What If?

[pasta_maldonado]

What if Tonio Liuzzi's car in this crash was just a few centimetres to the left?

You know the answer to that, surely...

I don't want to think of the answer......

[LellaLombardi]

What if Tonio Liuzzi's car in this crash was just a few centimetres to the left?

FWIW I don't think it would have killed him, but it would certainly have been nasty and re-injured his neck enough to finish his career for good. I half expected him to re-announce his retirement following this crash as that is about as close as he has come to being killed. Silverstone '99 aside, he has never really had a truly scary crash.

F1 fast-tracks closed cockpits, and either Sutil or Glock goes into the vacant Merc seat.

[darkapprentice77]

What would James Hunt say about Jean-Denis Délétraz?

[DOSBoot]

What would James Hunt say about Jean-Denis Délétraz?

Probably the same thing he said about Jean-Pierre Jarier.

[darkapprentice77]

What if Perry McCarthy drove for Williams in 1994 instead of David Coulthard?

[Wizzie]

And, on a similar note to the previous question, what if Esteban Gutierrez was available as Perez's replacement for last year's Canadian GP?

[Stramala]

And, on a similar note to the previous question, what if Esteban Gutierrez was available as Perez's replacement for last year's Canadian GP?

He would have retired in a first lap melee, making no change to the course of history!

[JeremyMcClean]

And, on a similar note to the previous question, what if Esteban Gutierrez was available as Perez's replacement for last year's Canadian GP?

He would have retired in a first lap melee, making no change to the course of history!

Except for becoming the second one-lap wonder in F1 and being hailed in Rejectdom

[Wizzie]

Having just read Norberto Fontana's F1 Rejects profile again, I have a new bevy of questions for you all:
1. What if Fontana had accepted Mo Nunn's offer to go to Chip Ganassi Racing for 1996?
2. What if Martin Brundle had accepted Peter Sauber's offer for a race drive at the 1997 British Grand Prix?
3. What if BAT had never vetoed the deal between Fontana and Tyrrell for the 1998 season and never gave the seat to Riccardo Rosset instead?
4. What if Fontana got the nod over Gaston Mazzacane at Minardi for the 2000 season?

[David AGS]

Gday mate!

1. I think he would have done okay, but Morris (Mo) was more interested in Red Bull sponsorship. After an average season, Red Bull force him into the reserve Sauber seat again.

2. Brundle would have done okay. He may have scored a point or two. Remember this was in the days of in season testing so he would not have taken long to get used to the Sauber.

3. Fontana does get seat at Tyrrell, but does poor (again) and is released early. Test driver Andrea Montermini takes over but fails to revive his career.

4. After testing strongly with Minardi in 1999, he gets drive, backed by PSN. The car is a gem, but is let down by an ageing V-10 engine. They fail to score, but beat Prost in constructors championship. An Aussie in Paul Stoddart buys the team, but a driver names Fernando Alonso, and a former F1 pilot and Fontana's rival in CART, Tarso Marques take the second seat.

[David AGS]

In early 2001, there was a lot of interest in the Australian papers and rightfully so when Paul Stoddart bought Minardi. I didnt have regular internet (dial up!) access then, so relied on the papers etc.

There were a lot of rumours who would have taken the second seat at Minardi.

What would have happened if these drivers took the seat:

Christjian Albers

Enrique Bernoldi

Gianni Morbidelli

Nigel Mansell

Mark Webber

(I did say rumours!)

[Ataxia]

Having just read Norberto Fontana's F1 Rejects profile again, I have a new bevy of questions for you all:
1. What if Fontana had accepted Mo Nunn's offer to go to Chip Ganassi Racing for 1996?
2. What if Martin Brundle had accepted Peter Sauber's offer for a race drive at the 1997 British Grand Prix?
3. What if BAT had never vetoed the deal between Fontana and Tyrrell for the 1998 season and never gave the seat to Riccardo Rosset instead?
4. What if Fontana got the nod over Gaston Mazzacane at Minardi for the 2000 season?

