Grand Prix Rejects

Yes, I know, it's a new alternative championship. But this one is quite different.

Are there any criteria to eliminate any drivers from the field? Nope.
Are the results of each race flipped, inverted, magnified, diminished, what-notted? Nope again.
Are you using any unique points systems Whose Line Is It Anyway would dream of having? Not really..
Are you going to determine championships by other criteria, like qualifying position, average pace, burgers eaten on the Thursday before a race? Haha No.

All the results will be the same, no changing of positions whatsoever. The only change will be the season-opener and season closer…

Simply put, the results will be stretched out over two seasons, for example, 1950-1951. The results will come from the last half of the previous season, and the first half of the latter season. So if you'd had a strong run towards the season closer, and come blasting out of the gates in the season opener, you're gonna stand a good chance in this championships. But if you had a good streak in the middle of a season….tough.

Some ground rules

--No Indy 500. Unnecessary, makes little difference to results, too many names, so no.
--If a season has an even amount of races, say 14, we'd obviously stop at race seven. But if there were 15 races, we'd take the midpoint of the season (race 8), to be included in the previous season.
--Points systems will come from the later year in a season. So 2009-2010 will run the 25 points for a win scheme and 2002-2003 will run the points to 8th place system, and so on.

So, let's get started!

1950-51 Season

Races: 1950 BEL-1951 GBR(Total Points in Brackets)

1. Juan Manuel Fangio -- 32 (39)
2. Giuseppe Farina -- 24 (27)
3. Luigi Faglioli -- 20
4. Alberto Ascari -- 14
5. Luigi Villoresi -- 12
6. Jose Froilan Gonzalez -- 11
7. Louis Rosier -- 10
8. Piero Taruffi -- 6
9. Reg Parnell -- 5
10. Peter Whitehead -- 4
11. Dorino Serafini -- 3
12. Robert Manzon -- 3
13. Phillippe Etancelin -- 3
14. Toulo de Graffenreid -- 2
15. Yves Giraud-Cabantous -- 2
16. Eugene Chaboud -- 1

Juan Manuel Fangio took the first Formula One season in commandeering style, taking nearly maximum points as only 4 results counted to the championship. Teammate Giuseppe Farina did run him quite close, taking two wins when Fangio was not dominating outright.

Also, two things: I need a new name for this championship. In-Betweener sound so lame and kinky. Need something new. Secondly, I already calculated this series all the way to 1980-81. So, I can tell you in advance there will be new champions, shocking performances by some drivers (good or bad, I'll leave it to your imagination) and, simply put, lots of perennial runner-ups in the championship. And I mean, lots. Spoiler alert.

Really like the sound of this one.

Sounds interesting, just like how they determined which teams moved into or out of pre qualifying mid-season.

1951-52 Season
Races: 1951 GER-1952 GBR(Best 4 Results Count; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Alberto Ascari on his way to victory in the 1951 Italian Grand Prix, his second win of the season.

1. Alberto Ascari -- 35(46)
2. Piero Taruffi -- 21 (23)
3. Giuseppe Farina -- 19
4. Juan Manuel Fangio -- 16 (1 win, 1 2nd)
5. Jose Froilan Gonzalez -- 16 (2 2nds, 1 3rd)
6. Robert Manzon -- 7 (1 3rd, 1 4th, 1 7th)
7. Mike Hawthorn -- 7 (1 3rd, 1 4th, 1 DNF)
8. Rudi Fischer -- 6 (1 2nd)
9. Luigi Villoresi -- 6 (2 4ths)
10. Jean Behra -- 4 (1 3rd)
11. Felice Bonetto -- 4 (2 5ths)
12. Ken Wharton -- 3
13. Dennis Poore -- 3
14. Alan Brown -- 2
15. Paul Frere -- 2
16. Maurice Trintignant -- 2
17. Eric Thompson -- 2

If you thought Fangio dominated last season, Ascari obliterated the field, in no part thanks to Alfa Romeo leaving F1 midway through the season thanks to the new Formula 2 rules, leaving reigning champion Fangio without a drive and without a second title despite being the only one to win a race apart from Ascari at that time. Jose Froilan Gonzalez also had a fantastic run of form in the first three races, finishing on the podium for all of them, but seemingly left F1 halfway through the season for no real reason.

Ascari himself missed the first race of 1952, gifting the win to eventual championship runner-up Piero Taruffi, but cleaned house in every other race in the season apart from Spain, taking near maximum points. Taruffi and Giuseppe Farina managed to pick up their form from mid-season onwards to leapfrog Gonzalez and Fangio in the standings.

Fangio's absence wasn't only due to Alfa's withdrawal, though. Remember, he was severely injured in an accident in June and was sidelined for the rest of the year.

1952-53 Season
Races: 1952 GER-1953 FRA(Best 4 Results Count; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Alberto Ascari qualifying at the season-ending French Grand Prix, having already sealed his title well before then.

