The What If Alternative Championships

[QuickYoda41]

It's off season, so here's yet another Alternative Championship. But it's a brand new type in some respects.

The idea is a few years old, I first did this before I joined to this forum. I mean, at that time Formula One off-seasons were even more boring, it's obvious I needed something. I'll post my results from back then in the next few days, and then I'll start it over, so everyone who's interested in will be able to "watch" the championships race by race. How is this possible? Let's take a look at my methods and you'll see:

1. I started the alternative history of Formula One in 1996 - I didn't want to get involve with fatalities, and somehow it seemed the right year to start.
2. I looked through the year, how many race-ending technical failure each team(!) had - then I did a random draw and re-assigned these failures to the teams, but maybe different races, maybe for the other car, you can never know. Anyone who lost a finish, obviously scored a DNF instead, but I only could set originally DNFd drivers at the end of the race results (One thing I might change in my new alternative history). Crashes and accidents are not involved in this, they happened - although a driver might be lucky if he has a failure at the same race he'd retire anyway because of a racing incident.
3. With the new race results, we have obviously a new WDC and WCC final standings. All Silly Season moves are based on the alternative final standings, so a few good or bad result might change your future big time and also finishing higher or lower in WCC a team can have a more or less failure-prone car than in real life. As we had ahead in the years the championships might become more and more alternative.
4. In the next years(i.e. anything other than the starting year), races will be a little bit harder to set up. First the grid has to be set up with average times from the teams and drivers (I have much more data now, than I had back then, when I had to have many plan Bs), then the order is set up depending on the grid position (which is maybe the most alternative move in the series), and then DNF are assigned in two rounds (anyone who had an accident at the race is out; any unlucky driver in failure-draw is out) A driver who gets a second chance he didn't get in real life will have a crash-prone number, so his crashes will also be assigned through draw.

I did respect injuries and retirements I knew of back then, but that you'll see (and actually I don't remember all the results, I just have them written down, some of them may surprise even me again. )

As you can see, draws play an important part and thus the alternative years are redoable technically any time you want and are still not bored with it. As I wrote above I will post the "old" results in the next few years - while commenting on those you might also have som suggestions what to change in the newer version.

Well, that's all I wanted to start with; let's create history!

[QuickYoda41]

So, the first, only semi-alternative year, 1996:

In Australia, Berger's and Salo's cars fail, promoting Panis and Frentzen into the points.
At the European Grand Prix, Hill's car stops, thus Jordan is benefitting promoting to 4th and 5th and Herbert is able to score his first point of the season.

The standings after 4 races:

Hill 30
Villeneuve 22
Alesi 10
Schumacher 10
Irvine 6
Hakkinen 6

Williams is miles ahead, no surprise so far.

In Imola, Schumacher's Ferrari stops, so it's Hill-Berger-Irvine-Barrichello-Alesi-Diniz in the points.
All the minor points Ligier picked up so far would be nothing compared to a win, but Panis retires from the lead in Monaco (I know, boooo from me, as well.) Coulthard takes his first win for McLaren, Salo is second in the Tyrrell, as both Saubers were unlucky, too, Hakkinen is third. The promoted to finish DNFd cars can come only after them, so Alesi, Hill and Berger only take the minor points.
Only six finishers in Spain in the wet, though not exactly the ones we had in real life, order is: Alesi-Villeneuve-Diniz-Barrichello-Brundle-Katayama.
In Canada, Villeneuve suffers from a mechanical failure in front of his fans, Hill adds to his lead, and Alesi climbs up to second in WDC.

Standings at halftime:

Hill 52
Alesi 31
Villeneuve 28
Coulthard 18
Hakkinen 13
Barrichello 12

Both Ferrari-drivers suffer from poor reliability, having only 10 points each.
Benetton has a hard time in France, both drivers retire, Hakkinen takes third behind the dominant Williamses. With more failures in the field, Brundle, Barrichello and Salo are all promoted to the points.
In Britain, Berger loses a possible podium finish again - his loss is Barrichello's gain, who scores his first podium finish of the season. Salo retires as well, so Frentzen picks up the final point.
Benetton's bad luck continues in Hockenheim, this time Alesi loses a possible podium finish, enabling Schumacher to step up to the podium before his home crowd.
In Hungary, staying 6th is hard, Barrichello and Katayama both retire handing the point to Riccardo Rosset. No changes ahead.

Standings before the final 4 races:

Hill 78
Villeneuve 60
Alesi 35
Hakkinen 26
Coulthard 21
Barrichello 21

In Spa, Schumacher is close to take his first win for Ferrari, but the red cucumber lets him down again. Villeneuve wins in front of Hakkinen and Alesi, Hill is 4th.
The tifosi can't have high hopes in Monza, but this time Schumacher really does it, first win of the season for him. No changes in the points.
In Portugal Villeneuve wins making the final race the title decider. After Ferrari's double blow, Benetton takes 3-4 and Sauber 5-6.
Before the final race in Suzuka, Hill leads with 87, with Villeneuve having 80. But Villeneuve retires, Hill takes the win and the championship.

Final standings:

Damon Hill 97 (8 wins)
Jacques Villeneuve 80 (5 wins)
Jean Alesi 49 (1 win)
Mika Hakkinen 40 (2 2nds)
Michael Schumacher 30 (1 win)
Rubens Barrichello 23 (1 3rd)
David Coulthard 22 (1 win)
Martin Brundle 17 (2 4ths)
Gerhard Berger 15 (1 2nd)
Mika Salo 10 (1 2nd)
Eddie Irvine 10 (2 3rds)
Olivier Panis 7 (3 5ths)
Pedro Diniz 6 (1 3rd)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 4 (1 5th)
Johnny Herbert 3 (3 6ths)
Ricardo Rosset 1 (1 6th, 2 7ths)
Ukyo Katayama 1 (1 6th, 1 7th, 1 8th, 1 9th)
Jos Verstappen 1 (1 6th, 1 7th, 1 8th, 0 9ths)
Pedro Lamy 0 (1 7th, 2 8ths)
Giancarlo Fisichella 0 (1 7th, 1 8th)
Luca Badoer 0 (2 8ths)
Giovanni Lavaggi 0 (1 8th)
Andrea Montermini and Tarso Marques have no finishes.

Notes:
First podium for Mika Salo and Pedro Diniz
First point for Ricardo Rosset

WCC
Williams 177
Benetton 65
McLaren 61
Ferrari 40
Jordan 40
Ligier 13
Tyrrell 11
Sauber 7
Footwork 2
Minardi 0
Forti 0

And after the Silly Season, 1997 line-up will be:

Arrows: Hill - Diniz
Shocking move from the champion to last year's 9th place team

Williams: Villeneuve - Salo
Sir Frank replaces his champion with Salo, best of the 7th-team and Monaco-podium finisher from last year

Benetton: Alesi - Berger
McLaren: Hakkinen - Coulthard
Ferrari: MSchumacher - Irvine
No changes

Jordan: RSchumacher - Lamy
The younger Schumacher enters Formula One, his teammate will be the best Minardi-driver from last year.

Prost: Panis - Nakano
Alain Prost takes over Ligier, replaces Diniz with Shinji Nakano.

Tyrrell: Katayama - Larini
Tyrrell keeps Katayama and signs Larini to replace Salo

Sauber: Rosset - Frentzen
Rosset doesn't have a place at Arrows, so moves to Sauber replacing Herbert

Minardi: Herbert - Trulli
A former GP-winner and a young gun for Minardi

Stewart: Barrichello - Magnussen
Another World Champion enters F1 as team owner.

Mastercard-Lola: Sospiri - Verstappen
Lola returns to F1 with a rookie and a former podium finisher

Brundle retires from Formula One, Badoer and Fisichella go to the GT Championship, Montermini goes to test for Lola.

[Aerospeed]

Hmm very interesting! I wonder if Lola will last the distance...

[QuickYoda41]

1997
(as I looked through the year, I found something I'll definitely will change for the second go, but here comes "that history")

Before the season an expected driver swap between Tyrrell and Sauber - Katayama will drive for the Swiss team, while Rosset goes to Tyrrell. (It makes no sense, I made a mistake in my own system back then, it's painful to realise 3 years later.)

The season starts in Australia, Villeneuve is on pole but is out after the first corner. Michael Schumacher wins the first race for Ferrari, with Berger second, but biggest surprise on the podium is Nicola Larini with Tyrrell. The team's success is full with Ricardo Rosset 4th (thus unrejectifying himself!!!), Lamy is 5th for his first race in the Jordan and is also out of the reject status, while Salo is 6th in the Williams. Mastercard Lola has the same fate, as in reality.

Brazil: Villeneuve wins from pole, Schumacher keeps the lead in the WDC finishing 2nd, Berger is 3rd. Coulthard, Hakkinen and Alesi in the points, no big surprise in Interlagos.

Argentina: Villeneuve wins again from pole, this time Berger is second, Barrichello has a fantastic race after first corner crash and scores Stewart team's first podium with third. Rosset is 4th again, Hill scores for the first time for Arrows and Herbert is 6th in the Minardi!

San Marino: Villeneuve has a disastrous race from pole, Berger retires, and eventually, Ralf Schumacher takes his first win Imola (4 years too early ). Even more amazingly, Jordan's first win is a 1-2, as Lamy comes in 2nd. Panis is 3rd with Prost, the supposedly bigger teams come after this with Irvine, Hakkinen and Salo rounding up the top 6.

Monaco: It's really wet, Schumacher and Barrichello both retire while running in the lead, Damon Hill is also out despite taking pole , so Eddie Irvine takes his first F1-win. Panis is 2nd after last year's heartbreak, and Jan Magnussen unrejectifies himself with Stewart's second podium of the year. Berger is 4th, Coulthard is 5th and Salo is 6th, again.

Lots of surprises so far brings up tight standings:

Villeneuve 20
Berger 19
M Schumacher 16
Irvine 13
R Schumacher/Panis 10

Spain: Villeneuve wins from pole, Lamy is second starting 12th on the grid and Salo finally makes the podium with the Williams. Irvine is 4th, Hill 5th and M Schumacher 6th. Larini was replace from this race by Gianni Morbidelli despite his podium in Melbourne.

Canada: after taking yet another pole Villeneuve crashes out early in the race, Benetton is strong enough to make it a 1-2 with Berger winning his first race since Germany 1994. M Schumacher is 3rd, Hakkinen is 4th, Hill finishes 6th. David Coulthard took a 3-race off starting in Canada, and his replacement, Alexander Wurz scores a point on his debut. Panis has a huge crash and breaks his leg. Prost signs Trulli from Minardi, whose place is taken by Tarso Marques from the next race on.

France: Berger takes pole and then makes it 2 in a row taking the WDC-lead. Villeneuve is second and Salo is third, with Alesi 4th. Frentzen scores Sauber's first points of the season with a 5th and Irvine picks up one point for Ferrari. This was Norberto Fontana's first race, replacing Morbidelli.

Britain: Villeneuve wins from pole. Trulli shows his talent with a brilliant drive for 2nd in the Prost, Alesi is 3rd. Hakkinen and Salo come after that and in the other Prost, Shinji Nakano finally scores his first point.

Standings after 9 races:
Villeneuve 46
Berger 39
M Schumacher 21
Irvine 17
Lamy 14
Alesi 14

WCC seems to be a Williams-Benetton battle, the defending champions leading 59-53, Ferrari is 3rd with 38.

Germany: another dominant performance by Berger winning both on Saturday and Sunday. Coulthard is second on his comeback scoring McLaren's first podium of the season, Alesi is 3rd. Ralf Schumacher scores his first points not counting his win with a 4th, Fontana takes a rather unexpected 5th, and Hakkinen is 6th. Despite his 2 points, Fontana is replaced by Morbidelli from the next race.