1. Probably would have done OK, probably would have kept him sharper than FNippon...
2. There'd be fewer "You're right there, Murray" snippets on F1 '97
3. Fewer DNQs, might have beaten Badoer to the '99 Minardi seat.
4. Probably would have been about the same.

[Nuppiz]

Nigel Mansell

Oh dear... now that would've been epically rejectful!

[Ferrarist]

What would James Hunt say about Jean-Denis Délétraz?

Walker: "And what is Deletraz doing?"

Hunt: "All I can say about that is bull****."

[pasta_maldonado]

What would James Hunt say about Jean-Denis Délétraz?

Walker: "And what is Deletraz doing?"

Hunt: "All I can say about that is bull****."

Walker: "Anyway, Schumacher still leads..."

[Captain Hammer]

What would James Hunt say about Jean-Denis Délétraz?

Walker: "And what is Deletraz doing?"
Hunt: "All I can say about that is bull****."

Walker: "Anyway, Schumacher still leads..."

Brundle: "That's Vettel, Murray."

[WaffleCat]

What if Alberto Ascari decided not to test at Monza 4 days after his crash with the fishes at Monaco?

[eurobrun]

What if Toyota stayed in F1 with the TF110?

[JeremyMcClean]

What if Alberto Ascari decided not to test at Monza 4 days after his crash with the fishes at Monaco?

Likely nothing much wouldn't happen except that he would live a bit longer. (i.e. He doesnt win a race or championship)

What if Toyota stayed in F1 with the TF110?

Fifth place constructors finish, withdraws after that with no replacement, and we don't have the eyesore that is known as Caterham. Virgin, without Glock, hire Kovalainen and go about as usual. HRT goes as usual. Trulli retires after Toyota withdraws, Glock replaces Kubica in 2011 and is just as effective as Heidfeld, but lasts the entire season before being sacked. Lotus starts Grosjean and Senna in their 2012 lineup. Raikkonen goes to Williams.

[mario]

What if Toyota stayed in F1 with the TF110?

Fifth place constructors finish, withdraws after that with no replacement, and we don't have the eyesore that is known as Caterham. Virgin, without Glock, hire Kovalainen and go about as usual. HRT goes as usual. Trulli retires after Toyota withdraws, Glock replaces Kubica in 2011 and is just as effective as Heidfeld, but lasts the entire season before being sacked. Lotus starts Grosjean and Senna in their 2012 lineup. Raikkonen goes to Williams.

I think that Toyota could have done better than 5th in the WCC that year given that the TF110 was quite a refined design - it featured a number of tricks up its sleeve, like a quick adjust ride height system (so the ride height could be adjusted during a pit stop as the race fuel burned off), that were later adopted by a number of other teams, and although the exact downforce figures haven't been released to the public, they are thought to have compared favourably with the front running teams.
I am not necessarily sure it could have been a race winner, but the gut feeling of quite a few observers is that it probably would have been a better car than the R30 or the W01 and potentially comparable to the F10, MP4/25 and RB6 - it might have lacked a little bit in power, but potentially gained that back through its fuel consumption advantage. Whether they would have stayed on beyond 2010 is questionable, though, unless they managed to win at least once - if they did, and the team was more successful than in 2009, they might have stayed on until today, but otherwise they probably would have withdrawn (which means that their sports car program might well have been delayed into next year).

As to what effect that would have had further down the grid, it is possible that Sauber might well have ended up having to leave the sport because BMW's withdrawal voided their entry rights, meaning Sauber was only on the reserve list until Toyota withdrew. Caterham would probably have struggled more than they have given that quite a few of their engineers sought shelter there after Toyota axed their team, whilst Glock probably would still be a midfield driver rather than languishing in anonymity at the back of the field.
Speaking of the midfield, Williams probably would have stuck with Toyota engines for 2010 instead of reverting to Cosworth, and I strongly suspect that Kobayashi would have been signed up by Williams as a replacement to Nakajima. Rubens probably would have still picked up a seat at Williams that year, acting as a mentor to Kobayashi, which means that Hulkenberg would probably have remained as Williams's test driver.