1. Alberto Ascari -- 36 (55)
2. Giuseppe Farina -- 21 (23)
3. Luigi Villoresi -- 20 (21)
4. Mike Hawthorn -- 17
5. Jose Froilan Gonzalez -- 16 (17)
6. Juan Manuel Fangio -- 7
7. Toulo de Graffenreid -- 5
8. Rudi Fischer -- 4
9. Onofre Marimon -- 4
10. Felice Bonetto -- 4
11. Piero Taruffi -- 3
12. Jean Behra -- 2
13. Robert Manzon -- 2
14. Oscar Alfredo Galvez -- 2
15 Maurice Trintignant -- 2

Four races.

That's how long it took for Ascari to seal the championship. He won the first four races and took the fastest lap in each of them. He basically scored the maximum points possible by mid-season. We'll probably never see such dominance in F1 ever again.

This left a battle for second place to occur between Farina and Villoresi that was unpredictable up until the last race, with Villoresi taking advantage every time Farina failed to finished and vice versa. In the end, it was Farina who barely scraped into second, with Mike Hawthorn putting on a late season charge to catch the both of them. This charge culminated with a win at the season-closing French Grand Prix at Reims, just ahead of the returning Juan Manuel Fangio, who had been sidelined for the first half of the season with an injury at Monza, and retired from the previous three races.

Will next season see Ascari's domination continue, will we see inaugural champion Fangio hoist the trophy, or will we see Farina fetch a title? How about the young Brit Mike Hawthorn, having been the only driver other than Ascari to take a win this season? Stay tuned to find out!

1953-54 Season
Races: 1953 GBR-1954 GBR (Best 5 Results out of 8; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


A metaphor for the season from the 1953 Italian Grand Prix, Fangio (50) barely edging out Farina (6), with Ascari close behind (4).

1. Juan Manuel Fangio -- 40 (52.14)
2. Giuseppe Farina -- 30
3. Mike Hawthorn -- 19.14 (20.64)
4. Alberto Ascari -- 18.64
5. Jose Froilan Gonzalez -- 18.14
6. Maurice Trintignant -- 13
7. Karl Kling -- 6 (1 2nd)
8. Luigi Villoresi -- 6 (1 3rd)
9. Onofre Marimon -- 4.14
10. Stirling Moss -- 4.14
11. Robert Manzon -- 4
12. Felice Bonetto -- 3
13. Prince Bira -- 3
14. Toulo de Graffenreid -- 2
15. Hermann Lang -- 2
16. Elie Bayol -- 2
17. Andre Pilette -- 2
18. Hans Herrmann -- 1
19. Jean Behra -- 0.14

The start of the season was ferocious, feisty, intense. In the first three races, Alberto Ascari won twice, though his retirement in the third race saw Fangio and Farina gain leapfrog him in the standings. Then came the Italian Grand Prix in 1953, and it turned out to be the race of the season. The three championship contenders, fighting nose to tail in Maseratis and Ferraris, switching positions up until the final lap, where Ascari spun out, holding up Nino Farina and gifting Fangio the win.

That turned out to be a metaphor for the season. Ascari crashed and burned; he signed with the promising new Lancia team for the 1954 portion of the season. The car, however, was not ready, and two drives late in the season saw retirements for the Italian, eliminating him out of the championship chase and allowing Mike Hawthorn to jump him into third place.

This left Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio to battle it out. The scrap at Monza left both drivers equal on points heading into the new year. Fangio took two wins in Argentina and Belgium, while Farina's retirement in Belgium may have left him behind, but he certainly was not out of the title race.

But Farina had a crash. It was at Monza, and it was in a sportscar race. This sidelined Farina for the rest of the season, and handed Fangio's second championship to him on a silver platter.

With Farina out due to injuries, Ascari's new car not yet ready and Fangio with a shiny new Mercedes, the next season may very well be a Fangio whitewash. But you never know, will Fangio's Mercedes uphold typical German efficiency? Will Ascari's Lancia come biting out of the gates? Or perhaps maybe an underdog from nowhere? Let's find out next season...

1954-55 Season
Races: 1954 GER-1955 BEL (Best 5 Results out of 7; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Juan Manuel Fangio on the way to victory under the chaotic heat of the 1955 Argentine Grand Prix.

