FROM MICHAEL TO MISERY! The Final Years of the Benetton Formula One Team (1996-2001)

[@CrunchyMotorsport]

Fun fact: Roberto Moreno drove for Benneton, there are signs in the sky Aidan

[@PaperBanjo64]

He'll get there, but he wants to put effort into it.

[@zinddy]

what is this joke about moreno, idk a saw it many times in aidens comments but i dont get it, is it something to do with the copyright

[@PaperBanjo64]

@zinddy in Aiden's older videos about backmarker teams of the 80's and 90's, Roberto Moreno always ends up showing up, driving for any team that would take him, and often as a replacement when the original driver got injured, giving him the name of Super Sub, eventually he appeared in so many of Aiden's F1 story times people started asking for a video specifically about him and his career, eventually leading to Aiden promising it if he could get 100k subscribers, that he would eventually make a video about him.

[@F-Man]

They seem like they’re right here on my screen, actually.

[@pierrekaffer765]

Moreno had real talent though, its why he kept getting drives. In a straight up exhibition race. he beat the Great one himself. Senna

[@fmragusa]

Italian here. Benetton is a Venetian surname with the main stress on the last syllable. BUT the Italian racing press did sometimes use the English pronunciation, probably because they had heard it so much from English speakers. OK, an Italianised version of the English pronunciation, if it makes sense

[@ibex485]

When assessing Benetton's performance in 1996, remember Schumacher wasn't the only person who had left for Ferrari. A number of key people from Benetton were poached by Ferrari also. Not only would this have affected the design & development of the car, but also at races with setting up & operating the car. Benetton are also a team which historically usually went well at low downforce tracks (even when they didn't have particularly powerful engines) as their design philosophy gave a higher priority to mechanical grip, as this was relatively cheap compared to maximising downforce. (Jordan did the same. It's also one reason why both teams tended to do well in the rain.) Berger was also somewhat of a specialist at Hockenheim, Monza & other low downforce tracks.

[@simonkevnorris]

Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne were part of the group that joined Ferrari along with Michael.

[@demdjen77]

Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne joined Ferrari in late 1996 when the '96 Benetton was almost finished.

[@ibex485]

@@demdjen77 The relevant date is when they stopped working for Benetton. When staff are due to leave for another team it is routine for them to be put on 'gardening leave' or at the very least restricted duties. My point was also that not having them available during the season was a significant hinderance. F1 cars (especially in that era) are pure prototypes which are continuously developed through the season. Also designing the car is only half the challenge, you also need to be able to set it up for changing tracks & conditions to be able to utilise the performance potential of its design & construction. Things were very different then to how it is now. Practice sessions mattered far more as the teams had to do their setup work at the track (not in advance on simulators as they do now).

[@demdjen77]

@@ibex485 Ok, understood. The 1997 Ferrari definitely wasn't a winning car as we say at the beginning of the season. Ross and Rory did some updates during the year. I remember Schumacher was very dissapointed when he found out during the 1st test that the car still had massive understeer like F310. About the simulators.... please tell this to TeamLH... they believe Schumacher was in major advantage because of the Fiorano track :)

[@ibex485]

@@demdjen77 That's no surprise, for 1997 they used the F310B - an evolution of John Barnard's F310. It wasn't until 1998 that they had a car fully designed by the new dream team. The F310's understeer might not have been bad. Schumacher liked/needed a car with a lot of rear instability for his driving style. (Which made cars almost undrivable for his team mates.) He was one of the first to use what's now the default style of going into corners deep, having the car rotate sharply and taking a straight exit - which maximises traction/acceleration & braking performance by keeping the car straight during those phases (but at the expense of lower miminum corner speed). (As opposed to the classic style of taking the corner in a smooth arc following a path of least resistance and carrying as much speed through the corner.) Having Fiorano was certainly an advantage for Ferrari in the days before testing was restricted, but not a huge one (otherwise the other big teams would have followed suit, or at least built permenant test facilities at existing tracks). By the time the simulation tools became advanced enough, testing was heavily restricted/banned anyway. So Fiorano can only be used for 'filming days' and running old cars. (Although a private test track could be more of an advantage, if trying to sneak in some testing using loopholes - everyone uses filming days for shakedowns & aero testing, there are some suspicions about what Ferrari may have been doing.)

[@karytyrrell1540]

Those mid 90s cars always look so beautyful

[@kevinprior3549]

Been a long journey for the team that are now Alpine... Toleman, Benetton, Renault, Lotus F1, Renault (again), now Alpine.

