he did have that Le Mans win so adapting to the Torana shouldn't have been too much of a problem.
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#57

Post by Puhis »

Certainly a possible driver move that didn't happen: Jari Nurminen to Arrows or Coloni, 1987/88. He was the test driver for Arrows in 1986, while competing in F3000. He later achieved some success at WSC. Snippets from a 2014 interview at F1-areena.fi:
Q: How much did it affect your career when you couldn't get top equipment in F3000?
A: Everything depended on that. It was all purely due to money. I had to drive with 25% of the budget when compared to Capelli, Pirro, Moreno, Gugelmin, Lehto, Alesi, Bernad, Danielsson, Herbert, Cauchon, Tarquini, Weidler, Campos... and so on. We couldn't buy the best engines or test more than 10% of what these top drivers tested. We did test - whether the speed was due to me or the equipment. For example in 1986 at Monza Ivan Capelli tested with me. He won the F3000 championship that year and later drove for Ferrari in F1. I was 0.6 seconds faster than him on that day, even though we took turns for the entire day behind the wheel. Both maybe 60 laps, so it was not just 2-lap qualifying runs. The series was just so tough during those days that there was no chance without being in a top team with high-end equipment. There were over 50 cars enter, with at best a dozen F3 champions. I was twice fastest in practice and if I remember correctly, my best race finish was 7th. I believe that with better equipment, I could've won just like the others did.

Q: How did it feel to test the Arrows F1 car for the first time?
A: The power was great, but I was surprised at how easy it was to drive. F1 car was a lot easier and steadier than the F3000. You really had to drive fast and on the limit the entire time with an F3000, whereas you couldn't do that with a turbocharged F1 - you had to "wait" in the corners instead. On the straight however, the pace was quite different. We had 1200bhp at best, so it didn't really matter which gear you were on, the car was flying.

Q: Why didn't you get an F1 drive in the end?
A: Only reason was AKK (Finnish motorsport federation). I had a signed contract with both Arrows, and next year with Coloni, but both years AKK turned down my superlicense opportunity. I also had the funding that those contracts required. Arrows liked my testing efforts while Coloni knew me from my F3000 days and was there, when I beat Capelli at Monza and held me in high regard because of that. Capelli was back then regarded as Italy's #1 formula/open-wheeler driver.
So: Nurminen was supposed to drive for either Arrows (presumably in 1987) or Coloni (1988). Shot down due to AKK being idiots. Personal note: In Finnish, Jari comes across as not very humble, but also very honest. But it's also a period-piece of interesting information, especially regarding both Arrows and Coloni being highly interested in Nurminen's services. I'm also rather curious about his funding; didn't get much in F3000 days, but later on had secure financing for an F1 drive? That's interesting. Not saying there's anything shady, it's just interesting. Finnish drivers, as I assume is the case with a lot of drivers around the world, don't really get sponsorship easily unless they already have proven themselves at a rather high level.

As a translator's note, some of the sentences were written in a fashion that was rather unorthodox. Not wrong, just different phrasing and punctuation that one would see in a professional publication or even what I'd use. However, since this is an interview, I tried to use similar phrases and keep the text true to the feel of the original. Not sure how well I did in that, but I tried.
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#58

Post by Antonov »

There were rumours that Raikkonen would drive at Mercedes F1 in 2010, after being sacked by Ferrari mid 2009.
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Post by DoubleFart »

Initial talks took place in 2009 to enter Valentino Rossi into the Italian GP, but it was decided that it was too much of a risk given the lack of testing time available to familiarise Rossi with the dog, sorry, F60..
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#60

Post by kals »

Antonov wrote: 6 years ago There were rumours that Raikkonen would drive at Mercedes F1 in 2010, after being sacked by Ferrari mid 2009.
I don't remember that, I do remember Kimi being linked with almost every team through his stint in WRC.
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#61

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

He was linked, how seriously I dont recall, when Merc ultimately chose to bring Schumacher out of retirement..... but yes he name was mentioned in relation to a lot of teams, including I seem to recall a long shot at a return to McLaren. But there is a lot of disparity between actual fact and what we read online! :wink:
Actually Toyota was another team he was supposedly offered a seat at to replace Glock. but knocked it back as he wanted a car capable of winning! And the money wasnt right. Not to mention they threw the towel in at the end of 2009..

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