What If?

[DOSBoot]

Okay. Let me try something different. What if Peter Revson wasn't killed in South Africa in 1974?

[FantometteBR]

Okay. Let me try something different. What if Peter Revson wasn't killed in South Africa in 1974?

In 1974, he would suffer of many problems in the first half of season with Shadow, but in the latter half score some points and end up with several top 10 finishes. Next year, he stays with Shadow, and gets two or three podiums with a better and reliable car, soon being called to be James Hunt's partner at McLaren for '76, when Revson wins three races and plays a smaller role in the WDC.

He stays with McLaren in 1977, but his performance would decline to a win and some points, and still gets worse in 1978, in a year dominated by Lotus, where Revson score less points than previous season. He leaves McLaren for a stint with Arrows, which produces around six or seven points and he retires to USA, where he spends most of the 80s in CART, with two titles and many wins, later retiring in definitive to run his own team, to mixed results.

[Vepe]

After reading this: http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sports/racing/M ... inen.story

What if Mika Häkkinen moved to Williams for 1993?

[QuickYoda41]

After reading this: http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sports/racing/M ... inen.story

What if Mika Häkkinen moved to Williams for 1993?

Damon Hill wouldn't be world champion

[BlindCaveSalamander]

After reading this: http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sports/racing/M ... inen.story

What if Mika Häkkinen moved to Williams for 1993?

That's an excellent read by the way, even with the spelling errors.

Anyway, looks like it's time for another one of my ever-intriguing chaos theories.

1994-1997: Hakkinen dominance
Well, I would assume Hakkinen at Williams in 1994 would do a bit better than Hill had done, and so would probably get the extra couple of points needed to seal the title. 1995 would still go to Schumacher, I'd imagine, but Hakkinen would make him work harder for it. With Villeneuve coming in as a rookie in 1996, and no other real challenger, Hakkinen would walk 1996, taking the title in a convincing enough fashion to convince Williams to keep him on for 1997, where he would be able to win a third title. Frentzen goes to Jordan 2 years early, with Ralf Schumacher debuting for Arrows.

1998-1999: British back-to-back... or not
Meanwhile, Hill gets picked up by McLaren, and becomes Senna's heir apparent at that team. McLaren also pick up the displaced Coulthard for 1996, and they both challenge for the title along with Schumacher's Ferrari in 1998, with Hill eventually just winning out. Frentzen wins in Spa that year, with Ralf Schumacher his new teammate. Hakkinen remains at Williams for 1999, while Villeneuve ups sticks and leaves for BAR. Alex Zanardi still makes his (unfortunately) rather disastrous return in 1999 while Hakkinen makes a bid for the title, as well as Frentzen in the Jordan, both Hill and Coulthard in the McLarens, and Irvine's Ferrari. It'd be even closer than real life, and with Hakkinen taking more points off of everyone, Frentzen (with some luck at the Nurburgring) emerges the victor. Ralf Schumacher is still at Jordan.

2000-2002: What do you think
Zanardi is replaced by Button for 2000, with Hakkinen still leading the Williams team. Hill still carries on with McLaren, but his heart's no longer in it, as Coulthard instead leads a rather vain charge against Michael Schumacher, and Hill retires at the end of the year. Ralf Schumacher is still with Jordan, and Trulli is signed to join Villeneuve at BAR. Montoya joins Williams for 2001, with Button going to Benetton, as Hakkinen tries to take the fight to Michael Schumacher in the second part of the year. Olivier Panis is promoted to the second McLaren seat alongside David Coulthard, and wins twice, but is eventually cast aside at the end of the year in favour of Nick Heidfeld. Ralf Schumacher sees Jordan as a sinking ship partway through 2001 and abandons it in favour of Renault. Raikkonen replaces Barrichello at Ferrari, and sets himself up as Schumacher's heir apparent within the team. Barrichello The Schumacher-Raikkonen combination dominates 2002 and the duo won every race for Ferrari that year bar the Malaysian GP, which Hakkinen wins. While Raikkonen is more competitive than Barrichello, the 2002 season for him is treated as a season-long shakedown, allowing Schumacher to build up a nigh-insurmountable lead early in the season. With Trulli still at BAR, Panis winds up at Toyota, preventing Allan McNish from ever racing in F1, and scores a couple points, moving the team ahead of Minardi.

