What If?

The place for anything and everything else to do with F1 history, different forms of motorsport, and all other randomness
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Re: What If?

Post by watka »

What if Mansell had won the 1986 Spanish GP, i.e. the one he lost by 0.014 seconds to Senna?
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Re: What If?

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

watka wrote:What if Mansell had won the 1986 Spanish GP, i.e. the one he lost by 0.014 seconds to Senna?

He would have won the title by 1 point from Prost... or maybe he wouldn't have at all, as this result may have had what would have started as a negligible impact on the world of F1, only to snowball into something more divergent to the F1 we know today: Luca Badoer might have scored a podium at the Nurburgring, Nick Heidfeld might have won a race, MasterCard Lola might have succeeded, Andrea Sassetti might never have bought Coloni, Yuji Ide might never have raced, Charles Pic might never have been born.

What if?

I'm tired...
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Re: What If?

Post by Nessafox »

Simtek wrote:What if?

I'm tired...

I hope this is helpful.
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Re: What If?

Post by gnrpoison »

What if F1 had been able to maintain 26 - 30 entrants from 1995 - 2010. Who would the extra teams have been and how could it have been achieved? Removing that stupid 50 million entry fee may have helped as would a Concorde Agreement giving prize money to more teams.
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Re: What If?

Post by Dj_bereta »

watka wrote:What if Mansell had won the 1986 Spanish GP, i.e. the one he lost by 0.014 seconds to Senna?


Mansell two times champion or maybe three, because with the 86 title, he would fared better in the following season.

So, Senna, Prost, Piquet and Mansell tied with three championships.

gnrpoison wrote:What if F1 had been able to maintain 26 - 30 entrants from 1995 - 2010. Who would the extra teams have been and how could it have been achieved? Removing that stupid 50 million entry fee may have helped as would a Concorde Agreement giving prize money to more teams.


Simtek, Pacific and Forti fighting in a pre-qualify. Maybe drivers like Rosset remained in F1 a little longer with a larger grid.
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Re: What If?

Post by gnrpoison »

Dj_bereta wrote:
watka wrote:What if Mansell had won the 1986 Spanish GP, i.e. the one he lost by 0.014 seconds to Senna?


Mansell two times champion or maybe three, because with the 86 title, he would fared better in the following season.

So, Senna, Prost, Piquet and Mansell tied with three championships.

gnrpoison wrote:What if F1 had been able to maintain 26 - 30 entrants from 1995 - 2010. Who would the extra teams have been and how could it have been achieved? Removing that stupid 50 million entry fee may have helped as would a Concorde Agreement giving prize money to more teams.


Simtek, Pacific and Forti fighting in a pre-qualify. Maybe drivers like Rosset remained in F1 a little longer with a larger grid.

So those 3 still around in the late 90s with Lola more of a success and joinining in 1998 instead of 97, we have
1. Williams
2. Ferrari
3. Benetton
4. McLaren
5. Jordan
6. Prost
7. Sauber
8. Arrows
9. Stewart
10. Tyrrell
11. Minardi
12. Simtek
13. Pacific
14. Forti
15. Lola or Dams or full Honda entrant?

Now with Toyota expected in 2002 any other teams that may have given F1 a go if restrictions in late 90s were easier. Anyway to get Larrousse, Scuderia Italia or March to last that long?
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Re: What If?

Post by tBone »

gnrpoison wrote:What if F1 had been able to maintain 26 - 30 entrants from 1995 - 2010. Who would the extra teams have been and how could it have been achieved? Removing that stupid 50 million entry fee may have helped as would a Concorde Agreement giving prize money to more teams.

In addition to those extra teams, would we still have more engine suppliers? With more low-budget teams, the demand for cheaper engines would be larger. What about a Brawn-Mugen Honda in 2009, or a Marussia-Hart a couple of years ago?
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Re: What If?