Hungary: Villeneuve is on pole, but the race is not his. Arrows is unexpectedly strong, but Hill has to retire from the lead. Berger takes a win, Alesi makes it a 1-2 for Benetton, Diniz is 3rd ahead of Villeneuve. Frentzen and Morbidelli pick up the minor points for Sauber and Tyrrell.

Belgium: Villeneuve again can't capitalize on his pole position, he's only 5th. Mika Hakkinen scores his first win for in Formula One (and no, he wasn't disqualified, as I took that as a random as well, so he was DSQ'd elsewhere). Damon Hill's car can make it this time to the end and takes 2nd, Berger is 3rd. Lamy finishes 4th and Alesi is 6th.

Italy: Ferrari finds pace for Monza again, and Schumacher wins the race for the second year in a row. Alesi and Coulthard finish 2nd and 3rd, with Hill, Hakkinen and Villeneuve taking the minor points.

Standings before the last 4 races:
Berger 63
Villeneuve 52
Alesi/MSC 31
Hakkinen 23

WCC
Benetton 94
Williams 65
Ferrari 48

So is it gonna be Berger or Villeneuve?

Austria: Villeneuve is back to the winning ways, Coulthard is 2nd, Lamy finishes 3rd. Herbert scores a fantastic 4th in the Minardi, Morbidelli is 5th and Katayama finally scores his first point. Berger is off pace all race, so his lead is cut to 1 point.

Luxembourg: McLaren is quick, Coulthard takes pole, but is unlucky in the race. Panis is back for Prost after his injury but he can't finish the race, Nakano on the other hand shows his talent and wins the race! No one saw this coming. Arrows takes a strong double-podium (Hill 2nd, Diniz 3rd) to make it an absolutely awesome podium. Hakkinen is 4th, Rosset 5th and Irvine is 6th.

Japan: Berger takes pole but that brings no luck to him. But with Villeneuve's car failing, the Austrian will still have a 1 point-lead before Jerez. McLaren scores a 1-2 with Coulthard leading Hakkinen, Salo is 3rd. Lamy scores 3 for Jordan, Rosset 2 for Tyrrell and Herbert 1 for Minardi.

Before Jerez, Berger has 63 points and Villeneuve 62. In WCC Benetton has a 15-point lead over Williams.

Europe: Villeneuve takes pole, Berger starts 3rd with a few surprises in qualifying, Magnussen, Panis and Hill being both quite up the grid. The race seems a Schumacher-Villeneuve battle, while Berger is falling backwards. Villeneuve would win the championship with a second place, but is challanging Schumacher for the lead. The two collide, but only the German is out, and nobody cares about him at this point. Villeneuve is slowing. He's passed by Magnussen and Panis, but a 3rd is still good enough, as Berger is only 6th behind Coulthard and Irvine. In front Jan Magnussen wins a race for Stewart and Panis is 2nd and yet to win a GP.

Well, it was a random season in real life with many teams challanging for race wins even - an alternative reality obviously made it more random.

1997 final standings:
Jacques Villeneuve 66 (5 wins)
Gerhard Berger 64 (4 wins)
David Coulthard 34 (1 win) - despite missing 3 races
Mika Hakkinen 32 (1 win)
Michael Schumacher 31 (2 wins)
Jean Alesi 31 (3 2nds)
Pedro Lamy 24 (2 2nds)
Damon Hill 21 (2 2nds)
Eddie Irvine 20 (1 win)
Mika Salo 17 (3 3rds)
Olivier Panis 16 (2 2nds)
Jan Magnussen 14 (1 win)
Ralf Schumacher 13 (1 win)
Shinji Nakano 11 (1 win)
Ricardo Rosset 10 (2 4ths)
Pedro Diniz 8 (2 3rds)
Jarno Trulli 6 (1 2nd)
Johnny Herbert 5 (1 4th)
Rubens Barrichello 4 (1 3rd, 2 10ths)
Nicola Larini 4 (1 3rd, 1 13th)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 4 (2 5ths)
Gianni Morbidelli 3 (1 5th)
Norberto Fontana 2 (1 5th)
Ukyo Katayama 1 (1 6th, 1 8th)
Alexander Wurz 1 (1 6th, 1 9th)
Tarso Marques 0 (1 7th)
Vincenzo Sospiri and Jos Verstappen didn't make it to the only race the took part in.

notes:
First win for Hakkinen, Irvine, Magnussen, R Schumacher and Nakano
First podium for Lamy and Trulli (+ the obscure winner trio)
First points for Fontana and Wurz
Lamy, Magnussen, R Schumacher, Rosset, Nakano and Trulli all unrejetified themselves during the season, while 4 of them never made it in real life.


WCC:
Benetton 95
Williams 83
McLaren 67
Ferrari 51
Jordan 37
Prost 33
Arrows 29
Tyrrell 19
Stewart 18
Minardi 5
Sauber 5
(Lola no starts)

First race win for both Prost and Stewart with many other former champions wondering that they should have entered a team.


Silly Season

After his most successful season, Gerhard Berger feels it's time to retire on a high. Ukyo Katayama also retires from the sport.

WCC-winner Benetton replaces their retired star with Mika Hakkinen. David Coulthard also leaves McLaren to join Damon Hill at Arrows. McLaren promotes Wurz into a full year seat and signs last year's Jordan star Pedro Lamy.
Jordan replaces Lamy with the best driver from last year's WCC-8th, Ricardo Rosset.
With Rosset leaving Tyrrell gives another chance to Larini and they sign Johnny Herbert who scored 5 points for Minardi last season.
Minardi replaces Herbert with Jos Verstappen and seeing Nakano's success, gives a chance to another Japanese prospect, Tora Takagi.
Nakano can't keep his Prost seat despite his win, so he goes to Sauber, joining rookie Esteban Tuero.
Pedro Diniz leaves Formula One and Heinz-Harald Frentzen doesn't find a place either.

Full line-up for 1998:

Williams: Villeneuve - Salo
Benetton: Hakkinen - Alesi
McLaren: Lamy - Wurz
Ferrari: M Schumacher - Irvine
Jordan: Rosset - R Schumacher
Prost: Panis - Trulli
Arrows: Coulthard - Hill
Tyrrell: Larini - Herbert
Stewart: Magnussen - Barrichello
Minardi: Verstappen - Takagi
Sauber: Nakano - Tuero

[QuickYoda41]

1998

Schumacher took pole for Ferrari in Melbourne, but his car didn't last the distance. Title holder Villeneveuve wins the first race for the new red Williams, Alesi is 2nd and Wurz is 3rd scoring his first podium. Hakkinen takes 4th, while Coulthard and Hill finishes 5th and 6th in the Arrowses.
In Brazil Schumacher converted his pole to a race win, Hakkinen finished second and Villeneuve continued his title defence with a 3rd place. Irvine also scored his first points in the season with 4th, Wurz came in 5th, and Coulthard scored again with 6th.
In what proved to be the last Argentine GP to date, Ferrari was quick, again, but Schumacher hit trouble and lost the lead to Irvine, who eventually won the race. Ralf Schumacher scored Jordan's first points in the season with a fantastic second and Wurz made his second appearance on the podium in three races. From Williams, Salo was the one to score with 4th, M Schumacher managed to pick up 2 points, and 1996 champion Hill came in 6th.
Benetton came with a new package to Imola, and Hakkinen was quickest all weekend, so that takes us 4 different winners in the first 4 races. Alesi made it a 1-2 for Benetton, and Wurz was 3rd, again. Irvine came in 4th, Villeneuve 5th and Rosset finally scored by finishing 6th.

Standings after 4 races:
Hakkinen 19
Villeneuve 16
Irvine 16
Wurz 14
M Schumacher 12
Alesi 12

In Spain, Benetton was dominating again, another 1-2 led by Hakkinen. Wurz was 3rd again, the young Austrian had been very consistant so far. Panis grabbed 3 points for Prost, R Schumacher finished 5th and Barrichello scored Stewart's first point of the season. Both Ferraris DNFd.
Hakkinen made it 3 in a row in Monaco, where Schumacher finished second. Wurz crashed out, Alesi was also involved in the incident, and Williams clearly lost momentum, so overperforming Tyrrell had a strong 3-4 finish to celebrate, with Herbert on the podium and Larini just missing it. Panis finished 5th and Nakano scored his first point for Sauber. After Monaco the only team without a point is Minardi.
Schumacher returned to the pole in Canada, but had problems at the race - it was a high attrition one, so he still picked up 2 points. Race winner was local boy Jacques Villeneuve, Wurz was 2nd and Rosset finished 3rd, making his first ever appearance on a Formula One podium. Irvine was 4th, and Hill 6th.
In France, Hakkinen won again in front of Schumacher. Lamy finally scored for McLaren finishing 3rd. Rosset came in 4th, Irvine in 5th and Villeneuve was the last one to score. This was Tarso Marques' first race for Stewart, who replaced last year's race winner Jan Magnussen after the Dane wasn't able to deliver a single point in the first 7 races in 1998 and Marques brought in a little money as well.

At halftime, Hakkinen had a comfortable lead:
Hakkinen 49
Villeneuve 27
M Schumacher 26
Wurz 24
Irvine 21
Alesi 18

Schumacher took the win in a very controversial way at Silverstone coming into the pits on the last lap. Hakkinen was 2nd and Alesi 3rd. Nakano did really well in the rain, finishing 4th, Salo finished 5th, and Marques scored his first ever F1-point finishing 6th.
Austria saw a really unusual grid after a wet qualifying session, Alesi took pole and the Stewarts finished surprisingly up. Alesi crashed out, bu he wasn't the only one struggling from the best teams. Schumacher was the odd one out and won the race before the Brazilian Stewart-duo, Barrichello and Marques. Coulthard also reached his best in the season finishing 4th, Rosset was 5th and Trulli finally scored a point in 1998.
In Hockenheim, Ferrari was dominating, but much for the disappointment of the home crowd it was Irvine who led the race from pole to flag. Schumacher came in 2nd (no team orders ), Villeneuve in 3rd. The younger Schumacher scored 3 points finishing just before Coulthard and Hakkinen.
Ferrari went on to be the best in Hungary, but again, Irvine led the 1-2. While Ferrari was building a strong lead in WCC, Schumacher only levelled Hakkinen at this point, who managed to came in 5th behind the McLarens of Wurz and Lamy. Coulthard picked up the final point.

Before the last 4 races, it couldn't be tighter in the lead:
Hakkinen 58
M Schumacher 58
Irvine 41
Villeneuve 31
Wurz 28
Alesi 22

Spa saw a disastrous first start in fully wet conditions. Race was almost only about finishing, something which neither of the top 5 in WDC managed. Finally, Jarno Trulli took the chequered flag in first scoring an unlikely win for Prost. Coulthard came in second to score Arrows's first podium since Nurburgring last year. Ralf Schumacher finished 3rd, Alesi 4th, Verstappen scored for that far pointless Minardi finishing 5th, and Salo picked up one point. Only finisher not scoring was Rosset.
Hakkinen seemed to be back on track with Monza pole, but his engine blew up early in the race. Schumacher could have built a 10-points lead, but he was beaten by Olivier Panis - Prost won 2 in a row, where did that come from? Wurz finished 3rd behind Schumi, Coulthard continued his scoring streak with a 4th, Tuero finished in the points for the first time, and Salo finished 6th.
After two surprise wins, the Luxembourg GP was a battle between the big teams. Schumacher overcame polesitter Hakkinen by brilliant strategy, and with Irvine finishing 3rd, Ferrari took their first WCC-win since 1983 with one race left. Alesi finished 4th in the second Benetton, Wurz was 5th and Ralf 6th.
Before the final race M Schumacher had a 10-points lead, so Hakkinen needed a win for the championship with Schumi not scoring.