2003-2004: HEIDFELD!?
2003 becomes one of the truly legendary years of the sport, with both Ferrari's, both Williams' and (shock horror) Heidfeld's McLaren all winning races and all with a genuine chance of the title. With Hakkinen and Raikkonen scoring better and more consistently than the drivers they were replacing, Schumacher drops a few points which hands the 2003 championship to NICK HEIDFELD of all people. At BAR, the team drop Villeneuve for Button, with Trulli staying on. Meanwhile, at Ferrari, with Raikkonen in the pipeline to replace Schumacher, Ferrari shock the world by letting them race each other for the 2004 championship. The title is closely fought, but Raikkonen eventually wins out, while Hakkinen calls it a career at the end of 2004. Ralf Schumacher is dropped from Renault and is replaced by Fisichella, Montoya replaces Coulthard at McLaren, Trulli goes to Toyota after a disappointing 2004, to be replaced by Takuma Sato. Barrichello continues to follow Heidfeld's real life path and replaces Hakkinen at Williams, while Panis is called up for one last tour of duty at Sauber.

2005-2006: Renault charge
Alonso takes the title in 2005, although it is closer between him and Heidfeld as, due to Heidfeld's smoother driving, he doesn't flat-spot his tyre and wins the European GP. This just about secures the Constructors' title for McLaren. Briatore blames Fisichella for losing the Constructors' title and sacks the Italian, signing Robert Kubica to replace him. Fisichella goes to BMW Sauber to replace the retiring Panis, with the team also snapping up Anthony Davidson for the second car, while Barrichello picks up his real life trail and signs for Honda. Michael Schumacher also retires, with Massa replacing him. Kubica spends the first few races of 2006 getting acquainted with the front end of the F1 field, but by the end of the year is regarded as a solid driver and wins twice, securing the constructors' title for Renault. Raikkonen puts up a spirited fight, and thanks to a more helpful teammate, nips Alonso to take the title. Nick Heidfeld almost wins in Hungary but is hunted down and passed with a few laps to go by a charging Jenson Button. Montoya drops out mid-season and is replaced by de la Rosa.

2007-2008: The same, but different
Hamilton steps up to partner Heidfeld for 2007, with Alonso signing up for Ferrari for 2007, and Massa replacing Trulli at Toyota, who then goes and fills Wurz's seat at Williams. Kovalainen joins Kubica at Renault, making a questionable lineup for the defending Constructors' champions, although Kubica makes the most of a bad situation and wins in Japan. The championship is closely fought between the McLaren's and Ferrari's, with less inter-team drama as Raikkonen is simply not someone you can have an argument with. Spygate still gets out, though, and McLaren gets excluded from the Constructors' championship, although this doesn't deter Nick Heidfeld from becoming a double World Champion. Trulli gets forced out of Williams in favour of Nakajima and his free Toyota engines, and he finds refuge in Force India. 2008 starts basically as 2007 round 2, with both Ferrari's and McLaren's in the hunt. However, Raikkonen begins to get disinterested midway through the season, while both Hamilton and Heidfeld is still plugging in the results at McLaren, making the Constructors' a given for McLaren. Heidfeld's lack of raw pace begins to show as Alonso and Hamilton push each other harder and harder, with eventually Alonso breaking through and taking his second championship. Davidson (I bet you've forgotten about him) begins to establish himself as a top line driver with a win in Canada, and spearheading the charge for BMW while Fisichella flounders. Kubica again punches above his weight, winning twice for Renault and beating both Raikkonen and Davidson to 4th in the championship.

