F1 entries/rumours that never came to be

[S griffin]

1982
Tambay was going to stand in for the injured Surer at the start of the season and travelled to the first GP in South Africa, but pulled out after the drivers’ strike due to the way drivers were treated

Emilio de Villota was on the entry list for Tyrrell at Long Beach

Riccardo Paletti was going to take de Villota’s place at Onyx March after Canada, but sadly we know what happened

I think Warwick and Lammers were offered a Ferrari seat after Villeneuve died, but turned them down

Ferrari’s original choice for Monza was Jones, but Jones mucked them around to get revenge on them going against their word 4 years previously, something he later regretted, so they went with Mario instead

I think Johansson might have been pencilled in to do the last couple of races with March?

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Tom Wheatcroft intended to run Roger Williamson in a McLaren in 1974 after doing three rounds of the 1973 Season in a March. Then came Zandvoort....

[AnonymityRules]

Originally Posted by BTCC frog

Thanks to nononsensecapeesh for inspiring these other threads. Let's have one for Formula 1.

I think the most interesting silly season story is that of Jenson Button in 2004-6. Button was signed for BAR but tried to sign a contract with Williams. They went through a whole contract dispute in which Button tried to get out of his deal with BAR and instead drive for Williams, but eventually BAR won and retained the services of Jenson Button for 2005. Button then signed a contract with Williams for 2006. However, due to Williams struggling in 2005 as much as BAR, and losing BMW as an engine supplier while BAR were getting increased backing from Honda, Button then decided he wanted to stay with BAR and went back into contract disputes between the two teams, but with the roles reversed. Eventually, Button had to pay Williams to get out of his contract and remain with BAR.

What about non-Championship F1 races?

[S griffin]

1983
Bellof was apparently entered in a third McLaren for the European GP

Ligier originally tried to get Oscar Larruari to partner Jarier, but went with Boesel instead

[AnonymityRules]

Originally Posted by S griffin

1983
Bellof was apparently entered in a third McLaren for the European GP

Ligier originally tried to get Oscar Larruari to partner Jarier, but went with Boesel instead

Stefan Bellof was linked to Ferrari at one point, think it was 1985, certainly would have been 1986 if he hadn't been killed in a WSC race at Spa.

Stefan Johansson and John Watson were Toleman's intended drivers for 1985.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by AnonymityRules

Nick Heidfeld beat Antonio Pizzonia in the shoot-out to partner Mark Webber at Williams in 2005.

Talking of Nick Heidfeld was he not signed on a long term option contract with McLaren c2000, and was the one likely to inherit Hakkinen's vacated seat in 2002, only for Ron Dennis to overlook Nick at the last moment and choose Nick's then Sauber team mate Kimi Raikkonen for the McLaren seat instead. I seem to recall Nick always being seen as a future McLaren driver.... until Kimi came along .

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Originally Posted by E.B

Talking of Nick Heidfeld was he not signed on a long term option contract with McLaren c2000, and was the one likely to inherit Hakkinen's vacated seat in 2002, only for Ron Dennis to overlook Nick and choose Nick's then Sauber team mate Kimi Raikkonen for the McLaren seat instead. I seem to recall Nick always being seen as a future McLaren driver.... until Kimi came along .

Yes, Kimi Raikkonen replaced Mika Häkkinen in the seat originally earmarked for Heidfeld.

[S griffin]

1984
Senna actually signed a contract with Brabham, but Piquet vetoed it. They then considered Watson and Piquet suggested his mate Moreno, but Italian sponsors decided on an Italian driver, i.e. the Fabi brothers

Senna also signed a contract with Lotus, but JPS demanded they keep Mansell

Danny Sullivan was originally going to stay on with Tyrrell alongside Brundle.

When Brundle had his accident, Tyrrell offered the late Johnny Dumfries his seat, but he turned it down, preferring to concentrate on his F3 season. It was revealed on what would turn out to be his last ever interview on Beyond the Grid last year

[AnonymityRules]

Lotus wanted to hire Derek Warwick for 1986 but Ayrton Senna vetoed that, the Brazilian preferring drivers like Roberto Moreno and Mauricio Gugelmin, JPS insisted on a British driver though so Johnny Dumfries got the nod.

[S griffin]

Forgot to mention, also in 1984, after Tambay withdrew from the Canadian GP due to his leg injury from Monaco, Renault put Mario Andretti on standby for Detroit, but Tambay had recovered to drive

1985
I think Ligier tried to get Arnoux after he got fired by Ferrari, but Ferrari refused to let him out of his ‘gardening leave’, so he had to wait till 86

Minardi originally were going to run Nannini, but he was refused a superlicence

Dumfries was on the entry list in a third Ferrari at the European GP

Moreno was close to a drive with Toleman

John Nielsen was offered a Tyrrell seat after Bellof died, but he didn’t have the money. He was also part of a March-VW project for 1984 that never happened

[crmalcolm]

Yuji Ide
After two successful seasons of Formula Nippon he landed the second seat at Aguri Suzuki's adorable spit-and-bailing-twine Super Aguri team for the 2006 season, despite having barely sat in the car.

