172 replies to this topic

[Rasputin]

Hill leaving Williams for Arrows in 1997..err, I'm not so sure it seemed like a good idea even back then?

[Zava]

Inb4 someone writing Alonso to McLaren: Alonso to McLaren.

[Gilles4Ever]

Hill leaving Williams for Arrows in 1997..err, I'm not so sure it seemed like a good idea even back then?

Hill had a choice?

[Prost1997T]

Hill had a choice?

He had a lower offer from McLaren.

[nosecone]

Granting Bernie the commercial rights of F1 seemed like a good idea back then

[kevinracefan]

Villenueve to B A R

[Rasputin]

Jackie Oliver's Arrows team securing the Porsche 3.5 V12 for 1991.

[chunder27]

He was the blody world champion!  He should have had the best offer!

 

For me, Villeneuve to BAR

 

Fogarty to Honda in WSBK in 96

 

Hunt to Wolf

[Atreiu]

Rossi to Ducati.

Edited by Atreiu, 16 June 2015 - 17:51.

[Mat13]

Schumacher back?

Also, Alonso to McLaren part one...

[viceroy1]

Schumacher to Mercedes?

[garoidb]

Alan Jones to Beatrice - Haas - Lola - Ford for 1986.

 

Jacky Ickx to Ligier in 1979 when Patrick Depailler had his hang-gliding accident.

[GoldenColt]

Alonso to Ferrari.

[Amphicar]

Nigel Mansell to McLaren

 

Michael Andretti to McLaren

 

Sergio Perez to McLaren

[Red17]

Fitipaldi to Fitipaldi....

 

Lauda to Brabhman...

 

Hill to BRM Brabham

 

Fangio seemed to be the only bloke that never got a wrong move

Edited by Red17, 16 June 2015 - 18:44.

[Baddoer]

V6 turbo

[Red17]

Lotus 88

 

Fancar (oh wait, that one actually worked and both ways)

 

Webber in Lemans

 

GT1

 

ITC

 

Group B

 

DRS

 

Refueling

 

Prize Money

 

er... maybe this thread is not such a good idea. A lot of bad ideas are still around.

[Otaku]

Michael Andretti to McLaren

McLaren to Ford in 93... actually not

McLaren to Peugeot in 94

[Afterburner]

- Sauber's legal situation earlier this year
- MS returning with Mercedes
- Any of Alonso's career decisions post-Renault (Costanza's Opposite Theorem could've done this man some good, unless he used it to get where he is now)
- Ferrari selecting Luca Badoer to replace an injured Felipe Massa
- Honda cancelling support for F1 and sportscars in 2008; BGP-001 dominates, ARX-02a is an estimated 3+ seconds per lap faster than Audi/Peugeot
- Honda returning to F1 in its current guise (kind of ironic, actually)
- Indycar at Baltimore
- Indycar at Las Vegas
- Most of the F1 competition rules of 2005; 'aggregate qualifying', 'one set of tyres per race', etc.
- DRACONE
- Any Nissan prototype to run at Le Mans in the last five years
- Valentino Rossi moving to Ducati
- Most of the dime-a-dozen Asian GPs that have come and gone over the past few years
- USGP at Caesar's Palace

And lastly, but most certainly not least: the majority of the 2014 F1 technical regulations; only rivaled by Honda's decision to quit racing for 2009, I think.

[cas422]

Villenueve to B A R

Sorry man. Can't agree with this. That was an obviously terrible idea in 1999 too.   Don't even need the benefit of hindsight. That team's motto should have been, 100% hubris, 100% of the time. 

[Rasputin]

Eddie Jordan going for Yamaha V12s in 1992. The result was 1 point in the WCC.

[FerrariV12]

McLaren joining forces with Peugeot in 1994.

[Amphicar]

.Hill to BRM

Hill to BRM?

 

Before Graham Hill joined BRM he had achieved zero WDC points in his time with Lotus. After joining BRM he won 10 Grands Prix (including 3 of his 5 Monaco wins) and his first World Drivers Championship. Seems like it was a pretty good idea to me!

[DampMongoose]

Sadly...

"I'll just overtake Mass on the right..."

[Mat13]

Nelson Piquet Jr.: 'Deliberately lose it in Singapore? Ok...'

Christian Horner: 'Chaps, I've had an idea. It's called Multi-21...'

[TomNokoe]

KEEPING HAMILTON OUT ON INTERS

[Red17]

Hill to BRM?

 

Before Graham Hill joined BRM he had achieved zero WDC points in his time with Lotus. After joining BRM he won 10 Grands Prix (including 3 of his 5 Monaco wins) and his first World Drivers Championship. Seems like it was a pretty good idea to me!

 

Memory playing tricks on me, the other B team at the time: Brabham

 

And what about Bernie's long term dream: The New York GP?

[Strontiumdog]

McLaren to Honda (Part 2)

[kevinracefan]

Sorry man. Can't agree with this. That was an obviously terrible idea in 1999 too.   Don't even need the benefit of hindsight. That team's motto should have been, 100% hubris, 100% of the time.

I agree with you... a true "whiskey tango foxtrot" announcement...

EDIT: on the other hand, a gamble with Reynard could've been a big move, but Adrian's magic didn't appear on this car...