Hakkinen did all he could in Japan and won the final race. But Schumacher knew, a second would be fully enough for him, and he was backed by his little brother, so the two could celebrate Michael's third title on the podium together. Alesi finished 4th, Coulthard 5th, and last year's champion Villeneuve finished 1998 with a 6th place.

Final standings:
Michael Schumacher 80 (4 wins)
Mika Hakkinen 74 (5 wins)
Eddie Irvine 45 (3 wins)
Alexander Wurz 34 (1 2nd)
Jacques Villeneuve 32 (2 wins)
Jean Alesi 31 (3 2nds)
Ralf Schumacher 20 (1 2nd, 2 3rds)
David Coulthard 20 (1 2nd, 2 4ths)
Olivier Panis 15 (1 win)
Jarno Trulli 11 (1 win)
Ricardo Rosset 10 (1 3rd)
Rubens Barrichello 7 (1 2nd)
Pedro Lamy 7 (1 3rd)
Mika Salo 7 (1 4th)
Tarso Marques 5 (1 3rd)
Johnny Herbert 4 (1 3rd)
Shinji Nakano 4 (1 4th)
Nicola Larini 3 (1 4th)
Damon Hill 3 (3 6ths)
Jos Verstappen 2 (1 5th, 1 8th)
Esteban Tuero 2 (1 5th, 1 9th)
Tora Takagi 0 (1 7th, 2 10ths)
Jan Magnussen 0 (1 7th, 1 10th)

WCC:
Ferrari 125
Benetton 105
McLaren 41
Williams 39
Jordan 30
Prost 26
Arrows 23
Stewart 12
Tyrrell 7
Sauber 6
Minardi 2

Notes:
First win for Panis and Trulli
First podium(s) for Wurz (7 altogether), Rosset and Marques
Unrejectification of Wurz and Marques
First points for Marques and Tuero
First pole position(s) for Hakkinen and Irvine

Silly Season
Sauber leaves Formula One after 6 years.
We'll still have 11 teams, as BAR joins and signs one of last year's most consistent podium finisher, Alex Wurz, who'll be accompanied by rookie Ricardo Zonta.
McLaren replaces Wurz by current F1-reject but multiple CART-champion Alessandro Zanardi. Lamy is fired after scoring just 7 points, so Zanardi's teammate will be Mika Salo, probably because Dennis wants someone from Finland.
Lamy takes Salo's place at Williams to join 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve.
Alain Prost signs his former teammate Damon Hill, while Trulli joins Barrichello at Stewart.
Luca Badoer returns to Formula One with Minardi, his teammate will be rookie Spaniard Marc Gene.
Another Spanish guy also enters F1, Pedro de la Rosa will drive for Arrows. His teammate will be Tuero.
Disappointment for David Coulthard, who can't find a place after destroying Hill 20-3. Marques leaves F1 and prepares to race at Le Mans. Takagi leaves for touring cars, Verstappen and Magnussen both go to test for Williams. Not finding any place, Shinji Nakano retires from motorsports after a short but quite successful F1 career as a race winner.

Full line-up for 1999:
Ferrari: M Schumacher - Irvine
Benetton: Hakkinen - Alesi
McLaren: Zanardi - Salo
Williams: Villeneuve - Lamy
Jordan: Rosset - R Schumacher
Prost: Panis - Hill
Arrows: De la Rosa - Tuero
Stewart: Barrichello - Trulli
Tyrrell: Larini - Herbert
Minardi: Badoer - Gene
BAR: Wurz - Zonta

[Aerospeed]

Wait... didn't Villeneuve help in part of BAR in general? What I mean is, if Villeneuve wasn't involved in BAR, they wouldn't have been in F1 at all...

[QuickYoda41]

Thanks for the comment, I'll take a look at it. Back then, I didn't take that into consideration at all.

As I know a lot more about F1 than 3 years ago, and now also have you guys to point out things like this, the second edition will be maybe a bit more realistic alternative reality (if that makes any sense ), and of course it would probably be completely different in results. Obviously, the new version will be posted way slower, with a few races in one post, but the old version with all its mistakes has some awesome results (few of them already written here), I feel I must share with you.

[QuickYoda41]

Posting only half of the season and then running to bed before sinking in all the papayas throwing at me (you'll see the reasons)

1999

Australia: Attrition, both Ferraris and surprisingly well-qualified Stewarts can't were out. Ralf Schumacher took advantage and won the race, Lamy had a fantastic first race for Williams finishing second and Alesi came in third. Villeneuve, bested by his teammate, came in 4th, and the two Arrows-cars both scored with rookie De la Rosa finishing 5th and Tuero unrejectifying himself with a 6th.
Brazil: Benetton was strong, Hakkinen won the race dominating through the weekend, while Alesi finished 3rd again behind Lamy. Larini finished 4th, Ralf retained his championship-lead with a 5th, and Panis picked up the final point for Prost. Ferrari still wasn't good enough. Badoer was out from Minardi, so Stephane Sarrazin had a one off, and finished as high as 9th. Ricardo Zonta had a huge accident on Saturday, he would be replaced by David Coulthard for the next few races.
San Marino: So far struggling Ferrari showed pace with M Schumacher taking the pole. The title holder made a mistake later though, so his chances to score were gone. Tifosi were still happy, as Irvine delivered the win. Salo finished second in an improving McLaren, Larini was 3rd with the Tyrrell, while teammate Herbert came in 4th. Ralf Schumacher was 5th again, and Damon Hill scored for the first time in 1999 with a 6th place.
Monaco: Michael Schumacher hold it together this time to take the win. Lamy finished 2nd for the third time already and took the championship lead - not bad for a number 2 driver , who was kicked out from McLaren last year. Hakkinen finished 3rd, Villeneuve was 4th, Zanardi unrejectified himself by finishing 5th, and Trulli finally scored a point for fast but unrealiable Stewart.

Driver's Standings after 4 races:
Lamy 18
Hakkinen 14
R Schumacher 14
M Schumacher 10
Irvine 10
Alesi 8

Spain: Hakkinen had another domination after Brazil. M Schumacher was 2nd and Alesi 3rd. Lamy lost his lead, but tooked 3 more points, Salo was 5th and Trulli finished 6th for the second time in a row.
Canada: Zonta returned to BAR, but crashed early in the race, as did Hill, M Schumacher and Villeneuve. Hakkinen also had problems and after Melbourne, it was R Schumacher again taking advantage. Irvine finished 2nd, Salo was 3rd. Behind them the little teams had their battle for the minor points, De la Rosa and Gene finished 4th and 5th, but Panis prevented Badoer to make it a double-scoring race for Minardi.
France: Qualifying was really wet, and Rubens Barrichello took advantage for the second time in his career after Spa '94. Finally, his car didn't let him down on an equally wet Sunday and he was fighting for the win, but eventually lost to Pedro Lamy. Alex Zanardi was 3rd. Luca Badoer finished 4th with an excellent performance, Tuero took 5th and Salo came in 6th.
Britain: Irvine won his home race in front of Barrichello and Villeneuve. Lamy finished 4th, Zanardi was 5th and Hill 6th. And something I can't give any explanation apart from assuming that the 3-years before myself was a bastard - as Schumacher's injury was caused by a technical (brake) failure, I decided back then to find a replacement for what was his position in this reality, which is Hakkinen. It doesn't make any sense, as Hakkinen even finished the British GP - anyway, alternative fact is that he was replaced by David Coulthard at Benetton.

Driver's Standings at half-time:
Lamy 34
Irvine 26
Hakkinen 24
R Schumacher 24
M Schumacher 16
Salo 13

[RonDenisDeletraz]

This championship is awesome because of hoe unrealistic it is.

[QuickYoda41]

1999, second half:

Austria: In Hakkinen's absence, Alesi took the pole for the second time in succession on A1-Ring. But he couldn't finish the race, which went to Irvine, who was looking like taking the lead inside Ferrari. Barrichello had another amazing race finishing second and Lamy finished third. Villeneuve, Salo and Larini finished in the minor points.
Germany: Coulthard took pole in what was only his second race for Benetton. He had problems throughout the race, but still managed to pick up one point. Irvine was looking good for yet another win, but he had an uxpected rival: Alex Zanardi, who eventually won the race for McLaren! Irvine took the championship lead even by finishing second, and still, the third podium finisher was probably the happiest of all - Marc Gene eventually kept his place againts M Schumacher in the final laps to score a podium for Minardi! Ricardo Zonta finished fifth scoring BAR's first ever points.
Hungary: Lamy took pole, but his Williams crashed out from the race. Irvine won the race and he was starting to pull away. Schumacher came in second, the order made it clear that Ferrari is not Team Schumacher. Coulthard was third with Benetton, Rosset finished fourth finally scoring for Jordan, while his teammate already had two race wins, Alesi was fifth, and the younger Schumacher finished in sixth.
Belgium: Villeneuve took his first win of the season on an otherwise uncharacteristically boring Belgian GP, with Irvine finishing second and Coulthard third. Panis took 4th, the best for Prost that far in the season, Wurz finally scored 2 points for BAR - his decision to leave McLaren clearly wasn't a good one. Larini picked up the final point.

Standings before the last 4 GPs:
Irvine 58
Lamy 38
R Schumacher 25
M Schumacher 25
Hakkinen 24
Villeneuve 23

Italy: Schumacher took pole, but was later out of the race due to a mechanical failure. Ferrari still couldn't feel anything, but happiness, as Irvine won the race and thus the championship, as Lamy failed to score for the 4th race in a row. Coulthard really worked well as Hakkinen's replacement, he finished 2nd this time, Zanardi had a decent home GP with 3rd, and Alesi finished 4th. Damon Hill was 5th and Barrichello 6th.
Europe: In rainy conditions, we had surprises, again. Barrichello won the race for Stewart, which was the team's second win, the first one being another European GP from 1997. Hill finished 2nd for Prost and announced his retirement after the race; 1996 World Champion would still go on to finish the season. Ralf Schumacher was looking good for a 3rd win in the year, but a puncture meant he only finished 3rd. Gene was brilliant again, finishing 4th this time, Alesi was fifth and Zonta took 6th.
Malaysia: Hakkinen was back for the first ever Malaysian Grand Prix, but it was his teammate Alesi, who dominated through the weekend, eventually winning the race. Irvine was second, Gene finished on the podium again for Minardi, Panis, Zonta and Hakkinen was the order in the minor points.
Japan: M Schumacher had another unlucky race, and Benetton benefitted. Hakkinen won the last race in front of Alesi. Herbert had a brilliant 3rd place on what turned out to be his final race. Villeneuve, Wurz and regular scorer completed the top six.

