The No Real Champions Alternative Championship

[Shizuka]

Wow, 93 was very close and I think 94 will be an even more close one. I sense Rubens finishing in the top three!

[Ferrim]

1994

Gerhard Berger 68 (5 wins, 3 2nds)
Jean Alesi 51 (4 wins, 1 2nd)
Rubens Barrichello 36 (5 2nds, 1 3rd)
Martin Brundle 31 (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
David Coulthard 27 (1 win, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
Jos Verstappen 25 (2 wins, 1 3rd)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 23 (1 2nd, 2 3rds)
Mark Blundell 23 (1 win, 2 3rds)
Eddie Irvine 21 (1 win, 1 2nd)
Olivier Panis 17 (1 2nd)
Ukyo Katayama 14 (2 3rds)
Christian Fittipaldi 12 (1 3rd)
Nicola Larini 10 (1 win)
Pierluigi Martini 10 (2 3rds)
Karl Wendlinger 9 (1 2nd)
Johnny Herbert 8 (3 5ths)
Andrea de Cesaris 7 (1 3rd, 1 4th)
Eric Bernard 7 (1 3rd, 1 5th, 1 6th)
Erik Comas 7 (2 5ths)
Gianni Morbidelli 5 (1 4th)
JJ Lehto 4 (1 4th)
Michele Alboreto 4 (2 5ths)
Mika Salo 1 (1 6th)

Well, not exactly close...

This title was Ferrari's to lose from the beginning. Alesi dominated in the first half of the season, but his reliability went out of the window in the second half and Berger took over. Alesi's retirement from a commanding lead at Monza was probably the final nail in the coffin, although going into the final round he still had a chance, being 9 points behind (much like Hill vs. Villeneuve in 1996).

It was esentially a broken season: Verstappen scored 2 wins, Blundell won a race for Tyrrell, the best driver that Grand Prix racing has ever produced scored 2 podiums, Martini took two podiums for Minardi as well...

[Ferrim]

1995

Alesi's early season form (three wins from the first six races) gave him the lead over teammate Berger, Coulthard and Herbert. He remained there by mid-season, until a drop on Ferrari's form and the emergence of Coulthard made things very close: with 6 races to go (after Brundle's very popular win at Spa), Coulthard was on the lead (48 points), followed by Alesi (44, 3 wins), Herbert (44, 2 wins) and Berger (43).

A double retirement from the lead at Monza was not what Ferrari needed, and it gave Herbert the lead, but then Coulthard stroke back with two wins and a second position and regained the lead, 12 points ahead of both Herbert and Alesi with 2 races to go. In Hamiltonesque form, the Scot spun out on his own at Suzuka and OOOOOOOOOOUGH!!!, smashed himself into the pitlane at Adelaide, while Alesi had to retire in both races. Herbert won at Suzuka and was holding a commanding lead at Adelaide when, 14 laps from the end of the race, his car stopped with a transmission failure. He just needed a 4th place to win the title... Panis profitted to score his first ever win, with an engine about to blow up!


David Coulthard 74 (6 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
Johnny Herbert 72 (4 wins, 2 2nds, 2 3rds)
Jean Alesi 62 (4 wins, 1 2nd, 4 3rds)
Gerhard Berger 55 (1 win, 7 2nds)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 33 (2 2nds, 1 3rd)
Olivier Panis 30 (1 win, 1 3rd)
Mark Blundell 23 (4 3rds)
Rubens Barrichello 19 (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Eddie Irvine 18 (1 2nd, 2 3rds)
Martin Brundle 18 (1 win, 1 2nd)
Mika Salo 13 (3 4ths)
Gianni Morbidelli 8 (1 2nd)
Jean-Christophe Boullion 6 (1 4th)
Aguri Suzuki 3 (1 5th)
Pedro Lamy 2 (1 5th)
Pierluigi Martini 2 (1 5th)
Ukyo Katayama 2 (2 6ths)
Pedro Diniz 1 (1 6th)
Massimiliano Papis 1 (1 6th)

[James1978]

Urgh, that means Coulthard will win about umpteen of these while Herbert won't win any.

