The In-Betweener Championship

The place for alternate championships that use real results as a base of forming alternative results, driver careers, and games in general
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dr-baker
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by dr-baker »

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:
WaffleCat wrote:The deliberation over this decision took a very, very long time; Lauda had his crash and returned, Hunt was continuing his winning ways and Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi managed to complete his entire Formula One career between the race and the tribunal.

I like this sentence.

So do I.
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WaffleCat
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

1977-78 Season
Races: 1977 GBR-1978 SWE (Best 7 Results from first eight races, best 7 results from last eight; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
The infamous fan car, with Niki Lauda behind the wheel, on the way to victory at the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix, the final race of the season.

1. Niki Lauda -- 64
2. Mario Andretti -- 51
3. Carlos Reutemann -- 36
4. Patrick Depailler -- 33 (1 win, 2 2nds, 3 3rds)
5. Ronnie Peterson -- 33 (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
6. James Hunt -- 31
7. Jody Scheckter -- 30
8. Alan Jones -- 22
9. Jacques Laffite -- 19
10. Jochen Mass -- 11
11. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 10 (1 2nd)
12. Hans-Joachim Stuck -- 10 (2 3rds)
13. Riccardo Patrese -- 9 (1 2nd)
14. John Watson -- 9 (1 3rd)
15. Patrick Tambay -- 9 (1 4th)
16. Clay Regazzoni -- 8
17. Didier Prioni -- 5
18. Gunnar Nilsson -- 4
19. Gilles Villeneuve -- 3 (1 4th)
20. Vittorio Brambilla -- 2 (1 5th)

This season was a Niki Lauda season, at least in the first half of it. 2nd-1st-2nd-1st-2nd in the first five races of the championship go a long, long way to helping your championship battle as he built an unassailable lead in the championship. Even a team switch to Brabham that saw poor results for the Austrian didn't affect him too much.

That's not to say this season didn't have it's fair share of challengers for the crown. Including Lauda, eight drivers won the sixteen races this season, with Mario Andretti snatching an impressive four victories. Andretti could have very well won the championship, with back to back wins at the 1978 Belgian and Spanish Grand Prix getting him to within four points of Lauda into the season closing Swedish Grand Prix.

However, that race saw the introduction of the Brabham 'fan car' BT46B that propelled Lauda to victory on the oil-slicked Anderstorp track while Andretti dropped out with engine troubles while running in second place. This made the tables look much wider than it actually seemed heading into the final race. Which, in all honesty, is what Lauda deserved this season.
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WaffleCat
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

1978-79 Season
Races: 1978 FRA-1979 FRA (Best 4 Results from first eight races, best 4 results from last eight; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve, the Ferrari duo of the second half of the season. These two would have a season-long battle with...
Image
Carlos Reutemann and Mario Andretti, the Lotus pair for the season's second half. Reutemann originally drove for Ferrari, before switching to Lotus. Now this is going to be fun.

Only the most unusual of points-scoring systems can separate them. Taking the half-and-half scoring system used for so long, and reducing the amount of eligible points-scoring races drastically certainly helps. Only four results in each half of the season benefited some drivers. Mario Andretti scored three wins in the first half of the season in the dominant Lotus helped himself to an early lead of the championship despite the passing of teammate Ronnie Peterson at Canada. However, the Lotus 79 would not be as competitive in the second half of the year as other teams caught on with mastering ground effect like the 79, leaving Andretti and customer Hector Rebaque to struggle for the rest of the year.

The one who still kept the 79 on track, though, was Carlos Reutemann. Having made a strong start to the campaign for Ferrari, claiming two wins and an extra podium, he jumped to the Lotus outfit to fill Peterson's seat for the remainder of the season after Jarier cameo'd in the car for a while. While the Lotus wasn't race winning fast, Reutemann knew consistency and started scoring podiums for Lotus. Exactly what Reutemann needed if he wanted to win the championship that had evaded him back in 74-75.

Exactly what Reutemann didn't need was Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve.

Jody Scheckter escaped the Wolf outfit midway through the season after their struggles in the last championship, and he saw a seat open up for a team that had a championship beating car, with Scheckter being the championship beating driver they were looking for.

That team looking for him? Ferrari. The seat that opened up? Reutemann's.

Ferrari looked like they were going to go to school with the Lotus' lead. However, they would need to behave and be patient, children, before your new 312 T4's get delivered. In the meantime, let the Ligier's have their go on the line, score a couple wins, then you can absolutely have at them.

Oh boy, once the Ferrari boys got their new presents, they were loving every bit of it. They would be the coolest kids in the playground, the ones with the sneakers that light up like how they lighted up the field. Villeneuve led the charge, scoring two victories right away, letting Scheckter back him up for two easy 1-2's. After being kind and allowing the Ligiers their turn on the swing set, this is how the standings looked:

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1979 Spanish Grand Prix (3 Rounds to Go)

1. Carlos Reutemann -- 44
2. Mario Andretti -- 40
3. Gilles Villeneuve -- 34
4. Jody Scheckter -- 33
---------------------------------

Sure, Lotus were holding their lead, Andretti still up there despite his poor season so far, but Ferrari was absolutely gonna destroy them. Scheckter came right up for his to victories and Villeneuve was…left by the wayside. What happened? At Belgium, Villeneuve's fight back after an early collision proved to be too ferocious, his car wheezing its way out of fuel on the final lap. And at Monaco, his transmission collapsed while running second to Scheckter. And in an instant, Villeneuve's title hopes were dashed. Also dashed was Andretti's chances, his efforts being limited to the horrific new Lotus 80 that proved too ambitious of a car for Andretti to handle.

So Reutemann, having scored another couple of podiums in those races, now has to face off against Scheckter in a fight to the death for the title. They were stone dead level on overall points, one point away if you count dropped scores, and just one race left. This race, the 1979 French Grand Prix, will definitely be remembered for the time that two titans clash for the championship after a year long battle…

…not really. That race was a complete anti-climax. Scheckter finished outside the points, Reutemann spun from 10th, which secured Scheckter's championship. At least I heard the battle for 2nd that race was intriguing between Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux, I think you should check that out. Villeneuve, in winning that battle, managed to barely jump Mario Andretti into 3rd place in the final rankings.

I guess that means Ferrari 2-0 Lotus.
---------------------------------

1. Jody Scheckter -- 47 (51)
2. Carlos Reutemann -- 46 (51)
3. Gilles Villeneuve -- 40 (3 wins, 1 2nd)
4. Mario Andretti -- 40 (3 wins, 1 3rd)
5. Jacques Laffite -- 33
6. Patrick Depailler -- 31 (33)
7. John Watson -- 24
8. Ronnie Peterson -- 21
9. Niki Lauda -- 20
10. Alan Jones -- 15
11. Jean-Pierre Jabouille -- 12
12. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 11
13. Didier Pironi -- 10
14. Jean-Pierre Jarier -- 9
15. Clay Regazzoni -- 7
16. Riccardo Patrese -- 5
17. James Hunt -- 4 (1 3rd, 1 7th)
18. Rene Arnoux -- 4 (1 3rd, 3 9ths)
19. Patrick Tambay -- 4 (1 5th)
20. Hans-Joachim Stuck -- 2
21. Jochen Mass -- 1 (1 6th,1 7th)
22. Derek Daly -- 1 (1 6th, 1 8th)
23. Vittorio Brambilla -- 1 (1 6th,1 9th)
24. Hector Rebaque -- 1 (1 6th, 1 11th)
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WaffleCat
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

I think, as of late, my season reviews have become a bit long, so let's keep this brief.

1979-80 Season
Races: 1979 GBR-1980 FRA (Best 5 Results from first seven races, best 5 results from last seven; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Alan Jones at the 1979 German Grand Prix, his first win in a dominating season

1. Alan Jones -- 64
2. Rene Arnoux -- 36
3. Gilles Villeneuve -- 30
4. Didier Pironi -- 29
5. Nelson Piquet -- 28 (1 win)
6. Jacques Laffite -- 28 (2 2nds)
7. Jody Scheckter -- 26 (28)
8. Clay Regazzoni -- 25
9. Carlos Reutemann -- 16
10. John Watson -- 10
11. Elio de Angelis -- 9
12. Riccardo Patrese -- 7 (1 2nd)
13. Jean-Pierre Jarier -- 7 (1 3rd)
14. Jochen Mass -- 6
15. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 5
16. Keke Rosberg -- 4
17. Derek Daly -- 3 (1 4th, 2 8ths)
18. Niki Lauda -- 3 (1 4th, 4 DNFs)
19. Jacky Ickx -- 3 (1 5th,1 6th, 5 DNFs)
20. Alain Prost -- 3 (1 5th, 1 6th, 3 DNFs)
21. Mario Andretti -- 2 (1 5th,1 7th)
22. Hans-Joachim Stuck -- 2 (1 5th, 1 11th)
23. Bruno Giacomelli -- 2 (1 5th,1 13th)


JONES.


(P.S. I did say I'd keep this brief. Jones dominated, Ferrari fell after season's first half, everyone else was meh, what else can you say?)
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James1978
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by James1978 »

I like the long reviews!!
"Poor old Warwick takes it from behind all throughout this season". :) (Tony Jardine, 1988)
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by UncreativeUsername37 »

James1978 wrote:I like the long reviews!!

So do I. Though in times where there really is nothing to say other than Jones, it's probably better to keep it short.
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WaffleCat
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

1980-81 Season
Races: 1980 GBR-1981 FRA (Best 11 Results out of 15; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Carlos Reutemann on his way to 2nd place in the United States West Grand Prix at Long Beach, a great step in his progress through the season to score more points overall than teammate Alan Jones.

This was the season of Williams.

