1990 Pre-Season related RNG:
First, let's start with the teams and engines related things
First RNG is for Zakspeed - The team has built an evolution of the 89 car, although they lack some of the budget required to go into the 1990 season, Yamaha is keen to have a platform to keep developing their F1 engine
1-95 : Zakspeed don't find the budget to get into the grid in 1990 and the team folds after a few winter tests
96-100: Yamaha chips in some money and the team decides to go ahead with their F1 program.
After some hesitation, the German team decide their time in Formula 1 has come to an end. That leaves Yamaha without a partner for the 1990 season
Next is Rial.
Despite having avoided Pre-Qualifying for 1989, the team failed to score any points and often both cars ended up not qualifying for the races anyway.
Rial wants to avoid as much expenditure in Formula 1, but there's still some options left.
1-90: Rial pulls out completely
91-96: Rial partners with FIRST racing and both teams embark in a join venture for 1990.
97-100: FIRST buys Rial assets and blueprints for the ARC-3 and Rial remains as a sponsor.
Negotiations don't come to anything meaningful and Rial closes their F1 operation. This also ends once and for all FIRST hopes of getting into F1
Finally, there's AGS. Having been stuck the whole of 1989 in Pre-Qualifying has been a major financial blow for the french squad. However, french sponsors are still interested in the team, they still have their facilities, and a competent driver pairing, so there's still a chance that the team survives into 1990.
1-60: AGS sadly decide to close their F1 team and focus on other business
61-100: The team finds the means to continue in F1
AGS will form part of the grid in 1990, with Gabriele Tarquini and Yannick Dalmas still at the wheel
Now, on the engine side, Lamborghini is coming into F1 with a new engine. Larrousse were quick to sign a deal with the Modena maker for their new V12 engine. Now, they can supply up to two teams and some other teams are interested in this deal.
1-35 - Brabham get the Lamborghini as they feel Judd is not giving the team equal treatment to Leyton House
36-70 - The new Japanese ownership at Footwork Arrows craft together a deal
71-100 - Gitanes comes up with the money first and Lamborghini go fully to french teams
Footwork Arrows get Lamborghini engines for 1990
Now, let's move on to the driver market
The key piece in this driver market is Alain Prost
The triple world champion has two serious proposals
1-69: Ferrari comes with more money, John Barnard and semi-automatic gearboxes
70-100: Williams comes with more frenchness, thanks to Renault and Elf
Alain Prost signs a deal with Williams for 1990 onwards!
Ferrari decide to keep Gerhard Berger as result of the failed negotiations.
Now, who will line up along Ayrton Senna at McLaren?
1-69: Ron Dennis and Marlboro want Gerhard Berger, even if it might be a bit difficult to poach him from Ferrari
70-85: Honda would like to promote Satoru Nakajima to their best team
86-99: Ayrton Senna would feel most comfortable with Thierry Boutsen
100: Jonathan Palmer is a trusty reserve driver and gets the nod
Money rules and Philip Morris get what they want. Now, can they really poach Berger from Ferrari?
1-85: Philip Morris make a bank transfer to Italy for an undisclosed amount and Berger packs for the UK
86-100: Ferrari find themselves in a corner after their terrible reliability problems from 1989 and know they can trust Berger to continue developing the car, so they show Ron Dennis the finger
Money talks, Berger will partner Senna in 1990
Now, who's going to partner Prost at Williams?
Thierry Boutsen has had a great 1989 season with the team, but there's rumours that Patrese has more trust from the engineers and from Canon, who pay for a lot of things
1-55: Thierry Boutsen partners Prost
56-100: Riccardo Patrese stays
It's clear that there's full trust in Patrese and Boutsen is given the boot
Now, on to Lotus
The 1989 season has seen a win from Piquet and three unvelievable wins from Nakajima, aided in no doubt by Ferrari's lack of reliability and Honda's power.
The team has great plans for 1990; being able to keep Honda power as long as they employ Satoru, which the team is keen to do
Some up and coming company called Coca-Cola and also BP are very close to signing sponsorship deals for 1990 with Lotus, which would help the shortcoming in chassis development, as seen in the races where the team failed to be close to the front
It looks though as chairman Fred Bushell has been involved in the past in some sort of scandal
1-85: The involvement of Fred Bushell in the Delorean scandal is uncovered and Bushell goes to prison
86-100: The judge finds nothing against Bushell and the rumours are quickly swept under the rug
Lotus chairman is sent to prison and the matter gets a very public shout in the international press
Also, Peter Warr leaves the team following the aftermath. Peter Collins is the new boss around
Now, regarding the drivers
Nelson Piquet is happy at Lotus, but can already see the lack of technical prowess the team once was already famous for and has a juicy offer from Benetton, with Ford happily paying for a driver of his caliber
What does he do?