Post by gnrpoison »

tBone wrote:
gnrpoison wrote:What if F1 had been able to maintain 26 - 30 entrants from 1995 - 2010. Who would the extra teams have been and how could it have been achieved? Removing that stupid 50 million entry fee may have helped as would a Concorde Agreement giving prize money to more teams.

In addition to those extra teams, would we still have more engine suppliers? With more low-budget teams, the demand for cheaper engines would be larger. What about a Brawn-Mugen Honda in 2009, or a Marussia-Hart a couple of years ago?

I wonder if the V8 customer Ford option would have remained open when switches to V10 was announced. So a mix of V10s and V8s in the late 90s. Hart, Mugen, Supertec, Asiatech probably would have stayed longer.

Regarding modern day F1, if they would have allowed the 2.4 V8s alongside the new hybrid units, could that have helped Caterham/Marussia more and encouraged some new teams to join?

(Also 200th post)
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Re: What If?

Post by mario »

gnrpoison wrote:
tBone wrote:
gnrpoison wrote:What if F1 had been able to maintain 26 - 30 entrants from 1995 - 2010. Who would the extra teams have been and how could it have been achieved? Removing that stupid 50 million entry fee may have helped as would a Concorde Agreement giving prize money to more teams.

In addition to those extra teams, would we still have more engine suppliers? With more low-budget teams, the demand for cheaper engines would be larger. What about a Brawn-Mugen Honda in 2009, or a Marussia-Hart a couple of years ago?

I wonder if the V8 customer Ford option would have remained open when switches to V10 was announced. So a mix of V10s and V8s in the late 90s. Hart, Mugen, Supertec, Asiatech probably would have stayed longer.

Regarding modern day F1, if they would have allowed the 2.4 V8s alongside the new hybrid units, could that have helped Caterham/Marussia more and encouraged some new teams to join?

(Also 200th post)

With regards to the V8's from the 1990's, technically those engines were still legal right up until 1999 - it was only in 2000 that the FIA announced that the only engine format permitted would be the V10, much to Toyota's frustration given they'd spent a not inconsiderable sum of money on developing a prototype V12 engine.

As for allowing the 2.4 litre V8's to run alongside the current engines, I think that the problem there is that the old V8's would not be competitive enough for that to be viable.
The fuel consumption issue would be one problem - the V8's were typically using 130-140kg of fuel per race, so you might also have to allow those teams to have a higher fuel allocation, at which point they'd probably be a second a lap off the pace at the start of a race due to the higher fuel weight.

Equally, I doubt that the cost of the engines would have made that much of a difference to Marussia or Caterham given both of those teams were rapidly losing money under the V8 engine format (Marussia only survived for so long because Formenko had written off around $200 million in debts that Marussia had accrued up to 2014).

We'd already seen HRT collapse, whilst Sauber, Force India and Lotus have lead a somewhat precarious existence even with the V8 engines - when the budgets of most teams are still heavily dominated by aerodynamic research, the engine prices are not necessarily the biggest factor in the demise of those teams.
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Re: What If?

Post by gnrpoison »

mario wrote:
With regards to the V8's from the 1990's, technically those engines were still legal right up until 1999 - it was only in 2000 that the FIA announced that the only engine format permitted would be the V10, much to Toyota's frustration given they'd spent a not inconsiderable sum of money on developing a prototype V12 engine.

As for allowing the 2.4 litre V8's to run alongside the current engines, I think that the problem there is that the old V8's would not be competitive enough for that to be viable.
The fuel consumption issue would be one problem - the V8's were typically using 130-140kg of fuel per race, so you might also have to allow those teams to have a higher fuel allocation, at which point they'd probably be a second a lap off the pace at the start of a race due to the higher fuel weight.

Equally, I doubt that the cost of the engines would have made that much of a difference to Marussia or Caterham given both of those teams were rapidly losing money under the V8 engine format (Marussia only survived for so long because Formenko had written off around $200 million in debts that Marussia had accrued up to 2014).