At least, that was what everyone was saying before the season began, with dominator Alan Jones and perennial runner-up but always fast Carlos Reutemann joining forces in one of the quickest cars on track. What everyone did not see, though, was Nelson Piquet in the Brabham. Bursting out of a cage like a dog willing to roam in the pack, Piquet burst through the pack to take the championship lead within the first five races of the season, capped off with two consecutive victories in the 1980 Dutch and Italian Grand Prixs.

And then came the season of Williams.

As Piquet's Brabham struggled with its reliability issues, the Williams boys of Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann took four consecutive 1-2's (and people complain about Mercedes domination nowadays). The fourth, though, set alight a flame to the massive pool of fuel just waiting to burn between the two drivers.

You see, at this point, Jones was a massive thirteen points ahead of Reutemann in the championship, and also gapping Piquet at a rapid pace. So, the rational strategy was to let Alan Jones. So, as Reutemann found himself ahead of Alan Jones in second, Williams gave the order for Jones to take the lead. The order never got to Reutemann, as he remained unmoved while his Australian teammate, reigning champion and current championship leader, was no doubt furious when he knew he wasn't going anywhere with his teammate not obliging to orders. The top two remained as is to the chequered flag, and Jones understandably skipped the podium ceremony. If there's anything that's needed to sum this up, here are two contrasting pictures that perfectly sum up the situation.\

And, from then on, the season just got worse and worse for Alan Jones. He had a poor showing in Argentina and colliding with Reutemann in the first lap of the San Marino Grand Prix, necessitating a pit for repairs and resulting in a lowly 12th for the Australian. In the meantime, Reutemann just kept on scoring points on points on points. Indeed, San Marino included, Reutemann scored for all 11 races since the start of the season. Indeed, the real metaphor for the season came at the otherwise tragic 1981 Belgian Grand Prix, where Alan Jones inexplicably crashed out of the lead in the middle of the race while under very little pressure, allowing Reutemann to breeze by the stricken Australian. The Monaco Grand Prix managed to provide relief for the Australian, though a fuel pressure issue denied him of the race win on the day that fierce rival Reutemann would retire. Nevertheless, Jones was back level on points overall with Reutemann...

…for one race. The Spanish Grand Prix would see Jones take yet another dominant lead, before making yet another mistake, and Reutemann yet again flew by his teammate. However, he suffered from gear problems in the race, and dropped down to fourth place within the tight Gilles Villeneuve-led pack that the Grand Prix would be famous for. Nevermind, Reutemann had his overall points lead back heading into France. And though Reutemann suffered problems that race, Jones was pure awful in that race, running second-last for the near entirety of it.

So, with Reutemann having more points overall than Jones, it looks like the Argentine finally got his first-ever championship…

…but if you paid careful attention to the header of this season, you would've seen this...

...Best 11 Results out of 15.

Notice how, throughout the review, I always said 'Overall Points'. Not including dropped scores. Also notice how I never outright said that Reutemann 'gained the lead', 'won' or 'took victory' at any point throughout this review, unless referring to his overall points lead.

So, to summarise, three point lead for Reutemann overall. Jones scored all his points in 10 races, Reutemann in 13 events. Two dropped scores for Reutemann, none for Jones. Minus away two fourth places at the 1980 Dutch and 1981 Spanish Grand Prix for Reutemann. A fourth place is three points each.

Which means, your actual 1980-1981 In-Betweener Championship winner is…

Image
Alan Jones on his way to victory in both the 1981 United States West Grand Prix and in the championship.

1. Alan Jones -- 67
2. Carlos Reutemann -- 64 (70)
3. Nelson Piquet -- 55
4. Jacques Laffite -- 35
5. Gilles Villeneuve -- 24
6. Didier Pironi -- 16
7. Alain Prost -- 15 (1 win)
8. Elio de Angelis -- 15 (2 4ths)
9. John Watson -- 13
10. Rene Arnoux -- 11
11. Riccardo Patrese -- 10
12. Jean-Pierre Jabouille -- 9
13. Nigel Mansell -- 5 (1 3rd)
14. Eddie Cheever -- 5 (2 5ths)
15. Mario Andretti -- 4 (1 4th,1 6th,1 7th, 4 8ths)
16. Hector Rebaque -- 4 (1 4th,1 6th,1 7th, 1 9th)
17. Marc Surer -- 4 (1 4th, 1 6th,1 8th)
18. Jean-Pierre Jarier -- 4 (2 5ths)
19. Derek Daly -- 3
20. Keke Rosberg -- 2 (1 5th, 2 9ths)
21. Bruno Giacomelli -- 2 (1 5th, 1 9th)
22. Patrick Tambay -- 1 (1 6th,1 7th)
23. Andrea de Cesaris -- 1 (1 6th, 2 11ths)
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James1978
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by James1978 »

Thought it was all races to count from 1981 - 1984, and the best 11 scores was only 1985 - 1990?
"Poor old Warwick takes it from behind all throughout this season". :) (Tony Jardine, 1988)
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by tommykl »

James1978 wrote:Thought it was all races to count from 1981 - 1984, and the best 11 scores was only 1985 - 1990?

You bring up an interesting point, as I've seen both of these on various websites. My best guess is that from 1981 to 1984, it was only the best 11 scores, but because no driver scored in more than 11 races in those seasons, the rule never applied and was therefore retroactively forgotten?
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

tommykl wrote:
James1978 wrote:Thought it was all races to count from 1981 - 1984, and the best 11 scores was only 1985 - 1990?

You bring up an interesting point, as I've seen both of these on various websites. My best guess is that from 1981 to 1984, it was only the best 11 scores, but because no driver scored in more than 11 races in those seasons, the rule never applied and was therefore retroactively forgotten?


tommykl is right, it was all finishes recorded simply because no one was consistent enough to record more than 11 points finishes between 1981-1984. The only real source that I've seen mentioning 1981-84 as full scoring years was in Wikipedia, but everywhere else, including my two most trusted sites in AtlasF1 and StatsF1 both state it's best 11 that count.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

1981-82 Season
Races: 1981 GBR-1982 CAN (Best 11 Results out of 15; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Alain Prost speeding through the pit lane at the 1981 Austrian Grand Prix.

1. Alain Prost -- 48
2. John Watson -- 47
3. Nelson Piquet -- 35
4. Jacques Laffite -- 28
5. Alan Jones -- 22 (1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd, 1 4th)
6. Didier Pironi -- 22 (1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd, 1 5th)
7. Riccardo Patrese -- 19
8. Carlos Reutemann -- 18
9. Keke Rosberg -- 17
10. Elio de Angelis -- 16
11. Eddie Cheever -- 15
12. Niki Lauda -- 12
13. Rene Arnoux -- 10 (1 2nd, 1 3rd, 1 9th)
14. Gilles Villeneuve -- 10 (1 2nd, 1 3rd, 1 10th)
15. Michele Alboreto -- 10 (1 3rd, 2 4ths, 1 7th, 1 9th)
16. Nigel Mansell -- 10 (1 3rd, 2 4ths, 1 7th, 9 DNFs)
17. Hector Rebaque -- 8
18. Bruno Giacomelli -- 7
19. Andrea de Cesaris -- 5
20. Jean-Pierre Jarier -- 3 (1 4th)
21. Derek Daly -- 3 (1 5th, 1 6th, 2 7ths)
22. Eliseo Salazar -- 3 (1 5th, 1 6th, 1 9th)
23. Marc Surer -- 2 (1 5th, 1 7th)
24. Manfred Winkelhock -- 2 (1 5th, 1 10th)
25. Slim Borgudd -- 1 (1 6th, 1 7th)
26. Chico Serra -- 1 (1 6th, 1 11th)

This season is was, in a word, bipolar. On all accounts. For every single driver except two, Elio de Angelis and John Watson, their form for the first half of the season was the complete opposite for their second half of the season. Or their mid season form was a different tale to how they begun and ended their season.

The wildest example of this form happened to the early season leaders, Jacques Laffite, Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet. All three had really good starts to the season. Excepting Watson's season opening win in Great Britian, The list of wins went Piquet, Laffite, Prost, Prost, Laffite, with Laffite taking the early lead with his consistent podiums compared to Piquet and especially Prost, who only had one second place to his name apart from his many retirements.

Then Prost went on an absolute tear for three races. Second place at Las Vegas, with only the retiring Alan Jones ahead of him, then two wins in a row, the first being a sensational climb from the back of the pack after an early puncture in South Africa, placed him well ahead of everyone. And I mean everyone. However, Prost was to fail to finish every remaining race in the season, including crashing from the lead in Monaco with few laps left. With this knowledge in mind, there were only four real contenders for the title. Piquet, Laffite, Watson and Jones. And Jones had already retired by now.

Laffite was to suffer the Prost bug, failing to finish every remaining race of the season bar two, a lacklustre 9th at Zolder and a measly sixth at Detroit. Piquet suffered practically the same fate, rarely finishing as he struggled with the BMW turbo that Brabham recently acquired. This left one man, John Watson, to challenge Prost for the title.

And immediately, Watson suffered setbacks. The FISA-FOCA war left him absent from the San Marino Grand Prix, but then he started to get hot. He won in Belgium. He got caught in the crossfire in Monaco, a race so chaotic the winner could have been Derek freaking Daly missing his rear wing. Then he won in Detroit. All that was left was Canada. Watson was just five points behind. And I already said Prost failed to finish this race. This meant all Watson had to do was finish second in Canada to win the championship.

After a chaotic start that unfortunately saw the death of Ricardo Paletti, the Canadian Grand Prix finally got underway, with both Brabhams inheriting first and second after a spin by Rene Arnoux. Eddie Cheever ran third, Andrea de Cesaris fourth, and Watson a bit further back in fifth. The Brabhams retiring was practically inevitable, they failed to finish more often than not in the new year, and both Brabhams have yet to see the finish line together since Las Vegas. It was Cheever and de Cesaris Watson had to worry about. If they fail to finish, he could see himself winning the title.

