What If?

[tBone]

What if Ron Dennis' doubts about Hamilton hadn't been taken away in testing?

Okay, so hear me out on this one... It changes just about everything. Pedro de la Rosa gets the second seat at McLaren in 2007, alongside Alonso. With Pedro being a solid wingman to a happy Alonso, the latter wins the championship and solidifies his #1 status at the team. Lewis Hamilton meanwhile makes his debut on loan with Spyker, alongside Christijan Albers who gets absolutely shattered from the word go. Hamilton even scores a couple of points in the worst car on the grid, convincing Ron Dennis that he is worthy of a McLaren seat.

Fernando Alonso continues his domination of F1 in 2008, with McLaren that looks even stronger than the year before. Hamilton has an impressive first season at the team, winning several races, but he lacks the consistency to win the championship.

The 2009 car is a disappointment for McLaren and Alonso gets frustrated with the team, while Hamilton is keeping his head up. It is Hamilton who snatches some wins in the second half of the season, biding the team around him in the process. Alonso decides it is time to leave before the season is over; he joins Ferrari in 2010. Brawn GP miraculously wins the championship with a Mercedes engine, but given that Mercedes has enjoyed two dominant years with McLaren while spygate remains in oblivion, it increases its involvement with McLaren by buying a bigger part of that team.

So... Who buys Brawn GP and does it still become as successful in the hybrid era? Can a 4x champion like Alonso get a better seat after his Ferrari years and does he win the 2012 championship now he's had somewhat less frustrating years in the meantime? Will Hamilton ever become a world champion?

... And does HRT somehow survive in this universe?

[Rob Dylan]

What if Alex Albon had won the Austrian Grand Prix last year? How different would the present be already?

Would he have had a boost in confidence and therefore performance? Or would he have been given more time and support from Red Bull to stay on for this year? Would everything stay exactly the same?

To go from race winner to Red Bull DTM throwaway in the space of a year seems just too unbelievable for me.

[mario]

What if Alex Albon had won the Austrian Grand Prix last year? How different would the present be already?

Would he have had a boost in confidence and therefore performance? Or would he have been given more time and support from Red Bull to stay on for this year? Would everything stay exactly the same?

To go from race winner to Red Bull DTM throwaway in the space of a year seems just too unbelievable for me.

My gut feeling is that, whilst it might have given Albon a bit of a confidence boost, I don't think he would have performed significantly better over the rest of the season and that he would still have been dropped at the end of the year.

When you look at what Red Bull have been looking for, they have wanted a decent paced second driver who had a reasonable amount of technical expertise. I am not sure that Albon would have been that much faster even with a confidence boost from Austria, and there were reports that he was struggling on the technical side - I suspect Perez would probably have still been picked as a replacement, as his skill set seems to be a better match for what Red Bull want right now.

[1993DonningtonNo1Mk2]

What if Colin Chapman was still alive when Senna joined Lotus?

Also, is this thread only for F1-related subjects?

[tBone]

What if Colin Chapman was still alive when Senna joined Lotus?

Having just watched the Netflix documentary on DeLorean, I'm tempted to say there is a good chance that Chapman would have been in jail.

[Rob Dylan]

What if Colin Chapman was still alive when Senna joined Lotus?

Having just watched the Netflix documentary on DeLorean, I'm tempted to say there is a good chance that Chapman would have been in jail.

Before being released ten years later in 1992/3 just in time to save Lotus from destruction?

[Har1MAS1415]

Now I know this was never likely to begin with but what if David Coulthard had gone to the BTCC with Mazda in 1994, thus leaving Williams with one less possible replacement for Ayrton Senna after his death at Imola?

[Rob Dylan]

Now I know this was never likely to begin with but what if David Coulthard had gone to the BTCC with Mazda in 1994, thus leaving Williams with one less possible replacement for Ayrton Senna after his death at Imola?

I would really pity Frank Williams in that scenario. IIRC he picked Coulthard because so many people had called him up as coffin chasers to get Ayrton's seat. He hated how mercenary the drivers were after someone had died, so I don't know who else would have got the seat in that scenario.

[Har1MAS1415]

Now I know this was never likely to begin with but what if David Coulthard had gone to the BTCC with Mazda in 1994, thus leaving Williams with one less possible replacement for Ayrton Senna after his death at Imola?

I would really pity Frank Williams in that scenario. IIRC he picked Coulthard because so many people had called him up as coffin chasers to get Ayrton's seat. He hated how mercenary the drivers were after someone had died, so I don't know who else would have got the seat in that scenario.

