106 replies to this topic

[MrAerodynamicist]

I'm sure most of you have heard of the Kevin Bacon game [the one were you try to link a given actor to him though films that people have been in] Well, heres the motorsport equivalent! Using only drivers who have been teammates at any given time, you must link the given driver to Patrese. If I said Barrichello, you could say Barrichello [Ferrari 02] Schumacher [Benetton 93] Patrese.

I've decided to run two games simultaneously. A easy one, where the initial driver was at some point had a career in F1, and the difficult game where they never made it to F1 [or maybe a really obscure F1 drive] After a sensible amount of time, the person who has come up with the shortest link can suggest the next easy/hard game. [you don't even have to know what the solution is, I didn't!]

Okay?

Easy Game: G.Villeneuve

Difficult: Peter Drumbreck

http://insanitystreet.com/patrese/

[Indian Chief]

Cool game.

Easy game : Reutemann (Ferrari '78), John Watson (Brabham '77), Niki Lauda (McLaren '82-83), Alain Prost (McLaren '84-85), Mansell (Ferrari '90) , Patrese (Williams '88, 91,92).

That's pretty long though.

I need to think a bit more for the Difficult game.

[Pieter]

Reutemann and Lauda, where also teammates, in 1977 at Ferrari. So I think you can leave Watson out of it.

[heki]

Well, the game originates from the Erdos number of a given mathematician:

The Erdös Project

as Erdös was one of the greatest mathematician, and he is surely the most productive mathemathician of all time - we can introduce this project here as the Ricardo Patrese Number Project, where the connection between two drivers is being teamed in F1.

That means:
Patrese has RP number 0.
Mansell has RP number 1, as they were in one team (91-92 Williams)
M Schumacher has also RP number 1 (Benetton 93)
JPM has RP number 5:
JPM - R.Schumacher(01-02 Williams)
R.Schumacher-Fisichella(97 Jordan)
Fisichella-Frentzen(01 Jordan)
Frentzen-A de Cesaris (94 Sauber)
A de Cesaris - Patrese (87 Brabham)

so RP number of Fangio anyone?

[MrAerodynamicist]

heki, thats certainly interesting. The question is, can you beat Indian Chief/Pieter over Villeneuve or suggest a RP for Dumbreck?

[karlth]

Originally posted by heki
JPM has RP number 5:
JPM - R.Schumacher(01-02 Williams)
R.Schumacher-Fisichella(97 Jordan)
Fisichella-Frentzen(01 Jordan)
Frentzen-A de Cesaris (94 Sauber)
A de Cesaris - Patrese (87 Brabham)

JPM->Ralf->Hill->Mansell->Patrese (4)

[MrAerodynamicist]

http://insanitystreet.com/patrese/

[Mickey]

Originally posted by heki
Well, the game originates from the Erdos number of a given mathematician:

The Erdös Project

Nice link, heki

On the subject of Erdos, this is a great book on him
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth. Very entertaining for non-mathematicians (like me) too

[AMD]

when Gilles was in the British race for McLaren, Jochen Mass was also there as regular McLaren team mate to James Hunt, and Mass was also a team mate to Patrese at Arrows?

[MrAerodynamicist]

Lets have a go at my own puzzle

P.Drumbeck (Mercedes DTM, 01) B.Schneider
B.Schneider (Arrows 90) M.Alberto
M.Alberto (Ferrari 87) G.Berger
G.Berger (McLaren 90-92) A.Senna
A.Senna (McLaren 88-89) A.Prost
A.Prost (Ferrari 90) N.Mansell
N.Mansell (Williams '88, 91,92) R.Patrese

However, a RP=7, I'm sure you could do better.

[MrAerodynamicist]

Originally posted by AMD
when Gilles was in the British race for McLaren, Jochen Mass was also there as regular McLaren team mate to James Hunt, and Mass was also a team mate to Patrese at Arrows?

I think we have a winner! Unless somebody knows of a race when Villeneuve and Patrese were teammates!

G.Villeneuve (McLaren, GBR 77) J.Mass
J.Mass (Arrows 79) R.Patrese

Fancy making a suggestion for the next game, AMD?