Surprises me actually as Herbert wins under all points system in the "previous champions are eliminated" championships, but obviously Berger and Alesi are in this one, and DC was ahead of those two more often than herbert.

Still the positive is Diniz getting a point in the Forti.

[Ferrim]

1996

Jean Alesi 103 (10 wins)
Gerhard Berger 54 (3 wins, 3 2nds, 1 3rd)
David Coulthard 40 (1 win, 3 2nds, 2 3rds)
Rubens Barrichello 36 (3 2nds, 4 3rds)
Olivier Panis 33 (1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Eddie Irvine 30 (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
Martin Brundle 26 (2 2nds, 2 3rds)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 21 (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Mika Salo 19 (1 2nd, 2 3rds)
Johnny Herbert 13 (1 3rd)
Pedro Diniz 12 (1 3rd)
Ukyo Katayama 7 (2 4ths)
Jos Verstappen 5 (1 4th)
Ricardo Rosset 5 (2 5ths)
Giancarlo Fisichella 2 (1 5th)
Pedro Lamy 2 (2 6ths)
Giovanni Lavaggi 1 (1 6th)


I expected Alesi to take this one, but his margin of victory was nothing short of ridiculous! He was crowned champion with three races to go. He sets the record for most wins and is the first driver to score over 100 points in a single season.

[Ferrim]

1997 (part one)

Olivier Panis was the unlikely leader of the 1997 season after six races and with only a win and 25 points. Irvine was his closest challenger (22), followed by Berger (19), Alesi (15), Frentzen (14) and Coulthard (13). But braking his legs probably costed him a shot at the title.

Unpredictability was the norm of the season. Defending World Champion Jean Alesi decided to take care of this and opened a small gap during mid-season, always between 10-15 points as other drivers failed to capitalize on his bad days.

6 races to go:
Jean Alesi 42 (2 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
Gerhard Berger 31 (2 wins, 1 2nd)
Eddie Irvine 29 (1 win, 3 2nds)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 28 (1 wins, 1 3rd)
Olivier Panis 25 (1 win, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
Johnny Herbert 25 (1 win, 2 3rds)
Ralf Schumacher 22 (2 2nds, 1 3rd)
David Coulthard 20 (1 win, 1 3rd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 17 (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Rubens Barrichello 10 (1 win)
Jarno Trulli 10 (1 2nd)
Shinji Nakano 10 (1 3rd)
Alexander Wurz 6 (1 2nd)
Nicola Larini 5 (1 4th)
Mika Salo 4 (1 4th)
Jan Magnussen 1 (1 6th)
Norberto Fontana 1 (1 6th)

[Ferrim]

1997 (part two)

Fisichella and Coulthard won the Spa and Monza races, but Alesi managed to keep scoring points. Four races from the end he led his closest challengers by 11 points (Frentzen) and 13 points (Berger), but Coulthard, Irvine, Fisichella and Herbert remained within 20 points of him.

Failure to score at Austria compressed the chase even more: Alesi 49, Frentzen 44, Coulthard 40, Berger 36, Fisichella 34, Herbert 31, Irvine 30. But a brilliant win at the Nuburgring gave the momentum back to Alesi: Alesi 59, Frentzen 50, Coulthard and Berger 40 (no mathematical chances for anyone else).

Frentzen didn't surrender and managed to take it down to the wire, winning at Suzuka: Alesi 63, Frentzen 60.

It was a dramatical season decider at Jerez. Frentzen took pole and Alesi was down to 6th. Frentzen had a nightmare race, and was barely able to finish 4th, with Alesi a disastrous 11th. 63 points even.

Frentzen won 3 races; Alesi won 3 races.

Frentzen finished second 3 times; Alesi just 2, and so Frentzen won the 1997 title on countback.