That's a pretty harsh assessment but I understand perfectly.

[Har1MAS1415]

Just been compiling the 2007 Driver's and Constructor's points as they would have been if the McLaren drivers' points had been redistributed.

The results are as follows:

Drivers
1. Kimi Raikkonen 130
2. Felipe Massa 113
3. Nick Heidfeld 86
4. Robert Kubica 61
5. Heikki Kovalainen 54
6. Giancarlo Fisichella 41
7. Nico Rosberg 38
8. Mark Webber 23
9. David Coulthard 22
10. Alexander Wurz 21
11. Jarno Trulli 19
12. Ralf Schumacher 13
13. Jenson Button 12
14. Sebastian Vettel 9
15. Takuma Sato 7
16. Vitantonio Liuzzi 5
17. Rubens Barrichello 4
18. Adrian Sutil 2
19. Scott Speed 2
20. Kazuki Nakajima 1

Constructors
1. Ferrari 243
2. BMW Sauber 150
3. Renault 95
4. Williams Toyota 60
5. Red Bull Renault 45
6. Toyota 32
7. Honda 16
8. Toro Rosso Ferrari 13
9. Super Aguri Honda 7
10. Spyker Ferrari 2

Raikkonen wins the title with a race to spare.

Ferrari match their 2002 feat of winning 15 out of 17 races (9 for Kimi, 6 for Massa) but with only 7 1-2s, it's not quite as successful as 2002 and 2004.

BMW Sauber score their first win in Canada a year in advance but with Heidfeld instead of Kubica.

Kovalainen scores a point on debut and a first win at Fuji.

Kubica, Fisichella and Coulthard go from a combined total of no podiums to 10 (Kubica 6, Fizzi and DC 2 apiece)

Nico Rosberg rounds out the season with his first podium a race in advance.

Mark Webber and Red Bull break into the top 2 for the first time at the Nurburgring.

Alex Wurz breaks into the top 2 for the first time in Canada and follows that up with 3rd at the Nurburgring.

Toyota at least manage to break into the top 5 on four occasions (3-1 to Trulli).

Honda at least manage to finish ahead of STR and Rubinho never endures a pointless season in his entire career.

Vettel makes up for Fuji by scoring his and STR's first podium in China.

Liuzzi gets a point at Fuji, despite his post-race time penalty and goes on to unrejectify himself (or at least get himself into "You Lucky Bastard" territory) at the inaugural Korean GP in 2010.

Scott Speed manages to open his points account before being replaced by Vettel.

Kazuki Nakajima secures a point on debut despite that incident with his pit crew.

What if the above had happened?

Apart from Liuzzi, what differences would it have made in the following years?

[Har1MAS1415]

In light of what nearly happened to Pierre Gasly at Suzuka today, I can't help thinking what if Force India had promoted Jules Bianchi to a race seat for 2013 instead of bringing back Adrian Sutil?

Jules would probably still be with us for a start.

Spooky how Bianchi's race number was 17 and up until now, he had been mentioned no less than 17 times on this thread, I know because I did the research.

[Har1MAS1415]

https://the-race.com/formula-1/shouldve ... ota-in-f1/ - According to this article, Toyota were looking to hire Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastien Buemi for 2010, what if that had happened?

Would leave Toro Rosso with a vacancy alongside Jaime Alguersuari for a start so possibly Ricciardo a year and a half early or Hartley over 7 and a half years early?

[tBone]

https://the-race.com/formula-1/shouldve ... ota-in-f1/ - According to this article, Toyota were looking to hire Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastien Buemi for 2010, what if that had happened?

Would leave Toro Rosso with a vacancy alongside Jaime Alguersuari for a start so possibly Ricciardo a year and a half early or Hartley over 7 and a half years early?

Was Neel Jani still in the Red Bull Jr programme by then? Another alternative might have been Takuma Sato, who had been pretty quick when he tested for STR in early 2009.

[Har1MAS1415]

https://the-race.com/formula-1/shouldve ... ota-in-f1/ - According to this article, Toyota were looking to hire Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastien Buemi for 2010, what if that had happened?

Would leave Toro Rosso with a vacancy alongside Jaime Alguersuari for a start so possibly Ricciardo a year and a half early or Hartley over 7 and a half years early?

Was Neel Jani still in the Red Bull Jr programme by then? Another alternative might have been Takuma Sato, who had been pretty quick when he tested for STR in early 2009.

