The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out!

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tBone
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The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out!

Post by tBone »

I have been toying with this idea for quite a while, so why not try it? Inspired by the champion elimination championship, I wondered what would happen if entire nations would be eliminated when they are too successful. I thought eliminating them after just one championship would leave us with insufficient participants too soon, so a country is allowed to win 3 championships before they are out.

All rules for the regular championship also apply to this alternative championship, including dropped scores, Indy 500, fastest lap points, etc. Two exceptions need to be made:
1. If a driver shares a drive with another driver from an excluded country, the result will be scrapped.
2. In races where a driver from an excluded country got the point for fastest lap, normally the next driver gets the point. However, in early races, usually only the single fastest lap is still traceable. In those cases, the point will not be given to anyone.

Nothing changes in the first few years, until Ascari wins Italy's third championship. From 1954 onwards, history will be more and more warped...

Champions:
1950 - Giuseppe Farina - Italy (1)
1951 - Juan Manuel Fangio - Argentina (1)
1952 - Alberto Ascari - Italy (2)
1953 - Alberto Ascari - Italy (3, Italy excluded from 1954 onwards)
1954 - Juan Manuel Fangio - Argentina (2)
1955 - Juan Manuel Fangio - Argentina (3, Argentina excluded from 1956 onwards)
1956 - Jean Behra - France (1)
1957 - Stirling Moss - Great Britain (1)
1958 - Mike Hawthorn - Great Britain (2)
1959 - Jack Brabham - Australia (1)
1960 - Jack Brabham - Australia (2)
1961 - Phil Hill - USA (1)
1962 - Graham Hill - Great Britain (3, Great Britain excluded from 1963 onwards)
1963 - Richie Ginther - USA (2)
1964 - Richie Ginther - USA (3, USA excluded from 1965 onwards)
1965 - Bruce McLaren - New Zealand (1)
1966 - Jack Brabham - Australia (3, Australia excluded from 1967 onwards)
1967 - Denny Hulme - New Zealand (2)
1968 - Denny Hulme - New Zealand (3, New Zealand excluded from 1968 onwards)
1969 - Jacky Ickx - Belgium (1)
1970 - Jochen Rindt - Austria (1)
1971 - Ronnie Peterson - Sweden (1)
1972 - Emerson Fittipaldi - Brazil (1)
1973 - Emerson Fittipaldi - Brazil (2)
1974 - Emerson Fittipaldi - Brazil (3, Brazil excluded from 1975 onwards)
1975 - Niki Lauda - Austria (2)
1976 - Niki Lauda - Austria (3, Austria excluded from 1977 onwards)
1977 - Jody Scheckter - South Africa (1)
1978 - Ronnie Peterson - Sweden (2)
1979 - Gilles Villeneuve - Canada (1)
1980 - Didier Pironi - France (2)
1981 - Jacques Laffite - France (3, France excluded from 1982 onwards)
1982 - Keke Rosberg - Finland (1)
1983 - Keke Rosberg - Finland (2)
1984 - Keke Rosberg - Finland (3, Finland excluded from 1985 onwards)
Last edited by tBone on 01 Aug 2021, 21:08, edited 31 times in total.
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1954

Fangio still runs away with the title in dominant fashion. The Italians did not score too well in 1954 anyway, so their elimination does not have too much of an influence. However, it does bring Paco Godia his first points and Fred Wacker his only career points.

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Last edited by tBone on 03 May 2021, 17:16, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

Post by James1978 »

This sounds fascinating. I didn't put it on here but I experimented doing something from the 90s onwards where I removed all British, German, and Finnish drivers because since 1994, only Villeneuve and Alonso have been champions from outside those three nations! Though it got a bit repetitive.

Hope you don't run out of nations! :)
"Poor old Warwick takes it from behind all throughout this season". :) (Tony Jardine, 1988)
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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James1978 wrote:Hope you don't run out of nations! :)

If I do, 2004, 2005 and 2016 are going to have some amazing champions! :pantano:
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1955

The title fight was a bit closer than in real life: Stirling Moss just missed out on having a theoretical chance of the championship in the final race. He was 7 points behind Fangio after the Dutch GP, but Fangio had won 3 races until then, while Moss had only 1, and Moss would lose his 2 points from the shared 2nd place in the season opener. Juan Manuel Fangio won his and Argentina's third world championship in 1955, eliminating himself and his nation for the subsequent years.