1. Juan Manuel Fangio -- 43 (48)
2. Maurice Trintignant -- 17.3333333
3. Mike Hawthorn -- 17
4. Jose Froilan Gonzalez -- 14
5. Giuseppe Farina -- 10.3333333
6. Roberto Mieres -- 9
7. Hans Herrmann -- 8
8. Stirling Moss -- 7 (1 2nd)
9. Karl Kling -- 7 (1 4th)
10. Luigi Musso -- 6 (1 2nd, 2 7ths)
11. Eugenio Castellotti -- 6 (1 2nd, 2 DNFs)
12. Sergio Mantovani -- 4
13. Umberto Maglioli -- 3.3333333
14. Paul Frere -- 3 (1 4th)
15. Jean Behra -- 3 (2 5ths (1 shared))
16. Cesare Perdisa -- 2 (1 shared 3rd)
17. Luigi Villoresi -- 2 (1 5th)
18. Alberto Ascari -- 1

Yep, this was a Fangio whitewash. No other words to describe it. Fangio took his Mercedes to take 43 out of 45 possible points, with five wins this season. Mike Hawthorn took the win in Spain, and looked like a sure bet for second place. However, his torrid reliability led to Maurice Trintignant coming from nowhere to take second place, thanks to his win in Monaco where Fangio retired.

There could have been more contenders to Fangio, though. Giuseppe Farina missed out the first half of the season due to his sportscar crash at Monza over the previous season, though he did show impressive results in the second half of the season. However, driving through the burns sustained in his crash, Farina elected to retire once the season was over.

Jose Froilan Gonzalez also looked strong after the first few races, but a crash practicing for a race in Northern Ireland forced him to miss the Spanish Grand Prix, and after the Argentine Grand Prix, Gonzalez left Formula One to focus on his garage business. The final potential candidate to the title, Alberto Ascari ran was luckless throughout this season. His fast Lancia was finally ready by Spain, where he promptly took pole and fastest lap, but he suffered from reliability and his crash into the Monaco harbour. Four days after Monaco, the double world champion would perish testing a sports car at Monza.

1955-56 Season
Races: 1955 NED-1956 FRA (Best 5 Results out of 7; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1955 British Grand Prix. He would lose the race to Stirling Moss, who would be involved in a battle with Fangio for the championship.

1. Juan Manuel Fangio -- 31 (34)
2. Stirling Moss -- 27 (28)
3. Peter Collins -- 19
4. Jean Behra -- 17
5. Eugenio Castellotti -- 13.5
6. Luigi Musso -- 10
7. Piero Taruffi -- 9
8. Paul Frere -- 6
9. Mike Hawthorn -- 4 (1 3rd, 1 shared 6th)
10. Karl Kling -- 4 (1 3rd, 2 DNFs)
11. Roberto Mieres -- 4 (1 4th)
12. Luigi Villoresi -- 4 (2 5ths)
13. Cesare Perdisa -- 3 (1 shared 3rd)
14. Harry Schell -- 3 (1 4th)
15. Olivier Gendebein -- 2
16. Hermano da Silva Ramos -- 2
17. Gerino Gerini -- 1.5
=. Chico Landi -- 1.5

Our first true title battle, yet Fangio always seemed to have the upper hand over his Mercedes teammate at the start of the season, Stirling Moss. Two wins for Fangio and an exciting battle at Aintree, won by Moss, left Fangio in the lead as 1956 rolled around. However, shared drives and retirements from Fangio left Moss with just a four points in it.

Championship Scenario: 1955/1956 French Grand Prix
Moss wins the championship if:
Moss wins or finishes second, and Fangio finishes third or lower.
Moss gets third + fastest lap, Fangio finishes lower than Moss

Fangio wins the championship if:
Literally anything else happens

The French Grand Prix, however, was a massive anticlimax. Moss had his Maserati's gearbox give up on him after just 12 laps, and then took over Cesare Perdisa's car to try and salvage something out of the race. However, Moss was too far back to do anything as Fangio claimed his fourth title and his third on the trot.

1956-57 Season
Races: 1956 GBR-1957 GBR (Best 5 Results out of 7; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Juan Manuel Fangio sliding to his final victory of the season in the 1957 French Grand Prix.

1. Juan Manuel Fangio -- 42 (45)
2. Stirling Moss -- 22
3. Jean Behra -- 14
4. Luigi Musso -- 13
5. Tony Brooks -- 10 (1 2nd)
6. Peter Collins -- 10 (1 shared 2nd)
7. Mike Hawthorn -- 7
8. Paco Godia -- 6
9. Jack Fairman -- 5
=. Harry Schell -- 5
=. Maurice Trintignant -- 5
12. Alfonso de Portago -- 4 (1 shared 2nd)
13. Ron Flockhart -- 4 (1 3rd, same for others below)
=. Masten Gregory -- 4
=. Carlos Menditeguy -- 4
16. Stuart Lewis-Evans -- 3
17. Horace Gould -- 2
18. Louis Rosier -- 2
19. Roy Salvadori -- 2
20. Jose Froilan Gonzalez -- 1

Juan Manuel Fangio takes his fifth title, though he had little challenge throughout the season, taking five wins in the season and sharing a second with Peter Collins. Stirling Moss was the only driver who could really challenge Fangio, but his horrid reliability in the second half of the season affected his chances heavily.

However, Fangio might be retiring next season, Ferrari have got hot British talents in Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn, while Vanwall have appeared on the scene with Moss and another new British superstar, Tony Brooks, sharing the win at Aintree in the season finale. Where will next season take us? Who knows.

