Hello and welcome to another round of Scrub Era RNG! This one will be the real acid test of the First Choice First system I think, and is sure to have some intriguing outcomes.
First up is
Jean Alesi. The young Frenchman has three offers: Benetton are offering slightly more money, but McLaren are offering the best car on the grid. Leyton House are offering neither of those things
1-40 - Benetton
41-50 - Leyton House
51-100 - McLaren
59 - The 1989 International F3000 Champion is called straight into the World Champion team. Huge for his career.
Next up,
Philippe Alliot has an offer from Ligier. This is the de facto French national team, and he accepts. He's a Tier B pay driver, which means the range is between 100k and 300k. He brings
£115,000.
The almost-retired
René Arnoux has an offer. He has said he would unretire for a potentially race-winning drive. He has asked for a salary of a bit over a quarter-million pounds. So naturally, AGS has asked him to drive for free.
1 - René Arnoux is very drunk when he answers the phone
2-100 - But still not drunk enough to confuse AGS with "McLaren-Honda"
56 - Arnoux retires for good.
Next up we have
Paolo Barilla. We know up front how much money he's bringing - it's an eye-watering £475,000. He has offers from two absolute giants of the sport: EuroBrun and Zakspeed.
1-45 - As an Italian, it has to be EuroBrun
46-100 - He's heard about the Marlboro money and wants a piece of the action
10 - Huge money for the tiny team.
Next up,
Gerhard Berger has a single offer on the table. Tyrrell has offered him £305,000. A little bit under the odds for the Austrian, and a bit of a drop down the grid from Ferrari.
1-90 - A bad offer is still better than no offer
91-100 - Perhaps another team will give him what he asks for
44 - Berger signs on the dotted line.
Enrico Bertaggia has a single offer for his questionable talents, from the Monteverdi team. He
accepts and takes his fat stack of cash to
scenic Switzerland the industrial estate in Beeston where Middlebridge operates the team from.
Rookie
Mark Blundell has two offers on the table. One of them is from Fondmetal, who want him to pay money for his drive. The other is from Lamborghini, who want to pay him for his drive to the tune of £120,000
A paid gig with a works team is huge for a rookie and he
accepts without need for RNG.
Anyway, we move on to the two drivers who have offers from First Life Racing Engines. They are
David and
Geoff Brabham. I know Baker wrote Gary, but Gary doesn't exist so we presume it to be a clerical error as there's only one G. Brabham to be found. Both drivers accept, but how much money will they bring?
David is drawn as a Tier C pay driver - that range is between 50k and 150k. RNGesus blesses him with
£92,000.
Geoff is drawn as a Tier B pay driver, and RNGesus blesses him with an eye-watering
£281,000. That will help First, but will it be enough to see them survive the pre-season?
Ivan Capelli now, and he has two near-matching offers on the table. The only difference is between the teams who've offered them: it's 160 grand each from Minardi and Scuderia Italia.
1-50 - Goes for Minardi
51-100 - Chooses Scuderia Italia
4 - History will forget that he so much as had a second offer.
Next up is speedy rookie
Erik Comas. He has offers from both AGS and Minardi, which are implicitly entry-level seats.
1-60 - Follows the French connection (with the full support of Elf)
61-100 - Instead chooses the team that happens to be far better run
37 - Comas knows which side his baguette is buttered. But how thickly buttered will it be? He brings
£109,000, which isn't bad for C-Tier.
Christian Danner has a single offer; it comes from Rial, and appears to be good for £150,000.
He accepts it without RNG.
Now for a big one:
Andrea de Cesaris is bringing a startling £480,000 to the table. Five teams have jumped at it, and they are: Benetton, Lamborghini, Monteverdi, Scuderia Italia and Tyrrell. Not all offers are created equal of course:
1-40 - Benetton
41-60 - Lamborghini
61-65 - Monteverdi
66-75 - Scuderia Italia
76-100 - Tyrrell
95 - de Cesaris goes to Tyrrell and Kinnik's RNG woes continue unabated.
We now have a string of uncontested offers, but that doesn't mean any shortage of RNG action as they're all pay drivers.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen accepts an excellent rookie drive at Lotus, but how much money will he bring in? A paltry
£86,000. Every little helps I guess.
Next up we have
Bertrand Gachot! His only first-choice offer is from Ligier, but they've asked him if he'd pretty please like to become French for them.
1-40 - Remains Belgian
41-70 - Becomes French as asked
71-90 - Becomes a Luxembourger out of spite
91-100 - Persuades the FIA to let him drive under the EU flag
77 - Gachot will become the first driver to represent Luxembourg in F1 since Honoré Wagner, and the outright first in a World Championship event. He will also bringing
£185,000 in as he does so.
Fabrizio Giovinardi has an offer from Coloni. It's an F1 seat, so he accepts - but how much will he bring? It's
a huge £474,000. Looks like he'll have a place on the grid for years to come.
Olivier Grouillard is next. He accepts his Osella offer, but how much does he bring them? His briefcase contains
£173,000.