Not sure what became of Jani after Champ Car got absorbed by the Indy Racing League though given how Hartley was later recalled to the Red Bull family, I suppose Jani could have been recalled. Forgot about Takuma Sato and how he came close to replacing Bourdais so I guess he could also have been a possibility depending on how things were going regarding his switch to Indycar.

[dr-baker]

Not sure what became of Jani after Champ Car got absorbed by the Indy Racing League though given how Hartley was later recalled to the Red Bull family, I suppose Jani could have been recalled. Forgot about Takuma Sato and how he came close to replacing Bourdais so I guess he could also have been a possibility depending on how things were going regarding his switch to Indycar.

A1GP, sports cars, FE. Long time with Porsche.

[Har1MAS1415]

Not sure what became of Jani after Champ Car got absorbed by the Indy Racing League though given how Hartley was later recalled to the Red Bull family, I suppose Jani could have been recalled. Forgot about Takuma Sato and how he came close to replacing Bourdais so I guess he could also have been a possibility depending on how things were going regarding his switch to Indycar.

A1GP, sports cars, FE. Long time with Porsche.

Thank you. I could only remember as far as A1GP.

[Har1MAS1415]

What if Lance Stroll had been declared unfit to race in Bahrain this year and Felipe Drugovich got his chance as was Aston Martin's original plan?

[dr-baker]

Not sure what became of Jani after Champ Car got absorbed by the Indy Racing League though given how Hartley was later recalled to the Red Bull family, I suppose Jani could have been recalled. Forgot about Takuma Sato and how he came close to replacing Bourdais so I guess he could also have been a possibility depending on how things were going regarding his switch to Indycar.

A1GP, sports cars, FE. Long time with Porsche.

Thank you. I could only remember as far as A1GP.

His FE stint is rather forgettable. As in, I watched and cannot remember much of it other than he was there.

[Har1MAS1415]

A1GP, sports cars, FE. Long time with Porsche.

Thank you. I could only remember as far as A1GP.

His FE stint is rather forgettable. As in, I watched and cannot remember much of it other than he was there.

No wonder I couldn't remember his FE stint.

[dr-baker]

If Jani had ever made it to F1 with Alpha Rosso/Torro Tauri, I think Jani would be about as memorable as Brendon Hartley.

And I only know that Jani would have driven for Porsche in FE because he has been a long term Porsche driver in sportscars...

[Har1MAS1415]

If Jani had ever made it to F1 with Alpha Rosso/Torro Tauri, I think Jani would be about as memorable as Brendon Hartley.

And I only know that Jani would have driven for Porsche in FE because he has been a long term Porsche driver in sportscars...

Could have been worse, he was originally Sauber's test driver, their original intention was to promote him to a 2005 race seat.

[Alextrax52]

Was just watching “The mobile chicane’s” video about BMW and it reignited a question I’ve pondered for years:

What if Hamilton had rear ended Kubica at the pit lane in Canada 2008 instead of Raikkonen?

Given BMW went on to abandon development of the 2008 car to focus on getting the 2009 regs wrong because they achieved their target of winning a race, would Kubica being the victim of Hamilton’s mistake have convinced BMW to keep developing the 2008 car so they could achieve the win target? Would it have led to Robert going on to take not just a first win but also an unexpected championship as well?

[Rob Dylan]

It would have given us a Heidfeld win, and for me nothing else matters after that. They can just stop F1 and everyone can go home.

[James1978]

It would have given us a Heidfeld win, and for me nothing else matters after that. They can just stop F1 and everyone can go home.

Sorry to be (slightly) boring, but Kimi surely if he got out of the pits unscathed?

[Har1MAS1415]

Michael Andretti signed a deal to race for Ferrari in 1992, what if this had eventuated? Given how the 1992 Ferrari turned out, probably would have been just as disastrous as his stint at McLaren turned out.

[dr-baker]

Michael Andretti signed a deal to race for Ferrari in 1992, what if this had eventuated? Given how the 1992 Ferrari turned out, probably would have been just as disastrous as his stint at McLaren turned out.

But maybe in that case, the car could have been blamed and masked any poor performance by the driver, and so got a second chance? Depends how he faired against his teammate I suppose.

[mario]

Not sure what became of Jani after Champ Car got absorbed by the Indy Racing League though given how Hartley was later recalled to the Red Bull family, I suppose Jani could have been recalled. Forgot about Takuma Sato and how he came close to replacing Bourdais so I guess he could also have been a possibility depending on how things were going regarding his switch to Indycar.