1957-58 Season
Races: 1957 GER-1958 FRA (Best 6 Results out of 8; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Stirling Moss on the way to victory in the 1958 Dutch Grand Prix, the race in which he essentially secured his championship

1. Stirling Moss -- 42
2. Mike Hawthorn -- 29
3. Juan Manuel Fangio -- 28
4. Luigi Musso -- 15 (2 2nd places)
5. Harry Schell -- 15 (1 2nd place)
6. Peter Collins -- 10
7. Tony Brooks -- 8
=. Maurice Trintignant -- 8
9. Wolfgang von Trips -- 8 (2 3rd places)
10. Jean Behra -- 6 (1 3rd, 1 6th)
11. Stuart Lewis-Evans -- 6 (1 3rd, 5 DNFs)
12. Masten Gregory -- 6 (2 4ths)
13. Cliff Allison -- 3 (1 4th, 2 6ths)
14. Jack Brabham -- 3 (1 4th, 1 7th)
15. Roy Salvadori -- 3 (1 4th, 1 8th)
16. Giorgio Scarlatti -- 1

Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio were looking like they were going to have another titanic scrap for the title, especially with Moss taking three straight wins in Pescara, Monza and Buenos Aires, with Fangio matching him every step of the way. However, the Argentine great instead elected to retire halfway through the season, but not before making one final appearance in France to close out the season. This left Moss free to take his first title, though Mike Hawthorn did give him a run a good run for his money late in the season.

Predictions for 80s to date:

1979-80: Jones
1980-81: That could well be Reutemann actually with his great first half of 1981
1981-82: I'll say Prost as he was about the only front runner in both half seasons
1982-83: That could be anyone's. I'll take a punt on Tambay as Prost struggled in late 1982.
1983-84: Surely that's Prost
1984-85: Prost again
1985-86: A 3-way scrap between Prost, Senna and Mansell. I'll go with Mansell.
1986-87: Must be Piquet
1987-88: Prost should just edge it from Senna
1988-89: If this includes France and Britain 1989 this should be Prost's again
1989-90: Prost again as I think he lad mid-season in 1990
1990-91: Definitely Senna
1991-92: Mansell
1992-93: An interesting one as nobody in a Williams had the full season with them. It's Senna's then, with Schumacher rather than Williams his nearest challenger
1993-94: That could be Hill's if it includes Britain 94
1994-95: Schumacher
1995-96: Hill
1996-97: Villeneuve
1997-98: Does Schumacher get removed from this? If he does then it's Hakkinen's.
1998-99: That's Schumacher's as Silverstone is the last race IIRC
1999-2000: Must be Hakkinen's with Schumacher's injury
2000-01: Schumacher
2001-02: and again
2002-03: and again
2003-04: and again!!
2004-05: If that includes Indy 05 then Schumacher just edges it from Alonso
2005-06: Alonso
2006-07: Alonso v Massa. I'll go with Massa for an upset.
2007-08: Think that must be Kimi's - Massa didn't get the edge at Ferrari until after that really. Hamilton will just miss out.
2008-09: Looking forward to this as the competitive order completely changed from one year to the next. Massa had quite a good first half of '09 so I'll say him.
2009-10: Think Button gets that actually.
2010-11: Definitely Vettel
2011-12: Can't see past Vettel here either
2012-13: Vettel again
2013-14: Think Vettel has allowance from his 9 wins in a row to still win despite struggling in 2014.
2014-15: Hamilton unless the next few races are really terrible for him.

1958-59 Season
Races: 1958 GBR-1959 GBR (Best 5 Results out of 9; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Tony Brooks in the 1959 French Grand Prix, the race he won to secure the title.

1. Tony Brooks -- 30
2. Jack Brabham -- 27
3. Mike Hawthorn -- 26
4. Stirling Moss -- 25.5 (26.5)
5. Phil Hill -- 18
6. Roy Salvadori -- 12
7. Joakim Bonnier -- 11
8. Bruce McLaren -- 10.5
9. Maurice Trintignant -- 10
10. Peter Collins -- 8
11. Stuart Lewis Evans -- 7 (1 3rd)
12. Harry Schell -- 7 (1 4th)
13. Wolfgang von Trips -- 5
=. Jean Behra -- 5
15. Masten Gregory -- 4
16. Olivier Gendebein -- 3
=. Innes Ireland -- 3

This was a season hit by tragedies to many top stars in the sport. The first came when Ferrari driver Peter Collins, just two weeks after winning the season opener at Silverstone, crashed fatally at the Nurburgring during the German Grand Prix. Mike Hawthorn, affected by his friend's death, pulled out of the sport after the Moroccan Grand Prix, where another promising British talent in Stuart Lewis-Evans passed away. Two months into retirement, Hawthorn himself passed away after a road accident.