[JeremyMcClean]

What if Toyota stayed in F1 with the TF110?

Fifth place constructors finish, withdraws after that with no replacement, and we don't have the eyesore that is known as Caterham. Virgin, without Glock, hire Kovalainen and go about as usual. HRT goes as usual. Trulli retires after Toyota withdraws, Glock replaces Kubica in 2011 and is just as effective as Heidfeld, but lasts the entire season before being sacked. Lotus starts Grosjean and Senna in their 2012 lineup. Raikkonen goes to Williams.

I think that Toyota could have done better than 5th in the WCC that year given that the TF110 was quite a refined design - it featured a number of tricks up its sleeve, like a quick adjust ride height system (so the ride height could be adjusted during a pit stop as the race fuel burned off), that were later adopted by a number of other teams, and although the exact downforce figures haven't been released to the public, they are thought to have compared favourably with the front running teams.
I am not necessarily sure it could have been a race winner, but the gut feeling of quite a few observers is that it probably would have been a better car than the R30 or the W01 and potentially comparable to the F10, MP4/25 and RB6 - it might have lacked a little bit in power, but potentially gained that back through its fuel consumption advantage. Whether they would have stayed on beyond 2010 is questionable, though, unless they managed to win at least once - if they did, and the team was more successful than in 2009, they might have stayed on until today, but otherwise they probably would have withdrawn (which means that their sports car program might well have been delayed into next year).

As to what effect that would have had further down the grid, it is possible that Sauber might well have ended up having to leave the sport because BMW's withdrawal voided their entry rights, meaning Sauber was only on the reserve list until Toyota withdrew. Caterham would probably have struggled more than they have given that quite a few of their engineers sought shelter there after Toyota axed their team, whilst Glock probably would still be a midfield driver rather than languishing in anonymity at the back of the field.
Speaking of the midfield, Williams probably would have stuck with Toyota engines for 2010 instead of reverting to Cosworth, and I strongly suspect that Kobayashi would have been signed up by Williams as a replacement to Nakajima. Rubens probably would have still picked up a seat at Williams that year, acting as a mentor to Kobayashi, which means that Hulkenberg would probably have remained as Williams's test driver.

Valid points there. I made an error thinking Caterham replaced Toyota when it was Sauber. Oops. :S

I think it would have been as good as the R30 and the W01, but I think Mercedes would have squeaked them out of 4th in the end.

I could not believe the needless propaganda that F1 Magazine threw around the TF110; there was a whole article devoted to how this car might have been. They didn't throw in the factor that Trulli and Glock, given the opportunity, can't win races, they are the Heidfelds of their time. Yes, I realize they were in the same time.

[BlindCaveSalamander]

They didn't throw in the factor that Trulli and Glock, given the opportunity, can't win races, they are the Heidfelds of their time. Yes, I realize they were in the same time.

Ahem.

I think Glock could've won a race or two in the right circumstances. The bigger problem for Toyota was the fact that their strategies were utter rubbish. They should've won the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix, but completely stuffed it up and handed the race on a silver platter to Button.

[JeremyMcClean]

They didn't throw in the factor that Trulli and Glock, given the opportunity, can't win races, they are the Heidfelds of their time. Yes, I realize they were in the same time.

Ahem.

I think Glock could've won a race or two in the right circumstances. The bigger problem for Toyota was the fact that their strategies were utter rubbish. They should've won the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix, but completely stuffed it up and handed the race on a silver platter to Button.

Please take note of the 's' in 'races.'

Not trying to be mean to Trulli, but Toyota is notorious for sodding wins and all that.

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Please take note of the 's' in 'races.'

Not trying to be mean to Trulli, but Toyota is notorious for sodding wins and all that.