A1GP, sports cars, FE. Long time with Porsche.

Thank you. I could only remember as far as A1GP.

Jani dropped out of Red Bull's Junior Team in 2007, so that would suggest he's unlikely to have been chosen.

I think that the list of drivers that Red Bull had in their junior team in 2009 were Hartley, Ricciardo, Aleshin, Wickens, Juncadella, Maki and Bortolotti, although only Hartley and Ricciardo were still there by the end of the year. If we assume that Red Bull probably wouldn't have promoted any of the drivers that they dropped, it does suggest that the most likely options probably would be Hartley or Ricciardo.

[Har1MAS1415]

Michael Andretti signed a deal to race for Ferrari in 1992, what if this had eventuated? Given how the 1992 Ferrari turned out, probably would have been just as disastrous as his stint at McLaren turned out.

But maybe in that case, the car could have been blamed and masked any poor performance by the driver, and so got a second chance? Depends how he faired against his teammate I suppose.

He claimed he had a three-year contract so he probably would have survived into 1993 at least. He also claimed he was to partner Alain Prost so the deal predates Prost's sacking. If Andretti had driven for Ferrari in 92 and continued into 93, I'm guessing Gerhard Berger probably would have stayed at McLaren and Mika Hakkinen would have had to sit it out until 1994.

[Har1MAS1415]

A1GP, sports cars, FE. Long time with Porsche.

Thank you. I could only remember as far as A1GP.

Jani dropped out of Red Bull's Junior Team in 2007, so that would suggest he's unlikely to have been chosen.

I think that the list of drivers that Red Bull had in their junior team in 2009 were Hartley, Ricciardo, Aleshin, Wickens, Juncadella, Maki and Bortolotti, although only Hartley and Ricciardo were still there by the end of the year. If we assume that Red Bull probably wouldn't have promoted any of the drivers that they dropped, it does suggest that the most likely options probably would be Hartley or Ricciardo.

I agree.

[mario]

Michael Andretti signed a deal to race for Ferrari in 1992, what if this had eventuated? Given how the 1992 Ferrari turned out, probably would have been just as disastrous as his stint at McLaren turned out.

But maybe in that case, the car could have been blamed and masked any poor performance by the driver, and so got a second chance? Depends how he faired against his teammate I suppose.

He claimed he had a three-year contract so he probably would have survived into 1993 at least. He also claimed he was to partner Alain Prost so the deal predates Prost's sacking. If Andretti had driven for Ferrari in 92 and continued into 93, I'm guessing Gerhard Berger probably would have stayed at McLaren and Mika Hakkinen would have had to sit it out until 1994.

Michael mentions that he approached Carl Haas asking to be released from his contract at around the time that they were going to race at Road America, which was in September 1991. That said, there seems to be some inconsistencies in the timelines as we know that Berger announced that he had signed a contract with Ferrari just before the Belgian GP, and that was in August 1991.

Michael seems to imply that the deal was signed in September, as he indicates it was signed close to the time that the race in Road America took place, but that would seem to post-date Berger's announcement. We therefore have a few problems - Prost is supposed to have had a contract lasting until 1992, with his contract only being terminated in November 1991, we have Berger announcing in August 1991 that he was going to drive for Ferrari and then we have Michael's claim to have signed a contract, which possibly seems to have been signed in September 1991.

Now, it's possible that Michael might have misremembered the dates slightly - if his attempt to get out of his contract with Carl Haas took place before August, then it maybe makes more sense that Ferrari might have initially approach Michael, then turned to Berger when Carl refused to allow him out of his contract, and then the Andretti-Prost theoretical line up is a bit more plausible.

As for how it might have played out, Michael suggested that the three year deal was because Ferrari expected him to take some time to acclimatise to Formula 1, so it is possible that he'd have been retained for 1993. It's a bit hard to tell what might have happened - on the one hand, the F92A being such a poor car might have meant the team were a bit more lenient, and it sounds as if Ferrari went into the deal expecting that Michael would need time to adjust to that switch.

On the other hand, if Michael continued to live in the USA and just flew in occasionally, as he did with McLaren, that is still likely to have caused the same cultural problems he experienced at McLaren. Furthermore, the performance problems that the F92A had might also have made it even more difficult for him to adjust to a switch from IndyCar to Formula 1 - I know that the engine department and the aero departments pointed at each other, but I suspect that both of them had their share of problems.

[Har1MAS1415]

What if Stephen South had joined Lotus as a test or race driver in 1980?