We'd already seen HRT collapse, whilst Sauber, Force India and Lotus have lead a somewhat precarious existence even with the V8 engines - when the budgets of most teams are still heavily dominated by aerodynamic research, the engine prices are not necessarily the biggest factor in the demise of those teams.

Some interesting things there, I guess with modern F1, the big problem is CVC taking so much out of the sport and not enough money being redistributed to the teams. I hope this gets addressed soon as it is crazy Bernie charges so much for races, yet the teams do not recieve much of that. I still find it amazing that Lotus/Caterham, HRT and Virgin/Marussia/Manor managed to last as long as they did for such little reward.
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Re: What If?

Post by Rob Dylan »

So Paul di Resta takes a shock pole position in the rain at the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix. His fellow countryman Lewis Hamilton sits beside him on the front row, with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel behind him in 3rd. What happens next?
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Re: What If?

Post by mario »

gnrpoison wrote:
mario wrote:
With regards to the V8's from the 1990's, technically those engines were still legal right up until 1999 - it was only in 2000 that the FIA announced that the only engine format permitted would be the V10, much to Toyota's frustration given they'd spent a not inconsiderable sum of money on developing a prototype V12 engine.

As for allowing the 2.4 litre V8's to run alongside the current engines, I think that the problem there is that the old V8's would not be competitive enough for that to be viable.
The fuel consumption issue would be one problem - the V8's were typically using 130-140kg of fuel per race, so you might also have to allow those teams to have a higher fuel allocation, at which point they'd probably be a second a lap off the pace at the start of a race due to the higher fuel weight.

Equally, I doubt that the cost of the engines would have made that much of a difference to Marussia or Caterham given both of those teams were rapidly losing money under the V8 engine format (Marussia only survived for so long because Formenko had written off around $200 million in debts that Marussia had accrued up to 2014).

We'd already seen HRT collapse, whilst Sauber, Force India and Lotus have lead a somewhat precarious existence even with the V8 engines - when the budgets of most teams are still heavily dominated by aerodynamic research, the engine prices are not necessarily the biggest factor in the demise of those teams.

Some interesting things there, I guess with modern F1, the big problem is CVC taking so much out of the sport and not enough money being redistributed to the teams. I hope this gets addressed soon as it is crazy Bernie charges so much for races, yet the teams do not recieve much of that. I still find it amazing that Lotus/Caterham, HRT and Virgin/Marussia/Manor managed to last as long as they did for such little reward.

It's true that CVC's cut is bad enough, but the other issue is the fact that the larger teams are also taking up most of the revenue which is given to the teams.

The thing is, I cannot see the situation improving soon - the larger teams are enjoying their increased political and economic clout, the FIA won't step in and CVC need to keen draining money out of the sport to subsidise some of their less successful investments (their investments in the Australian media market rapidly turned sour and left them with a lot of debts).

Rob Dylan wrote:So Paul di Resta takes a shock pole position in the rain at the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix. His fellow countryman Lewis Hamilton sits beside him on the front row, with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel behind him in 3rd. What happens next?

You wake up?
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Re: What If?

Post by UncreativeUsername37 »

Rob Dylan wrote:So Paul di Resta takes a shock pole position in the rain at the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix. His fellow countryman Lewis Hamilton sits beside him on the front row, with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel behind him in 3rd. What happens next?

History does not change.
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Re: What If?

Post by Rob Dylan »

You guys are no fun!
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Re: What If?

Post by Nessafox »

Rob Dylan wrote:You guys are no fun!

What if we were no fun?
I'm afraid we will never find out ;)
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Re: What If?

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

Rob Dylan wrote:So Paul di Resta takes a shock pole position in the rain at the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix. His fellow countryman Lewis Hamilton sits beside him on the front row, with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel behind him in 3rd. What happens next?