Four laps from the end, Cheever ran out of fuel.

Two laps from the end, de Cesaris ran out of fuel.

Watson should have won the championship…

…but out of all days for both Brabhams to finish, it had to be today. And it had to be a 1-2.

Watson finished third. He missed out on the championship by one point to Alain Prost, who only finished six races in total this season. I guess Prost is just that good.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

1982-83 Season
Races: 1982 NED-1983 CAN (Best 11 Results out of 16; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Image
Image
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(Top to Bottom) Rene Arnoux, Alain Prost, Patrick Tambay, Keke Rosberg. Four drivers at the top of their game.

If the previous season was bipolar, this one was a complete scramble. Everyone wanted wins like kids desperately reaching for the candy jar. Everyone got their fair share, while only the good kids got their second helping. A total of ten drivers won the first eleven races. That's just crazy.

And leading the crazy pack at first was Didier Pironi, starting the season with a first, second and a third place in the first three races. In the fourth race though, at Germany, Pironi suffered a major crash during qualifying that would end his Formula One career. Enter his teammate, Patrick Tambay, to take his first ever victory. Pironi's crash was not the only early-season tragedy for Ferrari, Tambay himself being a replacement to Gilles Villeneuve, who was killed in an eerily similar crash to Pironi's qualifying at Zolder near the end of last season.

As the season went on, though, there was no one driver that ever gained an advantage. They were all evenly spread out like butter on toast. There were only two noticeable, large packs breaking away in the standings: Tambay, Keke Rosberg and Rene Arnoux were all out in front, with Arnoux being the only driver lucky and skilled enough to score two wins, and then the mad pack of Niki Lauda, Michele Alboreto, Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost chasing behind. Lauda even snatched a momentary share of the championship lead after the championship leading group suffered troubles in the opening races of 1983, most notable of which being Rosberg being disqualified from 2nd in Brazil after being push-started from the pits and Rosberg colliding with Tambay at Long Beach. Take note of this.

At this point in the season, Arnoux had enough of Renault and their woeful reliability to join Ferrari alongside Tambay, where he would meet….more woeful reliability. To compound Arnoux's woes, Prost started to find form in the Renault, and quickly pulled up near the top at San Marino. That was where Tambay would score his second win, an emotional one in Villeneuve's fabled no.27 to place him top of the standings.
---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1983 San Marino Grand Prix (4 Rounds to Go)

1. Patrick Tambay -- 39
2. Rene Arnoux -- 32 (2 wins)
3. Keke Rosberg -- 32 (1 win)
4. Alain Prost -- 31
5. Niki Lauda -- 28
---------------------------------
However, you can forget Niki Lauda from this point on in the season. Simply put, he didn't finish any race after Long Beach. Tough luck. The next race was an insane race in the wet at Monaco, where Keke Rosberg put up the race of his life to take a commanding win that saw him draw near to Patrick Tambay in the championship, while Prost could barely finish third and Arnoux's race ended in the barriers.

The following race, in France, saw Prost's turn to dominate the field, turning the battle very much into a three horse race following Arnoux's engine spluttering to a halt. Tambay managed to finish second, while Rosberg came home in a disappointing fifth, dropping well behind. This left Patrick Tambay five points in the clear, and Ferrari were starting to believe in their miracle substitute…

…well, up until the next race at Detroit. In probably the most crucial race of his life, the one where the championship could have been decided, Tambay flinched at Elio de Angelis' false start and stalled the car as everyone else shot past the stricken Frenchman, furious and in disbelief having made an unbelievable rookie error. In the meantime, Arnoux's car failed (yet again), ruling him well and truly out of championship reach, Alain Prost hated the track and couldn't get a feeling going, while Rosberg had another stellar drive in the normally-aspirated Williams. Suddenly, Rosberg had the championship lead, Tambay just one point behind and Prost with a good, but outside, chance at the championship.

However, there was one little problem for Rosberg: Dropped Points. This problem befell Graham Hill in 1965-66 and Carlos Reutemann on two separate occasions: 1978-79 and 1980-81. Now that Rosberg had finished in the points in eleven races this season, a miracle in itself, he had to drop some points off whatever he scored in Canada, which would be two points. My brain hurt trying to do all the calculation, so let me put it in layman's terms:
--------------------------------------------
Rosberg Wins:
Tambay does not finish fifth or above, Prost does not finish 2nd or above
Prost finishes 2nd, Rosberg finishes 3rd or wins.
*Rosberg finishes at least two-points worth ahead of Tambay.
(a.k.a Tambay 5th, Rosberg 3rd, Tambay 4th or 3rd, Rosberg 2nd, Tambay 2nd, Rosberg 1st, Tambay 1st, Rosberg gg)

Tambay Wins:
Look at scenario marked (*) above.
The inverse of the scenarios below.

Prost Wins:
He wins, Tambay finishes third or lower.
He finishes second, Tambay finishes 5th or lower, Rosberg 3rd or lower
-----------------------------------------
Rosberg couldn't get his normally aspirated Williams going properly well in qualifying, only lining up in ninth, while the Ferraris of Tambay and Arnoux surrounded Prost and Nelson Piquet, who was having a good second half of the season in the Brabham. However, right from the get go, Prost Renault's engine reverted back into 1982 mode, misfiring more than a jammed gun, basically eliminating Prost from championship contention. And though Rosberg scrappily clawed his way up to fourth place like he usually did throughout the season, he was nowhere near Patrick Tambay, who cruised to third place. This meant that, even without dropped points, Patrick Tambay would have won the championship on count back. The extra points dropped were just an insult to injury to Rosberg, considering what I said earlier, with his clashes with Tambay and disqualification in Brazil.

All that, though, means your 1982-83 Formula One Championship is Patrick Tambay.

No, don't scratch your eyes. Yes, that result is indeed correct.

No funky points scoring systems. No unusual results, like reverse qualifying and all that nonsense. No other drivers eliminated. Just pure racing results.

And your champion is Patrick Tambay.
---------------------------------------------------------

Image
Patrick Tambay at the Swiss Grand Prix, held in Dijon-Prenois in 1982.

1. Patrick Tambay -- 52
2. Keke Rosberg -- 50 (52)
3. Alain Prost -- 46
4. Rene Arnoux -- 41
5. Nelson Piquet -- 36
6. Niki Lauda -- 28
7. John Watson -- 25
8. Michele Alboreto -- 24
9. Didier Pironi -- 19 (1 win)
10. Eddie Cheever -- 19 (1 2nd)
11. Jacques Laffite -- 14
12. Elio de Angelis -- 13
13. Derek Daly -- 5 (2 5ths)
14. Marc Surer -- 5 (1 5th)
15. Mario Andretti -- 4
16. Mauro Baldi -- 3
17. Bruno Giacomelli -- 2 (1 5th, 1 7th)
18. Danny Sullivan -- 2 (1 5th, 1 8th)
19. Riccardo Patrese -- 2 (1 5th, 1 10th)
20. Nigel Mansell -- 1 (1 6th, 1 7th)
21. Johnny Cecotto -- 1 (1 6th, 1 10th)
-------------------------------------------------

Alright, little side note. This was the last season I did before I posted the 1950 season on GPRejects. Yep, I was prepared well in advance. As of right now, I'm on 1995-96. This 1982-83 season was actually the reason why I started to put this on GPR. It was initially a silly fun side project to recapture the thrill of doing those Hard Charger Awards that I did, and then Tambay won this season. This, along with the continued failures of Graham Hill and Carlos Reutemann trying to win the championship was what led me to post this, knowing I could create some damn good stories with them and share them with you. So thank you for reading this, no matter how long I write.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

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I've actually worked all these out for myself right up to 2004-5 (started from 1981-2 after 1980-1 was posted), and I was dead excited about Tambay winning.

I won't spoil anything though promise! :)
"Poor old Warwick takes it from behind all throughout this season". :) (Tony Jardine, 1988)
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

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"No matter how long I write"? That's what makes the whole thing so good.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

James1978 wrote:I've actually worked all these out for myself right up to 2004-5 (started from 1981-2 after 1980-1 was posted), and I was dead excited about Tambay winning.

I won't spoil anything though promise! :)


You cheeky bastard.

However, your results and mine will definitely vary, given my way of dealing with the Schumacher situation in 1997. You'll have to wait to find out.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by James1978 »

WaffleCat wrote:
James1978 wrote:I've actually worked all these out for myself right up to 2004-5 (started from 1981-2 after 1980-1 was posted), and I was dead excited about Tambay winning.

I won't spoil anything though promise! :)


You cheeky bastard.

However, your results and mine will definitely vary, given my way of dealing with the Schumacher situation in 1997. You'll have to wait to find out.


True - I've worked out how many POINTS he got, but no idea how you'll get to the final results. The incident wouldn't have happened if it had been in mid-season mind you! :)
"Poor old Warwick takes it from behind all throughout this season". :) (Tony Jardine, 1988)
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by dr-baker »

James1978 wrote:
WaffleCat wrote:
James1978 wrote:I've actually worked all these out for myself right up to 2004-5 (started from 1981-2 after 1980-1 was posted), and I was dead excited about Tambay winning.

I won't spoil anything though promise! :)


You cheeky bastard.

However, your results and mine will definitely vary, given my way of dealing with the Schumacher situation in 1997. You'll have to wait to find out.