1-55: Continues at Lotus for 1990
56-100: Takes Ford money
There's no doubt in Nelson's mind that he should stay at Lotus
Now, there's the elephant in the room, Ferrari, having been left without their preferred choice AND their backup choice to partner Nigel Mansell
There's certainly a plethora of drivers who'd gladly drive for Ferrari
1-50: Alessandro Nannini is the choice (2nd RNG to determine if he actually leaves Benetton)
51-100: Second RNG
This means we go back to Benetton, who certainly need someone to partner up with Nannini
1-60: Thierry Boutsen is called back
61-90: Emanuele Pirro did a good job in place of Herbert and deserves a full season
91-100: Alfonso de Vinuesa's performances call Briatore's attention
Boutsen gladly comes back to the team
Now, who will receive the call from Maranello?
1-74: Emanuele Pirro has had decent results in the final part of 1989 and has testing experience with none other than McLaren, so he seems the right choice
75-84: Andrea de Cesaris seems now mature enough for the seat
85-90: but Alex Caffi shows more promise for the future than de Cesaris
91-95: Alfonso de Vinuesa's qualifying performances come to mind of the people at Maranello
96-100: Roberto Moreno developed the problematic gearbox and proved at Coloni he's ready
Whoever it is the fortunate driver, it is only a one year deal
it's our friend Andrea
This means Pirro automatically goes to Scuderia Italia
in hindsight, I should have also included Alboreto
but we'll pretend he shared chances with Pirro
Now, on to Alfonso de Vinuesa
Alfonso doesn't seem to have many options, after the game of musical chairs up the grid ended up with bigger fish getting the valued placement
Brabham is keen to have de Vinuesa on for 1990
But Footwork Arrows also show an interest
1-81: Alfonso de Vinuesa gets the undisputed leader role at Brabham
82-100: Goes to Footwork Arrows to partner Alboreto
Alfonso stays at Brabham for 1990
On to Tyrrell
Tyrrell look to have signed a big sponsorship deal with Rothmans, as pictures surfaced in the press
This would secure the team financially for the foreseeable future, as it is a 3 year deal
Now, Rothmans might be having cold feet, feeling they should try to enter F1 with an even bigger name
1-85: Rothmans back off and Tyrrell are left in the dry
86-100: Rothmans sign on the dotted line
Very last minute Rothmans withdraw their support
Still, Tyrrell is spoiled for choice when it comes for a driver to partner Alesi
1-45: Derek Warwick gets the deal to mix experience and youth
46-69: Martin Donnelly gets the seat after being left out of Lotus
70-84: Johnny Herbert favours a year at Tyrrell before trying to win the F3000 championship
85-96: Stefano Modena is called after leading Eurobrun somewhat competently
97-100: Marco Apicella is chosen in a gamble for youth after a very good 1989 in F3000
Martin Donnelly will partner Jean Alesi!
This means Derek Warwick will retain his seat at Footwork Arrows, giving the Lamborghini engine deal a vote of confidence, since he wants to move up the order in F1
Now, who will fill the second Brabham seat alongside de Vinuesa, now that Brundle has gone back to sportscars?
1-70: Stefano Modena will partner de Vinuesa again
71-100: David Brabham is offered the seat, since it would be great publicity for the team
A familiar pairing at Brabham for 1990
There's still 4 seats left
Luis Perez-Sala has some offers from small teams to continue in F1, mainly from Eurobrun and Osella
1-89: Sala leaves F1, as he doesn't want to struggle in Pre-Qualifying
90-95: Signs for Osella
96-100: Signs for Eurobrun
Luis Perez-Sala will partner Roberto Moreno at Eurobrun
Dallara needs someone to partner Pirro
1-95: Alex Caffi keeps the seat
96-100: Erik Comas is relied upon
Osella needs someone to partner Olivier Grouillard; and they offer the job to Bernd Schneider
1-60: Bernd Schneider accepts, as it seems his only option for the year
61-100: The German declines, thinking it'd be better to wait for a bigger opportunity
Osella gets a strong pairing in Schneider and Grouillard
Last seat for grabs is at Coloni-Subaru
The team would prefer an italian driver to partner Bertrand Gachot
1-50: Claudio Langes coughs up the dough
51-64: Antonio Tamburini gets the seat
65-77: Marco Apicella gets the drive
78-92: Fabrizio Giovinardi is the chosen one
93-97: Fulvio Ballabio gets the money first
99-100: Guido Daccò will make his F1 debut at 42
Claudio Langes was the most serious about getting the seat for the small italian team