Hawthorn still had a near insurmountable lead in the championship though, thanks to the torrid reliability of the rest of the field. His points total was only eclipsed in the 1959 French Grand Prix, where Tony Brooks took the victory. Additionally, though Australian Jack Brabham had an amazing start to the season in his Cooper, Brooks' win-his third of the season-sealed his championship up, with Brabham and Moss to far to catch him and with Hawthorn absent.

Well, you always think about Stirling Moss as a possible "if this little thing changed" champion, but Tony Brooks was a nice surprise. Maybe not for people who actually know history, I don't know, but for me, at least....

1959-60 Season
Races: 1959 GER-1960 FRA (Best 6 Results out of 9; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Bruce McLaren (9) leading Jack Brabham (8) in the 1959 United States Grand Prix. These two would eventually develop a title battle late into the season, culminating in the epic 1960 French Grand Prix.

1. Bruce McLaren -- 32
2. Jack Brabham -- 31
3. Stirling Moss -- 27
4. Phil Hill -- 17
5. Tony Brooks -- 15
6. Dan Gurney -- 13
7. Maurice Trintignant -- 12
8. Olivier Gendebien -- 11
9. Innes Ireland -- 9
10. Cliff Allison -- 8
11. Masten Gregory -- 6
12. Wolfgang von Trips -- 5
13. Graham Hill -- 4 (1 3rd place)
14. Joakim Bonnier -- 4 (2 5ths, 1 7th)
15. Jim Clark -- 4 (2 5ths, no other results)
16. Henry Taylor -- 3 (1 4th, 1 7th)
17. Carlos Menditeguy -- 3 (1 4th, no other results)
18. Harry Schell -- 2 (1 5th)
19. Richie Ginther -- 2 (2 6ths)
20. Ian Burgess -- 1
=. Roy Salvadori -- 1
=. Lucien Bianchi -- 1
=. Ron Flockhart -- 1

This was shaping up to be Stirling Moss' second world title. He looked mighty quick in his Cooper, and took two early victories after the season opener, which reigning champion Tony Brooks won. Bruce McLaren, however, had other ideas, taking two wins and a second place in the mid-season to close the gap to Moss to a meagre two points.
---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1960 Monaco Grand Prix (3 Rounds to go)

1. Stirling Moss -- 24
2. Bruce McLaren -- 22
3. Tony Brooks -- 15
---------------------------------
In the Dutch Grand Prix, Australian Jack Brabham took the win to help launch himself in the title hunt, tying himself on points with Brooks, while McLaren's early retirement allowed Stirling Moss to stretch out the gap between him and second.
---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1960 Dutch Grand Prix (2 Rounds to go)

1. Stirling Moss -- 27
2. Bruce McLaren -- 22
3. Tony Brooks/Jack Brabham -- 15
---------------------------------
However, during practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, Stirling Moss had a massive accident that would sideline him for several months. This effectively whittled the race for the title two, as Brabham sailed over the line a minute ahead of McLaren in tragic circumstances, after the deaths of Alan Stacey and Chris Bristow during the race.
---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1960 Belgian Grand Prix (1 Round to go)

1. Bruce McLaren -- 28
2. Stirling Moss -- 27
3. Jack Brabham -- 23

Championship Scenario: 1960 Frech Grand Prix
Brabham wins the championship if:
Brabham wins and McLaren finishes fourth or lower
Brabham finishes second and McLaren fails to score

McLaren wins the championship if:
Anything else happens.
---------------------------------
In the French Grand Prix, Jack Brabham did as much as he could, fending off the Ferraris left, right and centre throughout the duration of the race until they dropped out, giving Brabham the win. Now all eyes were on McLaren…and he was in the greatest battle of his life.

He, Olivier Gendebien and Innes Ireland were all involved in a magnificent battle over fourth place, which quickly turned into a battle for the all-important podium spots when the Ferraris pulled out. Lap after lap, McLaren and Ireland would power past on the straights, but Gendebien was better on the brakes and used his brand new gearbox to pull an advantage going to the line.

Ireland, however, had to repair his car on lap 34 as his anti-roll bar came loose, essentially gifting McLaren the championship unless he fell foul of mechanical problems or got into any incident. Both looked mighty likely as he continued to battle Gendebien throughout the duration of the race, which got the crowd on their feet every time they passed by, constantly swapping positions in a titanic battle that pushed both cars to their limits. The lapped car of Masten Gregory, though, put an end to this battle when he held up McLaren enough for him to lose sight of the Belgian. Nevertheless, McLaren came in third, enough for the title. The crowd gave him and Gendebien a grand reception for their battle and McLaren's new title, while Brabham would have no doubt been crushed to finish runner-up by just one point.
-----------------------------------------------------------

All credit to Gregor Grant for his race review of the 1960 French Grand Prix in Grand Prix Greats, published by Haymarket. I had this book for several years and used it to get quite a few autographs, and I remembered the Gendebien-McLaren battle from this book, so I digged it out to give you this.