Final standings:
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 63 (3 wins, 3 2nds, 2 3rds)
Jean Alesi 63 (3 wins, 2 2nds, 3 3rds)
David Coulthard 50 (4 wins, 1 3rd)
Gerhard Berger 47 (2 wins, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
Eddie Irvine 40 (1 win, 4 2nds, 1 3rd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 36 (1 win, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
Johnny Herbert 36 (1 win, 3 3rds)
Olivier Panis 29 (1 win, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
Ralf Schumacher 25 (2 2nds)
Rubens Barrichello 10 (1 win)
Jarno Trulli 10 (1 2nd)
Shinji Nakano 10 (1 3rd)
Alexander Wurz 6 (1 2nd)
Pedro Diniz 5 (1 4th)
Nicola Larini 5 (1 4th)
Mika Salo 4 (1 4th)
Jan Magnussen 1 (1 6th)
Norberto Fontana 1 (1 6th)
Gianni Morbidelli 1 (1 6th)

9 different drivers won races.

[WeirdKerr]

Interesting ..... Frenzy's season wasnt as bad as we thought....

[James1978]

Seeing these results, it makes me think that Jacq Vill and Mich Schu totally ruined what would have been a fab season without them......and I can't begrudge Frentzen winning, since I don't think he'll get another chance, his other good chance would be 1999 but he'll be behind Irvine still I reckon.

[Ferrim]

1998

David Coulthard 94 (8 wins, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Eddie Irvine 89 (5 wins, 5 2nds, 1 3rd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 44 (2 wins, 2 3rds)
Alexander Wurz 41 (5 2nds, 1 3rd)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 40 (2 2nds, 5 3rds)
Ralf Schumacher 33 (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
Jean Alesi 30 (1 2nd, 3 3rds)
Johnny Herbert 14 (3 4ths)
Rubens Barrichello 7 (1 3rd)
Pedro Diniz 6 (2 4ths)
Mika Salo 4 (1 3rd)
Jarno Trulli 4 (1 5th)
Shinji Nakano 4 (1 5th)
Jan Magnussen 2 (1 5th)
Toranosuke Takagi 2 (2 6ths)
Esteban Tuero 1 (1 6th)
Olivier Panis 1 (1 6th)


Very close battle between Coulthard (the fastest car) and Irvine (the most reliable). The early races were dominated by Coulthard, but Irvine took the lead after a couple of wins at Magny Cours and Silverstone. McLaren stroke back and Coulthard was 15 points ahead with 3 races to go, but Irvine won at Monza with Coulthard scoring no points. The title was not decided until the final lap of the final race: Coulthard won at the Nurburgring with Irvine second and was leading by 9 points, but the Ulsterman won at Suzuka; had the Scot retired, he would have lost it, but he finished second.

I knew Prost's 1998 was awful, but didn't expect them to finish on equal points with Minardi here.

[James1978]

Looks a good battle for 3rd in 1998 too.

And for the Nakano podium in '97 (must have been Hungary, with Villeneuve, Hill and M Schumacher eliminated)!

[Ferrim]

1999

Eddie Irvine 97 (6 wins, 4 2nds, 2 3rds)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 72 (3 wins, 4 2nds, 3 3rds)
David Coulthard 61 (5 wins, 1 2nd)
Ralf Schumacher 45 (2 2nds, 6 3rds)
Rubens Barrichello 29 (2 2nds, 2 3rds)
Giancarlo Fisichella 23 (1 win, 2 3rds)
Johnny Herbert 21 (1 win, 1 2nd)
Mika Salo 16 (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Jarno Trulli 15 (1 2nd)
Alexander Wurz 11 (2 4ths)
Jean Alesi 8 (2 4ths)
Pedro Diniz 6 (3 5ths)
Olivier Panis 5 (1 4th)
Marc Gené 2 (1 5th)
Alex Zanardi 2 (2 6ths)
Pedro de la Rosa 1 (1 6th)
Toranosuke Takagi 1 (1 6th)
Luca Badoer 1 (1 6th)

Easy title for Irvine. He just won 6 races, but finished all bar one and no one got even close to that level of consistency. Frentzen's fate was similar to real life: he went to Nurburgring 13 points down and was looking great to win, with Irvine out of the points, until his car failed.