True - I've worked out how many POINTS he got, but no idea how you'll get to the final results. The incident wouldn't have happened if it had been in mid-season mind you! :)

Personally, if I were doing this, I would exclude Schumacher entirely from the '97/'98 championship. After all, that Jerez race was what caused Schumi to be excluded from the championship, and it fell here within the '97/'98 championship, so I would apply the original penalty of a full-season exclusion to that season. However, I could also see a justification for seeing a half-season exclusion for Schumi (from mid-1997 to Christmas 1997) in this scenario.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

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1983-84 Season
Races: 1983 GBR-1984 DET (Best 11 Results out of 15; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Alain Prost guiding the McLaren to victory at the 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix

1. Alain Prost -- 62.5
2. Nelson Piquet -- 50
3. Rene Arnoux -- 49
4. Niki Lauda -- 26
5. Elio de Angelis -- 24
6. Derek Warwick -- 22
7. Patrick Tambay -- 21
8. Andrea de Cesaris -- 18
9. Riccardo Patrese -- 16
10. Nigel Mansell -- 14
11. Keke Rosberg -- 13.5
12. Eddie Cheever -- 11
13. Michele Alboreto -- 10.5
14. John Watson -- 6
15. Ayrton Senna -- 5
16. Teo Fabi -- 4
17. Jacques Laffite -- 3 (2 8ths)
18. Thierry Boutsen -- 3 (2 9ths)
19. Mauro Baldi -- 2
20. Bruno Giacomelli -- 1

1983-84 started out inversely to the end of 1982-83. Champion Patrick Tambay went through a great period of bad luck, reliability plaguing his Ferrari each and every race, while Rene Arnoux soared to the championship lead with win after podium and win after podium. In the middle of Arnoux's win streak, Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet would interject with victories of their own, making this title pretty much a three horse race between the Renault, the Ferrari and the Brabham.

Well, that was up until the new year, where Alain Prost was lured into the McLaren camp after the departure of John Watson, Renault firing him for failing to win the championship last season (quite harsh) and with some shiny new TAG engines onboard the McLarens. And while Piquet and Arnoux, surprise surprise, had their reliability issues, Alain Prost took a win and a second place in the first two races in 1984, and another win in San Marino saw him gap considerably to Piquet and Arnoux behind him. He then took a controversial victory at a shortened race in Monaco, seeing him gain half points, but that was enough to seal the championship for Prost, even with Nelson Piquet winning the last two races for pride and jumping Arnoux's Ferrari to the runner-up spot.

In other areas of the championship, positions four through seven were a dicey scrap between Niki Lauda, Elio de Angelis, Tambay and Derek Warwick of all people, all using different methods to attack the championship, though mainly decided by the state of reliability of their cars, a main determinant in championship results for the past few years. Lauda scraped ahead with two wins in the McLaren that helped Prost to the title, while de Angelis and Warwick used consistency to beat defending champion Tambay, struggling to perform even after changing teams to Renault mid-season.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

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1984-85 Season
Races: 1984 DAL-1985 GBR (Best 11 Results out of 16; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
A third world championship already for Alain Prost, seen here piloting the McLaren MP4/2B at the 1985 Brazilian Grand Prix.

1. Alain Prost -- 71
2. Michele Alboreto -- 58
3. Niki Lauda -- 51
4. Elio de Angelis -- 36
5. Keke Rosberg -- 27
6. Nelson Piquet -- 23
7. Stefan Johansson -- 19
8. Ayrton Senna -- 17
9. Derek Warwick -- 14 (1 2nd)
10. Patrick Tambay -- 14 (2 3rds)
11. Rene Arnoux -- 13 (1 2nd)
12. Nigel Mansell -- 13 (1 3rd)
13. Jacques Laffite -- 9
14. Thierry Boutsen -- 8
15. Riccardo Patrese -- 5 (1 3rd)
16. Teo Fabi -- 5 (1 4th)
17. Stefan Bellof -- 4
18. Andrea de Cesaris -- 3
19. Piercarlo Ghinzani -- 2 (1 5th)
20. Marc Surer -- 2 (2 6ths)

This season was always going to be a battle between the two McLaren drivers no matter how you looked at the other teams, be it the Brabhams with the BMW punch or the menacing looking Ferraris. You had the relatively inexperienced Alain Prost who has already found plenty of success in his four years in Formula One up against the seasoned, weathered veteran in Niki Lauda.

And for the first half of the season, Lauda was dominant, running rampant, going on a winning and podium bonanza. He'd only ever finish first or second whenever he'd finish. Still, that seemed like nothing compared to Prost, who'd win EVERY time he finished, though his unreliability evened out the playing field quite a bit. The second half of the season, judging from previous years, will explode, with the title battle heating up between the title contenders as they go right to the wire.

And boy, did the title fight explode….right in Lauda's face. Barring the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix, where he finished a lowly fourth, Niki Lauda retired in EVERY. SINGLE. RACE. Brazil, Portugal, Monaco, Canada, Detroit, France, Great Britian. All DNFs. That just conceded the title to Alain Prost on a golden plate. Heck, he had to watch runner-up in the championship slip into Michele Alboreto's waiting arms as his Ferrari was much, much more reliable than Niki Lauda's machine, though nowhere near as fast as Prost, who took his third world title in four seasons.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

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1985-86 Season
Races: 1985 GER-1986 FRA (Best 11 Results out of 16; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
When will this guy stop winning???

1. Alain Prost -- 72 (80)
2. Ayrton Senna -- 65
3. Nigel Mansell -- 64
4. Keke Rosberg -- 39
5. Nelson Piquet -- 31
6. Jacques Laffite -- 24
7. Michele Alboreto -- 22
8. Stefan Johansson -- 17
9. Niki Lauda -- 11
10. Gerhard Berger -- 9
11. Rene Arnoux -- 8
12. Elio de Angelis -- 7
13. Thierry Boutsen -- 5
14. Philippe Streiff -- 4 (1 3rd)
15. Marc Surer -- 4 (1 4th)
16. Ivan Capelli -- 3
17. Martin Brundle -- 2 (1 5th, 2 7ths)
18. Teo Fabi -- 2 (1 5th, 1 7th)
19. Riccardo Patrese -- 2 (2 6ths)
20. Derek Warwick -- 1

Yep, this season was yet another Prost victory. But nope, unlike previous championships, Prost was actually involved in a title fight for the most bit. For the most bit.

Prost and Michele Alboreto were the drivers to get their season off to a spanking great start, but after that, Alboreto fell by the wayside with typical Ferrari unreliability. In the meantime, Prost continued to pick up podium and podium and win after win, but matching him step for step along the next five races was, unusually, the Lotus of Ayrton Senna. As Prost won in Italy, Senna would tango along and win the next race in Belgium. When Prost had an abnormally poor European Grand Prix, Senna picked up the pieces with a fine podium. And while the pair were dancing together on the scoresheet, Nigel Mansell came out of nowhere for his turn to steal the show, winning the pair of races in Europe and South Africa to launch himself into contention.

However, as soon as Mansell entered the title race, he tucked away from the chase with a couple of dismal results at the turn of the year. Senna was still holding on, at one point coming within a single point between him and Prost in the championship lead. The next few races would be a see-saw. Prost won the next two races to give himself a great chance for a fourth title, but had a few average results over the next few races. And when 'average' results constitute of two podiums in three races, that's how hotly contested this title was. Senna, in the meantime, had scored a win in the penultimate race in Detroit. This miraculously pulled Senna right back into a shot at the title in France. Sure, the probability that Senna would win the title was slimmer than the Pope resigning from the papacy to the USA to become a truck driver named Jim, but it was a chance.

That chance lasted all of three laps, though, when Senna slipped on oil left from a stricken Minardi, had this gigantic crash and had to watch from the sidelines as Alain Prost drove on to take his third title in succession, it being his fourth in his six year career so far.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

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1986-87 Season
Races: 1986 GBR-1987 GER (Best 11 Results out of 16; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
The answer to that question from last year is right now, thanks to Nelson Piquet

1. Nelson Piquet -- 78 (85)
2. Nigel Mansell -- 64
3. Alain Prost -- 61
4. Ayrton Senna -- 54
5. Stefan Johansson -- 35
6. Gerhard Berger -- 20
7. Michele Alboreto -- 16
8. Martin Brundle -- 8
9. Rene Arnoux -- 7 (2 4ths)
10. Philippe Streiff -- 7 (1 4th)
11. Satoru Nakajima -- 6
12. Keke Rosberg -- 5
13. Andrea de Cesaris -- 4 (1 3rd)
14. Alan Jones -- 4 (1 4th, 1 6th, 1 9th)
15. Eddie Cheever -- 4 (1 4th, 1 6th, 6 DNFs)
16. Jonathan Palmer -- 4 (2 5ths)
17. Johnny Dumfries -- 3 (1 5th, 1 6th, 1 7th)
18. Teo Fabi -- 3 (1 5th, 1 6th, 1 8th)
19. Thierry Boutsen -- 2 (1 5th, 3 7ths)
20. Derek Warwick -- 2 (1 5th,1 7th, 1 8th, 1 11th)
21. Patrick Tambay -- 2 (1 5th, 1 7th, 1 8th, 2 NCs)
22. Philippe Alliot -- 2 (2 6ths)
23. Christian Danner -- 1 (1 6th, 1 7th)
24. Ivan Capelli -- 1 (1 6th, 8 DNFs)

I haven't got a long write up, mainly due to the dominance of the top four over the rest of the field as they all ran away with wins and podiums left, right and centre. The main talking point from this season, though, is how Alain Prost had his glorious throne that he built up over the past few seasons taken away from him in such an…efficient manner by Nelson Piquet and his Williams. Piquet opened up a gap to the rest of the field in the early part of the season with three wins out of the first five races, and when there seemed to be a mid-season slump, Piquet went right out and stood his ground with four consecutive second places at the end of the season to maintain his ground over teammate Nigel Mansell.