Final standings, WDC:
Eddie Irvine 74 (5 wins)
Pedro Lamy 38 (1 win)
Mika Hakkinen 35 (3 wins)
Jean Alesi 35 (1 win)
Ralf Schumacher 29 (2 wins)
Rubens Barrichello 29 (1 win)
Jacques Villeneuve 26 (1 win)
Michael Schumacher 25 (1 win)
Alessandro Zanardi 22 (1 win)
David Coulthard 15 (1 2nd, 2 3rds)
Mika Salo 15 (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Marc Gene 14 (1 3rd)
Damon Hill 10 (1 2nd)
Nicola Larini 9 (1 3rd)
Olivier Panis 8 (2 4ths)
Johnny Herbert 7 (1 3rd)
Pedro de la Rosa 5 (1 4th)
Ricardo Zonta 5 (2 5ths)
Alexander Wurz 4 (2 5ths)
Ricardo Rosset 3 (1 4th, 3 7ths, 1 8th, 1 10th, 1 11th)
Luca Badoer 3 (1 4th, 3 7ths, 1 8th, 1 10th, no 11th)
Esteban Tuero 3 (1 5th)
Jarno Trulli 2 (2 6ths)
Stephane Sarrazin 0 (1 9th)

WCC:
Ferrari 99
Benetton 85
Williams 64
McLaren 37
Jordan 32
Stewart 31
Prost 18
Minardi 17
Tyrrell 16
BAR 9
Arrows 8

Notes:
First win for Barrichello, Lamy and Zanardi
First podium(s) for Zanardi and Gene
First poles for Lamy
Unrejectification for Zanardi and Tuero
First points and unrejectification for Gene, De la Rosa, Zonta and Badoer

Silly Season
As I already mentioned, Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert retired after the 1999 season.
Damon Hill was replaced by Luca Badoer at Prost who had an unspectecular but decent 1999 for Minardi. He was joined by F3000 champion Nick Heidfeld.
At Tyrrell, Herbert's place was taken by the Danish former GP winner Jan Magnussen.
Being not needed at Prost, Panis only could take a test role at Benetton, who signed Zanardi from McLaren to replace Hakkinen.
Hakkinen rejoined McLaren after spending two years at Benetton.
Jordan sacked Rosset after his terrible season and signed British rookie Jenson Button.
The team Stewart disappeared from Formula One after three successful years to become Jaguar.
Minardi signed last year's jolly joker David Coulthard to replace Badoer.
BAR let Wurz to go and signed Gaston Mazzacane.

Full line-up for 2000:
Ferrari: Irvine - M Schumacher
Benetton: Alesi - Zanardi
Williams: Lamy - Villeneuve
McLaren: Hakkinen - Salo
Jordan: R Schumacher - Button
Jaguar: Barrichello - Trulli
Prost: Badoer - Heidfeld
Minardi: Gene - Coulthard
Tyrrell: Larini - Magnussen
BAR: Zonta - Mazzacane
Arrows: De la Rosa - Tuero

[QuickYoda41]

2000, first half:

Australia: Hakkinen felt great back at McLaren and won the race. Real surprise was delivered by Coulthard, who finished second. Is Minardi getting stronger? Trulli was third for the new Jaguar team's first race. Alesi finished in 4th, De la Rosa 5th and Button scored on his debut for Jordan.
Brazil: A dominant performance by Benetton, Zanardi led the 1-2. Barrichello was 3rd on his home circuit, great joy for Brazil. Salo, Trulli and Coulthard also finished in the points.
San Marino: Two races, no points - Ferrari changed that in Imola, it was a 1-2 for the reds, led by last year's champion Irvine. Hakkinen finished 3rd, while Magnussen scored for Tyrrell for the first time by finishing 4th. Button and Villeneuve finished 5th and 6th.
Britain: Hakkinen was the first driver to win 2 races in 2000. He was followed by the Benettons of Zanardi and Alesi. Coulthard finished 4th, Barrichello was 5th and De la Rosa scored 1 point for Arrows.

Standings after 4 races:
Hakkinen 24
Zanardi 16
Alesi 13
Irvine 10
Coulthard 10
M Schumacher 6

Spain: Irvine won the race ahead of Zanardi and Hakkinen, pole-setter M Schumacher came in only in 4th. Barrichello and Salo completed the top 6 in Bore-celona.
Europe: Triple world champion Schumacher proved why he's considered to be Rainmaster, and took his first win since Monaco last year. Alesi finished second and Hakkinen was 3rd. 4th placed Larini and 5th placed Tuero both scored for the first time in 2000, and Coulthard was able to score for Minardi yet again.
Monaco: Many retirements on a tough race for both cars and drivers. Italians took full advantage, Zanardi won the race ahead of Trulli. Salo finished 3rd, eventually not letting pass his teammate Hakkinen, who was still in the championship lead. M Schumacher and Barrichello finished 5th and 6th, last year's champion Irvine was only 7th.
Canada: Alesi won another race in Montreal after 1995, scoring back-to-back wins for Benetton. Irvine was 2nd and Salo stepped on the podium for the second time in a row. Barrichello, Hakkinen and Zonta completed the top 6.

Standings after 8 races:
Hakkinen 37
Zanardi 32
Alesi 29
Irvine 26
M Schumacher 21
Trulli 12

[QuickYoda41]

2000, second half:

France: Schumacher was quickest on Saturday, but Sunday wasn't his. This gave the opportunity to Coulthard to actually score Minardi's first win!!!!! Alesi finished 2nd in his home GP, while Irvine was 3rd. Button, Barrichello and Hakkinen scored the minor points.
Austria: You thought it can't get any better for Coulthard and Minardi? You were wrong. DC took his second win in a row after Irvine had to retire. Many other frontrunners also had problems, while Williams finally could go all the way, Lamy finished second - this was the first podium for Williams in the BMW-era. Button scored his first podium in F1 finishing 3rd, Tuero came in 4th with Arrows, Ralf Schumacher finally got on the scoreboard after a very-very disappointing first half of the year, and Zonta finished 6th.
Germany: In a rain- and crazy spectator-affected race, championship frontrunners DNFd one after another - Ralf Schumacher took a risk at the end and won his home GP. Larini finished in an excellent 2nd for Tyrrell, while Coulthard was 3rd. Behind Zanardi and Tuero, finally Gene also scored a point in 2000 for Minardi.
Hungary: Jordan didn't lose momentum after the win, they were fighting with the Ferraris. Eventually, Jenson Button managed to finish first, scoring his first win. (6 years early ) M Schumacher was 2nd, Irvine 3rd and Ralf 4th. Hakkinen and Villeneuve rounded up the top six.

Standings with 5 races to go:
Hakkinen 40
Zanardi 35
Coulthard 35
Alesi 35
Irvine 34
M Schumacher 27
It was really unpredictable at this point.

Belgium: After Hakkinen was out, Ferrari took a 1-2 led by Schumacher - this way, Irvine only levelled Hakkinen in WDC, but Schumacher was also very close. Alesi was 3rd, then came the Minardis - no team order here, either, Gene finished ahead of DC. Tuero came in 6th.
Italy: Irvine and Coulthard were out in the opening lap, Hakkinen wasn't able to finish either, Schumacher took the win and the championship lead. Salo was 2nd, and only suprises after that. BARs were really strong, Mazzacane was instantly out of rejectdom by finishing on the podium, while Zonta took 4th. Badoer scored Prost's first points of the season in 5th and Villeneuve picked up another 6th in a nightmare season.
USA: The first "real" F1 race in Indy, and a complete Schumacher dominance with Michael winning and Ralf finishing second. Villeneuve finally had a podium finish with 3rd, Hakkinen was 4th, Heidfeld scored his first ever F1 points with 5th and Barrichello finished 6th in the Jaguar which was falling back rapidly.
Japan: Nobody could stop Schumacher to win this race and thus his 4th title matching Alain Prost. The title-losing Irvine finished 2nd, Hakkinen was 3rd. Barrichello, Villeneuve and Gene completed the top 6.
Malaysia: Ferrari 1-2 again led by Schumacher, Coulthard returned to the podium after a few bad races. Alesi, Salo and Barrichello managed to score on the conclusion of the 2000 Formula One Season.

Final Standings:
Michael Schumacher 77 (6 wins)
Eddie Irvine 52 (2 wins)
Mika Hakkinen 47 (2 wins)
Jean Alesi 42 (1 win)
David Coulthard 41 (2 wins)
Alessandro Zanardi 35 (2 wins)
Ralf Schumacher 21 (1 win)
Jenson Button 20 (1 win)
Mika Salo 20 (1 2nd)
Rubens Barrichello 19 (1 3rd)
Jarno Trulli 12 (1 2nd)
Nicola Larini 9 (1 2nd)
Jacques Villeneuve 9 (1 3rd)
Esteban Tuero 8 (1 4th)
Pedro Lamy 6 (1 2nd)
Marc Gene 5 (1 4th, 2 6ths, 2 7ths)
Ricardo Zonta 5 (1 4th, 2 6ths, 2 8ths)
Gaston Mazzacane 4 (1 3rd)
Jan Magnussen 3 (1 4th)
Pedro de la Rosa 3 (1 5th)
Nick Heidfeld 2 (1 5th, 1 8ths)
Luca Badoer 2 (1 5th, 2 9ths)
Luciano Burti 0 (1 12th) - in Austria he replaced Hakkinen

Notes:
Schumacher had an extraordinary dominance on Saturdays, scoring 16 poles out of 17 qualifying sessions. He has now 41 career poles, still way behind Senna's all time record.
First win for Button.
First podium(s) for Button and Mazzacane.
First points and unrejectification for Button and Mazzacane.
First points for Heidfeld.

Constuctors:
Ferrari 129
Benetton 77
McLaren 67
Minardi 46
Jordan 41
Jaguar 31
Williams 15
Tyrrell 12
Arrows 11
BAR 9
Prost 4

Silly Season:
McLaren decided to give an opportunity to Juan Pablo Montoya.
Mika Salo had to go, he goes to Minardi to join Coulthard
Suprisingly, Jordan lets Jenson Button go to give a race seat to Panis.
Williams gives opportunity to a Brazilian rookie, Enrique Bernoldi, so Lamy is out of the picture.
Tyrrell lets both drivers go and signs Nick Heidfeld from Prost, whose teammate will be Finnish rookie Kimi Raikkonen.
Arrows signs Luciano Burti to replace De la Rosa.
BAR is a new opportunity to Frentzen who is back to F1 after a 3-year hiatus, his teammate is another rookie, Spaniard Fernando Alonso.
Prost replaces Heidfeld with Mazzacane.
Magnussen joins Toyota's test programme, Button joins Jaguar but only as a test driver, Lamy will test for Arrows, Gene for Benetton.

Full line-up for 2001:
Ferrari: M Schumacher - Irvine
Benetton: Alesi - Zanardi
McLaren: Hakkinen - Montoya
Minardi: Coulthard - Salo
Jordan: Panis - R Schumacher
Jaguar: Barrichello - Trulli
Williams: Villeneuve - Bernoldi
Tyrrell: Heidfeld - Raikkonen
Arrows: Tuero - Burti
BAR: Frentzen - Alonso
Prost: Badoer - Mazzacane

[QuickYoda41]

2001

Australia: The season starts off with a Jaguar-win. Rubens Barrichello wins for the greens, Trulli is third behind McLaren's rookie Montoya to complete the Jag's success. Both Minardis score with Coulthard 4th an Salo 6th, while Panis is 5th on his comeback.
Malaysia: 6 new scorer in the season with a fantastic comeback from the Ferraris, order is: M Schumacher-Irvine-R Schumacher-Raikkonen-Zanardi-Badoer.
Brazil: Remarkable race in the wet, Zanardi wins in front of Schumacher and home star Luciano Burti. Heidfeld also unrejectifies himself with 4th, and with Alonso 5th and Bernoldi 6th, all the rookies has scored after just 3 races.
San Marino: Another win for Benetton, Alesi delivers it this time in front of Hakkinen and Barrichello. Schumacher, Zanardi and Irvine score only minor points this time.