Further down, it's remarkable how Roberto Mieres jumps both Maurice Trintignant and Bob Sweikert in this championship to take 3rd. Mike Sparken (in his only GP!) and Lance Macklin scored their only career points in the British Grand Prix, something the Italians (and some others) prevented them from in real life.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1956

With not only Italy, but also Argentina excluded, it is certain that 1956 will see a new champion. Based on my (meagre) knowledge of 1950s F1 and on the real-life championship, I was expecting British dominance, but I was very wrong: Jean Behra took the lead by winning the first race and never lost it. In fact, he was already champion before the final GP in Italy, despite not winning another race, while Stirling Moss and Peter Collins won 3 each! Reliability and consistency really did it for Behra in 1956.

A - for me - surprising nation to benefit from the excluded drivers was Spain. Alfonso de Portago took Spain's first ever win in the British GP, albeit in a shared drive with Collins. Furthermore, Francisco "Paco" Godia-Sales finished on the podium in the two subsequent races, rising up to 4th in the championship. Furthermore, Uruguay is now a points scoring nation, because of Oscar Gonzalez' and Alberto Uria's shared 4th place in Argentina.

The biggest heartbreak of the year may be the story of Ottorino Volonterio from Switzerland. The lawyer was one of only five drivers to cross the finish line in the German GP, but he would not be classified as he was 6 laps down, in a 22 lap race.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

Post by James1978 »

I'd done some mental notes but they've turned out wrong already. :facepalm: :D
"Poor old Warwick takes it from behind all throughout this season". :) (Tony Jardine, 1988)
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

Post by tBone »

James1978 wrote:I'd done some mental notes but they've turned out wrong already. :facepalm: :D

To be honest, so did I!

Perhaps it does need to be said that both Collins and Moss lost points due to sharing drives with Fangio and Perdisa respectively. As mentioned in the original post, I am disqualifying those. Awarding them half points might have given Moss the title...
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

Post by Aislabie »

My predictions, which are already Wrong TM!

50s - Farina, Fangio, Ascari, Ascari*, Fangio, Fangio*, Collins, Moss, Hawthorn*, Brabham
60s - Brabham, PHill, McLaren, Ginther, Ginther*, McLaren, Brabham*, Hulme*, Ickx, Ickx
70s - Rindt, Peterson, Fittipaldi, Cevert, Fittipaldi, Lauda, Lauda, Lauda*, Peterson, Scheckter
80s - Laffite, Piquet*, Rosberg, Prost*, Rosberg, Johansson*, Rosberg*, Nakajima, Boutsen*, Nakajima
90s - Suzuki*, Schumacher, Schumacher, Schumacher*, J. Verstappen, Lamy, Villeneuve, Villeneuve, Villeneuve*, Gené
00s - J. Verstappen, Montoya, Montoya, Montoya*, Alonso, Alonso*, Monteiro*, Kubica, Kubica, Kubica*
10s - Buemi, Petrov, Perez, Perez, Magnussen, Kvyat, M. Verstappen*, Perez*, Magnussen, Leclerc
20s - Albon...

Eliminated:
1. Italy
2. Argentina
3. Britain
4. America
5. Australia
6. New Zealand
7. Austria
8. Brazil
9. France
10. Sweden
11. Finland
12. Belgium
13. Japan
14. Germany
15. Canada
16. Colombia
17. Spain
18. Portugal
19. Poland
20. Netherlands
21. Mexico


Projected 2021 field:

Scuderia Ferrari
16 - Charles Leclerc

Haas F1 Team
9 - Nikita Mazepin

Honestly looks like being a mental championship especially from about 1985 onwards - but the semi-shock title from Behra could change everything. Clearly though, Vips, Daruvala and Nissany are needed in F1.
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

Post by tBone »

Honestly looks like being a mental championship especially from about 1985 onwards


Well, that's more or less what I was going for: a lot of different and unexpected champions.