Due to the systemic anomaly in the Capricorn 1 simulation that caused di Resta's pole position, he wins all of the remaining races of the 2013 season by impossible margins. At this time, most of the grid has been replaced by holograms, with one sole exception: Max Chilton. As such, the holograms are programmed to think that "for sure", nothing is different, di Resta just got to grips with the Force India. As Max enters the Marussia motorhome after di Resta's crushing 10 lap victory at Interlagos, he is greeted by a figure in black overalls, those of a Minardi driver.
Image
At last. Welcome, Max. As you no doubt have guessed, I am He Whose Name Shall Not Be Mentioned.

Image
It's an honour to meet you.

Image
No, the honour is mine. Please, come, sit. I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Ide. Tumbling down the rabbit-hole, hmm?

Image
You could say that.

Image
I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts how he drives because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Max?

Image
No.

Image
Why not?

Image
Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my driving.

Image
I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You felt it your entire career, that there's something wrong with F1, you don't know what it is, but it's there like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that's brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Image
Capricorn?

Image
Do you want to know what it is? Capricorn is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now in this very motorhome. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you get in the car, when you're out on track, when you look at your telemetry. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

Image
What truth?

Image
That you are a slave, Max. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind. Unfortunately, no one can be told what Capricorn is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe what you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay at the back, and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. Remember, all I'm offering is the truth, nothing more.


I'm sure you can figure the rest out yourself ;)
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Re: What If?

Post by Klon »

The only people still allowed to make Matrix references these days are people who understood the Architect scene the first time they watched it. Are you one of those individuals?
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Re: What If?

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

Klon wrote:The only people still allowed to make Matrix references these days are people who understood the Architect scene the first time they watched it. Are you one of those individuals?

Well, the first time I watched it I was about 9 years old, so no, I can't say I did. Now that I have the brain of an adult I understand it perfectly if that's worth anything. I also consider myself a movie fanatic. Anyway, that was just a very pale imitation of Jocke1. I do miss his posts.
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Re: What If?

Post by dr-baker »

Simtek wrote: Anyway, that was just a very pale imitation of Jocke1. I do miss his posts.

It was brilliant. And all the better for not including the numbers 10, 49 or 1049...
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Re: What If?

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

dr-baker wrote:
Simtek wrote: Anyway, that was just a very pale imitation of Jocke1. I do miss his posts.

It was brilliant. And all the better for not including the numbers 10, 49 or 1049...

Simtek wrote:...di Resta's crushing 10 lap victory at Interlagos...

Well, that was kind of deliberate...
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Re: What If?

Post by FMecha »

Simtek wrote:
Klon wrote:The only people still allowed to make Matrix references these days are people who understood the Architect scene the first time they watched it. Are you one of those individuals?

Well, the first time I watched it I was about 9 years old, so no, I can't say I did. Now that I have the brain of an adult I understand it perfectly if that's worth anything. I also consider myself a movie fanatic. Anyway, that was just a very pale imitation of Jocke1. I do miss his posts.


Jocke occasionally posts cryptic statuses in GTPlanet (his username is JockeP22) though. :geek:
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Re: What If?

Post by Ataxia »

FMecha wrote:
Simtek wrote:
Klon wrote:The only people still allowed to make Matrix references these days are people who understood the Architect scene the first time they watched it. Are you one of those individuals?

Well, the first time I watched it I was about 9 years old, so no, I can't say I did. Now that I have the brain of an adult I understand it perfectly if that's worth anything. I also consider myself a movie fanatic. Anyway, that was just a very pale imitation of Jocke1. I do miss his posts.


Jocke occasionally posts cryptic statuses in GTPlanet (his username is JockeP22) though. :geek:


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Re: What If?

Post by James1978 »

A completely different question - I've been watching the 2010 review the last couple of days, and just been reminded or how consistently great Kubica in the Renault was that year - has it been asked before what if he didn't have his rally crash? Where would he be now and would he be world champion?