With 4 different race winners so far, standings are:
M Schumacher 19
Barrichello 14
Zanardi 14
Alesi 10
Irvine 7
Montoya/Hakkinen 6

Spain: Schumacher wins out without a last lap drama, Barrichello is 2nd and Panis is 3rd. Both Tyrrells score with Raikkonen being 4th and Heidfeld 6th, while Zanardi picks up his third 5th in the last 4 races. From this race on, Burti races at Prost instead of Mazzacane and Lamy replaces the Brazilian at Arrows.
Austria: Hakkinen wins in front of Alesi and back-in-action Lamy. R Schumacher, Barrichello and Panis completes the top 6.
Monaco: Hakkinen wins again, Alesi is second again, Salo takes third. Villeneuve scores for the first time in 2001 with a 4th, Irvine is 5th and Alonso is 6th.
Canada: Return to the Americas, and Zanardi wins it again in front of title holder Schumacher. The other Schumi is third, Badoer finishes 4th, Villeneuve in 5th and Button is 6th for Jaguar, who replaced an injured Barrichello for the weekend.

Standings after 8 races:
M Schumacher 35
Hakkinen 26
Zanardi 26
Alesi 22
Barrichello 22
R Schumacher 11

Europe: Ferrari 1-2 led by Schumacher, Zanardi is 3rd. Montoya scores with a quick, but unreliable McLaren for the first time since Melbourne, Barrichello is 5th and Raikkonen is 6th.
France: Schumacher wins again, Panis is 2nd in front of his home crowd and Barrichello is 3rd. Salo is 4th and looking like the better Minardi-driver at the moment, Trulli is 5th and Villeneuve is 6th.
Britain: Zanardi wins in front of Championship leader Schumacher, Montoya is 3rd. Barrichello, Tuero and Salo completes the top 6.
Germany: One technical failure after another brings up one of the awesomest result ever - no one from the races top 5 were in the top 16 in the standings prior the race! Coulthard wins for Minardi, Badoer is second for Prost and Tuero is 3rd for Arrows. Bernoldi takes 4th, Trulli-replacement Button finishes 5th and Irvine picks up the final point. Trulli was sacked from Jaguar before the race, but Button didn't get a permanent seat. After Badoer's brilliant performance in Hockenheim, he has the opportunity te race for Jaguar, while Trulli goes back to Prost, with which team he scored his only race win back in 1998.

Standings before the last 5 races:
M Schumacher 61
Zanardi 40
Barrichello 31
Hakkinen 26
Alesi 22
Irvine 16
Schumacher is quite far ahead.

Hungary: Schumacher is one step closer to his 5th title with a win in front of Hakkinen. Ralf is 3rd, Rubens is 4th, Kimi is 5th and Juan Pablo is 6th.
Belgium: The darkest weekend for Formula One since 1994, two drivers suffer serious injuries, Zanardi loses his legs, but Burti also has to give up his seat for the rest of the season. Hakkinen wins the race, Alesi is second, Panis is 3rd, Salo is 4th, and the Schumachers take 5th and 6th. Michael wins his 5th title, but it's hard to celebrate it.
Italy: Zanardi is replaced by Gene, Burti's replacement is Czech rookie Tomas Enge, and as BAR needs money, Alonso has to give up his seat for Malaysian Alex Yoong. Schumacher wins the race in front of Irvine, after Montoya retires due to mechanical failure. Hakkinen-Coulthard-Lamy-Salo is the order behind the Ferraris, who win the WCC for the team with this 1-2.
USA: Great race, Gene beats Schumacher to Spain's first Formula One race win. Barrichello is 3rd, Heidfeld, Panis and Irvine complete the top 6.
Japan: Irvine remains without a race win in the season, as he's second again behind Schumacher. Coulthard is third ahead of Montoya, Ralf and Barrichello. Alesi is involved in a big accident at his final race, but no one is hurt.

Final standings:
Michael Schumacher 99 (7 wins)
Mika Hakkinen 46 (3 wins)
Alessandro Zanardi 40 (3 wins)
Rubens Barrichello 39 (1 win)
Eddie Irvine 29 (4 2nds)
Jean Alesi 28 (1 win)
David Coulthard 20 (1 win)
Olivier Panis 19 (1 2nd)
Ralf Schumacher 18 (3 3rds)
Juan Pablo Montoya 17 (1 2nd)
Mika Salo 13 (1 3rd)
Marc Gene 10 (1 win)
Luca Badoer 10 (1 2nd)
Kimi Raikkonen 9 (2 4ths)
Nick Heidfeld 7 (2 4ths)
Jarno Trulli 6 (1 3rd, 1 5th, 1 7th, 3 8ths)
Pedro Lamy 6 (1 3rd, 1 5th, 1 7th, 1 9th)
Esteban Tuero 6 (1 3rd, 1 5th, 1 7th, 2 11ths)
Jacques Villeneuve 6 (1 4th)
Luciano Burti 4 (1 3rd)
Enrique Bernoldi 4 (1 4th)
Fernando Alonso 3 (1 5th, 1 6th, 1 8th)
Jenson Button 3 (1 5th, 1 6th)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 0 (3 7ths)
Tomas Enge 0 (1 8th)
Gaston Mazzacane 0 (1 11th)
Alex Yoong has no finishes

Notes:
First win for Gene.
First podium(s) for Montoya, Badoer, Tuero and Burti.
Unrejectification for Heidfeld.
First points and unrejectification for Montoya, Raikkonen, Burti, Bernoldi and Alonso.
First pole for Montoya.
Schumacher had another dominant season in terms of poles (15).
Alesi just reached the 50 podiums, before he retired.

Constructors:
Ferrari 128
Benetton 78
McLaren 63
Jaguar 48
Jordan 37
Minardi 33
Arrows 16
Tyrrell 16
Prost 10
Williams 10
BAR 3

Silly Season
Alesi and Hakkinen both retired from F1 after 2001.
Jean Alesi had 201 races, 5 wins, 50 podiums, 4 pole positions and 364 career points. His best result in the WDC was 3rd in 1996 and 1997.
Mika Hakkinen had 155 races, 14 wins, 41 podiums, 14 pole positions and 334 career points. His best result in the WDC was 2nd in 1998 and 2001.
Zanardi's injuries made it impossible for him to return to F1, so there were 3 vacant places at the top 3 teams.
Benetton keeps Zanardi's replacement Gene and signs Trulli who became a free agent as Prost went bankrupt, as they couldn't repeat their earlier success (3 race wins from Nakano, Trulli and Panis in 1997 and 1998.) Gene and Trulli will actually race for Renault, not Benetton.
McLaren signs Ralf Schumacher to join Juan Pablo Montoya.
Jaguar releases Badoer, who hasn't scored for them and Barrichello's new teammate will be another Brazilian, Felipe Massa.
Jordan has Lamy back after 1997 and he's joined by Japanese rookie Takuma Sato.
Arrows signs Panis to join Tuero.
Toyota enters Formula One with Magnussen and Allan McNish.
BAR signs Australian rookie Mark Webber.
Frentzen finally joins Williams to replace 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve.

Full line-up for 2002:
Ferrari: M Schumacher - Irvine
Renault: Gene - Trulli
McLaren: R Schumacher - Montoya
Jaguar: Barrichello - Massa
Jordan: Lamy - Sato
Minardi: Coulthard - Salo
Arrows: Panis - Tuero
Tyrrell: Raikkonen - Heidfeld
Williams: Frentzen - Bernoldi
BAR: Yoong - Webber
Toyota: Magnussen - McNish

[QuickYoda41]

2002

Australia: massive start crash brings up an eventful race. Gene wins for Renault at their comeback race, Magnussen is second for Toyota at their debut race, and Mark Webber debuts in Formula One with a podium, after he manages to keep out Irvine. Yoong also scores for BAR in 5th and Coulthard picks up the final point.
Malaysia: Irvine wins for Ferrari ahead of Montoya and Schumacher who had a clash after the start. Coulthard finishes in 4th, Raikkonen is 5th and Magnussen 6th.
Brazil: It's a Schumacher battle for the win, won by Ralf. Trulli is 3rd for Renault, Coulthard, Montoya and Barrichello completes the top 6.
San Marino: Title holder Michael Schumacher wins for the first time in 2002 ahead of the little bro', Jarno Trulli is 3rd again. Panis scores Arrows's first points finishing 4th, Irvine is 5th and Gene is 6th.

Standings after 4 races:
M Schumacher 20
R Schumacher 16
Irvine 15
Gene 11
Montoya 8
Trulli 8

Spain: Polesitter M Schumacher is out with a technical failure, Irvine and both McLarens have the same fate. Coulthard takes the opportunity and wins for Minardi with the Jaguars coming in 2nd (Barrichello) and 3rd (Massa). Renaults take only 4th (Trulli) and 5th (Gene), and Bernoldi scores Williams's first point of the season which means that only last year's WCC-5th, Jordan is without a point now.
Austria: Montoya takes his first win, so we have 6 races and 6 winners so far. M Schumacher is 2nd and Barrichello finishes on the podium for the second time in a row. Ralf, Coulthard and Panis completes the top 6.
Monaco: Montoya is the first driver to win two races, Ralf makes it a 1-2 for McLaren. Trulli is 3rd, Irvine is 4th. Lamy and Heidfeld get on the board by finishing 5th and 6th.
Canada: Montoya is out this time, so R Schumacher wins this for McLaren. Irvine is 2nd, Barrichello is 3rd. Heidfeld, Panis and Massa finish in the top 6, as well.

After McLaren hit top form, standings are:
R Schumacher 35
Montoya 28
M Schumacher 26
Irvine 24
Coulthard 19
Barrichello 15

Europe: Montoya records his second pole, but he's the first one out. M Schumacher wins ahead of Gene and Ralf. Barrichello is 4th, Sato scores his first F1-points with 5th, and Frentzen finally scores for the first time since Hungary 1997.
Britain: Montoya wins after two DNFs, Michael is 2nd and Barrichello is 3rd. Sato unrejectifies himself with a 4th, Raikkonen comes in 5th and Ralf only manages to score one point, thus losing the championship lead to his brother.
France: Montoya wins again, the podium only slightly changes, now Rubens finishes ahead of Michael. Gene, Webber and Massa finish in the points. Williams is in big trouble, both cars were unable to qualifiy for the race.
Germany: Ralf takes his first ever pole position at home and goes on to win the race. Montoya is second, M Schumacher is 3rd. Sato, Barrichello and Gene completes the top 6.

Standings with 5 races to go:
Montoya 54
R Schumacher 50
M Schumacher 50
Barrichello 30
Irvine 24
Gene 23

Hungary: Williams is missing and they won't return - five years ago they're champions… Michael Schumacher takes the championship lead with a win ahead of Ralf and Montoya. Sato is good for 4th, again, Massa beats his teammate for 5th.
Belgium: MSC wins in Spa, Montoya is second, Trulli is 3rd. Irvine, Barrichello and Coulthard take the minor points.
Italy: Controversy all over Monza and Maranello, Irvine, who is already out of the title race, wins in front of M Schumacher. McLarens are off form and don't score, so the situation is still not too bad for Michael, who has a 12-points advantage over Montoya. Salo is 3rd, scoring for the first time in 2002. Lamy, Heidfeld and Sato finish in the points.
United States: M Schumacher is out, Irvine can't beat any of the McLarens, Montoya leads the 1-2, McLaren wins the WCC for the first time since 1991. Irvine's position is not safe now at Ferrari, to say at least. Barrichello is 4th, Panis is 5th, and Bernoldi, who has a one-off for Jaguar replacing Massa, is 6th.

Standings before the final race:
M Schumacher 76
Montoya 74
R Schumacher 62
Irvine 41
Barrichello 36
Gene 23

Japan: All Montoya needs is a win to become Colombia's first F1-Champion. He starts off well to win the qualifying. At the race, Raikkonen has an excellent start to climb up to 3rd, which quickly separates the two title contenders from the rest. But Schumacher is only able to take a lead for one lap due to slightly different strategies. Montoya comes home and wins the championship, Irvine is promptly sacked from Ferrari, when he crosses the finish line in 7th, he's already unemployed. Raikkonen manages to keep 3rd position to score his first F1-podium, Ralf Schumacher is 4th, Barrichello is 5th and Webber is 6th.