Clearly though, Vips, Daruvala and Nissany are needed in F1.


Well if that wasn't obvious already! For a nice championship, Deletraz, Zhou, Lundgaard and Gelael could maybe be added to the mix?
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

Post by Aislabie »

Possible alt-hist material to rerun all the seasons but with drivers from those nations replaced
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

Post by tBone »

Aislabie wrote:My predictions, which are already Wrong TM!

One thing in the 70s will definitely not be accurate, but that's all I'm going to say about it... You might be able to figure it out yourself now :)


1957

Once again, it was Jean Behra who took an early lead in the championship and he hung on to it until the halfway point of the season. It was the British GP where he lost it for the first time in about a year and a half, but the championship was still anyone's for the taking, because the standings with just three races to go were like this:

Code: Select all

1  Tony Brooks         12
2  Mike Hawthorn       12
3  Jean Behra          11
4  Peter Collins       10
5  Harry Schell        10
6  Stirling Moss        9
7  Sam Hanks            8
8  Jim Rathmann         7
9  Masten Gregory       6
10 Maurice Trintignant  5


Mike Hawthorn took the championship lead by winning on the Nürburgring, but it was Stirling Moss who had saved the best for last. Having already taken a shared win with Tony Brooks in his home GP, the Scot won the final two races and won his first title. Remarkably, he had scored 26 of his total 30 points in the second half of the season.

Sweden scored both its first points and its first podium in this alternative championship: Jo Bonnier took 3rd in Argentina. In reality, Bonnier would indeed score Sweden's first points and podium, but it would not happen until 1958 and 1959 respectively.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1958

1958 may well be the least interesting season of all in this alternative championship. The only drivers from the dropped countries who scored points in real life, were Musso (2x 2nd) and Fangio (2x 4th and a fastest lap). It barely affected the top of the table: Hawthorn just had some more points to drop, but he was still champion with one race to go. Spain is still happy with this championship though: unlike in real life, Godia-Sales did score points in this universe!

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1959

While I thought 1958 was not interesting, 1959 is arguably worse. The only Argentinian driver to start any race was Alejandro de Tomaso, who did not finish in the USA GP. Giorgio Scarlatti and Giulio Cabianca were the Italians who started races, but they failed to score points too. So, long story short: nothing at all changes to the 1959 championship and Jack Brabham is champion.
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1960

Since the anglophone countries continued to dominate F1 in this era, the deletion of drivers from Argentina and Italy did also not have too much effect in 1960. Only the home Grands Prix of those drivers were affected: in Argentina, Gonzalez' 4th place was deleted, giving Von Trips, Ireland and Bonnier an extra point and the same for Cabianca's 4th in Italy, with the German trio of Von Trips, Herrmann and Barth gaining a point.

Jack Brabham dominated the championship just like in real life, with McLaren and Moss getting 2nd and 3rd. Wolfgang von Trips is the most lucky one in this alternative championship: his 2 extra points also gain him a place in the championship, the German now scoring more points than Gendebien.

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1961

Another pretty straightforward season, but for one exception: the French Grand Prix, which was won in real life by Giancarlo Baghetti. His elimination does not affect the title battle between Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips, but it does significantly help Dan Gurney to win the first race of his career. The extra three points give the American the first top-3 classification in the championship as well.

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1962

Another season of anglophone domination, not too much impacted by the loss of Italy, while the only Argentinian entry in real life was Nasif Estéfano, who failed to qualify for the German Grand Prix. Lorenzo Bandini and Giancarlo Baghetti did have a couple of points finishes which are eliminated and remarkably, one driver benefitted by far the most: Jo Bonnier from Sweden. Bonnier's 7th place in the Netherlands becomes a 6th, his 5th in Monaco becomes 4th and 6th in Italy becomes 5th, doubling his points tally of 1962.