Elsewhere in the field, Ferrari-turned-McLaren driver Stefan Johansson had the season of his life in competitive cars, scoring third place after third place after third place after thi…well, you get what I mean. Everyone else had extremely lacklustre seasons, be it teams or drivers, former champions Alan Jones and Patrick Tambay being rooted to the tail end of the table with their Haas efforts.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

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1987-88 Season
Races: 1987 HUN-1988 GBR (Best 11 Results out of 16; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Alain Prost, back on winning form at the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix

1. Alain Prost -- 74
2. Ayrton Senna -- 70
3. Nelson Piquet -- 52
4. Gerhard Berger -- 48
5. Nigel Mansell -- 37
6. Thierry Boutsen -- 25
7. Michele Alboreto -- 22
8. Stefan Johansson -- 11
9. Derek Warwick -- 10
10. Teo Fabi -- 9
11. Jonathan Palmer -- 8
12. Riccardo Patrese -- 7
13. Alessandro Nannini -- 6
14. Eddie Cheever -- 5
15. Andrea de Cesaris -- 3 (1 4th, 1 8th, 1 9th)
16. Mauricio Gugelmin -- 3 (1 4th, 1 8th, 1 15th)
17. Yannick Dalmas -- 2 (1 5th, 2 7ths)
18. Ivan Capelli -- 2 (1 5th, 2 9ths)
19. Satoru Nakajima -- 2 (2 6ths, 1 7th)
20. Philippe Alliot -- 2 (2 6ths, 1 10th)
21. Pierluigi Martini -- 1 (1 6th, 2 15ths)
22. Roberto Moreno -- 1 (1 6th, 1 DNF)


Alain Prost wins the championship, but not because of pure skill alone. Yes, the Frenchman may be incredibly fast without a doubt, but there were several other drivers that could have, just maybe could've won the championship. And as such, Alain Prost was probably the one contender with the least focus on winning the title until the final few races...

As 1987 came to a close, Nelson Piquet backed up the previous season's championship win several strong finishes, including wins at Hungary and Italy, to lead heading into 1988, barely ahead of teammate Nigel Mansell. He then made a gutsy move to Lotus, who opted to use the same engine in 1988 as Williams were going to gamble on naturally-aspirated engines, and Lotus have the same, powerful Honda that he won the In-Betweener Championship with and the ones McLaren was going to keep for 1988, alongside a brand new chassis to boot. Problem was, the new Lotus chassis was awful, and despite a few podiums, Piquet couldn't keep up with the McLarens at all. Slow, unreliable, and very few points.

Piquet out.

What about Mansell? He still stuck with Williams as they went with a naturally-aspirated gamble. He burst right out of the gate, with three wins in the first six races. And then crash, bang, wallop, he severely injured his back qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix and missed the final two races of 1987. And as 1988 rolled around…well…he failed to finish every single race up until Great Britian.

Mansell out.

Meanwhile, let's remember Ayrton Senna. He had a decent end to 1987, and was making a high-profile, mid-season switch to McLaren for 1988. So, naturally, he'd want to leave Lotus with a bang. And he'd do so, scoring an impressive 2nd place in the 1987 Australian Grand Prix. Well, only for it to be chalked off thanks to a technical infringement on his car. Oversized brake ducts, the stewards say. Nevermind, he'd have a great car at McLaren and fly away with the championship, starting with his home race in Brazil. Well, up until his gear selector broke on the starting grid. Ignore that, just hop into the spare car and pull off an amazing drive. And so he did, climbing all the way from starting in the pits up to second place. HANG ON, the stewards called. You can't switch to a spare car in the middle of a warm-up lap. DQ. Alright, two disqualifications, but with championship contenders suffering from horrible cars, and with a catchable distance up to teammate Prost, Senna can surely win this. Take the win in San Marino, and then completely dominate Monaco. Pole by 1.2 seconds, set fastest lap after fastest lap, go into a fifty second lead…

…you surely don't need me to explain this, do you?…

…I'm pretty sure you all remember what happened…

…Senna out.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

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1988-89 Season
Races: 1988 GER-1989 GBR (Best 11 Results out of 16; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Alain Prost on the way to his sixth In-Betweener title in the 1989 Monaco Grand Prix

1. Alain Prost -- 84 (93)
2. Ayrton Senna -- 73
3. Thierry Boutsen -- 29 (1 win)
4. Riccardo Patrese -- 29 (3 2nds)
5. Nigel Mansell -- 27
6. Gerhard Berger -- 20
7. Alessandro Nannini -- 18
8. Michele Alboreto -- 17
9. Ivan Capelli -- 15
10. Nelson Piquet -- 13
11. Derek Warwick -- 12
12. Eddie Cheever -- 9
13. Mauricio Gugelmin -- 6
14. Johnny Herbert -- 5
15. Andrea de Cesaris -- 4 (1 3rd, 2 8ths)
16. Stefano Modena -- 4 (1 3rd, 1 10th)
17. Alex Caffi -- 4 (1 4th)
18. Christian Danner -- 3 (1 4th, 1 8th)
19. Jean Alesi -- 3 (1 4th, 1 DNF)
20. Pierluigi Martini -- 2 (1 5th, 1 7th)
21. Stefan Johansson -- 2 (1 5th,1 9th)
22. Rene Arnoux -- 2 (1 5th, 1 10th)
23. Olivier Grouillard -- 1 (1 6th, 1 7th, 1 8th, 1 9th)
24. Gabriele Tarquini -- 1 (1 6th,1 7th, 1 8th, 1 11th)
25. Jonathan Palmer -- 1 (1 6th, 1 7th, 2 9ths)
26. Martin Brundle -- 1 (1 6th, 1 7th, 1 9th)
27. Luis Perez-Sala -- 1 (1 6th, 1 8th)

This was an all-out, titanic battle between McLaren drivers. Forget the rest of the field, the McLarens are where it's all happening. To the left, you see the Williams wallowing in their regret to use Judd engines and letting Nigel Mansell go. And to your right, you see the Ferraris retiring all day, every day and wallowing in their regret of letting Nigel Mansell in. All this chaos wherever not on the grid allowed one Thierry Boutsen to sneak into third while changing teams from Benetton to a now-unterrible Williams mid-season.

But enough about them. Let's cast our eyes to the Franco-Brazilian fiesta on the top.

With the sole exception of the Italian Grand Prix, where Schlesser the Schite intervened, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna traded wins and second places like nobody cared throughout 1988. A small stumble by Senna in the Portuguese and Spanish Grand Prixs seemed to hand Prost the slight advantage. but come 1989, Senna lit himself up big time. Three straight wins for Senna and suddenly the Brazilian hero was right back on top by a scarce two points. Let's see how the next four races pans out.

In the United States, Prost leaps into the championship lead with a comfortable win. Senna suffered electrical gremlins all race, and was consigned to the scrapheap with his first engine blowout since joining McLaren.

In Canada, Prost goes out with a suspension failure. In the meantime, Ayrton Senna is putting on the driving masterclass of his life, piloting his McLaren like a speedboat on the river of Circuit-Gilles Villeneuve. Dominating with a thunderous lead with four laps to go, nothing could go wrong. Apart from his second engine blowout since joining McLaren.

In Prost's home country, the Professor had a comfortable time, spending the full 300 kilometres in the lead to take his fifth victory of the season. Senna, after the restart, managed to clock a total of ten metres before his gearbox gave up the ghost.

And now, in Great Britian, all Senna could hope for was for Prost to fail to finish as he takes the victory.

Then, with Senna leading from Prost, he spun into the gravel trap. Just an easy championship for Prost. And one thrown away by Senna.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

1989-90 Season
Races: 1989 GER-1990 GBR (Best 11 Results out of 16; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Locked in battle (and in this case, wheels) throughout the 1989-90 season.

Senna versus Prost. The rivalry for all the ages. Things were heating up between the two, especially with the tight battle the two McLaren teammates have had for the past two seasons of the In-Betweener Championships. Prost, the six-time In-Betweener champion had managed to eke out championship victories over Ayrton Senna with the slightest smidges of luck; DNFs and DSQs aplenty for Senna over the past two seasons, but safe and simple driving from Prost has led him to success. Where does this go from here?

Why, to this wonder of a season, of course.

The season started with Ayrton Senna having a cracker of a start to the season, scoring two victories and a second place in the first three races of the season as Alain Prost lagged behind fairly uncompetitively. Prost went on to furiously claim that Senna's McLaren was being treated much better by the garage and given significantly better Honda engines than him and, in a huff, announced that he will depart to Ferrari come the new year. Until then, he'd just have to rely on his raw pace and a little dash of luck to catch up to Ayrton...

...and Prost got two heavy dashes of such luck. At the Italian Grand Prix, with eight laps to go and in the lead of the race,Senna's Honda engine blows right up, gifting Alain the victory. And in the next race in Portugal, Senna gets punted off by an already-disqualified Nigel Mansell. Two incidents ending Senna's races, both completely not of his own doing, pushed Prost to within a point of Senna come Japan. And, in Japan, whatever chemistry and camaraderie the two incredible talents had left were burnt at the stake as they locked wheels in Japan, forcing Prost out of the race. Senna went on to fight back to take an incredible victory after said impact, only for it to be taken away via disqualification after a driver complained that he cut the chicane after the collision. That driver?

Duh. Prost. Who else did you think it would be?

And as 1990 rolled around, with Prost in a new set of wheels, the battle continued to rage on, with Senna and Prost both trading results within the first three races of 1990, with both drivers ending up honours even come the end of the San Marino Grand Prix. These next five races, from Monaco to Great Britian, will write history and tell the tale of who was really the better driver. And, yes, the dropped points rule is still in effect.