That's not really their fault though, is it? Though I guess it's all semantics really - even if Trulli and Glock were good enough to drag the car into race-winning contention, the strategists would've botched it eventually.

[Wizzie]

They didn't throw in the factor that Trulli and Glock, given the opportunity, can't win races, they are the Heidfelds of their time. Yes, I realize they were in the same time.

Ahem.

I think Glock could've won a race or two in the right circumstances. The bigger problem for Toyota was the fact that their strategies were utter rubbish. They should've won the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix, but completely stuffed it up and handed the race on a silver platter to Button.

Please take note of the 's' in 'races.'

Not trying to be mean to Trulli, but Toyota is notorious for sodding wins and all that.

Umm... Kobayashi had one of the race drives for 2010 (presumably) as Glock's replacement as I'm pretty sure he already had the Virgin seat by then

[JeremyMcClean]

Umm... Kobayashi had one of the race drives for 2010 (presumably) as Glock's replacement as I'm pretty sure he already had the Virgin seat by then

Really now? I thought he joined Virgin after Toyota bit the dust...

[darkapprentice77]

What if the Concorde Agreement allowed 28 cars and Stefan GP and the US F1 Team competed in 2010?

[JeremyMcClean]

What if the Concorde Agreement allowed 28 cars and Stefan GP and the US F1 Team competed in 2010?

USF1 was run by a melange of idiots but if they somehow managed to scrap together a car they would field that Argentine guy and Rossiter, and would place dead last in the Constructors. Stefan, with Cosworth engines, places 10th. (Also, fielding JV doesn't help either.) Both withdraw at the end of the year and nothing else happens, except that many people around F1 now believe the number of cars allowed on the grid should be 22.

[darkapprentice77]

What if the Concorde Agreement allowed 28 cars and Stefan GP and the US F1 Team competed in 2010?

USF1 was run by a melange of idiots but if they somehow managed to scrap together a car they would field that Argentine guy and Rossiter, and would place dead last in the Constructors. Stefan, with Cosworth engines, places 10th. (Also, fielding JV doesn't help either.) Both withdraw at the end of the year and nothing else happens, except that many people around F1 now believe the number of cars allowed on the grid should be 22.

Didn't Stefan basically have Toyota's car and engine?

[dr-baker]

What if the Concorde Agreement allowed 28 cars and Stefan GP and the US F1 Team competed in 2010?

The thing is, USF1 DID have an entry for 2010, all the way up to the Australian GP 2010, where they did not turn up because they simply were not ready. But as for Stefan, a repeat of Andrea Moda, I suspect.

[mario]

Umm... Kobayashi had one of the race drives for 2010 (presumably) as Glock's replacement as I'm pretty sure he already had the Virgin seat by then

Really now? I thought he joined Virgin after Toyota bit the dust...

Toyota released all of their drivers from their contracts in advance of their withdrawal from the sport to give them as much time as possible to seek out seats with other teams. Toyota officially announced that they would withdraw from F1 on the 4th November whilst Glock's contract wasn't formally announced until the 17th November, but it is entirely possible that Glock had already signed an option with Manor Grand Prix some time in advance.
As for Kobayashi, it is possible that he was offered a race seat at one stage, but it seems that he never completed the contract with Toyota before they withdrew (I think that, officially, he was still just the nominated reserve driver at the time) - besides, even if he had signed up for the team, that contract would almost certainly have been bought out by Toyota in recompense pretty shortly afterwards.

What if the Concorde Agreement allowed 28 cars and Stefan GP and the US F1 Team competed in 2010?

USF1 was run by a melange of idiots but if they somehow managed to scrap together a car they would field that Argentine guy and Rossiter, and would place dead last in the Constructors. Stefan, with Cosworth engines, places 10th. (Also, fielding JV doesn't help either.) Both withdraw at the end of the year and nothing else happens, except that many people around F1 now believe the number of cars allowed on the grid should be 22.

Didn't Stefan basically have Toyota's car and engine?