[@ExodiaNecross2]

I always love the F1 1996 Benetton B196 just perfect to me

[@captainsmartass3368]

Benetton F1 cars are some of the best looking F1 cars ever

[@mjk06]

Always loved the 94 onwards Benetton liveries........especially the white wheel rims.

[@InvadedOath]

Benetton always sticks in my mind because of the Suzuka 1990 race because my grandad taped the highlights for me and I watched it over and over again while pushing models around on his living room floor

[@caphowdy666]

Seeing the Benetton reminds me how much I miss the days of teams using different colour rims. The white on the Benetton, the gold on the Ferraris and Jaguars and the orange on the Arrows. Those wheels looked so much better than plain old black or silver that most were using.

[@palm92]

Green Forti Wheels were neat. Red Eurobrun and Red/Yellow Alfa Wheels.

[@TheImperfectGuy]

are you into McLarens current (Google) chrome wheels, then?

[@caphowdy666]

@@TheImperfectGuy current wheels are not the same with the hub cap. Yes it is better when teams take advantage of the space and don't just have plain black, but it is not the same as when they had alloy wheels in different colours

[@aoife1122]

While it ended in "misery" from a sporting point of view, Benetton have done exceedingly well for themselves. What they did surely inspired Red Bull... it was the first major F1 exercise in "brand awareness". P.S. Big congratulations to your 100k subscribers, well done and indeed well deserved, Aidan.

[@mitchdaytonam3]

15:00 - the 110 degrees is the angle between the two banks of cylinders in the V10. Most V engines are 90’, the current V6’s for example all are, mandated so by the regs. Back in the early 2000’s the V10s could be any angle; Renault experimented with the wide 110’ and narrow 72’.

[@Shubdogg]

Many congratulations Aidan, can't wait to see you display the plaque.

[@captainmagenta899]

Another thumbs up for the McLaren '93 story with added squashed hedgehog decal. Also, Benetton's leap from the no frills B192 to the B193 with all the toys - even faffing around with four-wheel steering at the end of the season. Must have been like going from Apollo to the Enterprise D.

[@AC_702]

The Benetton B189-B201 are some of my favorite designs, especially the B191-B193b

[@ianyoung1106]

It’s almost not a story time video without a “Crikey, it’s the Rozzers!”, but here we are. Congratulations Aiden, it’s been a journey! 🎉

[@danielhenderson8316]

Congrats, and I'd love to see a video about the 93 McLaren along with Michael Andretti showing how not to run an F1 career by staying in the US and arriving jet lagged to every location instead of being near the team with one of the greatest drivers of all time and get use to a computer controlled car he had no experience with.

[@PaperBanjo64]

Scott Mansell (Driver 61) has actually driven the B-197 in historic races.

[@danielpooley7148]

Doesn’t he have the brands hatch Indy record

[@davidporeilly1]

Other trivia, Scott mansell raced in Mazda MX5 Cup last summer and didnt make the top 10.

[@Redlineshadow29]

Congratulations for 100k subscribers. Keep doing what you're doing

[@legoferrari14]

Happy 100k! Roberto Moreno awaits!

[@nolancain8792]

Always good to sit down with an iced coffee and an AM notification.

[@hecksters423]

AM in the AM

[@AntoniusTyas]

Little known fact, back in 2000 Flav really, _REALLY_ want to get rid of Alex Wurz. He disliked Alex so much, that when Alex begged for a new racing shoes to fit the car Flav scorned him instead. So when he was dropped and got replaced by Jenson, once Alex was hired as McLaren test driver it was basically a liberation for him.

[@AidanMillward]

Flav didn’t like Jenson either.

[@AC_702]

​@@AidanMillwardtruth. I think he said Jenson was "as fast as a milepost" or something like that

[@David-mr3gw]

couldn’t he just have bought his own boots? 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@F-Man]

Alex Wurz - F1’s greatest test driver 😎

[@palm92]

Didn't Flav hate Berger too and Wurz was heavily linked to him?

[@Slider5320]

Part of the entourage that went from Benetton to Ferrari was Willem Toet, one of the few aerodynamasists who could rival Adrian Newey. Phenomenal guy. His insights to Flavio Briatore’s leadership is very interesting.

[@tamezzodiac2862]

Thanks for your videos. As a newish F1 fan, (who isn't really a fan of modern F1, just watch old races and learn stories) you have really upgraded my knowledge and made it a ton of fun to learn about F1. I started out as a nascar fan only, but I just genuinely love motorsports, so this helps me a ton in the last 4 or 5 years. Keep up the good work, and congratulations on 100k!

[@dpause10]

@5:55 Refreshing take! Still waiting to for the Adelaide 1994 video. Coming soon I hope!