[Har1MAS1415]

There was once a rumour linking Damon Hill to Benetton for 1997 with Jean Alesi switching to Jordan alongside Ralf Schumacher, what if this had happened? A possible year on the sidelines for Fisichella and Tarso Marques in an Arrows for a start...

[Rob Dylan]

There was once a rumour linking Damon Hill to Benetton for 1997 with Jean Alesi switching to Jordan alongside Ralf Schumacher, what if this had happened? A possible year on the sidelines for Fisichella and Tarso Marques in an Arrows for a start...

Hill in Benetton for 1997 has top meme potential. Him in the place of Alesi running out of fuel at Melbourne would be absolutely bizarre in terms of how his career would potentially plummet. He might at least get a better out, with a second season at Benetton if he doesn't embarrass himself. However, for him to step into the Benetton that his old rival Schumacher had once used, I'm not sure how good for his reputation floundering around behind old man Berger would have been.

[Har1MAS1415]

There was once a rumour linking Damon Hill to Benetton for 1997 with Jean Alesi switching to Jordan alongside Ralf Schumacher, what if this had happened? A possible year on the sidelines for Fisichella and Tarso Marques in an Arrows for a start...

Hill in Benetton for 1997 has top meme potential. Him in the place of Alesi running out of fuel at Melbourne would be absolutely bizarre in terms of how his career would potentially plummet. He might at least get a better out, with a second season at Benetton if he doesn't embarrass himself. However, for him to step into the Benetton that his old rival Schumacher had once used, I'm not sure how good for his reputation floundering around behind old man Berger would have been.

I would like to think that, as the reigning World Champion, Damon Hill would know better than to make the kind of mistakes Jean Alesi made and that Damon would probably be more motivated than at Arrows, even if the Benetton is not as competitive as the Williams. Still leaves Alesi at Jordan and I don't know about Fisichella. Tarso Marques would probably get the Arrows seat as he was close to signing for them until they signed Damon which probably gives the team less of a reason to sign Pedro Diniz so they'd probably retain Jos Verstappen, if he could bare to put up with Tom Walkinshaw for another year and Diniz remains at Prost with Shinji Nakano having to settle for a testing role just to keep Mugen-Honda happy. That's my guess.

[Har1MAS1415]

There was once a rumour linking Damon Hill to Benetton for 1997 with Jean Alesi switching to Jordan alongside Ralf Schumacher, what if this had happened? A possible year on the sidelines for Fisichella and Tarso Marques in an Arrows for a start...

Hill in Benetton for 1997 has top meme potential. Him in the place of Alesi running out of fuel at Melbourne would be absolutely bizarre in terms of how his career would potentially plummet. He might at least get a better out, with a second season at Benetton if he doesn't embarrass himself. However, for him to step into the Benetton that his old rival Schumacher had once used, I'm not sure how good for his reputation floundering around behind old man Berger would have been.

I would like to think that, as the reigning World Champion, Damon Hill would know better than to make the kind of mistakes Jean Alesi made and that Damon would probably be more motivated than at Arrows, even if the Benetton is not as competitive as the Williams. Still leaves Alesi at Jordan and I don't know about Fisichella. Tarso Marques would probably get the Arrows seat as he was close to signing for them until they signed Damon which probably gives the team less of a reason to sign Pedro Diniz so they'd probably retain Jos Verstappen, if he could bare to put up with Tom Walkinshaw for another year and Diniz remains at Prost with Shinji Nakano having to settle for a testing role just to keep Mugen-Honda happy. That's my guess.

While we're on the subject, just how many teams was Damon Hill linked to for 1997 before he signed for Arrows?

[Alextrax52]

Hill in Benetton for 1997 has top meme potential. Him in the place of Alesi running out of fuel at Melbourne would be absolutely bizarre in terms of how his career would potentially plummet. He might at least get a better out, with a second season at Benetton if he doesn't embarrass himself. However, for him to step into the Benetton that his old rival Schumacher had once used, I'm not sure how good for his reputation floundering around behind old man Berger would have been.

I would like to think that, as the reigning World Champion, Damon Hill would know better than to make the kind of mistakes Jean Alesi made and that Damon would probably be more motivated than at Arrows, even if the Benetton is not as competitive as the Williams. Still leaves Alesi at Jordan and I don't know about Fisichella. Tarso Marques would probably get the Arrows seat as he was close to signing for them until they signed Damon which probably gives the team less of a reason to sign Pedro Diniz so they'd probably retain Jos Verstappen, if he could bare to put up with Tom Walkinshaw for another year and Diniz remains at Prost with Shinji Nakano having to settle for a testing role just to keep Mugen-Honda happy. That's my guess.

