First of all, let me say I'm really sorry. Yes, if there was something that the world was not needing right now, was the 748th version, revision and reimagining of the 1994 Formula 1 season, as another alternative Grand Prix 2 1994 Carset. It's nothing less that preposterous that this still keeps going. Anyway,
I'm afraid that the idea that ocurred me was still not represented in previous carsets so I could not keep it to myself. I'm really sorry for bothering the world this way.
I have this book "Schumacher - The Life of the New Formula 1 Champion", by Timothy Collings, which covers until the end of the 1994 season. There are several good pieces of information about Schumacher and his surroundings - things that are seldom discussed today, as this is now old history. (Like the view that Frentzen got bad advice in his road to F1.) One of those pieces, very hard to find on the internet, says that during the weekend of the 1993 Hungarian GP there were rumours that Senna would somehow consider a move to Benetton in 1994, in order to pressure Williams into signing him. The book adds that, somehow, that talk contributed to an erratic on-track performance by Schumacher during the weekend.
So I considered this alternative scenario. What if, for some absurd reason, Senna actually signed for Benetton for 1994?
- What if the French engine maker Renault was so enthused by the idea of taking the French quasi 4-four time world champion Alain Prost to the 5th title, equalling Fangio for the very first time, that they challenged Prost to stay for 1994?
- What if Frank Williams was so dependent on Renault and so faithful to his idea that the car is the priority rather than the driver, and complied with the Renault request, keeping Prost and Hill for 1994?
- What if Ford, so happy with Senna's performances and work in early 1993 season, became eager to have him in its oficial team for 1994?
- What if Ford, the American brand, always with an ambitious and irreverent way of working and thinking, decided to have Senna onboard in its oficial team to reinforce its brand worldwide? And pairing the great Brazilian with the up and coming dynamic young German already in the team? With no "European" considerations about having a Top Driver and a sidekick, and going for two Top Drivers?
- What if Flavio Briatore got rammed by a truck (or lorry, for those of you who are reading me from Britain) while driving in a bustling Italian road and got severely injured, unable to run Benetton from July 1993 onwards, for several months, or years, or ever?
Honestly, it doesn't seem so weird. So, here you have it. This 1994 carset has minimal changes to the vanilla one:
- Senna is in car number 6 and has the exact same Random Grip Range of Schumacher. (Verstappen does not debut.)
- Prost is in car number 2, as in 1993 (unfortunately, GP2 has no number 1...). I give Prost, Hill's vanilla grip; and Hill, Coulthard's vanilla grip.
- For the sake of it, Ratzenberger is in his car number 32, with Gounon's grip.
- And, following the same thinking, Pedro Lamy is in his car number 11, with Zanardi's grip. Hence we have the drivers that performed in the Brazilian GP, but with Prost instead of Verstappen.
Could you win the vanilla game in Ace mode with "Selected Team Power" and selecting either Senna or Schumacher, quarreling against a 16384 AI driver as your team mate and having only 750 HP at your disposal during the race?
Lots of questions. Once again, I'm really sorry for wasting your time. Have fun!