I have him most likely replacing Massa at Ferrari for either 2012, or failing that 2013, but haven't really figured out other knock-on effects like does Kimi come back or does Alonso leave Ferrari earlier?
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Re: What If?

Post by Faustus »

James1978 wrote:A completely different question - I've been watching the 2010 review the last couple of days, and just been reminded or how consistently great Kubica in the Renault was that year - has it been asked before what if he didn't have his rally crash? Where would he be now and would he be world champion?

I have him most likely replacing Massa at Ferrari for either 2012, or failing that 2013, but haven't really figured out other knock-on effects like does Kimi come back or does Alonso leave Ferrari earlier?


Considering that Petrov and Heidfeld somehow managed to get a podium each in 2011, I daresay that Kubica would have at least matched that and even possibly won a race. Kubica goes to Ferrari in 2012 as you suggested, Raikkonen still comes back in 2012 with Lotus and leaves Lotus and Formula 1 at the end of 2014 after a crap season.
Petrov would have disappeared into obscurity sooner and we would have been spared the return of Heidfeld. Senna would probably not have had a chance to return in 2011 and might not have been in a Williams in 2012.
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Re: What If?

Post by James1978 »

Maybe Massa goes to Williams two years early instead of Senna?
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Re: What If?

Post by Faustus »

That's really good, I hadn't thought of that!
It would have been a shame as I do like Senna and I still think he deserves on the current grid with a decent team.
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Re: What If?

Post by Rob Dylan »

James1978 wrote:Maybe Massa goes to Williams two years early instead of Senna?

Imagine Massa's instead of Maldonado's shock win at Spain in 2012 :shock: that would have shut up the haters :D
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Re: What If?

Post by tBone »

Rob Dylan wrote:
James1978 wrote:Maybe Massa goes to Williams two years early instead of Senna?

Imagine Massa's instead of Maldonado's shock win at Spain in 2012 :shock: that would have shut up the haters :D

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Re: What If?

Post by Rob Dylan »

tBone wrote:
Rob Dylan wrote:
James1978 wrote:Maybe Massa goes to Williams two years early instead of Senna?

Imagine Massa's instead of Maldonado's shock win at Spain in 2012 :shock: that would have shut up the haters :D

Rob Smedley wrote:Felipe, Pastor is faster than you.

He'll never get a break :D
Murray Walker at the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix wrote:The other [Stewart] driver, who nobody's been paying attention to, because he's disappointing, is Jan Magnussen.
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Re: What If?

Post by More_Blue_Flags »

I was wondering what would have happened if Ronnie Peterson had survived his crash at Monza in 1978, and sure enough the question had been addressed before in the forum:
Backmarker wrote:
ibsey wrote:One more to ask…

What if Ronnie Peterson hadn’t been killed at Monza 1978 what could he have done at Mclaren in 1979 & beyond?


If Peterson had gone on to drive for McLaren he would have had three difficult seasons where he struggled to win or even finish on the podium. If he had still been racing in 1982 he could have won the championship, but I think it would have still been tight.

...which all sounds quite plausible.

But if Peterson had survived and was fit to drive in 1979, who misses out on the other McLaren seat - John Watson or Patrick Tambay? If Watson still moves to McLaren, does Tambay get a seat elsewhere? Alternatively, if McLaren keep Tambay as second driver to Peterson, what happens to Watson - does he stay at Brabham, and if so, does that mean Nelson Piquet misses out on a drive?
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Re: What If?

Post by mario »

Faustus wrote:
James1978 wrote:A completely different question - I've been watching the 2010 review the last couple of days, and just been reminded or how consistently great Kubica in the Renault was that year - has it been asked before what if he didn't have his rally crash? Where would he be now and would he be world champion?

I have him most likely replacing Massa at Ferrari for either 2012, or failing that 2013, but haven't really figured out other knock-on effects like does Kimi come back or does Alonso leave Ferrari earlier?