This sounds wonderful, if only most of us were around to have actually seen it.

1960-61 Season
Races: 1960 GBR-1961 FRA (Best 5 Results out of 8; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Phil Hill in the 1961 Dutch Grand Prix driving the famous shark nose Ferrari. Though he finished second in the race, Hill would eventually go on to take the championship.

1. Phil Hill -- 29
2. Wolfgang von Trips -- 23 (24)
3. Jack Brabham -- 22
4. Stirling Moss -- 21
5. Richie Ginther -- 18
6. Bruce McLaren -- 16
7. Innes Ireland -- 14
8. Jim Clark -- 12
9. Giancarlo Baghetti -- 9 (1 win)
10. Dan Gurney -- 9 (1 2nd)
11. John Surtees -- 8
12. Willy Mairesse -- 4 (1 3rd)
13. Tony Brooks -- 4 (2 5ths)
14. Olivier Gendebien -- 3 (1 4th, 1 7th)
15. Giulio Cabianca -- 3 (1 4th, no other results)
16. Joakim Bonnier -- 2
17. Graham Hill -- 1 (1 6th,1 8th)
18. Hans Herrmann -- 1 (1 6th, 1 9th)

Early on in the season, Jack Brabham was dominating in the rear engined Cooper, leaving the powerful but front-engined Ferrari Dino 246 lagging behind in the championship. To maximise straight line speed, the oval and main circuit at Monza was used to form one long circuit, to which the British manufacturers avoided for safety reasons, Cooper included. This allowed Phil Hill to take the win, but no matter, right? Ferrari were struggling, and Jack Brabham's Cooper looked dominating alongside last season's champion McLaren, so a win for Ferrari won't matter too much…

…fast forward to the 1961 Belgian Grand Prix, Hill's second win of the season. Ferrari have debuted the innovative Sharknosed Ferrari 156, allowing von Trips and Hill to dominate the 1961 portion of the season bar Monaco, where Stirling Moss managed to drag his outdated Lotus to victory. Plus, Brabham's Cooper has suddenly turned nasty an unreliable, and only scored one point in the Netherlands after his strong start to the season. This left Hill with a grand lead over teammate von Trips with just France remaining. However, none of the main title contenders, be it Hill, von Trips, Brabham or Moss scored points at all, with the win instead going to debutant Giancarlo Baghetti in a Ferrari.

1961-62 Season
Races: 1961 GBR-1962 GBR (Best 5 Results out of 9; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Phil Hill racing the sharknose Ferrari to his and its second consecutive driver's title in the 1961 German Grand Prix.

1. Phil Hill -- 29 (33)
2. Bruce McLaren -- 23 (24)
3. Jim Clark -- 21 (2 wins)
4. Dan Gurney -- 21 (1 win, 2 2nds)
5. Graham Hill -- 21 (1 win, 1 2nd)
6. Wolfgang von Trips -- 15 (1 win)
7. John Surtees -- 15 (1 2nd)
8. Innes Ireland -- 9 (1 win, 1 10th)
9. Stirling Moss -- 9 (1 win, 3 DNFs)
10. Tony Maggs -- 9 (1 2nd)
11. Richie Ginther -- 8
12. Trevor Taylor -- 6 (1 2nd)
13. Tony Brooks -- 6 (1 3rd)
14. Jack Brabham -- 6 (1 4th)
15. Joakim Bonnier -- 5
16. Lorenzo Bandini -- 4
17. Jackie Lewis -- 3 (1 4th,1 9th)
18. Giancarlo Baghetti -- 3 (1 4th, 3 DNFs)
19. Ricardo Rodriguez -- 3 (1 4th, 2 DNFs)
20. Carol Godin de Beaufort -- 2 (2 6ths, 1 7th)
21. Roy Salvadori -- 2 (2 6ths, 1 10th)

Phil Hill wins his second championship but under tragic circumstances after teammate and early championship leader Wolfgang von Trips fatally crashed at Monza at the third round of the season, after which Ferrari withdrew from the next race in the USA. Apart from this race, the 1962 French Grand Prix where Ferrari also withdrew due to industrial issues back in Italy and the 1962 British Grand Prix where he retired, Hill finished on the podium in every race this season.

The 1962 French Grand Prix was a key race for Ferrari to miss, in fact. Jim Clark looked like a hot driver after winning in Belgium, and a win would propel him towards the title. Graham Hill was also in a run of fabulous form, and had the potential to make it a different Hill as a champion with a good result. Bruce McLaren was Mr. Consistency through the season, and more results means more potential for a championship. However, bad luck would strike the British contenders as Graham Hill was punted off from the lead by a brake-less Jackie Lewis, Jim Clark suffered suspension failure three laps later, and McLaren spun off on lap 10 and spent a long time in the pits. Dan Gurney would go on to win the race in the Porsche, basically eliminating all championship contenders for the title and handing it to Phil hill for the second year in a row.