[@grahamr56]

Flav was vile. Period. Maliciously screwed Johnny Herbert over - one of the best drivers of the era. Edit: Appropriate topic choice Aidan, considering the passing of Ted Toleman this past week - RIP

[@palm92]

He screwed over Brundle Twice as well. Aguri Suzuki spoke in recent years of his 1995 - he apparently told Mugen Suzuki would have the Ligier seat for the full season (Lie) and also neglected to tell Brundle he would be sharing the car with Suzuki. This after buying Ligier to get the Renault contract for Benetton, and then swiping the Mugen Engines from Minardi at the last minute too (the aforementioned Suzuki deal.)

[@sabataskull9661]

Yeah, sure . When Johnny was out of Benetton , he was lucky than good samaritans Sauber and Stewart put him in their cars. He was a poor man Irvine, with less charisma and skill.

[@laurenmp7486]

Imagine a team today saying "Yeah we're going color our tires". Also congrats on the 100k!!!

[@the80hdgaming]

Great work man.... Congrats on 100k... It's well deserved...

[@camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303]

Btw, most Italians pronounce Benetton roughly the way you do. The correct pronunciation would probably be BenetTON with the stress on the last syllable but literally no one outside of Veneto says it like that

[@Holanduzo]

15:16 Gotta, say, I find strange the B201 didnt have power steering, because when Fernando was test driver of Renault in 2002, he tested the previous B201 and asked them if they could get rid of the power steering, as he was used to run without it in Minardi...

[@EffequalsMA]

I've always loved this format, Aidan. I consider myself a casual F1 fan. I do watch all the races but I don't intensely study it apart from that. I don't play sims. I just enjoy the stories you tell and how you tell them.

[@camtheman4703]

Congrats on the 100k

[@ibex485]

Benetton's front torque transfer system connected the front wheels together via unpowered 'driveshafts' and a differential. Its purpose was to aid braking performance. When braking one tyre will generally lock up before the other, if the car is steering while braking with the weight shift to the outer side of the car the inner unloaded tyre will tend to lock up more easily. The aim of the torque transfer system was to spread the forces of braking between both front tyres - transferring some from the unloaded tyre to the one which had more grip and allowing the driver to brake deeper into the corner. Fisichella used the system, but the added weight of the system (I remember a number of 5-7Kg, which may or may not be accurate) and where it was on the car was an issue with Wurz and he couldn't use it. Wurz was much taller (6ft iirc) and thus heavier than Fisichella. And although his car would still be on the weight limit with it, it left him with less ballast to position for adjusting the car's balance. (An significant issue for all tall drivers, such as Berger, Coulthard & Hill.) BAR tried a copycat system a few years later.

[@robertgodsell]

Happy 100k, well deserved. Now where’s my Moreno?

[@davidporeilly1]

Congratulations Aidan, well deserved. You did it your way. Also I thought the "Mass damper" innovation was worth a mention.

[@IrishPartizan]

Congrats Aidan. Looking forward to seeing the big silver button in the background. And yes, it was better in the good old days (1980s).

[@palm92]

Having watched 1980-1989 retroactively (wasn't alive) - I agree. Every season is excellent.

[@therrydicule]

The 1995 team was gone in 1996. And Briatore had the wrong approach: this was time to rebuild...

[@D3mander]

Congrats on the success, you're actually enjoyable to listen to so you shouldn't be surprised

[@andrewjoeljackson4653]

congrats on the 100k, keep on keepin on. also i agree re Hill vs Schuey, the gap was never there and michael was driving the normal line (or close to it, either way he was ahead)

[@weallfollowmanutd]

The 1996 car was pretty much as good as the 1995 one. To prove the point, Schumacher got in the 1995 Ferrari and said it was better than his Title winning Benetton. Aaaagh, the good old days when drivers made a huge difference.

[@LukSter18998]

why exactly don’t they now??

[@weallfollowmanutd]

@@LukSter18998 There's too much grip. Fast corners that had a lift or medium fast corners are virtually all flat out now. The drivers make less small corrections as well because the cars are all sorted

[@justinsetchell6935]

Congrats on the 100k! You talked a little about the evolution of your channel at the start of this video. One series I enjoyed that you did in the past was your motorsports alternative history 'what if' videos. I don't remember many of them but I did really enjoy them. What happened with that idea, and do you have any plans to revisit it? I'd love to see a new video on that series. Keep up the great content, and congrats again!

[@AidanMillward]

Don’t think I will. Not much else I can do with it.