To note: Alesi barely outscoring Diniz (he was 6-3 down with 2 races to go), Herbert not that far behind Barrichello, and no points for Zonta - even with this system!

[Phoenix]

I was expecting more from Brickhead. He was driving a frigging McMerc!

[Ferrim]

2000

David Coulthard 118 (10 wins, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
Rubens Barrichello 94 (4 wins, 9 2nds)
Ralf Schumacher 49 (2 wins, 2 2nds, 3 3rds)
Giancarlo Fisichella 33 (1 win, 1 2nd, 3 3rds)
Mika Salo 25 (3 3rds)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 24 (2 2nds, 1 3rd)
Jarno Trulli 17 (2 3rds)
Eddie Irvine 17 (1 3rd)
Ricardo Zonta 13 (3 4ths)
Jos Verstappen 12 (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Alexander Wurz 11 (1 3rd)
Johnny Herbert 10 (1 3rd)
Pedro de la Rosa 7 (2 4ths)
Pedro Diniz 7 (2 5ths)
Marc Gené 3 (1 5th)
Nick Heidfeld 1 (1 6th)
Gastón Mazzacane 1 (1 6th)


A great year for Coulthard! Barrichello still had a shot at Suzuka, but it never looked like David was going to lose it.

Note the strong performance by Salo in 5th, and Minardi outscoring Prost: no points for Alesi!

I was expecting more from Brickhead. He was driving a frigging McMerc!

Too many retirements for him.

[James1978]

To be totally honest I was expecting Frentzen to be a lot closer behind Irvine in 1999, and Zippy to be a lot closer to "Brickhead" in 2000.

Though impressed by Irvine's points in that heap of junk of a Jaguar in 2000!!

BTW, I always refer to Rubens as "Zippy" after F1 Racing magazine once compared him to the Childrens TV character.

[Ferrim]

2001

David Coulthard 92 (5 wins, 5 2nds, 3 3rds)
Rubens Barrichello 85 (4 wins, 5 2nds, 3 3rds)
Ralf Schumacher 60 (4 wins, 3 3rds)
Juan Pablo Montoya 48 (4 wins, 1 2nd)
Nick Heidfeld 29 (1 2nd, 3 3rds)
Jean Alesi 23 (1 2nd)
Eddie Irvine 18 (2 2nds)
Jarno Trulli 18 (1 2nd)
Olivier Panis 15 (2 3rds)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 15 (1 3rd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 14 (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Pedro de la Rosa 8 (1 3rd)
Jos Verstappen 8 (1 4th)
Ricardo Zonta 3 (1 4th)
Luciano Burti 3 (1 5th)
Enrique Bernoldi 2 (1 5th)
Tarso Marques 1 (1 6th)


This year was Coulthard's year, again! But it was closer than last year. He opened a gap in the first races, but went winless between Austria and Belgium (7 races). Luckily for him, Barrichello couldn't score too many points, as Ralf Schumacher was very strong in the Williams in those races. Still, Barrichello took the lead at Hockenheim and was five points ahead with two races to go, but his retirement at Indy gave the momentum back to Coulthard. A second place at the final race was enough for the Scot, who joins Reutemann and Patrese as a four time WC. And Barrichello finishes second again.

Notice a magnificent final season for Jean Alesi, 6th on the standings (was 15th IRL with just 4 champions ahead of him) and a final podium at Canada.

[WeirdKerr]

2002 possibly could have 1 result changed depending on events this coming weekend....

[James1978]

Is this going to be kept on hold now until we find out whether or not Mark Webber will need to be eliminated or not for the remaining years to date?

Funny now of the three main rookies in 2001, only one (Montoya) is eligible in this alternative championship too!

[Bleu]

I think it's better to keep this one on hold until Sunday. Anyway, if Webber wins the title, is's only Salo, Yoong and de la Rosa who get extra points. In Magny-Cours Webber would be 7th in this championship, so no changes there.