2009-present: Red Bull ascendant... or are they?
In 2009, Honda lets their team go to Ross Brawn, who decides that, with Button in the other car, he doesn't need Barrichello, who's pretty much been stuck in the midfield forever, barring his 2-year stint at Ferrari. Bruno Senna replaces him, bringing plenty of Brazilian interest. BMW let Fisichella go into the wilderness, and promote Christian Klien to a race seat. Kubica again outperforms the car at Renault, although this time he can't quite reach the top step of the podium. Massa gets a few more results out of the Toyota, but the win is still not there and the team still folds at the end of the year. The season is contested largely between Button and the Red Bulls, as Senna's inexperience pretty much eliminates him as a contender from the off. This makes the Constructors' Championship tighter, although Brawn still wins it. At McLaren, Nick Heidfeld does not adapt well to the terribleness of the new car, and is soundly beaten by Hamilton, as is Raikkonen by Alonso. At the end of the year, Heidfeld and Raikkonen are packing their bags, with Button replacing Heidfeld and Kubica replacing Raikkonen. Heidfeld is first choice for the new Mercedes team in 2010, with Anthony Davidson being signed to the second car. Massa moves to Renault, with Rosberg making it an all-Nico Williams. Truilli is dropped from Force India and Liuzzi comes in. Senna winds up at Sauber, with Christian Klien taking Trulli's spot at Lotus. Chandhok and Yamamoto start the season for HRT, but Chandhok is dropped midway through for de la Rosa - the reasoning being that since Chandhok's money isn't there, then they might as well get another driver who can at least give some feedback.

The 2010 championship is (again) even more action packed as 6 cars contend for the championship. Button starts strongly, but fades as the season goes on, with Hamilton leading the charge for McLaren. Vettel and Webber find new and interesting ways to throw points away race after race, much to the pleasure of Alonso and Kubica, who put on a charge in the second half of the season to close the gap. Kubica remains consistent throughout the season, solidly scoring points, and that gives him the championship over the others. Meanwhile, in Korea, Anthony Davidson miraculously avoids Webber's wrecked car and picks up an unlikely win for Mercedes, further cementing his reputation as he beats his World Champion teammate.

Not much change for 2011, though - aside from what happened in real life, the only change is that HRT hangs on to de la Rosa, keeping Liuzzi in the cold, for as long as no other driver comes knocking with a briefcase full of money. The big change is really in the championship - as opposed to a Vettel-walkover, it's a head-to-head duel between Kubica and Vettel, with Vettel having a slight 8-point lead heading into the final two races, with all to play for...

Miscellanea
Michael Schumacher's legacy is left largely untarnished, as he was not in a position that Adelaide-gate, Jerez-gate, or Austria-gate would work.
Nick Heidfeld never becomes a meme, but he does become a candidate for Infinite Improbability Career of the Alternate Universe (IICOTAU).
Anthony Davidson actually has a proper F1 career.
Crashgate never happens.
Neither does Nelson Piquet Jr's F1 career.
Hamilton and Vettel are both championship-less (for now).
Eddie Jordan becomes even more unbearable.

Quick list of champions:
1994: Mika Hakkinen (Williams) / Williams
1995: MIchael Schumacher (Benetton) / Williams
1996: Mika Hakkinen (Williams) / Williams
1997: Mika Hakkinen (Williams) / Williams
1998: Damon Hill (McLaren) / McLaren
1999: Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Jordan) / Ferrari
2000: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) / Ferrari
2001: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) / Ferrari
2002: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) / Ferrari
2003: Nick Heidfeld (McLaren) / Ferrari
2004: Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) / Ferrari
2005: Fernando Alonso (Renault) / McLaren
2006: Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) / Renault
2007: Nick Heidfeld (McLaren) / Ferrari
2008: Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) / McLaren
2009: Jenson Button (Brawn) / Brawn
2010: Robert Kubica (Ferrari) / Red Bull
2011: Robert Kubica (Ferrari) / Ferrari

[dr-baker]

Just rewatching the last half-hour or so of the Senna documentary (the section covering 1993 and 1994) and two questions crossed my mind:

1. Would Imola still have happened for Senna if he had finished in either Brazil or Aida?

2. Would it have happened if Prost had remained at Williams and Senna had retired?

Both assumed everything else remained the same - driver line-ups, Barrichello's crash, Roland's death, etc. Although you could speculate on Alain's possible finishing results in Brazil and Aida...

[Wizzie]

Both assumed everything else remained the same - driver line-ups, Barrichello's crash, Roland's death, etc. Although you could speculate on Alain's possible finishing results in Brazil and Aida...

Prost would have finished Brazil because from memory Senna simply lost it under pressure. I can't remember who started the lap 1 chaos at Aida however.

[Myrvold]

Hakkinen started it.