1962-63 Season
Races: 1962 GER-1963 GBR (Best 6 Results out of 9; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Jim Clark one his way to the last of his four consecutive wins in the season at the 1963 British Grand Prix, which saw him edge out Graham Hill for the title.

1. Jim Clark -- 48
2. Graham Hill -- 46
3. Bruce McLaren -- 26
4. Richie Ginther -- 20
5. John Sutrees -- 19
6. Dan Gurney -- 18
7. Tony Maggs -- 12
8. Jack Brabham -- 9
9. Innes Ireland -- 5
10. Willy Mairesse -- 3 (1 4th)
11. Joakim Bonnier -- 3 (1 5th)
12. Lorenzo Bandini -- 2 (1 5th, 1 8th)
13. Giancarlo Baghetti-- 2 (1 5th, 1 10th)
14-21. Ricardo Rodriguez/Masten Gregory/Neville Lederle/Trevor Taylor/Carol Godin de Beaufort/Ludovico Scarfiotti/Jo Siffert/Jim Hall -- 1 ( I ain't sorting this shite out, you do it for yourself)

Graham Hill got his season off to the greatest start possible. Four wins in the first five races saw Hill sail into a clear lead in the championship. To give you a picture of how dominant Hill was, here was the championship table at the midpoint of the season:

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1963 Monaco Grand Prix (4 Rounds to go)

1. Graham Hill -- 42
2. Bruce McLaren -- 20
3. Jim Clark/Richie Ginther -- 12
---------------------------------

Or, in other words, if Hill just upped and left from F1 right now, McLaren was unlikely due to dropped scores, Clark and Ginther would need three wins and a podium, while rest have already said goodbye to their title hopes.

Enter Jim Clark and Graham Hill's impressive run of bad luck. In Belgium, Graham Hill led, but retired as Jim Clark dominated in the rain. At Zandvoort, Graham Hill was all set to take second place away from Dan Gurney before engine failure denied him a podium as Clark won again. In France, Clark won AGAIN while Hill actually finished third…

…but was disqualified for receiving a push start on the line. Remember that championship table before the previous paragraph? Here's how it looked like now.

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1963 French Grand Prix (1 Rounds to go)

1. Graham Hill -- 42
2. Jim Clark -- 39
---------------------------------

Clark was now right on Hill's tail heading into Silverstone. A win would seal the title for Clark, as even a second place would lose Hill the title on count back.

Clark dropped to fifth at the start of the race, but managed to drag himself back up to the lead by lap 4 and started to pull away into the lead. He would comfortably seal the win for the race and the title, taking the title with four straight wins at the end. It was an incredible comeback, and one to be admired for years to come. Hill could only come home third, having lost second place by running out of fuel on the final lap.

That's an apt metaphor for the season, don't you think?

1963-64 Season
Races: 1963 GER-1964 GBR (Best 6 Results out of 10; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


On the way to his fifth of six victories this season at the 1964 Belgian Grand Prix, Jim Clark proved to be an unstoppable force this season.

1. Jim Clark -- 54 (67)
2. Graham Hill -- 37 (42)
3. Richie Ginther -- 29 (31)
4. Jack Brabham -- 22
5. Dan Gurney -- 19
6. John Surtees -- 17
7. Bruce McLaren -- 14
8. Peter Arundell -- 11
9 .Lorenzo Bandini -- 6 (3 5ths)
10. Joakim Bonnier -- 6 (2 5ths)
11. Innes Ireland -- 3 (1 4th, 2 10ths)
12. Gerhard Mitter -- 3 (1 4th, no other results)
13. Jim Hall -- 2 (1 5th, 2 8ths)
14. Chris Amon -- 2 (1 5th, 1 10th)
15. Tony Maggs/Carol Godin de Beaufort/Mike Hailwood/Bob Anderson/Phil Hill -- 1 (again, can't be bothered)

This season was just dominated by Jim Clark, full stop. Scored six wins to take the maximum possible points this year, no one else could touch him. Richie Ginther had a fair few great results in the first few races, but his form dropped later in the season, allowing Graham Hill to take second place from him in the championship.