[James1978]

Might make the difference between Yoong unrejectifying himself and not? I know in Australia it would promote him to 4th instead of 5th (he was 7th, you already have to take out Schumacher and Raikkonen), would he get a point anywhere else?

[Ferrim]

I wasn't going to keep this one on hold until Sunday, but now I'm thinking it may be wiser. Definitely Webber won't have an impact on 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2008, but he's between likely and nearly definitely (without properly checking it, though) in the other years (won't tell you which ones). Vettel could have an impact in 2009.

And, of course, if either of the Red Bull drivers takes the real title, the alternative one will automatically go to the other, as he would remain the only non-champion of this years' top five.

[Aerospeed]

My candidate for winning a championship:
Ralf Schumacher
Barrichello
Montoya

I am curious to see what happens in 2005 and 2006. Hmm...

[Bleu]

2005 will be between Fisi and JPM, 2006 with Fisi and Massa. That's for sure. Yuji Ide just misses finishing into points in Melbourne 2006 (13th becomes 9th after Alonso, Kimi, JV and Button are kicked out)

[James1978]

Ralf might win 2005 if my "Number 2s" championship is anything to go by. In that, he beat, Montoya, Fisi and Rubens by pure accumulation. And like this one, there'll be no Fernando, Michael, Kimi and Jenson. Only thing which disadvantages him is I think he finishes behind Trulli too much is the first half of the year.

[Ferrim]

As the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is underway, this is my attempt to jinx Vettel and Alonso:

2002

Rubens Barrichello 101 (9 wins, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Juan Pablo Montoya 78 (3 wins, 6 2nds, 3 3rds)
David Coulthard 66 (3 wins, 3 2nds, 2 3rds)
Ralf Schumacher 64 (2 wins, 5 2nds, 2 3rds)
Nick Heidfeld 23 (2 3rds)
Jarno Trulli 18 (2 3rds)
Giancarlo Fisichella 18 (1 3rd)
Eddie Irvine 17 (2 2nds)
Felipe Massa 15 (1 3rd)
Mika Salo 10 (2 4ths)
Olivier Panis 9 (1 3rd)
Takuma Sato 5 (1 3rd)
Mark Webber 4 (1 3rd)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 4 (2 5ths)
Allan McNish 3 (1 5th, 1 6th)
Pedro de la Rosa 3 (3 6ths)
Alex Yoong 2 (1 5th)


It took one of the best cars ever in Formula One, a late season charge and the Williams teammates taking points out of each other, but Rubens Barrichello finally won the title! With 5 races to go, Montoya was leading, 7, 11 and 12 points ahead of Ralf, Barrichello and Coulthard, and the championship looked very close, but Barrichello won those 5 races and gave the others no chance. Blow-ups at Monza and a first corner collision at Indy destroyed the Williams' drivers hopes, while the McLaren was just too slow for Coulthard to clinch a record 5th title.


EDIT: as Martin Brundle would have put it: "That didn't work, my friend! That didn't work!"

[Ferrim]

Just updated the Vettel-affected seasons (2007 through 2010). No champion changes, although one of the results becomes a bit of a ridiculous one. And no need to change 2002-06.

I'll post the remaining ones in the next few days.

[James1978]

Is the ridiculous result Williams getting a win this year (Barrichello at Valencia) or Buemi getting a podium (Brazil 2009)?

[Bleu]

Or Vitantonio Liuzzi getting 2nd place at China 2007?