[@deanpierce9048]

Just before I start watching, I’m glad you made this video because I have always wondered about why they fell off the way they did, especially as the only sudden decline like it was actually from the same team in 2007 onwards

[@Somedudethatlikeswrestling]

As someone who stumbled across that Andrea Moda video and has enjoyed Story time since, congratulations to you sir

[@rars0n]

Congrats, Aidan! You're really good at telling a great story, so it's no surprise that you've hit 100k. I'm sure the channel will keep growing!

[@francoisdvanderwesthuizen]

Congrats on the 100k subs, for a F1/ racing channel to get that far is a huge milestone, thanks a lot and your content is of great quality and entertaining.

[@simontravers2715]

Congratulations on 100K Aidan!!! 🥳 I loved the late 90s Benetton liveries (even looked good on N64 game F1 World Grand Prix) reminds me of the Nissan R390 GT1’s livery at Le Mans (not driven by Moreno)

[@BIILLETT]

Been you with a long time man! Loving every minute of it. Thank YOU

[@Juozapas001]

Congratulations on 100k aidan. Its been a fun & educational ride so far. Keep it up 👍

[@Pablo668]

Congrats on the 100k subs! Well deserved.

[@Watchmedome3017]

100k FUCK YEAH!!! been a member for years now love to see this.

[@jacekatalakis8316]

Flav owned Ligier in 96 as well, there's stories floating around about how Ligier folks in full Ligier gear would show up at Enstone and use the Benetton facilities. Makes me wonder how that impacted both teams if true realy.

[@marcchan711]

I read that it affected Benetton's staff morale. Even worse was when apparently the Ligier staff were issued Benetton team gear to wear whenever they were in Benetton facilities; it irked and undermined the Enstone team's staff morale and hard work

[@jacekatalakis8316]

@@marcchan711 Whre'd you read that, I'd be curious to know more since the way I heard it was Ligier folks would show up and use Benetton's facilities and nothing was done about it because Flavd

[@F1-Passion]

Well done on you massively successful channel I personally love your channel

[@mica7191]

Congrats on 100K... wishing you reach 1M in future...

[@EvilStitch]

Congrats on 100K! I always enjoy every video you put out! Keep it up 👍

[@martincraig5552]

Well done Aidan fantastic videos as always

[@seanpie5481]

Congratulations on the 100k. Well deserved. Cheers from Oz.

[@mukulnag1578]

Love how your answer to one of my comments made it into a video ... Regarding the "ll" pronunciation

[@bjarulez]

Cant wait for the full roberto moreno story

[@davidporeilly1]

It needs to include his (non championship) Australian GP win.

[@harmkuijpers6642]

Congrats on the 100k! I always find your videos informative and original! Keep up the good work.

[@WRC-FAN]

Congratulations, absolutely love the content you produce - 100K well deserved!!👍

[@eamonahern7495]

Hits the like button during the intro music so I don't forget afterwards. Congrats on the 100k

[@steviemac8075]

You have an excellent channel with great content well delivered as well as a bone dry hint of sarcasm. Congrats and well done 👏

[@lewis9388]

Great vid as usual. Well deserved 100k 👏🏻

[@cyberfutur5000]

I indeed learned a lot about some things in this thing, thanks mate! And congrats on 100k!

[@KGmodels]

Bro ain’t no way these bots are so quick! YT really needs to do something! Great video anyways! Can’t wait to watch! The Benneton team have always been one of my favourites :)

[@AidanMillward]

I’ve told KZbin several times but all they keep saying is “report”

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

​@@AidanMillward do they count as comments for the algorithm? If so, just tell everyone to ignore them!

[@KGmodels]

Report. Really funny. YT really don’t know How to get rid of these. And if you say it’s for the algorithm, it’s really hard to ignorant these profile pics. Anyways, congrats on 100K Aidan (as I kind of forgot), and I hope you can get another 100K soon! Good luck!

[@AidanMillward]

@@KGmodels still. I’d rather have pictures of tits say the video was nice instead of the bots on Twitter going N U D E S I N B I O

[@kennvillegas2014]

IDK Why I came and stayed BUT at least a chunk of it is the music CONGRATS on 100K

[@chrisstephens6194]

Easily my favourite you tube channel

[@UrMomsChauffer]

Congratulations on 100K sincerely surprised it took this long

[@myk6694]

Well done & congratulations on 100k🏁

[@timothysperisen]

Berger had a Renault engine failure in Hungary as well, some laps from the end too and the team did the famous Handbrake experiment at the Nurburgring

[@bhumiriady]

Congrats on reaching the 100K subscribers milestone, mate!

[@ibex485]

The irony of Stewart's win in 1999 (at that memorably wet and eventful Nurburgring European GP) was that the race was Benetton's to win... until Fisichella span off into the gravel from the lead late in the race.