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1990 San Marino Grand Prix (5 Rounds To Go)

1. Ayrton Senna -- 46 -- 4 wins, 1 2nd, 1 3rd
2. Alain Prost -- 46 -- 2 wins, 3 2nds, 1 3rd -- Drops a max. of 3 points
---------------------------------

The next race of the season is Monaco, and the one rule of Monaco is that nobody stops Senna in Monaco except for the wall. Senna kept a cool head to maintain a one-second lead ahead of the French driver in 2nd place as he crossed the line. The only problem for Prost? Prost wasn't the French driver in 2nd place, that was Jean Alesi. Prost succumbed to battery problems midway through and dropped out. Canada, likewise, was not a good race for Prost. In fact, it may have just been his worst race of the season. Botched the start and fell to sixth, couldn't even find his way past Nicola Larini until the Italian was wiped out by Thierry Boutsen, succumbed to Nelson Piquet and his now-teammate Mansell and he couldn't even make up on Gerhard Berger's one minute time penalty.

Senna, meanwhile, won the race, and the gap extended by quite a bit...

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1990 Canadian Grand Prix (3 Rounds To Go)

1. Ayrton Senna -- 64 -- 6 wins, 1 2nd, 1 3rd
2. Alain Prost -- 48 -- 2 wins, 3 2nds, 1 3rd -- Drops a max. of 2 points
---------------------------------

All Senna needed to really seal the championship up was a win. He already had six of those to Prost's two. Prost had to pull back with three victories in the final three races, but with the way his season was going, it surely seemed improbable.

In Mexico, Ayrton Senna went for a risky strategy: Don't stop for tyres. It would've had made Senna's championship had it all worked out. Only problem was that it didn't. Senna's tyres kept degrading and degrading, and eventually, pop went the weasel. All Senna needed to seal the championship up was a win. Instead, he ended up with a big fat DNF and the win went to Prost.

Senna -- 64
Prost -- 57


The next event was in France. That day, Senna once again blasted into a lead ahead of Prost from the start of the race until the Ferrari made the decision to pit earlier than the McLaren for tyres. This time, Senna made the wise decision to actually pit for tyres, wary of his blowout in Mexico. Only problem was that his mechanics on the left-rear tyre bungled their job, and Senna was dispatched behind Prost and a bunch of other cars. No problem for the Brazilian though. He'd just pass everyone he could and wait for the surprises of the day, Leyton House, to make their pit stops.

Except that none of the sky blue cars pulled into the pits. And Prost had overtaken Ivan Capelli for the lead. Surely, as Senna experienced in Mexico, Capelli's tyres will weather and blister, degrade and fade, and Senna will slip and slide into a comfortable second place. And yes, Capelli's tyres did fade. But Senna never overtook the Leyton House. And finished third.

Senna -- 68
Prost -- 66
-- Drops 2 points

And so it would come down to the final race: the British Grand Prix. Senna would need a second place if Prost wins. A fourth place if Prost comes in second. A sixth if Prost is third. And The Professor couldn't afford to finish fourth.

At the start, Senna rocketed off into the lead ahead of Nigel Mansell and Gerhard Berger. Mansell was determined to make his home fans happy, as he should. He started harrying Senna for the lead. He'd dive up the inside, but it wouldn't quite stick. On lap 12, he did so again and finally stuck it, placing the Ferrari ahead of Senna's McLaren. Still second place, and ahead of Prost in fourth, it was an alright position to be in...

On lap fourteen, Senna made a very, very uncharacteristic mistake. He took Copse a bit too hot, ran a little wide, bottomed out his car on the kerb...

...and spun.

Flat-spotted his tyres, necessitating a pit stop all the way down to tenth. He would climb back up to third place.

As for Prost?

He would muscle his way past Berger on lap 31, and then Mansell's Ferrari started to peter out bit by bit. And, on lap 43, Prost was past and in the lead.

And he would not give it up at all.

And so, in the 1989-1990 season, your champion is Alain Prost for the SEVENTH time. And, for the second consecutive time, a spin in the British Grand Prix has denied Ayrton Senna of an In-Betweener Championship.

Image
Alain Prost setting off a spark at the 1990 Canadian Grand Prix

1. Alain Prost -- 73 (75)
2. Ayrton Senna -- 72
3. Gerhard Berger -- 46
4. Thierry Boutsen -- 41
5. Nigel Mansell -- 30
6. Riccardo Patrese -- 28
7. Alessandro Nannini -- 27
8. Nelson Piquet -- 24
9. Jean Alesi -- 18
10. Ivan Capelli -- 6
11. Stefan Johansson -- 4 (1 3rd)
12. Satoru Nakajima -- 4 (1 4th,1 6th, 1 7th)
13. Eric Bernard -- 4 (1 4th, 1 6th, 2 8ths)
14. Derek Warwick -- 4 (4 6ths)
15. Pierluigi Martini -- 3 (1 5th,1 6th, 2 7ths)
16. Martin Brundle -- 3 (1 5th, 1 6th, 2 8ths)
17. Alex Caffi -- 2 (1 5th, 2 7ths)
18. Stefano Modena -- 2 (1 5ths, 1 7th)
19. Emanuele Pirro -- 2 (1 5th, 1 8th, 1 10th)
20. Eddie Cheever -- 2 (1 5th, 1 8th, 1 12th)
21. Aguri Suzuki -- 1 (1 6th, 1 7th, 8 DNPQs)
22. Philippe Alliot -- 1 (1 6th, 3 9ths)
23. Jonathan Palmer -- 1 (1 6th, 1 10th)
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

1990-91 Season
Races: 1990 GER-1991 GBR (Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Ayrton Senna after his miraculous drive in the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix, on his way to his first In-Betweener Championship.

1. Ayrton Senna -- 93
2. Nigel Mansell -- 58
3. Alain Prost -- 54
4. Nelson Piquet -- 46
5. Riccardo Patrese -- 35
6. Gerhard Berger -- 34
7. Thierry Boutsen -- 18
8. Alessandro Nannini -- 14
9. Roberto Moreno -- 11
10. Stefano Modena -- 9
11. Jean Alesi -- 8
12. Andrea de Cesaris -- 7
13. Aguri Suzuki -- 6
14. JJ Lehto -- 4 (1 3rd)
15. Satoru Nakajima -- 4 (1 5th)
16. Pierluigi Martini -- 3 (1 4th)
17. Bertrand Gachot -- 3 (1 5th)
18. Derek Warwick -- 2 (1 5th, 1 8th)
19. Mika Hakkinen -- 2 (1 5th, 2 9ths)
20. Eric Bernard -- 2 (2 6ths)
21. Mauricio Gugelmin -- 1 (1 6th, 1 8th)
22. Emanuele Pirro -- 1 (1 6th, 1 9th)
23. Julian Bailey -- 1 (1 6th, 3 DNQs)


Finally, Ayrton Senna wins his first In-Betweener title.

For the entirety of his career up until this point, he was following in the footsteps of Graham Hill, always finishing runner-up in the championship without a single title to his name. And every year, it would always be Alain Prost beating him to the post. That happened in 85-86. And 87-88. And 88-89. And 89-90.

But not this year, and that could be due to Alain Prost starting to struggle in his Ferrari. For the first time in a long time, Prost only won one race this season, especially as the 1991 Ferrari challenger was, in Prost's words, a 'truck'. This meant Mansell was Senna's closest challenger, even his retirement drama of 1990 notwithstanding.

But this year, there was no catching Ayrton. A solid run to close out 1990, and that run of four straight victories at the start of 1991, including his incredible drive with a failing gearbox at his home race, was more than enough to secure his first In-Betweener Championship. It's been a long time coming.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

With its' latest update at a frequency slower that Bus 966 arrives at at the bus stop near Eunos Station (still bitter about that despite having never taken it in three years now), it's the In-Betweener Championship!

1991-92 Season
Races: 1991 GER-1992 FRA (Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Nigel Mansell finally getting past hard luck to win his first In-Betweener Championship.

1. Nigel Mansell -- 105
2. Riccardo Patrese -- 65
3. Ayrton Senna -- 63
4. Gerhard Berger -- 45
5. Michael Schumacher -- 30
6. Jean Alesi -- 24
7. Alain Prost -- 13
8. Martin Brundle -- 11
9. Nelson Piquet -- 8.5
10. Andrea de Cesaris -- 6
11. Pierluigi Martini -- 5 (1 4th)
12. Michele Alboreto -- 5 (2 5ths)
13. Mika Hakkinen -- 4
14. Roberto Moreno -- 3 (1 4th, 2 8ths)
15. Karl Wendlinger -- 3 (1 4th, 1 8th)
16. Erik Comas -- 3 (1 5th, 1 6th, 1 7th)
17. Ivan Capelli -- 3 (1 5th, 1 6th, 1 8th)
18. Johnny Herbert -- 2 (2 6ths, 2 7ths)
19. Bertrand Gachot -- 2 (2 6ths, 1 9th)
20. Stefano Modena -- 1 (1 6th, 2 10ths)
21. Mark Blundell -- 1 (1 6th, 1 12th)
22. Gianni Morbidelli -- 0.5

It's taken a while to get there, but finally, Nigel Mansell has stepped on the top of the podium. It's been a while coming, but the dogged Brit had been sniffing at the heels at a title for a while, coming close in 1985-86 and 1986-87, only to see a lack of consistency in the former and Nelson Piquet out-race him in the latter to deny him of both titles. He then got saddled with the mess that was the Williams-Judd in 1987-88 and 1988-89, and only really came in second in 1990-91 with the wonder that was the FW14.

However, from the start of the season, it seemed that Mansell's title hopes would dive like years previous, as through the first half of the seasons, a few DNFs and yet another disqualification at Estoril allowed the consistent Ayrton Senna to sail away into the lead, even if it did look like Mansell was the faster driver. After Adelaide, where Mansell got lucky with the race stoppage promoting him to second place, Senna was 6 points ahead heading into the mid-season break.

Then their fortunes switched.

Mansell won one race. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then another. Five straight wins. Senna couldn't do anything to keep up with the dominant FW14B, and the unreliability of his own McLaren didn't help either. He retired from three straight races from Mexico to Spain, with his DNF at Barcelona being extra painful, spinning out with just two laps to go.