[Ferrim]

2003

Juan Pablo Montoya 99 (4 wins, 6 2nds)
Rubens Barrichello 88 (6 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
Ralf Schumacher 86 (3 wins, 4 2nds, 2 3rds)
David Coulthard 71 (1 win, 4 2nds, 4 3rds)
Jarno Trulli 55 (1 2nd, 5 3rds)
Mark Webber 40 (6 4ths)
Cristiano da Matta 33 (1 4th)
Nick Heidfeld 32 (1 3rd)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 31 (1 win, 1 3rd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 21 (1 win)
Olivier Panis 20 (1 4th)
Antonio Pizzonia 10 (1 6th)
Jos Verstappen 9 (2 6ths)
Ralph Firman 8 (2 4ths)
Marc Gené 6 (1 3rd)
Takuma Sato 5 (1 4th)
Justin Wilson 5 (1 6th)
HWNSNBM 2 (1 7th)
Nicolas Kiesa 2 (2 8ths)

Montoya wins the title! He had a bad start, and until Monaco it looked like a Schumacher-Barrichello fight. But the Colombian took 4 wins and 4 second places in the next 8 races, got ahead of Barrichello by Spa and of Schumacher by Monza, taking the title at Indianapolis.

Notice Webber's great season, he's best of the rest. Sauber score a magnificent 1-3 at Indy, with HH Frentzen's last win!

EDIT: it has taken me exactly one year and three months to find out that I had mispelled His name. Shame on me! It's corrected now.

[James1978]

Da Matta gets 33 points, how on earth???

[Aerospeed]

2003

Juan Pablo Montoya 99 (4 wins, 6 2nds)
Rubens Barrichello 88 (6 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
Ralf Schumacher 86 (3 wins, 4 2nds, 2 3rds)
David Coulthard 71 (1 win, 4 2nds, 4 3rds)
Jarno Trulli 55 (1 2nd, 5 3rds)
Mark Webber 40 (6 4ths)
Cristiano da Matta 33 (1 4th)
Nick Heidfeld 32 (1 3rd)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 31 (1 win, 1 3rd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 21 (1 win)
Olivier Panis 20 (1 4th)
Antonio Pizzonia 10 (1 6th)
Jos Verstappen 9 (2 6ths)
Ralph Firman 8 (2 4ths)
Marc Gené 6 (1 3rd)
Takuma Sato 5 (1 4th)
Justin Wilson 5 (1 6th)
HWNSBM 2 (1 7th)
Nicolas Kiesa 2 (2 8ths)

Montoya wins the title! He had a bad start, and until Monaco it looked like a Schumacher-Barrichello fight. But the Colombian took 4 wins and 4 second places in the next 8 races, got ahead of Barrichello by Spa and of Schumacher by Monza, taking the title at Indianapolis.

Notice Webber's great season, he's best of the rest. Sauber score a magnificent 1-3 at Indy, with HH Frentzen's last win!

When you said Schumacher I thought Michael, like any other idiot would. Then I noticed it was "no real champions"
DUUUUUUUURRRRRRRR

[Ferrim]

2004

Rubens Barrichello 150 (12 wins, 2 2nds)
Juan Pablo Montoya 95 (3 wins, 4 2nds, 4 3rds)
Jarno Trulli 76 (1 win, 5 2nds, 2 3rds)
Takuma Sato 62 (3 2nds, 4 3rds)
Giancarlo Fisichella 61 (1 2nd, 3 3rds)
David Coulthard 60 (1 win, 2 3rds)
Felipe Massa 41 (1 2nd)
Ralf Schumacher 39 (1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Mark Webber 31 (1 3rd)
Olivier Panis 17 (1 4th, 2 6ths)
Christian Klien 17 (1 4th, 1 6th)
Antonio Pizzonia 14 (2 4ths)
Nick Heidfeld 11 (1 5th)
Cristiano da Matta 9 (1 5th)
HWNSNBM 6 (1 6th)
Timo Glock 5 (1 4th)
Marc Gené 4 (1 6th)
Ricardo Zonta 2 (2 8ths)


An easy second title for Rubens Barrichello. He was utterly dominant and established a new record of 12 wins in a single Grand Prix season.

Note what a strong season Fisichella had in the Sauber, narrowly defeated to 4th in the standings by everyone's second most favourite Japanese driver.

[James1978]

So HWNSNBM is still a reject in this,

But his teammate doesn't score a single point, and neither does Pantano in the Jordan (which should be ahead of Minardi)!!!