Edited by kevinracefan, 16 June 2015 - 18:50.

[maverick69]

Peugeot deciding that piston rings were not needed in 1994.

[Imateria]

Eddie Jordan going for Yamaha V12s in 1992. The result was 1 point in the WCC.

They were free, which was the most important part as Jordan couldn't pay for anything else. Rubbish engine, but without it Jordan might have folded after only 1 year.

Edited by Imateria, 16 June 2015 - 18:54.

[ensign14]

Hill leaving Williams for Arrows in 1997..err, I'm not so sure it seemed like a good idea even back then?

 

He didn't have many options.  But remember Arrows had just been bought by Walkinshaw, who took Jaguar to the World Sportscar Title and was instrumental in the rise of Benetton to top tier status.  And if Yamaha had taken F1 as seriously as Honda it could have looked to be a master stroke.

 

A better example is ATS (the Italian one).  1962 was a rubbish year for Ferrari, Mrs F was interfering all over the place, so the entire tech staff left to found a team funded by an extremely rich count.  The equivalent today would be Wolff, Hamilton, Rosberg, Lauda, Willis, Lowe and Costa left Mercedes at the end of the year - and produced an HRT.  I don't know if at the time people expected Ferrari to recover so well, and ATS to flop so hard.

 

[MJB5990]

Pitting Lewis under the safety car.

 

*runs*

[Rob]

Trying to design an F1 car entirely with CFD.

[Amphicar]

Memory playing tricks on me, the other B team at the time: Brabham

 

I was beginning to think you meant Phil Hill not Graham - except that Phil never drove for the works BRM team. His sole outing in one of Bourne's finest was in a Scuderia Centro Sud P578 in the non-Championship Daily Mirror Trophy race at Snetterton in 1964. He finished 4th - his best result in an F1 race since the 1962 Aintree 200. 

[Vitesse2]

Memory playing tricks on me, the other B team at the time: Brabham

Graham had little choice at the time. At the end of 1970 joining March didn't look much of a proposition and he was never going to get a seat at Lotus, BRM, Ferrari, Tyrrell, Matra or McLaren. Antique Automobiles or Frank Williams couldn't have afforded him. His Walker deal had only been for one year - and Rob was teaming up with Surtees for 1971 anyway - and driving for Brabham also gave him access to what was the best F2 car of the time - the BT36 - via Rondel Racing in 1971 and then setting up his own team in 1972, as a dry run before moving into F1 with the Shadow in 1973. It was just a shame the BT34 was such a dog - there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the BT33 and Graham switched to it in 1972.

[Afterburner]

Trying to design an F1 car entirely with CFD.

This is a good one. I remember someone referring to the car as being a 'Complete F$&king Disaster'.

[Red17]

And no thread like this is complete without The Split.

 

Tony George probably still thinks it was a good idea.

[Risil]

Ilmor's MotoGP team

 

Everything the Overtaking Working Group came up with

 

Pacwest starting the 1998 CART season with a year-old Reynard

 

Newman-Haas switching from Lola to Swift chassis

 

3.5 litre sports prototypes

 

Grand Prix racing in Dallas

 

1996 US 500

Edited by Risil, 16 June 2015 - 19:16.

[TimRTC]

This...

 

[MustangSally]

The 'laydown' Brabham BT55 . . . 

[Melchiot]

Me, getting married.

[DampMongoose]

"fancy an early night Mrs Ecclestone?"

[travbrad]

Inb4 someone writing Alonso to McLaren: Alonso to McLaren.

 

That didn't seem like a good idea though.  Mclaren has been struggling ever since Hamilton (and some other key personnel) left.  They barely beat Force India in 2014 with the same engine, and were the 3rd best Mercedes team.  Right now it's easy to blame the engine, but they weren't doing great even with the best engine in Formula 1.

 

If you mean the first time Alonso went to Mclaren, that was actually a good decision.  The bad decision was LEAVING Mclaren.

Edited by travbrad, 16 June 2015 - 19:30.

[garoidb]

How about buying Stewart Grand Prix from Jackie for big bucks?

[garoidb]

How about buying Stewart Grand Prix from Jackie for big bucks?

 

... and also, those tartan trousers must have seemed like a good idea to someone at some point!

[GoldenColt]

Niki Lauda claiming that even monkeys could drive current F1 cars in 2003... 

[FerrariV12]

Newman-Haas switching from Lola to Swift chassis

 

Newman-Haas actually timed this one to absolute perfection.

 

They left a winning Lola at the end of '96, won with the Swift first time out while Lola spent the next 3 seasons struggling ('99 was promising but still in recovery) after the original company went through a bankruptcy and buyout.

 

They then switched back to Lola in 2000 just as it became a match for the Reynard again.

Edited by FerrariV12, 16 June 2015 - 19:37.

[Seth]

Gurney to Porsche from Ferrari for 1961.

 

Gurney to Eagle from Brabham for 1966. 

 

The Split saved half of Indycar racing from the impending disaster on one side, at the cost of ruining the Indy 500.  Take your pick.  

 

Me posting this.

[Jackmancer]

Kimi not pitting at the Nurburgring, 2005.