And by the time Senna finally finished back in the points, at San Marino, Mansell had just won his fifth race in a row. Riccardo Patrese had also jumped the Brazilian to second place, riding on Mansell's coattails all the way through. And with a 34 point gap to Patrese with three races left in the calendar, it was official. Nigel Mansell is your 1991-92 In-Betweener Champion.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by Ciaran »

92/93 should be fun. :badoer:
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by dr-baker »

Regenmeister94 wrote:92/93 should be fun. :badoer:

93/94 could be fun too. If Schumi doesn't dominate too much. But Hill should have an early advantage?
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

1992-93 Season
Races: 1992 GBR-1993 FRA (Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
The master of Monaco sealing his 2nd In-Betweener Championship in Monaco.

1. Ayrton Senna -- 77
2. Alain Prost -- 57
3. Michael Schumacher -- 51
4. Nigel Mansell -- 42
5. Martin Brundle -- 38
6. Gerhard Berger -- 36
7. Damon Hill -- 28
8. Riccardo Patrese -- 27
9. Jean Alesi -- 11
10. Mika Hakkinen -- 7
11. Mark Blundell -- 6 (1 3rd)
12. Johnny Herbert -- 6 (2 4ths)
13. Christian Fittipaldi -- 6 (1 4th)
14. J.J. Lehto -- 5
15. Andrea de Cesaris -- 4
16. Michael Andretti -- 3
17. Thierry Boutsen -- 2 (1 5th, 1 7th, 1 8th)
18. Philippe Alliot -- 2 (1 5th, 1 7th, 1 9th)
19. Fabrizio Barbazza -- 2 (2 6ths)
20. Michele Alboreto -- 1 (1 6th, 3 7ths)
21. Alessandro Zanardi -- 1 (1 6th, 1 7th, 1 8th)
22. Stefano Modena -- 1 (1 6th, 1 7th, 1 13th)
23. Erik Comas -- 1 (1 6th, 2 8ths)
24. Ivan Capelli -- 1 (1 6th, 1 9th)
25. Karl Wendlinger -- 1 (1 6th, 1 10th)

Nigel Mansell was all set to dominate this In-Betweener championship. His Williams was untouchable. More to the point, he was untouchable. Not even his teammate, Riccardo Patrese, could keep up. Despite three retirements, three wins and two second place finishes in the first half of the season already saw him claim a ten-point gap over his nearest rivals.

And then Williams royally messed up.

They signed Alain Prost, who took the 1992 season off, for 1993 fairly early on, which angered Mansell so much at the potential partnership that he ditched F1 completely to head stateside and drive in CART. They tried to get Mansell to stay on as hard as they could, but the Brummie bounced to Burgerland.

As much work as Prost could do with the Williams, him signing mid-season ruined all hoped of him winning the In-Betweener Championship. This left a whole host of possible contenders for the In-Betweener Championship, yet most of them were taken out due to the mid-season driver swaps.

Riccardo Patrese: Mansell's sidekick wasn't the fastest driver in the beginning of the 1992-93 season, but he was still in the ultra-quick Williams, clearly the team to beat. He was originally told to leave the team after the signing of Prost, but with Mansell's vacancy, Williams came rushing back to him to see if he could launch a challenge for the In-Betweener title. However, Patrese already committed himself to Benetton for 1993, and the poor performance of him in the Benetton left Patrese out of the title hunt.

Martin Brundle: Yes, Martin Brundle. Brundle had a fantastic first-half of the season, finishing in the points every race, including a number of podiums as well. Only 13 points off Mansell by that time, he was rumoured to have sealed the deal with Williams for 1993, which would almost certainly place him in In-Betweener contention. However, in a ridiculous move, Williams dumped Brundle for aging test driver and Brabham reject Damon Hill, not only removing Williams from In-Betweener contention, but costing Brundle his one shot at an In-Betweener Championship.

Gerhard Berger: Gerhard Berger had cracking mid-season form with McLaren, getting a win in Australia and two second places in Japan and Portugal. However, with McLaren losing their engine partnership with Honda and settling into a deal with Ford, Berger was torn as to where to go. After some convincing from teammate Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda and some extra cash, Berger made the call to move to Ferrari. Bad move. He only scored five more points for the season.

This left just two suitable contenders: Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. However, keep in mind that the Benetton wasn't the fastest car on the grid and that, no matter how much of a young hot-shot Schumacher was, he was outperformed by Brundle through the first half of the season. So, despite multiple podiums, only a solitary victory and several retirements kicked Schumacher out of contention.

Despite Alain Prost's best efforts to try and make the gap up in the latter half of the season, which he potentially could've done, this meant the 1992-93 In-Betweener Championship went to, almost by default, Ayrton Senna.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

1993-94 Season
Races: 1993 GBR-1994 GBR (Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Michael Schumacher being the machine he was during the 1993 Japanese Grand Prix.

1. Michael Schumacher -- 94
2. Damon Hill -- 80
3. Alain Prost -- 42
4. Jean Alesi -- 31
5. Ayrton Senna -- 28
6. Gerhard Berger -- 24
7. Riccardo Patrese -- 15
8. Mika Hakkinen -- 12 (2 3rds)
9. Rubens Barrichello -- 12 (1 3rd)
10. Martin Brundle -- 10 (1 2nd)
11. Karl Wendlinger -- 10 (2 4ths)
12. Mark Blundell -- 8
13. Nicola Larini -- 6
14. Johnny Herbert -- 5 (1 4th, 1 5th, 3 7ths)
15. Heinz-Harald Frentzen -- 5 (1 4th, 1 5th, 2 7ths)
16. Ukyo Katayama -- 5 (2 5ths)
17. Michael Andretti -- 4 (1 3rd)
18. Derek Warwick -- 4 (1 4th, 1 6th, 1 10th)
19. Andrea de Cesaris -- 4 (1 4th, 1 6th, 1 11th)
20. Pierluigi Martini -- 4 (2 5ths, 1 7th)
21. David Coulthard -- 4 (2 5ths, 1 DNF)
22. Christian Fittipaldi -- 3
23. Erik Comas -- 2 (2 6ths, 1 9th)
24. Eddie Irvine -- 2 (2 6ths, 5 DNFs)
25. Jyrki Jarvilehto -- 1 (1 6th, 2 7ths)
26. Michele Alboreto -- 1 (1 6th, 1 11th)

When Alain Prost announced his retirement at the 1993 Portuguese Grand Prix, the situation could've very well turned into the nasty situation last season, where whoever stayed with their drive would win the In-Betweener Championship by default. However, by the time of Prost's announcement of his retirement, it seemed we would have a worthy championship winner after all.

You know that 32 year-old test driver that dabbled with Brabham in their dying days and snatched the vacant Williams seat away from Martin Brundle, costing him the In-Betweener Championship? That guy was Damon Hill, and in one solid stretch at the end of 1993, he'd just won three races on the trot.

By the time 1993 came to a close, Hill was essentially head-to-head with Prost on the top of the championship standings, and with the Frenchman retiring, that meant Hill had a substantial gap over his closest rivals, last season's champion, Ayrton Senna, and Michael Schumacher, sticking with the Benetton drive for the time being. Senna only launched himself into the title race in Japan and Australia, but he made a major move for 1994. He was going to drive for Williams alongside Damon Hill. Whether he'd explode with Hill like he did with Prost or co-operate with the British driver were two different stories altogether, but Williams' chances of winning the 1993-94 In-Betweener Championship looked better than ever, with a solid looking chassis and all. Benetton had also developed a worthy contender, so for once, it looked like Williams, or rather Hill would at least face some challenge in their title hunt.

And then, for Williams, it all went south. Senna, the defending In-Betweener Champion, spun off in front of his home crowd at Interlagos, got punted from pole at TI Aida before tragically passing away at Imola. Hill suffered similar troubles to Senna in the troublesome FW16, and only managed seven points in the four rounds between Brazil and Monaco.

In those four rounds, Schumacher took four easy wins.

By the time Williams and Hill composed themselves, Michael Schumacher was already 20 points to the good. And not even a disqualification at the season finale could stop him claiming his first In-Betweener Championship.
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

1994-95 Season
Races: 1994 GER-1994 GER (Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill. Throughout the season, heavy in battle and heavy in contact as well.

It seemed that the 1994-95 season would carry on in a similar way to how the 93-94 season ended, with Michael Schumacher and his ferocious Benetton setting the pace ahead of Damon Hill in the Williams. Indeed, barring the oddball season opener at Hockenheim, Schumacher finished ahead of Hill at both Hungary and Belgium. He seemed to be the favourite for the title.

Then down came the hammer.

Schumacher's skid block is found to be too thin. Out of all things. His win in Belgium is taken away and given to Hill.

Not only that, his antics in last season's finale at Britain, overtaking Hill twice on the parade lap and ignoring multiple black flags, were being looked at further. And following his disqualification in Belgium, the FIA handed him a further two race ban. Of course, Damon Hill won both races.

In the space of three races, what had been an eight point lead to Schumacher became a 26 point gulf to Hill. No other driver looked even close to challenging Damon. When Schumacher returned, he tried to mount a fightback by winning in Jerez, only for Hill to respond immediately with a grand drive in the wet at Suzuka. And at Adelaide, Schumi got desperate trying to hold onto the lead from Hill, making a rash move and taking both drivers out of the race.

The cycle continued in Interlagos when Schumacher inherited the win following a gearbox failure from Hill, only for the Brit to dominate. Hill continued to extend the gap when Schumacher supposedly made an error on a damp track in San Marino, gifting the win to the Williams. Schumacher was quickly falling back from Hill, and was slipping into the clutches of Gerhard Berger, who was making his challenge for second in the championship through sheer consistency.