His subsequent career was short but eventful. In Bahrain he was running bog last when his engine blew; at Sepang it was the same story but with a throttle failure and in Australia he was three laps down, one behind team-mate Takuma Sato. The crowning glory came at Imola, however, when his lack of racecraft was exposed during a first-lap attempt to kill Christijan Albers. The FIA promptly intervened, suggesting Ide be rotated away from race driving, and eventually suspending his superlicence in May 2006.

[AnonymityRules]

The Middlebridge F3000 team tried to enter a 3rd Benetton in 1987 with Emanuele Pirro driving

[AnonymityRules]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Yuji Ide
After two successful seasons of Formula Nippon he landed the second seat at Aguri Suzuki's adorable spit-and-bailing-twine Super Aguri team for the 2006 season, despite having barely sat in the car.

His subsequent career was short but eventful. In Bahrain he was running bog last when his engine blew; at Sepang it was the same story but with a throttle failure and in Australia he was three laps down, one behind team-mate Takuma Sato. The crowning glory came at Imola, however, when his lack of racecraft was exposed during a first-lap attempt to kill Christijan Albers. The FIA promptly intervened, suggesting Ide be rotated away from race driving, and eventually suspending his superlicence in May 2006.

Yuji Ide still raced though so he doesn't really count.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Originally Posted by AnonymityRules

Yuji Ide still raced though so he doesn't really count.

Kosuke Matsuura was linked with the possibility of crossing over from Aguri Suzuki's IRL team when the F1 entry was announced.

[AnonymityRules]

James Courtney and Andre Lotterer were among the contenders for a 2003 Jaguar seat, having driven for Jaguar's British F3 team in 2001, Courtney then had that massive testing crash that scuppered his chances of both a 2003 race seat and the 2002 British F3 title.

[S griffin]

1986
If Alfa had continued, Nannini would have raced for them

Tyrrell originally had Cheever entered alongside Brundle

Osella originally had Capelli entered alongside Danner

F3000 team Ekstrom entered with Mauro Baldi, but never raced

RAM as mentioned did enter with Thackwell, but never raced. Alliot was linked with a second seat there

After Tambay injured himself in Canada, Mario Andretti was asked to replace him for Detroit, but turned it down, so, at his suggestion, they tried to get his son Michael instead, but he was refused a superlicence. So in the end they went with Cheever

[S griffin]

1987
Laffite was going to race for Ligier, but hadn’t properly recovered from his injuries

Mauro Baldi might have originally been entered for Brabham alongside Patrese?

Also Tomas Kaiser might have been first choice to replace Patrese at Brabham, when Patrese replaced the injured Mansell at Williams for the final race at Adelaide.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by AnonymityRules

Yuji Ide still raced though so he doesn't really count.

The point was that he was a full season entry, that didn't materialise.
I understand why you think it might not really count - but I stand by the view that his season long entry never came to be.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Stefan Johansson was the alternative choice to replace the jailed Bertrand Gachot at Jordan in 1991. Dave Coyne was also in the frame.

Bernd Schneider was linked to AGS that same year.

[S griffin]

Also for 1987, Ferrari held talks with Nigel Mansell, even offered a contract, but Nige didn’t sign and stayed with Williams

1988
Didier Pironi would have made a comeback with Larousse Lola if he hadn’t been killed in a powerboat race the previous year

Christian Danner was going to replace Larrauri at Eurobrun mid season, but was too tall for the car.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Nicolas Kiesa signed to return to Minardi in 2005, having driven for them in the last 5 races of 2003 but his sponsorship fell through and the team hired Patrick Friesacher, though he was later replaced by Robert Doornbos whom Kiesa would replace as Jordan's reserve driver.

[AnonymityRules]

Both Lewis Hamilton and Gary Paffett were linked to possible outings towards the end of the 2006 Season after PDLR stepped up to replace the NASCAR-bound Juan Pablo Montoya.

Team Dubai, Direxiv and Prodrive all tried and failed to enter customer McLaren chassis in '06, '07 and '08. Had the Direxiv entry worked out, Hamilton and Clivio Piccione were the intended drivers.

[Nononsensecapeesh]

Bas Leinders and Richard Lyons came close to one-off appearances with Minardi in Belgium and Jordan in Japan in 2004.

There were numerous drivers linked to Sauber for 2005 including Gary Paffett, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Anthony Davidson before the team hired Jacques Villeneuve.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by S griffin

This reminds me of the Retro Silly Season thread we did

Yes, I imagine there will be quite a lot of crossover.
For those who didn't see it:
https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=154679

(I know the two threads are subtly different, but there is commonality)

[Nononsensecapeesh]

If Arrows had survived into 2003 then the drivers would most likely have been Enrique Bernoldi and Sebastien Bourdais.

Bourdais and DC both lobbied for the 2nd seat at Williams in 2005.