The top 3 of the championship was not affected in any way by the exclusion of Italy and Argentina, so just like in real life, it was Graham Hill who secured his first and Great Britain's third championship. Great Britain becomes therefore the third excluded country from 1963 onwards and legends like Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and Lewis Hamilton will never win a championship in the Kubica Trophy.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1963

With the British drivers now being excluded as well, a lot more will change in 1963 compared to the previous seasons, also given the fact that Jim Clark from Great Britain dominated this championship in real life. This alternative championship looked like a very exciting one after the first four races: Richie Ginther and Dan Gurney led with 19 points and Bruce McLaren and Tony Maggs were close behind with respectively 15 and 14 points. Ginther efficiently ended all excitement by winning the next four races, while Gurney, McLaren and Maggs only scored 12 points altogether. Ginther was mathematically sure of the championship after that winning streak, two races before the end of the season.

A couple of countries had some significant achievements in this season:
  • Tony Maggs won South Africa's first ever race in the French GP, 11 years before Jody Scheckter would do so in real life.
  • Somebody who is not called Verstappen finished on the podium for the Netherlands: Carel Godin de Beaufort finished 3rd on Watkins Glen.
  • A Canadian scored points for the first time, 15 years before Gilles Villeneuve would score his and Canada's first in the real world. Peter Broeker did it by finishing 4th in Watkins Glen.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1964

Richie Ginther was a clear favorite for the title after winning by a mile in 1963 and he started the season very well by winning the first race, in Monaco. However, the next 6 races were all won by a different driver: Chris Amon, Bruce McLaren, Dan Gurney, Jack Brabham and Jo Siffert all won a race before Ginther won his second one. Because Ginther had consistenly scored points and podium finishes in the meantime, he had never completely lost his lead, although he had been equal on points with McLaren after 3 races. Due to the dropped points rule, Siffert still had a theoretical chance to win the championship in the final race, but while the Swiss retires, Ginther finished again in the top 5, like he had done in every race. The USA would be excluded from 1965 onwards, after three championships in four years: one for Phil Hill and two for Richie Ginther.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

Post by UncreativeUsername37 »

Beaufort podium, aw yeah
And the US succeeding enough at F1 to be excluded is pretty funny
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

Post by James1978 »

Just had a quick peek at the 1965 championship in real life - it is anyone's in this! The driver I had winning in my mental notes is not the highest-placed driver in the championship but someone who finishes more races - though the best 6 scores rule could also scupper him due to dropping points. It gets good now anyway.
"Poor old Warwick takes it from behind all throughout this season". :) (Tony Jardine, 1988)
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1965

Some said this championship would be anyone's after American drivers were eliminated as well, but it did not at all look like that after the first three races: Bruce McLaren from New Zealand had won all three and he was 11 points ahead of his nearest competitor, Switzerland's Jo Siffert. McLaren would only score 3 points in the next three races, though, while Siffert kept finishing on the podium, like he had done in all races until that point. The Swiss was now equal in points to the New Zealander, with fellow Kiwi Denny Hulme 3rd in the championship, 9 points down.

The German GP was an anti-climax in terms of the championship battle, since McLaren, Siffert and Hulme all retired. McLaren won in Italy, while his nearest competitors again failed to finish. It was quite clear that the championship would now be between McLaren and Siffert, with 3rd-placed Jo Bonnier 16 points down with two races to go. In the USA Grand Prix, McLaren retired, but Siffert finished 5th and scored only 2 points, which were immediately dropped since it was his seventh points finish of the year. McLaren kept his 9-point lead over Siffert and since he had won four races while the Swiss had none, the New Zealander was certain of his and his country's first world championship.

In the final GP of the year, in Mexico, it became clear just how much of an impact the dropped points rule had on this year's championship. Jo Siffert won the race - with home driver Ricardo Rodriguez as the only other finisher - while Bruce McLaren retired. Siffert had accumulated 41 points over the season, more than McLaren's 39, but the driver from Switzerland had to drop 6 of them and would go into history as 1965's vice-champion.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

Post by James1978 »

It was Siffert who I was referring to above.
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1966

Judging by the previous season, Bruce McLaren and Jo Siffert would be again the favorites for 1966. However, looking at what happened in real life, it cannot be a surprise who wins the Kubica Trophy in this year. After a first race where nobody finished and a second race where he finished 2nd behind Jochen Rindt, Jack Brabham absolutely dominated this season, winning 5 out of 9 races and getting the maximum amount of points possible. Because of the dropped points score, he was already crowned champion with 2 races to go. Brabham became the second triple world champion in history, after Fangio, causing Australia to be excluded after 1966.