[AMD]

Originally posted by MrAerodynamicist
P.Drumbeck (Mercedes DTM, 01) B.Schneider
B.Schneider (Arrows 90) M.Alberto

M.Alberto (Tyrrell 81 ) Eddie Cheever
Eddie Cheever (Alfa Romeo 84-85) Riccardo Patrese

[MrAerodynamicist]

you're too good

[hook]

M. Alberto refers to M. Alboreto?

[MrAerodynamicist]

typo

AMD, are you going to suggest one?

[F1Johnny]

Originally posted by MrAerodynamicist
Lets have a go at my own puzzle

P.Drumbeck (Mercedes DTM, 01) B.Schneider
B.Schneider (Arrows 90) M.Alberto
M.Alberto (Ferrari 87) G.Berger
G.Berger (McLaren 90-92) A.Senna
A.Senna (McLaren 88-89) A.Prost
A.Prost (Ferrari 90) N.Mansell
N.Mansell (Williams '88, 91,92) R.Patrese

However, a RP=7, I'm sure you could do better.

You could have shortened that by going G Berger (Ferrari 89) N. Mansell, then N. Mansell (Williams 88,91,92) R. Patrese)

[AMD]

what about Al Unser (Senior)

[MrAerodynamicist]

I could link Al Unser Snr to F1 by brother Bobby (raced in the '68 USA GP in a BRM) but that doesn't count Not knowing much about Indy history I'm stuck If thats the Hard game, want to make a suggestion for the easy one?

[Peeko]

Originally posted by MrAerodynamicist
Lets have a go at my own puzzle

P.Drumbeck (Mercedes DTM, 01) B.Schneider
B.Schneider (Arrows 90) M.Alberto
M.Alberto (Ferrari 87) G.Berger
G.Berger (McLaren 90-92) A.Senna
A.Senna (McLaren 88-89) A.Prost
A.Prost (Ferrari 90) N.Mansell
N.Mansell (Williams '88, 91,92) R.Patrese

However, a RP=7, I'm sure you could do better.

Weren't Schneider and Brundle teamates at Zackspeed in 87?
Then you could go Brundle->Schumacher->Patrese

[MrAerodynamicist]

Don't think so, my results book doesn't show Schneider as Zakspeed in '87 [only 88,89).

[LB]

Al Unser Snr - Rick Mears ( penske 1985 etc)- Emerson Fittipaldi ( Penske 1991 etc)- Jochan Mass ( McLaren 1975) - Patrese ( Arrows 1981)

[david_martin]

For Al Unser snr, how about:

Unser -> Mario Andretti (Parnelli USAC 1973) -> Elio de Angelis (Lotus F1, 1980) -> Patrese (Brabham F1 1986)

[LB]

ok how about Fangio to Patrese?

[MrAerodynamicist]

JM.Fangio (Mercedes 55) S.Moss
S.Moss (Lotus 60) J.Clark
J.Clark (lotus 66) G.Hill
G.Hill (Lola 74) R.Stommelen
R.Stommelen (Arrows 78) R.Patrese

RP =5

[MrAerodynamicist]

If no-one can beat that, how about TAKI INOUE

[Bjorn]

Inoue -> Morbidelli (Footwork 1995) -> Herbert (Sauber 1997) -> Frentzen (Sauber 1996) -> de Cesaris (Sauber 1994) -> Patrese (Brabham 1987)

[PraetorAAV]

Originally posted by heki
Well, the game originates from the Erdos number of a given mathematician:

Actually it's more commonly called "shortest path finding". Given a graph of drivers (there is an edge between two drivers iff they were in the same team at some point) find the shortest path from one driver to another.

Nevertheless, I digress there are many programs that answer your question, the problem is that you'd have to feed them the database of team drivers over a period of some 50 years.

[MrAerodynamicist]

Inoue -> Morbidelli (Footwork 1995) -> Herbert (Sauber 1997) -> M.Schumacher (Benetton 95) -> Patrese (Benetton 93)

[fullcourseyellow]

Taki Inoue (Simtek 94) David Brabham
Brabham (Brabham 90) Stefano Modena
Modena (Brabham 87 Australia) Andrea de Cesaris
de Cesaris (Brabham 87) Patrese

Any mistakes???

[LuckyStrike1]

Originally posted by MrAerodynamicist
JM.Fangio (Mercedes 55) S.Moss
S.Moss (Lotus 60) J.Clark
J.Clark (lotus 66) G.Hill
G.Hill (Lola 74) R.Stommelen
R.Stommelen (Arrows 78) R.Patrese

RP =5

That was pretty impressive

[Bjorn]

Found a better one...