[Vepe]

Miscellanea
Michael Schumacher's legacy is left largely untarnished, as he was not in a position that Adelaide-gate, Jerez-gate, or Austria-gate would work.
Nick Heidfeld never becomes a meme, but he does become a candidate for Infinite Improbability Career of the Alternate Universe (IICOTAU).
Anthony Davidson actually has a proper F1 career.
Crashgate never happens.
Neither does Nelson Piquet Jr's F1 career.
Hamilton and Vettel are both championship-less (for now).
Eddie Irvine becomes even more unbearable.

How about Häkkinen at Adelaide ´95? Does it still happen?

Oh, and I´m now seriously thinking of doing a full version based on this

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Miscellanea
Michael Schumacher's legacy is left largely untarnished, as he was not in a position that Adelaide-gate, Jerez-gate, or Austria-gate would work.
Nick Heidfeld never becomes a meme, but he does become a candidate for Infinite Improbability Career of the Alternate Universe (IICOTAU).
Anthony Davidson actually has a proper F1 career.
Crashgate never happens.
Neither does Nelson Piquet Jr's F1 career.
Hamilton and Vettel are both championship-less (for now).
Eddie Irvine becomes even more unbearable.

How about Häkkinen at Adelaide ´95? Does it still happen?

Oh, and I´m now seriously thinking of doing a full version based on this

Well, there's quite a few factors to consider - Hakkinen ran over some debris which caused the puncture, but it was a left-rear puncture, which sort of implies that he saw it and tried to avoid. The Williams was a better car than the McLaren in 1995, so it might have allowed him to avoid it, but then again, would Williams have sent Hakkinen out at the exact same time that McLaren did? Probably not.

It could've happened to Damon Hill, since he's driving Hakkinen's car and it's more likely that he'd be sent out at such a time, but he may also have been able to avoid the debris in time.

[Phoenix]

Snip

Masterpiece.

My opinion:

Mika takes 3-4 wins in 1993 and finishes 2nd behind Prost. He wins in 1994 (aided by Schumacher's misfortunes; Adelaidagate never happens), 1995, 1996 and 1997. In 1998 he feels disappointed by Williams' fall from grace and debatable livery and goes to McLaren replacing David Coulthard; wins in 1999 too but has to give best to Schumacher in 2000; finishes 2nd. The rest goes as in real life, except that Nick Heidfeld goes to McLaren and blah blah blah (actually that's Barrichello, but never mind).

[QuickYoda41]

Quick list of champions:
2003: Nick Heidfeld (McLaren) / Ferrari
2007: Nick Heidfeld (McLaren) / Ferrari

It's beautiful

[S951]

what if jos the boss won in brazil in 2003 and not giancarlo

[wmetcalf68]

what if jos the boss won in brazil in 2003 and not giancarlo

That would have been awesome! The netherlands would be having a big party!

[wmetcalf68]

Quick list of champions:
2003: Nick Heidfeld (McLaren) / Ferrari
2007: Nick Heidfeld (McLaren) / Ferrari

It's beautiful

I know

[AdrianSutil]

what if jos the boss won in brazil in 2003 and not giancarlo

Verstappen's career wouldve been given the almighty jump it deserved. Minardi would have spend the remainder of the season still at the back, but in 2004, would have a lot more money, a lot more sponsors, and a better car all round. Expect regular points (a la Toyota).

Verstappen would leave Minardi for either Sauber or Jaguar. Justin Wilson remains with the team and is joined by Anthony Davidson, making it an all-British team. With two British drivers and a host of British sponsors, the team lay the foundations for a competitive future, and move the factory to England. The sale to Red Bull doesn't happen.

[FMecha]

What if Noberto Fontana was able to crash into Villeneuve in Jerez 97?

[wmetcalf68]

What if Noberto Fontana was able to crash into Villeneuve in Jerez 97?

If that happened, I would say, "Go Noberto!!"!

[dr-baker]

What if Noberto Fontana was able to crash into Villeneuve in Jerez 97?

Do you really think he could have done better than what-was-at-that-time a double world champion?

[BlindCaveSalamander]

1998-1999: British back-to-back
... Hakkinen makes a bid for the title, as well as Frentzen in the Jordan, both Hill and Coulthard in the McLarens, and Irvine's Ferrari. It'd be even closer than real life, and I'd guess that with Hakkinen taking more points off everyone, that Irvine would take that championship.

Okay, so bear with me on this - I think I might've finally figured out a way to make Heinz-Harald Frentzen the 1999 World Champion.