Considering that Petrov and Heidfeld somehow managed to get a podium each in 2011, I daresay that Kubica would have at least matched that and even possibly won a race. Kubica goes to Ferrai in 2012 as you suggested, Raikkonen still comes back in 2012 with Lotus and leaves Lotus and Formula 1 at the end of 2014 after a crap season.
Petrov would have disappeared into obscurity sooner and we would have been spared the return of Heidfeld. Senna would probably not have had a chance to return in 2011 and might not have been in a Williams in 2012.

I suppose the main question is whether Lotus would have persisted with their flawed front exiting exhausts that year, which saw them initially start out strong but tumble back down the field as the year went on.

Now, after he tested a modified version of the car with a conventional blown exhaust, Heidfeld was adamant that the team should change over to that design immediately - however, the team overrode his suggestions, even though they later admitted it was a mistake to do so. However, given that Kubica had more authority within the team, if he had been there and had advocated the same change, might he have been able to persuade Lotus to change tack that year?
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Re: What If?

Post by Faustus »

mario wrote:I suppose the main question is whether Lotus would have persisted with their flawed front exiting exhausts that year, which saw them initially start out strong but tumble back down the field as the year went on.

Now, after he tested a modified version of the car with a conventional blown exhaust, Heidfeld was adamant that the team should change over to that design immediately - however, the team overrode his suggestions, even though they later admitted it was a mistake to do so. However, given that Kubica had more authority within the team, if he had been there and had advocated the same change, might he have been able to persuade Lotus to change tack that year?


Considering that Kubica was far more respected within Lotus than Heidfeld ever was, I think his feedback and reputation would have made the difference.
It's interesting, a good friend of mine is one of the performance engineers at Lotus and was there in 2011. Apparently when Kubica was asked for an opinion on who should take his place, he said Senna and just about anyone except Heidfeld. My friend says that Heidfeld liked to fiddle with the setup in the endless pursuit of an ideal setup where the vehicle dynamics were just right for him, but he could never really achieve it without masses of testing time and certainly not within the tight confines of a Formula 1 weekend. Pirelli rated him highly but he got to test for whole days with them.
On his day Heidfeld could be very good, as his 3rd place in Malaysia attests to, but my friend puts it down mainly to Lotus having sorted their car very well during pre-season because there wasn't much development during the season.
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Francis23
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Re: What If?

Post by Francis23 »

Apologies if it's already been mentioned, but what if Barrichello's spring at Hungary 09 bounced a foot further to the left?
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AndreaModa
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Re: What If?

Post by AndreaModa »

One I pondered recently, which is only tangentially related to F1, was this - what if fossil fuels had run out around 1950?

Would we have a society heavily reliant on nuclear power? And what would it have done to private transport, and thus by extension, motor racing? Would electric cars have come to the fore sooner, albeit in a more primitive state? And would the need for a replacement have produced alternate innovations we haven't had the opportunity to witness today?
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Bobby Doorknobs
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Re: What If?

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

AndreaModa wrote:One I pondered recently, which is only tangentially related to F1, was this - what if fossil fuels had run out around 1950?

Would we have a society heavily reliant on nuclear power? And what would it have done to private transport, and thus by extension, motor racing? Would electric cars have come to the fore sooner, albeit in a more primitive state? And would the need for a replacement have produced alternate innovations we haven't had the opportunity to witness today?