1965's title protagonists had an awful season: both McLaren and Siffert only scored 6 points. The nations of France and West-Germany had also seen better times. Both nations were pretty unlucky by the way, as both had two drivers finishing in the top 6 in the German GP, but they were not eligible for points because they drove F2 cars. Furthermore, France lost a lot of points, since Guy Ligier did finish the first three races of the season and he would have scored points, if he had completed enough laps. Unfortunately, he was not classified in either of the three.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1967

Another year where the previous year's top scorers would not play much of a role: Jack Brabham was excluded from the Kubica Trophy and Jochen Rindt only finished two races. Instead, this was another year where the real-life champion dominated the championship, Denny Hulme winning eight races and coming only 5 points short of the theoretical maximum. Only fellow Kiwi Chris Amon could keep up a bit with Hulme for a while, coming as close as within a point after four races, but he never finished a race ahead of the new champion.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1968

The 1968 season started off very interestingly with seven different winners in the first seven races: Jochen Rindt, Denny Hulme, Lucien Bianchi, Bruce McLaren, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Jacky Ickx and Jo Siffert all claiming a top spot on the podium. The first one to win two races was Rindt, but those two wins would prove to be his only race finishes all year. After Rindt's win on the Nürburgring, the championship was very close and still anyone's for the taking: Hulme led with 31 points, Ickx was only 5 points behind and Beltoise was also still within a single win's worth of points. Rindt, Rodriguez, Amon, McLaren and Siffert were all still within two race wins of Hulme as well, so anything could happen in the last four races.

What happened in the end was New Zealand ending their time in the Kubica Trophy with a bang. Hulme won in Italy and Canada and clinched his second - and New Zealand's third - championship. After Italy, he had an 18 point lead over Ickx, but the Belgian could only equal him on wins and would have a 2nd place less in that theoretical scenario. In fact, Ickx would not score a single point in the last two races and McLaren would jump him for the runner-up position, thanks to 2nd places in Canada and the USA and a win in the final GP of the year in Mexico.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1969

With New Zealand now excluded, it is very likely that 1969 will have a world champion from a non-English speaking country for the first time since 1955. Based on the previous season, one could assume that Jacky Ickx and Jo Siffert were the main title favorites, with young guns Jochen Rindt and Pedro Rodriguez as outsiders. One would be right about Ickx and Siffert, but there was a third driver who was in the mix all season: Jean-Pierre Beltoise.

Siffert had a very strong and consistent first half of the season, but he never had a lead of more than 8 points. Ickx' season started with more difficulty: only 6 points in the first three races and no wins until the sixth race. After the German GP, Ickx' second win in a row, Siffert still led with 40 points, followed by Ickx with 36 and Beltoise with 35. Rindt won Italy, but Beltoise finished 2nd while Siffert and Ickx only managed 4th and 5th. Siffert kept the lead, but Beltoise got close and Ickx still was not far off.

Siffert retired from the Canadian GP while Ickx won and Beltoise finished 3rd. With two races to go, Siffert only had a 2 points lead left over Ickx, with Beltoise another 2 points behind. The USA GP was quite an anti-climax, as all three protagonists retired. It was all set to be decided in the final race in Mexico. Siffert's hopes were gone before the race finished, as he retired for the third time in a row. Ickx won the race, while Beltoise finished 2nd, unable to get anywhere near Ickx on track.