Final Standings:
Juan Pablo Montoya 84 (6 wins)
Michael Schumacher 82 (4 wins)
Ralf Schumacher 65 (3 wins)
Eddie Irvine 41 (2 wins)
Rubens Barrichello 38 (2 2nds)
Marc Gene 23 (1 win)
David Coulthard 20 (1 win)
Jarno Trulli 19 (4 3rds)
Takuma Sato 12 (3 4ths)
Kimi Raikkonen 8 (1 3rd, 2 5ths)
Felipe Massa 8 (1 3rd, 1 5th)
Olivier Panis 8 (1 4th)
Jan Magnussen 7 (1 2nd)
Mark Webber 7 (1 3rd)
Nick Heidfeld 6 (1 4th)
Pedro Lamy 5 (1 4th)
Mika Salo 4 (1 3rd)
Alex Yoong 2 (1 5th)
Enrique Bernoldi 2 (2 6ths)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 1 (1 6th)
Esteban Tuero 0 (1 7th, 1 8th)
Allan McNish 0 (1 7th, 1 9th)
Anthony Davidson has no finishes.

Constructors:
McLaren 149
Ferrari 123
Jaguar 47
Renault 42
Minardi 24
Jordan 17
Tyrrell 14
BAR 9
Arrows 8
Toyota 7
Williams 2 (not finished the year)

Notes:
First wins and championship for Montoya.
First podium for Raikkonen.
First podium, points and unrejectification for Massa and Webber.
First points and unrejectification for Sato.
First points for Yoong.
First pole position for Ralf Schumacher


Silly Season

Irvine decides to quit the sport after being sacked for a win. He had 148 starts, 13 wins, 33 podiums, 3 poles, 288 career points, and most importantly, 1 championship.
Salo also retires after 135 races, being only one podium away from Stefan Johansson's record with 11 podium finishes without a single race win.
Ferrari signs Kimi Raikkonen to replace Irvine.
Tyrrell signs Panis instead of Kimi and Heidfeld is released in favor of Brazilian rookie Antonio Pizzonia.
At Arrows, Justin Wilson is the rookie to get a chance, and Jacques Villeneuve makes an unlikely return to F1 with them.
Minardi signs Bernoldi to replace Salo.
Jordan lets Lamy go and gives chance to an Irish rookie, Ralph Firman.
BAR signs Gene to replace Alex Yoong.
Renault replaces Gene with Frentzen - another surprising choice.
Yoong goes to Toyota and will be accompanied by Cristiano da Matta.

Full line-up for 2003:
McLaren: Montoya - R Schumacher
Ferrari: M Schumacher - Raikkonen
Jaguar: Barrichello - Massa
Renault: Trulli - Frentzen
Minardi: Coulthard - Bernoldi
Jordan: Sato - Firman
Tyrrell: Panis - Pizzonia
BAR: Webber - Gene
Arrows: Wilson - Villeneuve
Toyota: Yoong - Da Matta

[QuickYoda41]

2003

Australia: Michael Schumacher wins ahead of Montoya, Panis is 3rd in the Tyrrell. Trulli and Frentzen takes 4th and 5th for Renault, Wilson is 6th on his debut, while Raikkonen and Villeneuve are the first drivers to score points by finishing 7th and 8th in Formula One history.
Malaysia: After everyone thought Frentzen has no place in F1, he wins in Sepang is the first of his career! R Schumacher is 2nd, Montoya is 3rd. Villeneuve-Barrichello-Trulli-Massa-Coulthard.
Brazil: A hard race for everyone in the rain, Montoya and M Schumacher goes out in the same corner, so Ralf can take the win ahead of local boy Massa and Raikkonen. Pole-sitter Barrichello is 4th, Frentzen, Coulthard, Villeneuve and Gene score, as well, Yoong is the only finisher who doesn't.
San Marino: Hard weekend for the Schumacher brothers, but both manage to finish on the podium with Ralf winning and Michael 3rd. Massa takes 2nd, again, showing some talent after a mediocre first year, Montoya-Webber-Pizzonia-Raikkonen-Coulthard is the order in the points.

Standings after 4 races:
R Schumacher 28
Montoya 19
Frentzen 18
Massa 18
M Schumacher 16
Raikkonen 10

Spain: Ralf makes it 3 in a row ahead of the big bro', Montoya is 3rd. Tyrrell has a great race with Panis in 4th and newly unrejectified Pizzonia in 5th, Webber, Bernoldi and Villeneuve also score.
Austria: Massa takes his maiden win with Panis and Raikkonen behind him. Frentzen-Pizzonia-Gene-Da Matta-M Schumacher is the order, neither McLaren finishes.
Monaco: One Jaguar-win after another, Rubens wins this time ahead of the Schumachers (Michael 2nd, Ralf 3rd), polesitter Raikkonen just misses the podium. Pizzonia continues his 5th-run, Montoya is 6th, Massa and Trulli completes the top 8.
Canada: M Schumacher wins, Montoya, who is yet to win a race in his title defense, finished in 2nd, Ralf takes 3rd. Raikkonen is 4th, Barrichello is 5th, Webber is 6th, Da Matta is 7th and Frentzen is 8th.

Standings at halftime:
R Schumacher 50
M Schumacher 43
Montoya 36
Massa 30
Raikkonen 26
Frentzen 24

Europe: Both Schumachers hit trouble, and it's Barrichello who benefits the most of it. Raikkonen is 2nd and Montoya is 3rd. Da Matta is out of reject status by finishing 4th, Coulthard, Villeneuve, Webber the order, and Sato finally scores Jordan's first point of the season.
France: M Schumacher wins ahead of Montoya and Ralf, further order is: Barrichello-Panis-Webber-Coulthard-Da Matta.
Britain: Ralf is the Schumacher to win this win, Trulli is 2nd, Barrichello is 3rd. Michael, Montoya and Raikkonen come after them, and both Jordan score with Sato finishing 7th and Firman 8th. After the race, BAR drops Gene who is outscored by Webber 15-4, and hires Firman, whose place at Jordan is taken by Nicolas Kiesa.
Germany: Ralf, Barrichello and Raikkonen are all involved in a crash right after the start, and Montoya has troubles, as well, both thanks to high attrition, he still scores one point finishing last of the runners. M Schumacher wins, but behind him Bernoldi and Wilson make it a highly unlikely podium. Massa, Yoong, Trulli and Da Matta are able to survive to score points.

Standings before the final 4 races:
M Schumacher 68
R Schumacher 66
Montoya 55
Barrichello 44
Raikkonen 37
Massa 35

Hungary: Kiesa suffers a heavy accident in practice and he's replaced by some local bloke called Baumgartner. The race is won by Ralf Schumacher, Raikkonen is 2nd and Trulli is 3rd. Montoya-Barrichello-M Schumacher-Pizzonia-Coulthard.
Italy: History repeats itself? Montoya wins in front of teammate Ralf, the older Schumacher is 3rd. Barrichello, Trulli, Coulthard, Panis and Villeneuve complete the top 8. Raikkonen had some health issues (rumors say he was seen in a bar Friday night), so he was replaced by Mazzacane at Ferrari.
United States: Rain-affected race, Raikkonen, both Jaguars and most importantly, Ralf Schumacher are unable to finish. Trulli takes the win (his second after Belgium '98), Montoya is 2nd and Alex Yoong is 3rd of all people! Bernoldi, Frentzen, Villeneuve, Wilson and Pizzonia also manage to score. McLaren wins the consturctors' title, but it's a 3-way battle for the other one.

R Schumacher 84
Montoya 78
M Schumacher 77

Japan: Webber is ill, so Lamy takes his place for the final race. Qualifying is hugely affected by the weather, Cristiano da Matta takes Toyota's first ever pole position, title contenders are deep in midfield, which is actually good for Ralf Schumacher, whose opponents need to finish 1st or 2nd at least. Ralf is actually the slowest of the three climbing up the field and finishes only 9th. But by that time, he was the champion, after order was: Da Matta-Coulthard-Firman-Montoya-Sato-M Schumacher-Raikkonen-Lamy.

Final standings:
Ralf Schumacher 84 (5 wins)
Juan Pablo Montoya 83 (1 win)
Michael Schumacher 80 (4 wins)
Rubens Barrichello 53 (2 wins)
Kimi Raikkonen 47 (2 2nds)
Jarno Trulli 40 (1 win)
Felipe Massa 35 (1 win)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen 28 (1 win)
Olivier Panis 25 (1 2nd)
David Coulthard 23 (1 2nd)
Cristiano da Matta 22 (1 win)
Antonio Pizzonia 18 (3 5ths)
Jacques Villeneuve 16 (1 4th)
Enrique Bernoldi 15 (1 2nd)
Mark Webber 15 (1 5th)
Justin Wilson 11 (1 3rd)
Alex Yoong 10 (1 3rd)
Ralph Firman 7 (1 3rd)
Takuma Sato 7 (1 5th)
Marc Gene 4 (1 6th)
Pedro Lamy 1 (1 8th)
Gaston Mazzacane 0 (1 11th)
Z Baumgartner 0 (1 13th)
Nicolas Kiesa has no finishes.

Constructors:
McLaren 167
Ferrari 127
Jaguar 88
Renault 68
Tyrrell 43
Minardi 38
Toyota 32
Arrows 27
BAR 26
Jordan 8

Notes:
First win for Frentzen, Massa and Da Matta.
First podium for Bernoldi.
First podium and unrejectification for Da Matta, Yoong, Firman and Wilson.
First points and unrejectification for Pizzonia.
First pole position for Raikkonen and Da Matta.


Silly Season:

Frentzen retires after finally managing to win a race. His place at Renault is taken by David Coulthard, who had brilliant 4 years at Minardi, winning 4 races.
Minardi signs Magnussen to replace DC and trades Bernoldi to Webber with BAR.
BAR's other driver will be Giorgio Pantano.
Toyota also signs a rookie, Christian Klien to replace Yoong.
Jordan has the third rookie on board, Gianmaria Bruni; his teammate will be Marc Gene.

Full line-up for 2004:

McLaren: R Schumacher - Montoya
Ferrari: M Schumacher - Raikkonen
Jaguar: Barrichello - Massa
Renault: Coulthard - Trulli
Tyrrell: Panis - Pizzonia
Minardi: Webber - Magnussen
Toyota: Da Matta - Klien
Arrows: Villeneuve - Wilson
BAR: Bernoldi - Pantano
Jordan: Bruni - Gene

[FMecha]

This is awesome... but... HWNSNBM not racing in 2004?

BLASPHEMY!

[QuickYoda41]

That's exactly why I dared to mention almost his full name.

[DanielPT]

Well, in your championship, Lamy had a wonderful career. So can't complain for him being dumped from Jordan like that!