[@sabataskull9661]

Typical, Johnny only won when leaders had problems

[@ibex485]

At the Nurburgring those ahead of him were crashing out due to their own mistakes in the wet conditions, so one can say he handled the conditions better and won on merit. In 1995 he still had to beat some strong opposition after Hill & Schumacher crashed out. Coulthard was much closer to Hill that year and both Ferraris were strong. (Although there were more retirements at Monza than Silverstone.)

[@ElectoneGuy]

I wonder how much success awaited Alessandro Nannini if not for the helicopter crash. Schumacher probably would not have been given the Benetton ride as they would have had Piquet and Nannini instead of that other Brazilian guy whose name escapes me now...

[@MrSniperfox29]

Honestly The Michael was causing such a buzz I think they would have dumped Piquet as he was well past his sell by date

[@palm92]

Nannini was champion material. He and Alboreto were brilliant but never had the breaks.

[@h3llr4iser1]

@@MrSniperfox29 Dumping Piquet...it would've been a tall order even for Briatore, if there ever was a character in F1 that could keep Flavio (and Bernie) in check, that was Nelson. He'd never have been dumped without taking with him a massive, and I mean absolutely massive slice of the Benetton's corporate bank account.

[@MrSniperfox29]

@@h3llr4iser1 Doubtful since Piquet was actually on a small contract topped up with bonuses on performance They could have easily dumped him, especially as by his own admittance, he wasn't that good anymore

[@bobclarke5913]

Congrats on the first 100k. And now to settle in for a story.

[@bigfootproductions749]

congrats on 100K!!!!

[@GeneralKenobiSIYE]

Congrats on the 100k. I remember when you had less than 10k

[@vincentras1991]

Congratulations

[@redchris97]

Congrats on 100k!

[@hippyjason]

100k. Congrats. Well earned.

[@noahdommaschk]

Well done on 6 figures! Been watching ur stuff since 2019 and it's nice to see how far you've come with all this hard work

[@markusjuenemann]

I´ve been a subscriber since that mentioned first Andrea Mona video. This one got me hooked.

[@Kam1Kaz3NL77]

Congrats on the 100K m8

[@minibus9]

awesome video, really loving this minisereis

[@thirdwheel1985au]

9:48 that upside down playlife decal reminds me of the time a Brad Jones Racing car rolled at two successive V8 Supercars events - first at the Sandown 500 and then at the following Bathurst 1000. When they rocked up at the Gold Coast for the next round, their decals were all upside down and I'm pretty sure there was a "this way up" sticker somewhere on the car. Let it never be said that Aussies lack a sense of humour.

[@UncleJoeLITE]

Congrats from Australia! Getting your first plaque. 👍

[@5340robert]

Very well done Aidan 100k good job looking forward to the next video as ever. On Benetton an iconic team from when i started watching F1 in the mid 90`s.

[@russellschwebke2652]

100K, Nice! Waiting to see that YT 110K plaque in the background soon.

[@Exponaut_R-01]

Congrats on that sixth digit! Long deserved. I would wonder what happened to Renault but I saw what happened. Not much room at the top when Ferrari, McLaren and BMW were the collective good teams. Even when you factor in BMW’s weirdly fast drop from relevance there was always the wildcard team or two that’d show up, until it just became Red Bull as that third team.

[@LGP82]

TY for this video about my team. :)

[@kevinthomson557]

keep up the good work, I really do enjoy watching Ur content especially regarding F1

[@pursang6792]

Congrats on hitting 100K subscribers!!

[@antonymcmanus8182]

Well done on the 100K

[@jasonrushton5991]

Another Gr8 vid M8!

[@rpmV8]

Always liked them, even though I'm a Damon fan. Cars always looked great. The Benetton sponsorship of Tyrrell is almost a story in itself. I read (I think it may have been Ken Tyrrells biography) about how they had signed Benetton and Denim, but Benetton wouldn't share the car space so Tyrrell had to tell Denim no.

[@millzyboy500]

Congratulation on 100k

[@allainangcao28]

It is so ironic how much of a meme Roberto Moreno is when it comes to this channel. Funny enough, Story Time pretty much started with Moreno at Andrea Moda.

[@nigelmurphy6761]

Well done on 100k Aidan ! 👍

[@RockTheChef]

Can anyone reach out to Roberto Moreno and get him in Aidan's room? :) Congrats man, so glad you got there! Onto the future :)

[@LiamNI]

Congrats on the 100k bud.

[@NinetyTres]

Gratz on the Hundred K Aidan !