That's certainly an interesting question, and possibly a good premise for an alternate history novel/film/game/whatever! Electric cars as an invention are about as hold as the motor car itself and were rather popular until around the turn of the 20th century. Steam-powered cars were also around at that time. Of course, production of both electric and steam cars declined as internal combustion engines became more advanced, proving to be the superior way of powering a car from the 1920s onward. But there's two possible alternate sources of transportation fuel. Then you have countries like Saudi Arabia possibly never really becoming as wealthy or influential as in reality, as they didn't start producing oil until just before the Second World War. As for motor racing, I think it might well have spelt the end for it, or at least a temporary decline. Formula E is quite slow in comparison to F1 or GP2, imagine what a 1950s equivalent would be like, especially taking into account that it was a scarcely explored concept for much of the previous half-century. Reliability would likely be a massive problem. However, that doesn't mean it wouldn't make advances. Much as Formula E expects to see drivers complete race distances without having to switch cars, 1950s electric cars would naturally become more advanced and eventually form the basis for an entertaining racing series.

Or there's another possibility: Societal collapse :P
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Dj_bereta
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Re: What If?

Post by Dj_bereta »

Francis23 wrote:Apologies if it's already been mentioned, but what if Barrichello's spring at Hungary 09 bounced a foot further to the left?


Do you mean, "what if Massa had died or what if Massa had suffered severe injuries, forcing him to retire from F1"?

First thing that I imagine is GPDA pressuring FIA for closed cockpits or at least a solution to avoid an object hitting the driver's head, for the next season and Brawn GP facing a tough investigation, but being absolved in the end.

Talking about Massa replacement for the next season, I believe Fisichella probably had another season, before being replaced by someone after 2010. I think Kubica still had suffered his crash that forced him to retire from F1, so, I imagine someone like Button or Webber in the seat, alongside with Alonso.
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Re: What If?

Post by tommykl »

Dj_bereta wrote:
Francis23 wrote:Apologies if it's already been mentioned, but what if Barrichello's spring at Hungary 09 bounced a foot further to the left?


Do you mean, "what if Massa had died or what if Massa had suffered severe injuries, forcing him to retire from F1"?

First thing that I imagine is GPDA pressuring FIA for closed cockpits or at least a solution to avoid an object hitting the driver's head, for the next season and Brawn GP facing a tough investigation, but being absolved in the end.

Talking about Massa replacement for the next season, I believe Fisichella probably had another season, before being replaced by someone after 2010. I think Kubica still had suffered his crash that forced him to retire from F1, so, I imagine someone like Button or Webber in the seat, alongside with Alonso.

Actually, I think he means "What if Barrichello's spring hadn't hit Massa at all" ;)
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Francis23
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Re: What If?

Post by Francis23 »

tommykl wrote:
Dj_bereta wrote:
Francis23 wrote:Apologies if it's already been mentioned, but what if Barrichello's spring at Hungary 09 bounced a foot further to the left?


Do you mean, "what if Massa had died or what if Massa had suffered severe injuries, forcing him to retire from F1"?

First thing that I imagine is GPDA pressuring FIA for closed cockpits or at least a solution to avoid an object hitting the driver's head, for the next season and Brawn GP facing a tough investigation, but being absolved in the end.

Talking about Massa replacement for the next season, I believe Fisichella probably had another season, before being replaced by someone after 2010. I think Kubica still had suffered his crash that forced him to retire from F1, so, I imagine someone like Button or Webber in the seat, alongside with Alonso.

Actually, I think he means "What if Barrichello's spring hadn't hit Massa at all" ;)

Yeah sorry I should have made that a bit clearer, I meant if the spring missed him, but still interesting nonetheless! But what would it have meant for the rest of 2009 and indeed the following years at Ferrari?
Would Luca Badoer be spared any of the unfair criticism?
Would Fisichella be at Force India in 2010 at the expense of Liuzzi?
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Re: What If?

Post by Warren Hughes »

I still think - and I believe I've said this on the forums before, albeit some years ago - that it was Hockenheim 2010 rather than Hungary 2009 that finished Massa off as a top line driver. I'm sure he could have lived with and probably beaten Raikkonen in the second half of 2009 had he not had the accident but he would likely still have been well beaten by Alonso in 2010 and ended up exactly where he is now.
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Re: What If?

Post by Gerudo Dragon »

what if F1/GP2/GP3 were made into a multi-class series
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