Going into Italy, Damon Hill leads on 54 points from Irvine on 53, with Coulthard 3rd on 46 and Frentzen and Hakkinen tied on 40. Frentzen of course wins that one, with Hakkinen 2nd and Coulthard the only other championship contender scoring in 6th, as Ralf Schumacher does a good job to finish 5th in the Jordan. The standings close up, with Frentzen now 3rd on 50 points, with Coulthard 4th on 47 and Hakkinen one point further back in 5th.

Next comes the European GP, and this time Frentzen's electrics hold together and he wins again, with Hakkinen again 2nd and no other championship contender scoring. This catapults Frentzen into a 6 point lead over Hill, with Hakkinen now 4th on 52 points. Now Frentzen has a chance of the title, he drives as hard as he can in Malaysia, but cannot match the Ferraris or McLarens and winds up 4th, just ahead of Hakkinen again. With Irvine winning and Hill 3rd, the championship drops Coulthard and all but loses Hakkinen: it's now Irvine and Frentzen tied on 63 points (Irvine leading on countback), Hill 3rd with 58 points and Hakkinen on 54.

Hill takes off at the start of the Japanese GP with Schumacher in hot pursuit, both drivers knowing Hill has to win in order to give himself a good chance of the title. Towards the end of the race, Hill succumbs to Schumacher's pressure, meaning that all Irvine has to do is hold on and he will be the World Champion. But it's not that simple! As Irvine was cruising around, Frentzen kept up, and in the last stint, begins to close in on the Ferrari. Irvine tries to respond, but makes a couple of mistakes as the Jordan closes in, giving Frentzen a chance of passing Irvine into the Casio Triangle on the last lap... which he pulls off, thus giving him the World Championship to the absolute shock of everyone.

[nome66]

what if schumi had stayed at benetton in '96 thru '06? would they have stayed "benetton"?
would they have been as rejectful in '98-'01?
small question. does the 1995 ligier chassis count as a customer car?

[Jeroen Krautmeir]

small question. does the 1995 prost chassis count as a customer car?

You mean Ligier

Anyway, that's a controversial one. I mean, I think basically everybody knew it was the B195 with a Mugen-Honda engine, but it was still attributed to the design team of Frank Dernie, who in the end only did some modifications to accomodate the MH. But a customer car is when you buy a car from a manufacturer, openly admitting you've bought it from the manufacturer, and then running the WCC under that manufacturer's name. Hence why Hesketh scored points for 'March-Ford' in 1973 when you also had the works 'March-Ford' team, Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie Racing 'March-Ford' team, STP Racing 'March-Ford' team and the LEC 'March-Ford' team.

So the Ligier isn't a customer car. Flav just gave Tom all the blueprints for Frank to copy. I think the reason why they were never punished is because the FIA had no proof that Ligier had done so, even though EVERYONE knew they had.

Customer cars were banned by the mid 80s as far as I recall. I think there was a Trussardi team or something along those lines that wanted to enter the 1987 season with a Benetton B186, but was rejected because of the rule.

Anyway, mario and gang, feel free to correct me!

[FMecha]

What if Noberto Fontana was able to crash into Villeneuve in Jerez 97?

Do you really think he could have done better than what-was-at-that-time a double world champion?

When Fontana received the blue flag alert, he twitches his car to crash into Villeneuve. What do you think?

[FullMetalJack]

What if Noberto Fontana was able to crash into Villeneuve in Jerez 97?

He would replace Eddie Irvine in 1998, and he'd have his 1999 season, but would win the championship.

[Ferrim]

what if jos the boss won in brazil in 2003 and not giancarlo

Verstappen's career wouldve been given the almighty jump it deserved. Minardi would have spend the remainder of the season still at the back, but in 2004, would have a lot more money, a lot more sponsors, and a better car all round. Expect regular points (a la Toyota).

Verstappen would leave Minardi for either Sauber or Jaguar. Justin Wilson remains with the team and is joined by Anthony Davidson, making it an all-British team. With two British drivers and a host of British sponsors, the team lay the foundations for a competitive future, and move the factory to England. The sale to Red Bull doesn't happen.

Take into account that nothing of that happened for Jordan who actually won the race. Can't see how it would have changed that much for Minardi; everyone would knew that win was a fluke.