Ickx had won 4 out of the last 6 races after a slow start to the season, while Siffert's season was almost exactly the opposite. The Swiss finished only once on the podium in those 6 races and scored 0 points in the last three, eventually throwing away what may have been his last shot at the title. Beltoise was somewhere in the middle, being quite consistent but not quite fast enough to really gather enough points in the end. Rindt's season was even more extreme than Ickx': 6 points in the first 7 races, but more points than anyone else in the final 4.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

Post by James1978 »

I have an inkling Ickx might cause an upset and beat Rindt in 1970 as he has much more to gain from eliminations.
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1970

We all know what happened in real life: Jochen Rindt was crowned as champion posthumously in 1970. We have also seen that every real life champion also won the Kubica Trophy in that year, so Rindt is a clear favorite for the win this year. In 1969, the battle was between Jacky Ickx, Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Jo Siffert, so we should keep an eye on those three as well.

The season started with four different winners in the first four races: Beltoise led a Matra 1-2 in South-Africa in front of Henri Pescarolo, Johnny Servoz-Gavin was the only finisher in Spain, Rindt won in Monaco and Pedro Rodriguez won in Belgium. The latter led the championship at that stage with 16 points. Beltoise and Pescarolo had 15, Rindt and Servoz-Gavin only 9. Ickx had had an awful start to the season, only scoring his first single point in his home Grand Prix.

In the next four races, the Matras fell behind on pace and were unable to challenge for wins, Ickx retired from two of the four races and Rodriguez from all four and Clay Regazzoni made a storming entrance in the Kubica Trophy by finishing on the podium twice. Rindt was unbeatable in those races and won four in a row, ensuring a 20-point lead over the rest of the field: he led with 45 points, followed by Pescarolo with 25, Beltoise with 19, Rodriguez with 16 and Ickx with 13.

Ickx finally won his first race of the year in the ninth round, the Austrian GP, leading a Ferrari 1-2 with Regazzoni in 2nd. Rindt retired and scored 0 points, but so did his closest competitor, Pescarolo, and the Austrian's 20-point lead was still intact. Then Italy came and when Rindt's title was all but in the bag, he tragically had a fatal accident in qualifying. 20 points with only four races to go was still a big deficit, but there still were 36 points to score by that time. None of the title protagonists won the race, though: Ickx, Pescarolo and Rodriguez retired and Beltoise finished 2nd behind Regazzoni, who won his first race. Rindt was still on top of the standings with three races to go; Beltoise was now the closest with 27 points (18 down), Regazzoni and Pescarolo had 25 points and Ickx 22. Rodriguez and Rolf Stommelen were the last two drivers who had a mathematical chance of winning the championship: both of them had 19 points, so they were 26 points down on Rindt with still 27 points to be won.

Although Ickx was behind Regazzoni in the championship before the Canadian GP, the Belgian won the race, followed by his Swiss teammate. Both of them had now closed the gap to 14 points. Beltoise (16 points down) and Pescarolo (17 points down) scored enough points to stay in contention, while Rodriguez would have had to win the race to do so, but he finished 3rd. Stommelen retired and was also out of contention for the Kubica Trophy.

Ickx and Regazzoni needed to finish at least 2nd in Watkins Glen to keep the title dreams alive, Beltoise and Pescarolo had to win. Neither of the four managed to do so, because it was another rookie breaking through rapidly: Emerson Fittipaldi won his first race, while Rodriguez finished 2nd. Regazzoni and Beltoise had retired from the race, while Ickx and Pescarolo only finished 4th and 5th respectively. Rindt's lead of 11 points over Ickx was enough to secure him the Kubica Trophy posthumously with one last race to go.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1971

After Rindt's death, the only world champion in the field was once again Jacky Ickx, who ended the 1970 season only 2 points short of the title. Ickx did start the season strongly, finishing on the podium in the first four races and opening up a comfortable lead in the championship. Ronnie Peterson was very impressive in his first season with a works March, the Swede was 2nd in the championship after the Dutch GP, trailing Ickx by 13 points.

However, Ickx had an absolute nightmare after those first four races. The Belgian would only score 2 more points all season, while both Peterson and François Cevert won three races each. Both of them surpassed Ickx in the championship, with Peterson keeping the lead he had over Cevert after the first four races.