Next up we have
Mauricio Gugelmin. He brings in a hearty £224,000 which both Arrows and Leyton House have decided is not to be sniffed at
1-40 - Takes a sideways move to Arrows
41-100 - Continues to ply his trade at the former March team
79 - No change for the Brazilian.
Nicola Larini, accepts his solitary offer from Coloni. He brings in a tidy
£101,000.
The next driver to receive a first-choice offer is 35-year-old
Oscar Larrauri. He's delighted as this is probably the first time he's been first-choice for anything, including PE at school, but how much money will he bring to the EuroBrun team?
£143,000 is not nearly as much as they might have expected.
Now we come to one of our first properly big names: it's
90 MANSELL. Williams have thrown a million quid at him, and not only that, but they're the only call he's had. He
accepts without a second's thought.
Stefano Modena is also in demand. He has conflicting offers from Arrows and Footwork Project Four.
1-50 - It's an established midfield team
51-100 - Ron Dennis just won all of the things and now I get to drive for him?
63 - Modena moves to Project Four, and his
£293,000 of funding could have huge implications for FPF.
Gianni Morbidelli has accepted an offer from Onyx to make his Formula One bow. How much money does he bring them? He brings in
£99,000, or one hundred thousand Flakes.
Osella have decided to bring in
Roberto Moreno for that rarest of things - a full season drive. He brings in an adequate sum of money at
£128,000.
Alessandro Nannini also has only one drive on the table. It's the second Williams seat, for more money than he asked for. He
accepts,
Luis Perez-Sala has a baffling offer from Lotus. Who is managing Lotus? @DigitDan7 must have a strategy of some kind here. Ah, the
£297,000 of funding might explain it.
Nelson Piquet has only one offer: Ferrari have lobbed a million quid at him, which he
accepts.
Alain Prost doesn't even think twice before re-signing with McLaren to defend his World Championship.
Next up, rookie
Roland Ratzenberger accepts a Fondmetal drive. How many thousands of pounds does he bring the team?
149 thousands of pounds.
AYRTON SENNA DO BRASIL has a single solitary offer, and it sure as shite isn't from McLaren. It's another million quid from Ferrari. What a time to be alive.
Aguri Suzuki has also accepted his solitary offer, so how much money will he be paying Ron Dennis's
merry men?
£202,000.
Volker Weidler signs for Onyx, bringing
£168,000.
The final first round RNG is a contested one between Rial and Zakspeed. They are after the services of
Karl Wendlinger1-50 - Wendlinger signs for the troubled German team with the eccentric egomaniacal team principal
51-100 - Wendlinger signs for the troubled German team with the eccentric egomaniacal team principal that just got Marlboro money
63 - A strong signing for Zakspeed, and how much richer are they about to get? It's an extra
£131,000.
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The
second choice picks were broadly speaking uncomplicated:
Marco Apicella agreed to pay
£100,000 to Fondmetal.
Eric Bernard paid
£110,000 for the privilege of driving for Leyton House.
Thierry Boutsen accepted an excellent paid offer from Benetton.
Alex Caffi needed only
£76,000 to buy himself a drive at Minardi.
Alain Ferté[/b ]finally finds his way into Formula One at the ripe old age of 35, and all it took was [b]£225,000.
Johnny Herbert gets himself an Arrows seat, which isn't to say it came exactly cheaply at
£149,000.
Monteverdi offered their remaining seat to Canada's
John Jones, but he couldn't find the money to pay for it.
Ukyo Katayama has a drive with Lamborghini, and Lamborghini has
£173,000 in Japanese yen.
Pierluigi Martini will be paid £160,000 to drive for Scuderia Italia.
Satoru Nakajima brings £333,000 to Zakspeed.
Reigning Japanese F3000 Champion
Hitoshi Ogawa accepts a left-field offer from Arrows to partner Johnny Herbert, bringing in
£130,000 to the team.
Michael Schumacher has an offer on the table too, but he's not completely convinced by Rial. Wonders if Sauber sportscars might be better for his career.
1-80 - Let's be real, it's F1.
81-100 - Hmmm yes, Mercedes meal ticket.
76 - After
considerable thought, Schumacher signs on the dotted line, but brings in the bare minimum
£50,000 of funding because he is a cheapskate.
Gabriele Tarquini signs with Scuderia Italia, bringing in a tidy
£115,000.
And finally,
Eric van de Poele accepts a surprise offer for the second Benetton seat, bringing in a cool
£189,000.
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There is now only one seat left on the entire grid, and it is that of
Monteverdi, who want a minimum of £400,000 for the damn thing.
Eric van de Poele's £189,000 was not enough.
Ross Cheever couldn't get within £100,000 of the target.
Andrew Gilbert-Scott couldn't even get halfway.
However, just when all seemed lost, 1989 Indy Lights champion
Mike Groff arrived with
£446,000 to complete the grid.
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This concludes the Driver RNG. Information for Chassis, Engines and Tyres coming soon. In the meantime, your budgets are updated on the index spreadsheet to reflect your new signings.