I believe that the deal that Stefan claims to have struck with Toyota would have seen him using Toyota's car and engine with Toyota continuing to service the cars, but the deal was conditional on Stefan being awarded a grid slot by the FIA. I think, therefore, that ownership of the TF110 reverted back to Toyota after Stefan's bid failed, which was why Pirelli flirted with the idea of using the TF110 as a test car (although they went for the TF109 because they felt that the handling characteristics of the TF109 was a closer match to contemporary race cars than the TF110).

[David AGS]

Wasnt Glock very close to signing with Renault before Manor?

In hindsight it would have been better, but I guess at that time there were doubts over the future of Renault, expecially loosing all its backers during the Singapore/Alonso/Piquet crash gate.

[Nuppiz]

Some PMcCMF-related what-ifs:

• What if IRDU Rejects Cup or F1CC did not collapse?
• What if Precision Motorsports (Jeroen's RP) made it?

Quite the bump, but...
1. There would be no RoLFS, and my involvement in the Perry McCarthy forum would be limited to driver and team management. Or maybe I would've started a LFS touring car series (which I'm still planning, but feel that there's currently too many series going on). In the case of F1CC, I doubt that the F1RGP2C would've started either.
2. It would've been epic, sadly I was one of the people who unintentionally brough it down.

[darkapprentice77]

What if Champ Car and IndyCar didn't merge?

[JeremyMcClean]

What if Champ Car and IndyCar didn't merge?

Seeing as if Champ Car was already sailing by a thread it would be very unlikely that Champ Car would survive any longer than 2007.
The real question is, what if IndyCar never even split up in the first place?

[darkapprentice77]

What if Champ Car and IndyCar didn't merge?

Seeing as if Champ Car was already sailing by a thread it would be very unlikely that Champ Car would survive any longer than 2007.
The real question is, what if IndyCar never even split up in the first place?

It would be more popular than NASCAR.

[dr-baker]

What if Champ Car and IndyCar didn't merge?

Seeing as if Champ Car was already sailing by a thread it would be very unlikely that Champ Car would survive any longer than 2007.
The real question is, what if IndyCar never even split up in the first place?

Bourdais probably wouldn't have become a four-time champion, NASCAR wouldn't have gained all the support that the two series lost as a result of the the split, and I never would have attended a Champ Car race in the flesh at Brands Hatch in 2004(?). Would love to see the series return to Europe though, to repeat the Rockingham and EuroSpeedway 500s.

[WaffleCat]

Must be crazy....but what if circuits were held on a reverse layout?Dunno what I'm on about?Take Suzuka,for instance.Instead of the original right hander as the first turn,the Casio Triangle will become the first turn(that's gonna be a disaster)

It might also take away a few challenges,such as Degner Curve,maybe,but can create new ones.Like screaming downhill at Beau Rivage desperately trying to find the brake heading into Sainte Devote.Or cars approaching Estoril at full chat at Magny-Cours.

[FullMetalJack]

Must be crazy....but what if circuits were held on a reverse layout?Dunno what I'm on about?Take Suzuka,for instance.Instead of the original right hander as the first turn,the Casio Triangle will become the first turn(that's gonna be a disaster)

It might also take away a few challenges,such as Degner Curve,maybe,but can create new ones.Like screaming downhill at Beau Rivage desperately trying to find the brake heading into Sainte Devote.Or cars approaching Estoril at full chat at Magny-Cours.

Monaco would be ridiculously epic in reverse!

[JeremyMcClean]

Must be crazy....but what if circuits were held on a reverse layout?Dunno what I'm on about?Take Suzuka,for instance.Instead of the original right hander as the first turn,the Casio Triangle will become the first turn(that's gonna be a disaster)

It might also take away a few challenges,such as Degner Curve,maybe,but can create new ones.Like screaming downhill at Beau Rivage desperately trying to find the brake heading into Sainte Devote.Or cars approaching Estoril at full chat at Magny-Cours.

Or Eau Rouge backwards..