The nicest thing about this year's Kubica Trophy is perhaps at the bottom of the table: Gijs van Lennep and Helmut Marko, who won Le Mans together that year in a Porsche, both scored a point in this championship. Marko was also the first Austrian to do so, Van Lennep from the Netherlands was only preceded by Carel Godin de Beaufort.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1972

1972 is again one of those years where the real-life champion was from a country that had not yet been eliminated: Emerson Fittipaldi from Brazil. He was pretty dominant in real-life and even more so in the Kubica Trophy, winning 7 races and securing the title two races before the end of the season. At that moment, he already had gathered 67 points, while Jacky Ickx followed with 35 and Ronnie Peterson with 33.

Reigning world champion Ronnie Peterson failed to win a race in 1972, but he did finish on the podium 7 times on his way to a 3rd place in the Kubica Trophy. 1969 champion Jacky Ickx was runner-up, just like in 1971. The Belgian had now finished his fifth consecutive season in the top three of this alternative championship. It is also worth mentioning that Rolf Stommelen scored a decent amount of points in the Eifelland, something the car never was capable of in real life.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1973

Jackie Stewart won the real life championship in 1973 by a comfortable margin, but British drivers have long been excluded from the Kubica Trophy. Emerson Fittipaldi, Ronnie Peterson and François Cevert all are still eligible and they finished quite close together in the real life championship, so it promises to be an interesting season.

The first six races were anything but interesting if you like championship battles. Fittipaldi won five of them and finished second in the Belgian GP, which was won by Cevert. At that moment Fittipaldi was miles away in the championship lead with 51 points. Cevert was the only one to be remotely close on 27, while Jacky Ickx, Peterson and Clay Regazzoni were all on only 10 points.

After the next six races, the tables had turned entirely. Fittipaldi had only added four points to his tally and was now on 55, while Cevert had won two more races and finished 2nd three times, putting him in the championship lead with 63 points. With three races to go, Peterson was the only other remaining driver with a bit of a realistic chance of clinching the title. The Swede had won three of those five races and was now on 47 points. Meanwhile, the tiny nation of Liechtenstein had a historic moment when Rikky von Opel scored his nation's first ever point in the British Grand Prix.

The Italian GP brought the championship top 3 even closer together: Peterson won, Fittipaldi finished 2nd and Cevert 3rd. The French Tyrrell driver was still in the championship lead with two races to go, but the battle was far from over. Peterson's title hopes took a blow early in the Canadian GP, the Swede crashing out in the 16th lap out of 80. Cevert collided with Scheckter later in the race, the incident ending both the Frenchman and the South African's race. Fittipaldi took advantage in the best way possible: he won the race and led the championship by 3 points going into the final race of the season. He could celebrate this great result together with his brother Wilson on the podium; the first time in the history of the Kubica Trophy that two siblings finished a race in the top 3 together.

At Watkins Glen, the championship battle ended in the most tragic way possible. François Cevert suffered a fatal accident, so Fittipaldi started the final race of the season knowing he could not be beaten to the championship anymore. The Brazilian secured his - and Brazil's - second consecutive world title and extended his margin by finishing 2nd in 1973's last race.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1974

After winning two consecutive Kubica Trophies and as the real-life champion of 1974, Emerson Fittipaldi was the clear favorite for this year. If he won it, he would be the first driver in history to win the Kubica Trophy three times in a row. However, in real-life Clay Regazzoni, Jody Scheckter and Niki Lauda finished quite close to him in the championship and all of them were from countries which were not yet excluded.

The season started interestingly as the first six races were won by four different drivers: Lauda and Fittipaldi - who won twice - Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Ronnie Peterson. Reliability played a big part in the championship until then, as both Lauda and Peterson suffered many retirements. Fittipaldi did score in every race, while Clay Regazzoni and Jody Scheckter also stayed close because they racked up points in almost every race. Top 3 of the championship consisted of Fittipaldi (28 points), followed by the Ferrari drivers Regazzoni and Lauda (both 24 points).

Scheckter won his first race of the year in Sweden, while Lauda won his third in the Netherlands. Fittipaldi finished third in both races, meaning that he scored points in every race of the first half of the season, so he had to drop the point he scored in the season opener. Nevertheless, he led the championship with 35 points, followed by Lauda with 33, Regazzoni with 30 and Scheckter with 26.