[QuickYoda41]

2004, first half

Australia: Montoya starts with a win, Raikkonenis 2nd and Trulli is 3rd. Coulthard scores on his first race at Renault, and Pantano at his first race in F1. Both Schumachers start off with a DNF. Full order: Montoya-Raikkonen-Trulli-Panis-Coulthard-Wilson-Pantano-Magnussen.
Malaysia: Montoya wins in Sepang, too ahead of Coulthard and Ralf. Klien scores his first point in Formula One. Full order: Montoya-Coulthard-R Schumacher-Raikkonen-Bernoldi-Panis-Villeneuve-Klien
Bahrain: Juan Pablo seems unstoppable, wins 3 in a row, Ralf makes it a 1-2. Trulli is 3rd, extending Renault's podium run. Full order: Montoya-R Schumacher-Trulli-Raikkonen-Magnussen-Panis-Coulthard-Webber
San Marino: 4 out of 4 for Montoya, Michael Schumacher finally scores in 2004 by finishing 2nd, as does Barrichello in 4th and Gene in 8th, so all the teams have at least 1 point now. Full order: Montoya-M Schumacher-R Schumacher-Barrichello-Coulthard-Raikkonen-Villeneuve-Gene

Standings after 4 races:
Montoya 40
Raikkonen 21
R Schumacher 20
Coulthard 18
Trulli 12
Panis 11

Spain: Montoya wins again, ahead of the Renaults and the Ferraris. Full order: Montoya-Coulthard-Trulli-Raikkonen-M Schumacher-Da Matta-Webber-Gene.
Monaco: Montoya has a terrible race, while Trulli is dominant through all weekend, scoring his first pole position and his third win. Jordan has a fantastic race, as Bruni finishes 5th and Gene 6th. Full order: Trulli-R Schumacher-Barrichello-Magnussen-Bruni-Gene-Raikkonen-Bernoldi.
Europe: Trulli wins another race, Coulthard makes it a 1-2 for Renault, the Ferraris come after them, while McLaren is having troubles. Full order: Trulli-Coulthard-M Schumacher-Raikkonen-Magnussen-Villeneuve-Webber-Pantano.
Canada: Polesitter Michael Schumacher and top form Trulli both suffer from mechanical failure, Coulthard wins ahead of Barrichello and Ralf. Montoya has another bad race, but still leads the championship. Full order: Coulthard-Barrichello-R Schumacher-Pizzonia-Klien-Bruni-Da Matta-Gene.

Standings are:
Montoya 50
Coulthard 44
Trulli 38
R Schumacher 34
Raikkonen 33
Barrichello 19

[QuickYoda41]

2004, second half

United States: Ironacilly, Ralf Schumacher takes his first win in Indy. Da Matta is a really surprising 2nd, Pizzonia is not less surprising in 3rd. Full order: R Schumacher-Da Matta-Pizzonia-Coulthard-Bernoldi-Wilson-Raikkonen-Panis.
France: Coulthard wins Renault's home race and takes the lead in the championship from Montoya, who at least finally gets a 4th place. Panis is 3rd in his home GP. Full order: Coulthard-M Schumacher-Panis-Montoya-Trulli-R Schumacher-Pizzonia-Barrichello.
Britain: McLaren is back on track, Ralf wins and Montoya is third behind Barrichello. Coulthard still keeps the lead by finishing 4th. Raikkonen was out injured for the next months for Ferrari and replacement Mazzacane, who already raced but didn't finish in Magny-Cours, finished 7th, while Schumacher was out. Despite his two points, Mazzacane was replaced after the race by Ralph Firman. Full order: R Schumacher-Barrichello-Montoya-Coulthard-Bernoldi-Pizzonia-Mazzacane-Bruni.
Gernany: Montoya retakes the lead with a win, Webber finishes in a fantastic second scoring finally Minardi's first podium of the year. Coulthard is 4th behind teammate Trulli. Massa has yet another DNF - being the only driver not scoring yet, it's no surprise that he's let go by Jaguar - the green team brings Jenson Button back to F1.

Standings after 12 races:
Montoya 71
Coulthard 69
R Schumacher 57
Trulli 48
Raikkonen 35
M Schumacher 30

Hungary: Title holder Ralf Schumacher shows he's still not out of it and wins the Hungarian GP ahead of Montoya and Coulthard. Pizzonia has yet another great result for Tyrrell. Firman scores his first point for Ferrari. Full order: R Schumacher-Montoya-Coulthard-Pizzonia-Trulli-M Schumacher-Barrichello-Firman.
Belgium: Trulli is on pole, but unlike the previous two, he can't turn this into a race win after a semi-chaotic race. For the first time in the year it's not a McLaren or Renault, Tyrrell-driver Olivier Panis scores his second race win after Italy '98 (He would've the big 3 in only 3 race wins with his original Monaco-victoy, but then again, he would've had a completely different career.) Coulthard retakes the lead in the championship by finishing 2nd, but Montoya is only one point behind. Full order: Panis-Coulthard-M Schumacher-Barrichello-Pizzonia-Montoya-Trulli-Wilson.
Italy: Montoya wins from pole, while Coulthard has a tough weekend and can't score. M Schumacher is second in front of the tifosi on what turned out to be his last race for Ferrari. Button takes an excellent 3rd in the Jaguar showing his talent again. Full order: Montoya-M Schumacher-Button-Trulli-Barrichello-R Schumacher-Panis-Firman.
China: Before the first Chinese Grand Prix, BAR released Pantano, he was replaced by German Timo Glock who already had a one-off for the team in Canada. Raikkonen returns after his injury and Schumacher is not satisfied with his situation in the team, which leads to the end of his career at Ferrari. So Ferrari could keep Firman, but neither him, nor Mazzacane was satisfying enough, so they make a double change and give opportunity to Giancarlo Fisichella for the last 3 races, whose last F1 race was Britain '96 in the Minardi. All weekend, there was one driver dominating, Rubens Barrichello in the Jaguar! He eventually wins the race, Raikkonen is 2nd and Button is 3rd. Coulthard can't finish the race, so Montoya's 4th place is pretty good for the Colombian. Fisichella scores his first points in Formula One by finishing 6th. Full order: Barrichello-Raikkonen-Button-Montoya-Bruni-Fisichella-Villeneuve-Magnussen.

Standings before the last 2 races:
Montoya 97
Coulthard 83
R Schumacher 70
Trulli 59
Barrichello 49
M Schumacher 47

Japan: Michael Schumacher is back, though nobody really understands why Jenson Button is replaced, Jaguar can't resist to have a 5-times World Champion in the team alongside Barrichello. (Wow, those rules really made Button's career much harder than what he would deserve based on his results) Qualifying is always hard in Japan, and somehow it's Da Matta again, who incredibly takes pole position. He can't redo his race miracle from last year, though, as his Toyota lets him down. It's a Tyrrell-celebration instead, Panis wins in front of a quickly unrejectified Fisichella and his teammate Pizzonia. As Coulthard DNFs again, Montoya doesn't even need to score, he wins his second championship. Full order: Panis-Fisichella-Pizzonia-Raikkonen-Klien-R Schumacher-Webber-Bruni.
Brazil: After Japan, Panis retires, as he thinks, he couldn't leave in any better moment. He doesn't even race in Brazil, so Tyrrell gives an opportunity to local boy Felipe Massa. As the championships are over, not everyone is fully concentrating, but of course Ferrari is - Raikkonen wins the race to give Ferrari their only race victory in the season. Full order: Raikkonen-M Schumacher-Barrichello-Coulthard-Massa-Fisichella-Bruni-Montoya.

Final Standings:
Juan Pablo Montoya 98 (7 wins)
David Coulthard 88 (2 wins)
Ralf Schumacher 73 (3 wins)
Jarno Trulli 59 (2 wins)
Kimi Raikkonen 58 (1 win)
Rubens Barrichello 55 (1 win)
Michael Schumacher 55 (4 2nds)
Olivier Panis 42 (2 wins)
Antonio Pizzonia 31 (2 3rds)
Mark Webber 15 (1 2nd)
Jan Magnussen 15 (1 4th)
Gianmaria Bruni 15 (2 5ths)
Giancarlo Fisichella 14 (1 2nd, 2 6ths)
Cristiano da Matta 14 (1 2nd, 1 6th)
Enrique Bernoldi 13 (3 5ths)
Jenson Button 12 (2 3rds)
Christian Klien 12 (2 5ths)
Jacques Villeneuve 9 (1 6th)
Justin Wilson 7 (2 6ths)
Marc Gene 6 (1 6th)
Felipe Massa 4 (1 5th)
Giorgio Pantano 3 (1 7th)
Gaston Mazzacane 2 (1 7th)
Ralph Firman 2 (2 8ths)
Timo Glock 0 (1 12th)

Constructors:
McLaren 171
Renault 147
Ferrari 123
Tyrrell 77
Jaguar 75
Minardi 30
Toyota 26
Jordan 21
BAR 16
Arrows 16

Notes:
First win for Raikkonen.
First podiums for Pizzonia.
First podium, points and unrejectification for Fisichella.
First poles for Trulli.
First points and unrejectification for Bruni and Klien.
First points for Pantano.
M Schumacher passes the 100-podium mark.


Silly Season:
Olivier Panis retires with 158 races, 3 wins, 14 podiums and 165 career points. He's replaced by Cristiano da Matta at Tyrrell.
Da Matta's teammate won't be Pizzonia, but a third Brazilian, Enrique Bernoldi. Pizzonia joins Jordan.
Despite his good performance, Fisichella is not kept by Ferrari, Mark Webber takes his place and Fisichella takes Webber's at Minardi - back to the team after 9 years.
But that's not the record: Michael Schumacher is back to Jordan after 1991.
Barrichello's teammate at Red Bull (who take over Jaguar) will be Gimmi Bruni. Note that Barrichello is with the same team since 1997 (Stewart then).
Da Matta's vacant seat at Toyota is taken by Jenson Button who finally gets a full year contract for the first time since his debut year.
Both BAR and Arrows have 2 rookies in their line-up.
Important to mention that only 3 teams: McLaren, BAR and Arrows will race on Bridgestone tyres.

Full line-up for 2005:
McLaren: Montoya - R Schumacher
Renault: Coulthard - Trulli
Ferrari: Raikkonen - Webber
Tyrrell: Da Matta - Bernoldi
Red Bull: Barrichello - Bruni
Minardi: Fisichella - Magnussen
Toyota: Button - Klien
Jordan: M Schumacher - Pizzonia
BAR: Monteiro - Karthikeyan
Arrows: Friesacher - Albers

[QuickYoda41]

2005

Australia: Wet qualifying session causes quite a random grid with Webber's first career pole position. The Aussie is good to keep his lead till the finish on home soil and wins! Real surprise is second place-man Narain Karthikeyan who follows Webber as a podium-scorer at his very first GP. Full order: Webber-Karthikeyan-Raikkonen-Bernoldi-R Schumacher-Bruni-Fisichella-Albers.
Malaysia: Webber is on pole again, but is out of the race later following a collision with Fisichella. Ferrari is still happy, as Raikkonen wins the race in front of Barrichello (scoring Red Bull's first podium) and Button. Montoya is off form and without a single point after two races. Full order: Raikkonen-Barrichello-Button-Coulthard-Bernoldi-Klien-M Schumacher-Karthikeyan.
Bahrain: Jordan is on top form - it's something we couldn't say for years. Michael Schumacher takes advantage and wins ahead of his brother and his teammate. Raikkonen is out due to a mechanical failure, as is Heidfeld who replaced the injured Bruni at Red Bull. After 3 races, we have only one driver who scored every time: Narain Karthikeyan from India. Full order: M Schumacher-R Schumacher-Pizzonia-Coulthard-Magnussen-Albers-Karthikeyan-Button.
San Marino: Barrichello takes Red Bull's first pole position (as he did for Jordan, Stewart and Jaguar), but can't finish the race. Renaults are disqualified and excluded from the next race, as well. Raikkonen wins the race ahead of the Tyrrells, M Schumacher is 4th, Wurz gets an opportunity at Red Bull this time, and he's 5th. Full order: Raikkonen-Da Matta-Bernoldi-M Schumacher-Wurz-Webber-Magnussen-Klien.