Inoue (Footwork 1995) Morbidelli
Morbidelli (Dallara, USA and Brazil 1990)
de Cesaris (Brabham 1987) Patrese

RP=3

[Bjorn]

For the next one, another underdog and everyone's favorite: Jean-Denis Deletraz

[John B]

If I've got this right...

DARIO FRANCHITTI

[MrAerodynamicist]

Deletraz (Pacific, Portugal, & Europe 95) Montermini
Montermini (Pacific '95) Gachot
Gachot (Jordan 91) de Cesaris
de Cesaris (Brabham 1987) Patrese

[regenmeister]

Impressive one from Bjorn too.


Thought of some swedish drivers, but Rydell has driven with Morbidelli so that would be to easy.

So can anyone find some for Nicolas Minassian?

[fullcourseyellow]

This is probably not the best one, but...

Deletraz (Pacific late 1995) Montermini
Montermini (Pacific regular 1995) Gachot
Gachot (Jordan 1991) de Cesaris
de Cesaris (Brabham 1987) Patrese

[MrAerodynamicist]

Originally posted by John B
If I've got this right...

Paul Tracy

Um, that depends, whats the context?

[fullcourseyellow]

Sorry Mr Aerodynamicist! You beat me by one minute

[MrAerodynamicist]

Originally posted by fullcourseyellow
This is probably not the best one, but...

Deletraz (Pacific late 1995) Montermini
Montermini (Pacific regular 1995) Gachot
Gachot (Jordan 1991) de Cesaris
de Cesaris (Brabham 1987) Patrese

thats the same as mine! Given that Deletraz only ever had two team mates[and Noda only ever had Deletraz as a TM) its unlikely that without looking in junior series*, that you can beat a 4. I'll let you pick the next one.

(* people feel free to suggest shorter links using junior catergoies if you can!)

[John B]

Sorry - I changed the driver to add a step to the connection

now DARIO FRANCHITTI

[MrAerodynamicist]

Originally posted by John B
Sorry - I changed the driver to add a step to the connection

now DARIO FRANCHITTI

I'm confused as to what you're trying to say Whats Dario got to do with Patrese? Or are you asking us to find a link between the two?

[John B]

Link 'em - it's pretty easy.

one can be done with current IRL driver Aryton Dare, though it's a stretch.....

[MrAerodynamicist]

You want us to link DARIO FRANCHITTI to Patrese, right? Cause thats the aim of the game!

[karlth]

Is it ok to link through test drivers?

[MrAerodynamicist]

No, they should have at least one race weekend working together.


Let me guess, Dario- tracy - Benetton test - Schumacher - Patrese?

[John B]

If you count tests, that'll work - there's another for season-long 'mates too...

[MrAerodynamicist]

Dario Franchitti (CART 02) Paul Tracy
Paul Tracey (CART, Penske 94) E.Fittipaldi
E.Fittipaldi (Fittipaldi 80) Rosberg
Rosberg (McLaren 86) Prost
A.Prost (Ferrari 90) N.Mansell
N.Mansell (Williams '88, 91,92) R.Patrese

RP of 6.

[John B]

Franchitti - Micheal Andretti (Green)
MA - Senna
Senna - De Angelis
De Angelis - Patrese


Another way to Unser Sr:
Patrese - Mansell
Mansell - Mario
Mario - Mears (Penske 1980)
Mears - AU Sr

(Historians, I can't remember if Mario and Al Sr were early 'mates. Who did Mario team with when he drove NASCAR? Bet we could make some connections... )

Off to dinner....

[MrAerodynamicist]

I should have posted this in Nostalgia - that lot would make all sort of bizarre links "Ah yes, Dario once drove in a lawn mower race with De Angelis, who of course was once Patrese's teammate"

How about everybody trying to link: Pedro Rodriguez.

[regenmeister]

Another one.

Franchitti (DTM 95) B.Schneider
B.Schneider(Arrows 90) Alboreto
Alberto (Tyrrell 81 ) Eddie Cheever
Eddie Cheever (Alfa Romeo 84-85) Patrese

Schneider is now team-mate with Alesi, but I couldn´t find any low RP between Aleis and Patrese.