Fittipaldi retired from the next race, allowing Lauda to take the lead in the championship after the Austrian finished 2nd. Regazzoni also closed in with a 3rd place. Scheckter then won in Great Britain and finished 2nd in
Germany, putting himself right back in the fight. The German GP was also the scene of Regazzoni's first win of the season, the Swiss now taking the lead in the championship with 46 points. With only four races to go, Scheckter was only 2 points down, while Lauda and Fittipaldi had 41 points.

Regazzoni won again in Austria, while all of his title rivals retired from the race. In fact, attrition was so high that home driver Dieter Quester was able to finish on the podium! The Italian GP was a bad one for Ferrari, as both drivers retired. It was won by Peterson, who was already out of contention for the championship, but Fittipaldi and Scheckter scored valuable points with 2nd and 3rd. Regazzoni still led by 7 points to Scheckter and 8 to Fittipaldi, but everything could still happen with two races to go.

In Canada, Fittipaldi closed the gap with 3 points by winning the race, while Regazzoni finished 2nd. Scheckter and Lauda both retired from the race, putting them out of contention for the Kubica Trophy. The title would be decided at Watkins Glen, where Carlos Pace took a surprise win. His compatriot Fittipaldi finished 2nd and scored 6 points, while Regazzoni only finished 6th, scoring one point. That meant that both Fittipaldi and Regazzoni ended the season on 62 points. Fittipaldi had won three races, Regazzoni only 2, so the Brazilian sealed his hattrick by the tiniest of margins. History was written in the Kubica Trophy: first time that 2 championship leaders ended equal in points and the first ever hattrick for a driver: Emerson Fittipaldi would forever be a legend.

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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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The next 3 years should logically be Lauda dominance so that will take austria out by 1978, that one might go to Peterson perhaps, after that year i predict 'the era of the french'
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1974 was the one I really couldn't predict as I knew it would be really close between Fittipaldi and Regazzoni.

Rindt has already won 1 title for Austria, so that probably means Scheckter wins 1977 (though as there haven't been any significant South African drivers since, it won't affect later years much). The next big one to watch for me is 1979 - that year's dropped scores rule may significantly benefit Villeneuve over Scheckter, therefore robbing his son of the chance to win 3 in a row from 1996 - 1998. If that happened, 1998 would become hilarious :-)
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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1998, the year of.... Shinji Nakano? :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: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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We could indeed end up with a 2 car championship that year: Nakano's Minardi and Magnussen's and Verstappen's shared Stewart drive.. Who knows :D

I might as well have called this "The Butterfly Effect" championship. Such tiny margins have such big consequences.
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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tBone wrote:We could indeed end up with a 2 car championship that year: Nakano's Minardi and Magnussen's and Verstappen's shared Stewart drive.. Who knows :D

I might as well have called this "The Butterfly Effect" championship. Such tiny margins have such big consequences.
Just imagine 2010, with no Brits, no Brazilians, no Australians, (I can guarantee) no Spaniards, no Germans.

Who's going to win that, Petrov? :D

However, I do happily predict that Chandhok will get many podiums!
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: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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I did forget about Takagi for 1998 to be honest.. Whoops.

I love the happy podiums (Godin de Beaufort, Quester) and points (Godia, Von Opel) we've already seen so far!
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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There is actually a chance Japan gets out before 1998 too (they could well win 3 between 1987 and 1991 by my reckoning). So if Villeneuve Snr does win 1979 we're left literally with that shared Stewart drive! :)
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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Rob Dylan wrote:1998, the year of.... Shinji Nakano? :D

You sure Nakano can beat Takagi?

So 1999 is gonna be a battle between Gené and De La Rosa.
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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I'm waiting to see 2004 the most. Sadly I can't tell you who I'm guessing will take the title :deletraz:
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Re: The Kubica Trophy - Three Strikes and Your Country's Out

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CarloSpace wrote:I'm waiting to see 2004 the most. Sadly I can't tell you who I'm guessing will take the title :deletraz:

I see what you did there but possibly Spain might have one title left that year, because of the Montoya domination in the meantime.
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