Standings after 4 races:
Raikkonen 26
M Schumacher 17
Bernoldi 15
Webber 13
R Schumacher 12
Karthikeyan 11

Spain: Raikkonen wins bothy qualifying and race, M Schumacher is second for Jordan, Barrichello is 3rd. Montoya is 9th behind Albers, so the two-times champions is still to score a point. Liuzzi debuts in F1, being the fourth driver in four races in the second Red Bull car, but can't finish the race. Full order: Raikkonen-M Schumacher-Barrichello-Pizzonia-Webber-Fisichella-Da Matta-Albers.
Monaco: Raikkonen wins three in a row, and his lead is growing. Barrichello and Button finish on the podium (well, stairs). Trulli is 5th on Renault's comeback race, Montoya is 8th. Full order: Raikkonen-Barrichello-Button-Magnussen-Trulli-M Schumacher-Klien-Montoya.
Europe: Raikkonen is on his way to score another win, but his suspension breaks in the final lap, he's classified 9th. Red Bull is the team to benefit with their first ever win being a 1-2, amazingly led by Vitantonio Liuzzi! Pizzonia is 3rd, his teammate Schumacher is only 6th, but still with this result he extends his scoring run to six races. Full order: Liuzzi-Barrichello-Pizzonia-Trulli-Montoya-M Schumacher-Coulthard-Button.
Canada: Red Bull takes their policy seriously, so Liuzzi rests after his race win, and now healthy Bruni is back. He actually does really well, finishing 3rd behind Trulli and Ralf Schumacher. Full order: Trulli-R Schumacher-Bruni-Pizzonia-Bernoldi-Karthikeyan-Barrichello-Raikkonen.

Standindgs after 8 races:
Raikkonen 47
Barrichello 32
M Schumacher 31
Pizzonia 22
R Schumacher 20
Trulli 19

United States: Ralf Schumacher has a horrific accident on Friday. He's replaced by Zonta for the rest of the weekend. After some issues with the tyres, there's an unlikely change, and Bridgestone is allowed to have new tyres for the race. Michelin is protesting wiht not starting their cars - this actually determined their exit from the sport one and a half year later. The race looks ridiculous with 6 cars, but it's a great chance for Monteiro and Friesacher to finally score their first points in Formula One. Unfortunately, their cars fail, while McLaren loses a quite obvious-looking 1-2 by having problems with the car and the drivers. Albers is the first Dutchman to win a race in Formula One, Karthikeyan is second, Montoya is third and Zonta is fourth.
France: Back to Europe, Raikkonen is back to his winning ways. Montoya scores a much more valuable podium this time ahead of the two Renaults. Full order: Raikkonen-Montoya-Coulthard-Trulli-Webber-Klien-Button-R Schumacher.
Britain: Montoya continues to climb higher, and wins in Silverstone. Raikkonen maintains his championship lead by finishing second. This was Friesacher's last race, from Germany on he was replaced by Robert Doornbos making it a full Dutch line-up at Arrows. Liuzzi was also set to back instead of Bruni. Full order: Montoya-Raikkonen-Pizzonia-Barrichello-Trulli-Button-M Schumacher-Webber.
Germany: Polesitter Raikkonen is out early in the race, giving an opportunity to other to cut the gap a little. Coulthard is the best in this, he wins ahead of unlikely second Monteiro and Webber. Full order: Coulthard-Monteiro-Webber-Trulli-Da Matta-Klien-Barrichello-Pizzonia.

Standings after 12 races:
Raikkonen 65
Barrichello 39
M Schumacher 33
Trulli 33
Montoya 29
Pizzonia 29

Hungary: M Schumacher is surprisingly quick on qualifying, but Barrichello beats him on Sunday to score his first win of the season. Pizzonia makes it a double podium for Jordan. Ferrari is a little bit off pace, but they're still good for minor points. Full order: Barrichello-M Schumacher-Pizzonia-R Schumacher-Bernoldi-Webber-Button-Raikkonen.
Turkey: Raikkonen wins the first ever Turkish GP ahead of Barrichello and Webber. Bernoldi is replaced by Massa after the race, partly due to a minor injury. Full order: Raikkonen-Barrichello-Webber-Fisichella-Pizzonia-Montoya-Karthikeyan-Button.
Italy: Raikkonen makes the tifosi really happy with another win, Trulli makes the Italians even happier with a second place. Ralf is third, Barrichello is only fifth. Full order: Raikkonen-Trulli-R Schumacher-Klien-Barrichello-Button-Da Matta-Montoya.
Belgium: Ralf Schumacher takes his first win in the season, Webber is Ferrari's leader this time with second. Full order: R Schumacher-Webber-Button-Klien-Monteiro-Doornbos-Magnussen-Da Matta.

Standings with 3 races to go:
Raikkonen 86
Barrichello 61
Webber 45
R Schumacher 42
M Schumacher 41
Trulli 41

Brazil: Webber takes his second win, Fisichella is second after a tough year in Minardi, and Raikkonen is third, thus winning the championship with two races left, while Ferrari also wins the constructor's title. Full order: Webber-Fisichella-Raikkonen-R Schumacher-Barrichello-M Schumacher-Montoya-Button.
Japan: Chaotic qualifying session, you already know which team will benefit - yeah, it's Toyota, with Button this time. The race is not less chaotic, and, starting from 17th place, Robert Doornbos wins the race. Full order: Doornbos-Klien-Karthikeyan-Coulthard-Webber-Button-Fisichella-M Schumacher.
China: A great final race, Toyota actually maintains their momentum, and Klien wins from pole. Full order: Klien-Coulthard-Montoya-Raikkonen-Trulli-Barrichello-Da Matta-Webber.

Final Standings:
Kimi Raikkonen 97 (7 wins)
Rubens Barrichello 68 (1 win)
Mark Webber 60 (2 wins)
Ralf Schumacher 47 (1 win)
Michael Schumacher 45 (1 win, 2 2nds)
Jarno Trulli 45 (1 win, 1 2nd)
Juan Pablo Montoya 41 (1 win, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
David Coulthard 41 (1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Christian Klien 40 (1 win)
Antonio Pizzonia 39 (4 3rds)
Jenson Button 35 (3 3rds)
Narain Karthikeyan 30 (2 2nds)
Enrique Bernoldi 23 (1 3rd)
Giancarlo Fisichella 20 (1 2nd)
Cristiano da Matta 19 (1 2nd)
Christijan Albers 15 (1 win)
Robert Doornbos 13 (1 win)
Jan Magnussen 13 (1 4th)
Thiago Monteiro 12 (1 2nd)
Vitantonio Liuzzi 10 (1 win)
Gianmaria Bruni 9 (1 3rd)
Ricardo Zonta 5 (1 4th)
Alexander Wurz 4 (1 5th)
Felipe Massa 0 (1 9th)
Patrick Friesacher 0 (2 12ths)
Anthony Daivdson 0 (1 13th)
Nick Heidfeld has not finished a race.

Constructors:
Ferrari 157
McLaren 93
Red Bull 91
Renault 86
Jordan 84
Toyota 75
Tyrrell 42
BAR 42
Minardi 33
Arrows 28 - last place with two wins!!!!

Notes:
First wins for Webber.
First podium(s) and win for Klien, Liuzzi, Albers, Doornbos.
First podium(s) for Karthikeyan, Bruni, Monteiro.
Karthikeyan, Monteiro, Albers, Doornbos and Liuzzi are all unrejectified.
First pole(s) for Webber, Button, Klien.

Silly Season:
Magnussen retires after a long and nice career with one wonderful race win.
Many teams exit the sport, Minardi turns into Red Bull's second team Toro Rosso, Tyrrell becomes BMW, Honda takes over BAR and Jordan becomes Midland. Super Aguri, a completely new team also enters F1.
Red Bull decides that none of their second drivers were good enough, so they sign Karthikeyan after his impressive rookie season.
Midland lets Pizzonia to go and signs rookie Nico Rosberg to accompany Michael Schumacher. (interesting, isn't it?)
Pizzonia joins Honda, and his teammate will be Monteiro.
Toyota lets Button go to sign Liuzzi.
Button joins Super Aguri, and his teammate will be Japanese rookie Yuji Ide.
Arrows signs Massa and Scott Speed.

Full line-up for 2006:
Ferrari: Raikkonen-Webber
McLaren: R Schumacher-Montoya
Red Bull: Barrichello-Karthikeyan
Renault: Trulli-Coulthard
Midland: M Schumacher-Rosberg
Toyota: Klien-Liuzzi
BMW: Bernoldi-Da Matta
Honda: Pizzonia-Monteiro
Toro Rosso: Fisichella-Albers
Arrows: Massa-Speed
Super Aguri: Button-Ide

[Aerospeed]

Interesting lineup for 2006!

[QuickYoda41]

2006, first half

Let's see where that interesting line-up leads us:

Bahrain: The start is sensational in Sakhir, the new Midland team takes their first win at their first weekend - Michael Schumacher is now only 1 win away from Alain Prost's record, as this was Schumi's 50th victory. Barrichello is second ahead of the Toyotas, title holder Raikkonen starts with a 6th. Full order: M Schumacher-Barrichello-Klien-Liuzzi-Massa-Raikkonen-Webber-Trulli.
Malaysia: Webber is dominant here and now he's not taken out, so he takes the win and the champinship lead. Klien and Trulli are the other two drivers having scored at both of the first races. Full order: Webber-Montoya-Karthikeyan-Trulli-Klien-Pizzonia-Bernoldi-Coulthard.
Australia: McLaren is on top form, Montoya leads their 1-2. Scott Speed scores the first time in his F1 career. Full order: Montoya-R Schumacher-Coulthard-Webber-Speed-Pizzonia-Karthikeyan-Raikkonen.
San Marino: Barrichello wins ahead of champs leader Montoya. Raikkonen is 8th again. Full order: Barrichello-Montoya-Trulli-R Schumacher-Webber-Klien-Liuzzi-Raikkonen.

Standings after 4 races:
Montoya 26
Webber 21
Barrichello 18
R Schumacher 13
Klien 13
Trulli 12

Europe: After last year's late suspension blow, this time nothing stops Raikkonen. He's followed by the top 3 of the championship race. Montagny replaces Ide at Super Aguri and eventually scores his team's first points in F1. Full order: Raikkonen-Barrichello-Montoya-Webber-R Schumacher-Monteiro-Montagny-Klien.
Spain: Raikkonen and Montoya are out early, Barrichello wins ahead of Webber and Trulli. M Schumacher and Midland scores for the first time since their brilliant start, and Fisichella scores Toro Rosso's first points. Full order: Barrichello-Webber-Trulli-Liuzzi-M Schumacher-R Schumacher-Fisichella-Speed.
Monaco: Raikkonen maintains his reign on the streets of Monaco - Montoya is out for the second time in a row, but the other so far top drivers don't have a great race, either. Full order: Raikkonen-R Schumacher-Liuzzi-Albers-Monteiro-Button-Da Matta-Barrichello.
Britain: Raikkonen wins again, and is now ahead of teammate Webber. Montoya is 2nd, Monteiro is on podium, as well, ahead of the Red Bulls. Full order: Raikkonen-Montoya-Monteiro-Barrichello-Karthikeyan-M Schumacher-Fisichella-Montagny.

Standings after 8 races:
Barrichello 42
Montoya 40
Raikkonen 35
Webber 34
R Schumacher 28
Trulli 18

[James1978]

Can I just ask why Alonso hasn't taken part since 2001?

[QuickYoda41]

Can I just ask why Alonso hasn't taken part since 2001?

Alonso was the best driver of the last placed team in 2001 here. In reality, Marques was the best from the last placed team in the final standings, and he hasn't taken part since. Similarly had Pedro Lamy the chance for years instead of Fisichella, who needed a series of coincidences (and an unretracable driver position) to get back finally in 2004.