While we're on the subject, just how many teams was Damon Hill linked to for 1997 before he signed for Arrows?

I think he was also linked with McLaren and Jordan as well. Obviously the latter move happened a year later but I think he turned McLaren down which he probably regretted come the start of 1998

[mario]

While we're on the subject, just how many teams was Damon Hill linked to for 1997 before he signed for Arrows?

I think he was also linked with McLaren and Jordan as well. Obviously the latter move happened a year later but I think he turned McLaren down which he probably regretted come the start of 1998.

It might almost be quicker to list teams that he supposedly didn't have talks with - the list appears to be Benetton, McLaren, Ferrari, Jordan, Stewart, Sauber, Prost and Arrows, although how serious some of those approaches were, or if an approach really was actually made, is not entirely clear.

That said, Hill has suggested that he was thinking of staying at Arrows for only one year, and then aim to switch to McLaren for 1998 as he knew Newey was heading to him: what is debated, however, is what terms Ron Dennis offered Hill for a contract for 1998 and how good it was.

Hill has claimed that he was offered quite poor terms from Ron Dennis, describing it as "more of an insult". Hill hasn't confirmed what those terms were, but a contemporary report from Andrew Frankl suggested Hill was offered $2 million as a retainer, plus $100,000 per point he scored during the season, and that many thought Hill made a terrible decision not to accept that offer.

It's an interesting offer when compared to some of the rumours about what he was earning at Arrows and at Jordan, which seems to have been rumoured to have been around $7-8 million. It's also interesting to compare it to what Hakkinen was getting at McLaren, which was reportedly around $8 million in 1998.

[Har1MAS1415]

While we're on the subject, just how many teams was Damon Hill linked to for 1997 before he signed for Arrows?

I think he was also linked with McLaren and Jordan as well. Obviously the latter move happened a year later but I think he turned McLaren down which he probably regretted come the start of 1998.

It might almost be quicker to list teams that he supposedly didn't have talks with - the list appears to be Benetton, McLaren, Ferrari, Jordan, Stewart, Sauber, Prost and Arrows, although how serious some of those approaches were, or if an approach really was actually made, is not entirely clear.

That said, Hill has suggested that he was thinking of staying at Arrows for only one year, and then aim to switch to McLaren for 1998 as he knew Newey was heading to him: what is debated, however, is what terms Ron Dennis offered Hill for a contract for 1998 and how good it was.

Hill has claimed that he was offered quite poor terms from Ron Dennis, describing it as "more of an insult". Hill hasn't confirmed what those terms were, but a contemporary report from Andrew Frankl suggested Hill was offered $2 million as a retainer, plus $100,000 per point he scored during the season, and that many thought Hill made a terrible decision not to accept that offer.

It's an interesting offer when compared to some of the rumours about what he was earning at Arrows and at Jordan, which seems to have been rumoured to have been around $7-8 million. It's also interesting to compare it to what Hakkinen was getting at McLaren, which was reportedly around $8 million in 1998.

Well Ferrari would definitely have never happened, not with Damon's old rival Michael Schumacher driving for them, I remember Benetton, McLaren, Jordan and Stewart, Prost may have been possible, given he'd been Alain's team-mate at Williams in 1993 and given how good the JS45 was until Panis' crash, Damon might have scored a win in that car, not sure about Sauber, only that the musical chairs with the the team's 2nd car might never have happened.

[dr-baker]

While we're on the subject, just how many teams was Damon Hill linked to for 1997 before he signed for Arrows?

I think he was also linked with McLaren and Jordan as well. Obviously the latter move happened a year later but I think he turned McLaren down which he probably regretted come the start of 1998.

It might almost be quicker to list teams that he supposedly didn't have talks with - the list appears to be Benetton, McLaren, Ferrari, Jordan, Stewart, Sauber, Prost and Arrows, although how serious some of those approaches were, or if an approach really was actually made, is not entirely clear.

A slightly facetious point, but this implies that Damon Hill supposedly had talks with MasterCard Lola too? I would love to see some evidence for that!

[James1978]

I have it in my mind that if Hill had been in the 1998 McLaren then MSC would have won the championship, as Hill takes more points off Hakkinen than Coulthard does earlier in the season, plus MSC wins Spa because Hill is further up the road than DC so doesn't get lapped and therefore THAT accident doesn't happen!