[Ferrim]

2005 (part one)



A brilliant start of the season (three wins and a second) gave Trulli the early lead, 40 points against Ralf's 24 after five races. Fisichella was 5th and Montoya 7th, the Italian hampered by poor reliability, the Colombian by a, ejem, tennis accident. Coulthard had a great start in the new Red Bull team, scoring in all the races so far, with the Williams teammates in 3rd (Webber) and 5th (Heidfeld) places.

A middle season push by Williams (two wins for Heidfeld) and a series of mad races set this intriguing championship picture, after the (disastrous) Indy race:

Jarno Trulli 45 (3 wins, 1 2nd)
Rubens Barrichello 44 (2 wins, 2 2nds)
Nick Heidfeld 35 (2 wins, 2 3rds)
Ralf Schumacher 34 (2 2nds)
Mark Webber 34 (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
David Coulthard 27 (2 3rds)
Juan Pablo Montoya 24 (2 3rds)
Giancarlo Fisichella 22 (1 win, 1 3rd)
Felipe Massa 20 (1 2nd)
Tiago Monteiro 11 (1 2nd)
Alexander Wurz 10 (1 win)
Christian Klien 9 (3 6ths)
Narain Karthikeyan 7 (1 3rd)
Pedro de la Rosa 6 (1 3rd)
Christijan Albers 6 (1 4th)
Vitantonio Liuzzi 6 (1 5th)
Patrick Friesacher 4 (1 5th)
Takuma Sato 1 (1 8th)

[TomWazzleshaw]

2005 (part one)
Takuma Sato 1 (1 6th)

Sense. That makes none

[Ferrim]

2005 (part one)
Takuma Sato 1 (1 6th)

Sense. That makes none

Thank you. I'm continously messing up with that, as I keep thinking 1 point = 1 sixth. I usually fix these mistakes before posting, but that one I missed!

[James1978]

For my original prediction I said Montoya for 2005, that's not looking good mid-season, but all his wins come after where we are now so, so given how close it is, he's still got a chance, although his retirements in Belgium, Japan and China thanks to the stupid drain-covers will do him in!

[Ferrim]

2005 (part two)

Back to Europe, Trulli went back to his early season form, winning at Magny Cours. Montoya was now 31 points down, but he finally started to win races at Silverstone and Hockenheim, both times in front of Fisichella. While Schumacher and Barrichello continued gathering points, Trulli had a disastrous race at Germany, where he didn't score. The Williams team fell behind during the summer, but with such a close season, they remained within streaking distance: Trulli (59), Barrichello (57), Schumacher (51), Fisichella (46), Montoya (44), Webber (38), Heidfeld (37), Coulthard (36).

Toyota scored a 1-2 at Hungary, their second of the season, with Fisichella only 6th, Barrichello 7th and Montoya retiring. The Colombian managed to score another couple of wins at Istanbul and Monza, where Trulli was 3rd and 2nd and therefore didn't lose too much ground. In fact, with 4 races to go, he remained in the lead (where he had been since the second round) with 81 points, and teammate Schumacher was second, but down to 68. Montoya (64), Barrichello (63) and Fisichella (62) remained on the fight, but no-one gave a chance to the Brazilian, as the Ferrari was clearly slower (Barrichello had four 7th place finishes in a row).

Spa was chaotic. The rain took out Trulli and Fisichella, while Montoya was leading with 4 laps to go but collided against Pizzonia (deputising for Heidfeld in the Williams) and didn't score a single point either. Webber scored his maiden win, Barrichello finished 2nd and Schumacher 3rd.

The Brazilian crowd were excited about Barrichello's chances, as the circus arrived at Sao Paulo. Driving only the 4th best car, Rubens was just 10 points adrift of Trulli. And the torcida left Interlagos reasonably satisfied: Barrichello managed to finish 3rd, taking points away from both Toyotas, as Montoya won and Fisichella was 2nd. It was a poor race for Trulli, who only scored one point. Ralf Schumacher was 4th, and two races from the end, the championship couldn't be much closer:

Trulli 82
Schumacher 79
Barrichello 77
Montoya 74
Fisichella 70

Rain-affected qualifyind at Suzuka saw Schumacher take pole. Fisichella joined him in the front row. Barrichello could only manage 8th, but the rain moved Trulli and Montoya to the last row! Trying to pass as many people as possible at the beginning of the race, Montoya crashed out! Trulli followed a bit later, the Italian not looking any more the solid driver he was before Spa. Fisichella won for only the second time of the year, with a tremendous drive, with Schumacher down to 4th and Barrichello 7th. And so, before the final showdown at Shanghai...