[dr-baker]

What if Noberto Fontana was able to crash into Villeneuve in Jerez 97?

Do you really think he could have done better than what-was-at-that-time a double world champion?

When Fontana received the blue flag alert, he twitches his car to crash into Villeneuve. What do you think?

Well, Schumacher could not get that manoeuvre to work. Do you really think Fontana could have succeeded where Schumi failed?

[eurobrun]

Not F1 but...

What if Le Mans 55 never happened

[Jeroen Krautmeir]

Not F1 but...

What if Le Mans 55 never happened

Well, we'd still be racing in Switzerland I guess!

[FantometteBR]

Not F1 but...

What if Le Mans 55 never happened

Well, we'd still be racing in Switzerland I guess!

And Mercedes would last longer in the Formula 1. Mercedes x Porsche, who knew...

[DOSBoot]

What if Jean Pierre Jabouille hadn't suffered a broken leg at the 1980 Canadian GP?

[S951]

what if luca badoers gearbox didn't go bye bye at the european gp in 1999 and he managed to finish on the podium?

[Aerond]

what if luca badoers gearbox didn't go bye bye at the european gp in 1999 and he managed to finish on the podium?

He wouldn´t appear on this site, but nothing else.

[Aerond]

Not F1 but...

What if Le Mans 55 never happened

Well, we'd still be racing in Switzerland I guess!

And Mercedes would last longer in the Formula 1. Mercedes x Porsche, who knew...

The Original Mercedes team would still be racing in F1 and F1 would be quite different today.

[Shizuka]

And Sauber's team would not exist, simply because they would have no Mercedes backing.
This also means Schumacher, Frentzen and Wendlinger would find themselves harder to enter F1...

[Aerond]

And Sauber's team would not exist, simply because they would have no Mercedes backing.
This also means Schumacher, Frentzen and Wendlinger would find themselves harder to enter F1...

Or easier, if Mercedes directed their young program drivers to F1 rather than Sports cars.

[Ferrim]

what if luca badoers gearbox didn't go bye bye at the european gp in 1999 and he managed to finish on the podium?

Call me a nerd, but I made some research into where would he have finished the race, and found out he would have been 5th.

The last time Badoer crossed the line, to complete lap 53, he was 4th, having overtaken Ralf Schumacher (who had just suffered a puncture and had to pit) in lap 51. He had been setting some impressive lap times - he was 41.8s down race leader, Johnny Herbert, in lap 49, and the gap basically stayed the same: 41.8, 42.2, 42.1 -. Neither Trulli in 2nd nor Barrichello in 3rd were pulling away from him. But Ralf was 14.2s behind in lap 51, and had closed that gap to 10.7 just a couple of laps later: he was well over a second faster than Luca. Badoer's times, already impressive, didn't get worse in lap 53: he actually set a faster time in that lap that in the previous two. From these data I assume his car was okay and the failure was sudden and unannounced. So, with 13 laps to go, I assume Ralf would have caught and get past him.

Behind Ralf, in 6th position, came Villeneuve. He retired with four laps to go, so it's academic, but for the sake of it, his gap to Badoer was very stable in 16 seconds for a few laps, and if anything it was increasing.

7th was Gené: his gap to Badoer remained a little over 21s from laps 47 to 53, yo-yoing a bit in the process. Not a threat either.

8th was Irvine, struggling everywhere with an unstable Ferrari. Irvine was nearly 38 seconds behind in lap 50 (he had just pitted for dries), and given that he didn't manage to catch Gené, he would have finished behind Badoer as well.

Finally, Häkkinen was 9th. Häkkinen's 53rd lap was 3.5s faster than Badoer's. He was 39.5 seconds behind with 13 laps to go; he had the pace, but he hadn't track position, and lost a bit of ground stuck behind Irvine. Enough to not be able to catch Badoer -as it was, he barely made it to Gené with three laps to go-.

So Minardi only lost a point (and I imagine someone did this same calculation, somewhere in Faenza, more than 12 years ago), but that point would have moved them ahead of Arrows in the Constructors. No idea how much money that was worth back then...

[Jack O Melley]

What if Tom Walkinshaw found enough money to pay off debts so as to keep the ball rolling until the 2002 season ending?

