The House of Tyrrell - a Formula One TL

A good summary of that murderous 1985 Group C race at Spa francorchamps, September 1, 1985.
www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/october-1985/42/spa-1000kms

Ha ha you nailed it ! His 1986 team is Patrese and De Angelis, as per OTL. Except with a twist.

Well Ecclestone put $6 million to get Lauda for 1986 - he had just said he wanted to retire, and did it.

For the sake of comparison the largest salaries (must have been greedy Nelson Piquet !) were $2 million.

In comparison with that Brabham weighed nothing. When Ecclestone finally sold it out in 1988, it was to a con man that ruined it until it was finally destroyed in 1992.

ITTL Bernie won't change, but, because I have decided to make his life a misery, he will have even more difficulty to get ride of Brabham than OTL. Nobody will want such a cursed team ! In turn, Bernie will have to make it better instead of dumping it to a con man.
Brabham will get a more glorious end, at least.

And now, the interseason 1985-1986... with some familiar faces, and another bright pilot from OTL, died too young (never heard about him before writting this TL).

Late December 1985

Silverstone

Mauricio Gugelmin was a bit younger than Ayrton Senna and his F1 career had not started yet. But the two brazilians were the best friends in the world. They had met in karting in 1978 and some years later they had become room mates in their exile in Britain as F1 hopefuls.

Senna had won the British F3 championship in 1983 with West Surrey Racing - and Gugelmin has done the exact same thing that year, 1985. He was bracing himself for F3000 but Senna, who had just skipped that category, was lobbying Lotus to give Gugelmin a drive in place of De Angelis.

Today test was part of that. When Gugelmin come he was accompanied by two youngsters – two unknown drivers.

«Mauricio ! How is West Surrey Racing going ? »

«Pretty fine. Well, let me present you the team future. Now that you are in F1, and me in F3000, the next generation is coming on our heels, in F3.

This year, those two chaps will race in the British championship, like we did in the past. With West Surrey Racing, obviously. And I'm quite sure they will win it.

Say hello to Bertrand Fabi, from Quebec, and Damon Hill. Just for you to know, Ayrton, Damon is the son of Graham Hill.

«Wow. I'm very honoured.»

As Senna shook hands with the two, he had some strange feelings. Hill has some visible nervosity when hearing the name of his father. Which was hardly surprising. Not only was such a legacy a heavy burden to carry, but Graham tragic fate had impacted his family dramatically.

As for Fabi... Senna promised himself to follow that guy career in the future. There was something with him, that smelled like a great pilot was in the making.

Senna was reminded of Bellof. And then it hit him.

That guy was from Quebec... just like Gilles Villeneuve. Another heavy burden to carry.

Saturday May 8, 1982... Senna had been in Zolder that tragic day. Back then he was racing in Formula Ford, and its agenda briefly matched F1 european circuit. That Villeneuve accident had been such an idiotic tragedy...

Whatever, that was the past, and today he was watching the future. Senna drove first, with Hill and Fabi completely hooked. A lesson none of the two aspiring pilots would ever forget.

Gugelmin drive on the Lotus was pretty good, but despite Senna pressure, the sponsors could not handle two brazilians in the team. So Johnny Dumfries it was. From Senna point of view - way better than Warwick or Brundle, his old foe from the 1983 F3 championship.