---------------------------------
1994-95 In-Betweener Championship: 1995 San Marino Grand Prix (6 Rounds to Go)

1. Damon Hill -- 72
2. Michael Schumacher -- 40
3. Gerhard Berger -- 33
---------------------------------

Right now, it'd be easy to write off the championship as Hill's. Engrave the name on the trophy, get it over and done with. All Hill needed was probably another win or two to seal it for good.

But don't write Michael off yet. Because he found form.

Spain: Schumacher wins. Hill drops from 2nd to fourth on the last lap with gearbox trouble.
Monaco: Schumacher wins. Hill finishes 2nd.
Canada: Schumacher only finishes 5th after problems late in the race. Still closes the gap as Hill has more gearbox issues.
France: Schumacher wins again. Hill finishes second.

Schumacher had struck gold. He kept on winning and winning, and now Hill was finding his first real bad run of consistency this season. Schumacher may have struggled all season, but found a better time than ever to make his charge.

---------------------------------
1994-95 In-Betweener Championship: 1995 French Grand Prix (2 Rounds to Go)

1. Damon Hill -- 87
2. Michael Schumacher -- 72
---------------------------------

A 15 point gap was a lot of ground to cover in just two rounds. But it is very, very possible. Williams had been suffering reliability problems in the latter half of this season, especially as David Coulthard, Hill's teammate, had a run of retiring four times in five races. Hill himself has had recurring gearbox issues robbing him of decent results.

And Schumacher's Benetton was in perfect shape.

The next race was Silverstone. Hill's home race. He could seal the title with a second place finish. If he could finish the race at all. He knew his gearbox troubles could affect his chances of a decent result in the race. If Schumacher could carry his form through, it result in a massive title showdown at Schumacher's home ground in Germany.

As the race started, Hill blasted off into an early lead as Schumacher got held-up behind Jean Alesi in the early running. However, Schumacher was on a different strategy to Hill. One stop instead of two. Hill went for his pitstop first, then Schumacher dived in for his only stop. Benetton's strategy seemed to be the better one, as after Hill made his stop on lap 41, Schumacher had a five second lead.

Hill started closing on Schumacher. Remember, he did not need to pass Schumacher to claim the In-Betweener Championship. All he had to do was finish second. But he couldn't risk that.

He couldn't risk the Williams failing again. He couldn't risk having the title decider at Hockenheim, Schumacher's home turf, in the last race of the season.

Most important of all, he couldn't risk Schumacher winning the race.

Lap 46. Hill was close to Schumacher, but had to make room to lap Boullion into Stowe, costing the Brit precious time. By the time the pair entered the Bridge corner, Hill moved to the inside line to attempt a dive down the inside of Priory.

He was wayyyy too far back. There was no way he was going to stop in time for the turn. There was only going to be one result.

Image
Bang.

Marshals had to restrain Schumacher from attacking Hill after the incident. Many journalists could see, plain and simple, that Hill was never going make the move. Some said it was a rush of blood to the head. With that dive, there was no way the two wouldn't make contact. Schumacher called the move "stupid and totally unnecessary." Hill insisted it was just a racing incident.

As a direct result from the collision, Damon Hill sealed the 1994-95 In-Betweener Championship.

Just as well, because in the season finale at Hockenheim, Hill spun off with a broken driveshaft as Schumacher won the race. Had everything gone smoothly in Silverstone, that might have been the culmination of one of the best championship comebacks in In-Betweener Championship history.

Instead, it was nothing more than a consolation.

Image
Damon Hill, moments after winning the 1994-95 In-Betweener Championship.

1. Damon Hill -- 87
2. Michael Schumacher -- 82
3. Gerhard Berger -- 45
4. Jean Alesi -- 37
5. David Coulthard -- 33
6. Johnny Herbert -- 25
7. Mika Hakkinen -- 23
8. Rubens Barrichello -- 16 (1 2nd, 3 4ths)
9. Olivier Panis -- 16 (1 2nd, 2 4ths)
10. Nigel Mansell -- 13 (1 win)
11. Martin Brundle -- 13 (1 3rd)
12. Eddie Irvine -- 11
13. Jos Verstappen -- 10
14. Mark Blundell -- 9
15. Heinz-Harald Frentzen -- 7
16. Eric Bernard -- 4 (1 3rd)
17. Gianni Morbidell -- 4 (1 5th)
18. Christian Fittipaldi -- 3
19. Jean-Christophe Boullion -- 2
20. Erik Comas -- 1 (2 8ths)
21. Aguri Suzuki -- 1 (1 8th)
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by Aislabie »

I love how the narrative of that Championship has ended up reversing!
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

Aislabie wrote:I love how the narrative of that Championship has ended up reversing!


As soon as I saw that the season ended like that, that was my instant narrative. Helped that Damon Hill's move was completely rash and would be seen as intentional on any other day of the week.

Anyway...

1995-96 Season
Races: 1995 HUN-1996 CAN (Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)

Image
Once again, it's Hill and Schumacher at the forefront of this battle. Could Schumi take revenge from 1994-95?.

Revenge.

If there was one thing on Schumacher's mind after last season, it was this. Hill cost the German any chance of a title last season through a reckless accident. Now, though, should be Schumacher's time to take back what was, in his mind, rightfully his.

It didn't take too long before the two went back to blows once again, as in the Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher made some rather questionable and dangerous blocking maneuvers on Hill throughout the race. The very next race, it looked like Hill had responded by taking Schumacher out in an incident not dissimilar to the championship-deciding shunt from last season at Silverstone, though this time it was deemed to be the fault of on Taki Inoue instead.

However, the early advantage went to Schumacher, taking the top step in three straight races from Europe to Japan, while Hill started to lose grip on the title from the Nurburgring onwards with a few rash mistakes here and there. Indeed, Hill had even lost the runner-up spot to teammate David Coulthard, who was having a decent start to his second full season in Formula One.

But, by the Australian Grand Prix, the tables turned. That Grand Prix was chaotic, with Hill winning, and change was afoot, with Schumacher moving to Ferrari and Coulthard vacating the Williams seat for rookie Jacques Villeneuve for the next race on, which was also in...Australia? Err....okay then.

No matter, cause throughout the six races after Japan, from the two Australian Grands Prix all the way until San Marino, Damon Hill won five of them. And Schumacher, despite his speed, couldn't keep up with the Ferrari's relative unreliability and lack of pace slowing him down. It seemed like all was lost for Michael.

---------------------------------
1995-96 In-Betweener Championship: 1996 San Marino Grand Prix (3 Rounds to Go)

1. Damon Hill -- 77
2. Michael Schumacher -- 62
---------------------------------

There were still three races left.

As you all may know, Monaco 1996 was mad. Only three drivers finished, with Olivier Panis winning. Schumacher retired on lap 1, but it took Damon a bit longer before he suffered heartbreak, his engine expiring while leading after the half-way point in the race. Had he won, he would've sealed the championship.

Instead, for the next race, it was an eerily similar scenario to last season. Hill was leading, Schumacher second. Hill could afford finishing second or above to secure the title, but couldn't afford Schumacher winning. At all.

Rumours were mixed suggesting that Hill might pull a repeat of last season's antics.

However, the penultimate was the Spanish Grand Prix, and it was wet as all hell. Damon Hill didn't need to intentionally crash into Schumacher to cause chaos, but instead he spun off himself multiple times in the torrential conditions. Schumi, meanwhile, put on the drive of his life, lapping five seconds faster per lap than the rest and finishing a lap ahead of the rest. And suddenly...

---------------------------------
1995-96 In-Betweener Championship: 1996 Spanish Grand Prix (1 Round to Go)

1. Damon Hill -- 77
2. Michael Schumacher -- 72
---------------------------------

It was close again. Just one race, Canada to decide it all. From all the scraps in the early bit of the season to the manic, crazy races late-on in the season, the world was watching in Montreal to finally see a fair title showdown between the best drivers of the times....

Except that didn't happen. Schumacher had to start from the back of the grid following mechanical issues before the warm-up lap. His hopes for a heroic fightback was quashed with a halfshaft failure on lap 41.

Damon Hill, meanwhile, took an easy victory for his second straight In-Betweener title

Image
Damon Hill guiding his way around Monaco for his second consecutive In-Betweener Championship.

1. Damon Hill -- 87
2. Michael Schumacher -- 72
3. David Coulthard -- 42
4. Jacques Villeneuve -- 32
5. Jean Alesi -- 31
6. Johnny Herbert -- 24
7. Mika Hakkinen -- 22
8. Olivier Panis -- 20
9. Heinz-Harald Frentzen -- 16
10. Gerhard Berger -- 14
11. Eddie Irvine -- 13
12. Rubens Barrichello -- 11
13. Mika Salo -- 10
14. Mark Blundell -- 8
15. Martin Brundle -- 6
16. Gianni Morbidelli -- 4
17. Pedro Diniz -- 1 (1 6th, 2 7ths)
18. Pedro Lamy -- 1 (1 6th, 3 9ths)
19. Jean-Christophe Boullion -- 1 (1 6th, 1 10th)
20. Jos Verstappen -- 1 (1 6th, 7 DNFs)
My friend's USB drive spoiled, spilled tea on her laptop and had a bird poo in her hand.

What did she do in her past life to deserve this?

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dr-baker
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Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by dr-baker »

This could be interesting if F1 runs a superseason, combining 2020 and 2021 into one season...
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MCard LOLA
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WaffleCat
Posts: 2293
Joined: 08 Jan 2012, 13:02
Location: Singapore

Re: The In-Betweener Championship

Post by WaffleCat »

dr-baker wrote:This could be interesting if F1 runs a superseason, combining 2020 and 2021 into one season...


Oh god yeah...I may have predicted the future with this alt championship (that I could still complete if father time is kind...)
My friend's USB drive spoiled, spilled tea on her laptop and had a bird poo in her hand.

What did she do in her past life to deserve this?

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