Schumacher 84
Trulli 82
Fisichella 80
Barrichello 79
Montoya 74

Five drivers still stood a chance!

Just in case it wasn't close enough, Saturday qualifying had Fisichella taking pole, in front of Montoya, while Barrichello started 4th, Schumacher 5th and Trulli 8th! If they finished in that order, Fisichella would win.

The Italian had a good start and led, Montoya right on his tail. The other three candidates just hadn't the pace to follow them; after 10 laps, they laid 4th (Barrichello), 5th (Schumacher) and 7th (Trulli). Fisi knew a second place would make it as long as Schumacher was 5th, but couldn't relax.

Montoya was the first man to drop the ball, and it wasn't his fault: he collided with a loose manhole cover, and had to change his front wing. The SC was deployed; he rejoined in 10th, right in front of Trulli, who had already pitted, but had to retire shortly after because of the damage. Fisichella, Barrichello and Schumacher took the chance to pit as well, and were running 1st, 2nd and 3rd; with that result, Fisichella would win on countback.

An accident of Karthikeyan brought out again the SC at half distance. Fisichella, Barrichello and Trulli went into the pits again; Schumacher didn't! That was a brave move, but probably his only chance to jump Barrichello. For how much longer would he be able to stay out?

The SC left the track again, and Ralf started to open a big gap. It was looking very good for him: Massa and Klien were on the same strategy as him, pitted earlier and rejoined in front of Barrichello. When he finally pitted, in lap 47, he came back in 2nd position: the championship was his! But it was even better: Fisichella got penalised for speeding in the pits and had to fulfill a drive-through penalty. He came back behind Schumacher, who won the race...

...and the championship!!!


Ralf Schumacher 94 (2 wins, 2 2nds, 4 3rds)
Giancarlo Fisichella 88 (2 wins, 6 2nds, 1 3rd)
Jarno Trulli 82 (4 wins, 3 2nds, 1 3rd)
Rubens Barrichello 80 (2 wins, 3 2nds, 2 3rds)
Juan Pablo Montoya 74 (5 wins, 2 3rds)
Mark Webber 65 (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
David Coulthard 50 (3 3rds)
Nick Heidfeld 43 (2 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
Felipe Massa 43 (1 2nd)
Christian Klien 35 (1 3rd)
Tiago Monteiro 22 (1 2nd)
Takuma Sato 12 (1 5th)
Alexander Wurz 10 (1 win)
Narain Karthikeyan 10 (1 3rd)
Christijan Albers 7 (1 4th)
Pedro de la Rosa 6 (1 3rd)
Vitantonio Liuzzi 6 (1 5th)
Patrick Friesacher 4 (1 5th)
Antonio Pizzonia 4 (1 5th)


I really didn't see this one coming. I was expecting a Montoya vs. Fisichella fight, but the Toyotas scored in most of the races, while Montoya only finished 10 times and Fisichella 13.

The Toyotas heavily benefitted from the fact that Michael Schumacher, Villeneuve and Button had a lot of medium-to-low finishing positions.

Eight different drivers won races and fourteen went to the podium.

[James1978]

So you did know something when in my "Number 2s" Championship I claimed it would be the only time Toyota ever won anything!

Suspect 2006 and 2007 won't be anywhere near as interesting though.

[Ferrim]

And you knew that something when I posted there

Webber scored 12 times here, it would have been interesting if I had needed to remove him. In principle, the more people I remove, the more Toyota (and Barrichello) are favoured. Montoya in particular just can't win it with so many DNFs.