[Bleu]

So Minardi only lost a point (and I imagine someone did this same calculation, somewhere in Faenza, more than 12 years ago), but that point would have moved them ahead of Arrows in the Constructors. No idea how much money that was worth back then...

Interestingly, even without that point Minardi was set to overtake Arrows following the next race in Malaysia. After the Ferraris were DQed from the race, that bumped Gene into 7th position. Arrows also had one 7th place (Takagi in Australia) while Minardi had two 8ths (Badoer in Imola, Gene in Montreal) against one of Arrows (Takagi in Interlagos)

But while the Ferraris were re-instated, Gene dropped back to 9th and therefore Arrows took 9th place in WCC.

[mario]

What if Tom Walkinshaw found enough money to pay off debts so as to keep the ball rolling until the 2002 season ending?

It's kind of hard to see how Walkinshaw could have kept the team going in the long run - had they survived until the end of the season, it's unlikely they could have survived much longer given how expensive the sport was rapidly becoming.
So, I think that he most likely scenario is that the team would have collapsed in the off season had they survived that long (it's a shame that Faustus isn't posting these days as I'm sure, given that I think he mentioned he had some links with TWR, he might have been able to give us a better insight into how things were at the time). Mind you, wasn't there talk at the time about a possible deal between Zakspeed and TWR to take over the Arrows F1 team?

On another note, here's a potentially quite interesting question. Back in the late 1960's when the sport was preparing for "the return to power" and the advent of the 3.0L regulations, it appears that originally the teams might not have wanted to double the engine capacity but instead preferred the idea of a 2.0L engine (since most of the teams could have used stretched versions of the existing 1.5L engines instead of having to build entirely new engines, like BRM's stopgap 2.0L V8's).

However, it seems that Chapman might have been responsible for persuading the teams to push for a 3.0L engine, which meant a lot of teams had to rely on unsuitable sportscar engines (Cooper used Maserati engines bored out from 2.5L to 3.0L whilst Ferrari, Matra, BRM and Alfa Romeo (for De Adamich's career at March) used exactly the same engines in F1 as they used in sportscars). Meanwhile, the Weslake's V12 was permanently hobbled by the unreliable ancillaries it used - and was a one off development project - and Honda's V12, which was crippled by being badly overweight, so, as we know, only the Repco engine could really offer any sort of opposition (and even that was mainly because it was reasonably light and much more reliable than the early DFV's).

So, my question is this - what might have happened had the engines only been increased to 2.0L instead of 3.0L?

[FMecha]

What if Tom Walkinshaw found enough money to pay off debts so as to keep the ball rolling until the 2002 season ending?

It's kind of hard to see how Walkinshaw could have kept the team going in the long run - had they survived until the end of the season, it's unlikely they could have survived much longer given how expensive the sport was rapidly becoming.
So, I think that he most likely scenario is that the team would have collapsed in the off season had they survived that long (it's a shame that Faustus isn't posting these days as I'm sure, given that I think he mentioned he had some links with TWR, he might have been able to give us a better insight into how things were at the time). Mind you, wasn't there talk at the time about a possible deal between Zakspeed and TWR to take over the Arrows F1 team?

Might you read this?

On another note, here's a potentially quite interesting question. Back in the late 1960's when the sport was preparing for "the return to power" and the advent of the 3.0L regulations, it appears that originally the teams might not have wanted to double the engine capacity but instead preferred the idea of a 2.0L engine (since most of the teams could have used stretched versions of the existing 1.5L engines instead of having to build entirely new engines, like BRM's stopgap 2.0L V8's).

However, it seems that Chapman might have been responsible for persuading the teams to push for a 3.0L engine, which meant a lot of teams had to rely on unsuitable sportscar engines (Cooper used Maserati engines bored out from 2.5L to 3.0L whilst Ferrari, Matra, BRM and Alfa Romeo (for De Adamich's career at March) used exactly the same engines in F1 as they used in sportscars). Meanwhile, the Weslake's V12 was permanently hobbled by the unreliable ancillaries it used - and was a one off development project - and Honda's V12, which was crippled by being badly overweight, so, as we know, only the Repco engine could really offer any sort of opposition (and even that was mainly because it was reasonably light and much more reliable than the early DFV's).

So, my question is this - what might have happened had the engines only been increased to 2.0L instead of 3.0L?

Some drivers would moan regarding low engine displacement.