1964-65 Season
Races: 1964 GER-1965 GBR (Best 6 Results out of 10; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


John Surtees at the season finale in the 1964 British Grand Prix, having already sealed his championship at France the previous race

1. John Surtees -- 40 (47)
2. Jim Clark -- 38
3. Graham Hill -- 36 (38)
4. Lorenzo Bandini -- 27
5. Jackie Stewart -- 19
6. Bruce McLaren -- 14
7. Richie Ginther -- 13
8. Dan Gurney -- 10 (1 win)
9. Mike Spence -- 10 (3 4ths)
10. Jo Siffert -- 9
11. Bob Anderson -- 4 (1 3rd)
12. Tony Maggs -- 4 (1 4th)
13. Innes Ireland -- 4 (2 5ths)
14. Jack Brabham -- 3 (1 5th, 1 6th, 1 8th, 1 9th)
15. Denny Hulme -- 3 (1 5th, 1 6th, 1 8th, 1 DNF)
16. Maurice Trintignant -- 2 (1 5th, 1 DNF)
17. Walt Hansgen -- 2 (1 5th, no other results)
18. Joakim Bonnier -- 1 (1 6th, 1 7th)
19. Trevor Taylor -- 1 (1 6th, 2 DNFs)
20. Pedro Rodriguez -- 1 (1 6th, no other results)

It would be easy to say John Surtees got what he deserved for his efforts this season, posting consisted podium finishes to complement his two early wins to secure a title won before the final race of the season.

However, it would be unfair to say Jim Clark did not do enough to take the crown. In the first half of the season, the formula was for Clark to suffer an early setback, like dropping a few positions or gear selector issues, before climbing back up to battle for the lead, only to drop out later in the race. This meant he left the first half of the season with just 2 points, at Mexico where on the last lap, his engine seized from the lead.

Clark came back in dominant fashion, winning all of the remaining races in the season bar one: the Monaco Grand Prix, which Jim Clark skipped to win the Indianapolis 500. However, had Clark chose to compete at Monaco, he could have very well taken the title, being just two points off in the final season's standings. Also in the running was Graham Hill, Clark's rival in the 1962-63 season, however he couldn't quite get as good results as Surtees, and dropped points led to Hill finishing third in the standings.

1965-66 Season
Races: 1965 NED-1966 NED (Best 5 Results out of 10; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Jack Brabham driving his own teams' car to a win at the 1965 French Grand Prix, the first of Brabham's three victories in his late season title charge for the title

1. Jack Brabham -- 34 (36)
2. Graham Hill -- 31 (38)
3. Jackie Stewart -- 27
4. Jim Clark -- 25
5. Dan Gurney -- 24 (26)
6. Lorenzo Bandini -- 17 (18)
7. Jochen Rindt -- 15
8. Richie Ginther -- 12 (1 win)
9. Denny Hulme -- 12 (1 2nd)
10. John Surtees -- 9
11. Mike Parkes -- 6 (1 2nd)
12. Mike Spence -- 6 (1 3rd)
13. Bob Bondurant -- 3 (1 4th, 2 9ths)
14. Jo Siffert -- 3 (1 4th, 1 11th)
15. Bruce McLaren -- 3 (1 5th)
16. Pedro Rodriguez -- 2 (1 5th, 1 7th)
17. Ronnie Bucknum -- 2 (1 5th, 1 13th)
18. Richard Attwood -- 2 (2 6ths)
19. John Taylor -- 1

Poor Graham Hill.

Without any dropped points, Hill would've taken this title. He was the only moderately reliable driver in the field aside from Dan Gurney who could finish well in races, as Jackie Stewart and Jim Clark often bit the dust in races when they weren't winning them. However, both Gurney and Hill had difficulty actually winning races, which meant that when the dropped results came into play, they would suffer.

However, they fell to the person they least expected it to be. Jack Brabham had a horrific first half of the year with 1965 engines: the 1958-59 and 1959-60 runner-up never liked the 1500cc engine limit put in place by Formula One, and age up his car to other drivers that season and planned to retire from racing to focus on running his team. However, when team leader Dan Gurney left to set up his own team at the start of the new year along with a new 3000cc formula, Brabham elected to continue on with the season.

Thank goodness he did. After a relatively shaky start to 1966, he got down with a win in the French Grand Prix where most championship contenders couldn't finish for various reasons, or in Stewart's and Clark's case, couldn't start after the former's dramatic accident at Spa in 1966 and the latter's accident in practice where a bird flew into his face. Another win followed in the next race at Great Britian, and suddenly Brabham was in contention in the championship, where Hill only picked up one point due to dropped scores. Heading into the Dutch Grand Prix, the championship standings were:

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1966 British Grand Prix (1 Round to go)

1. Graham Hill -- 29 (Will drop 4 points max)
2. Jack Brabham -- 27 (Will drop 2 points max)
3. Jackie Stewart --24
4. Jim Clark -- 21
---------------------------------

Long story short, if Brabham won the race, he wins the championship, no matter what happens to Hill.

With the Dutch Grand Prix being the race after his 40th birthday, Brabham mock-hobbled onto the grid with a walking stick, poking fun the media and younger drivers on the grid calling him out for his old age. However, Brabham needed no help to lap the field, win the race and the 1965-66 championship. Graham Hill, meanwhile, had finished runner-up yet again in a championship battle where he lead from start to the final race. Another year, Hill. Maybe another year.

1966-67 Season
Races: 1966 GER-1967 GBR (Best 4 Results from each half of the season; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Denny Hulme on the way to winning the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix, the race that vaulted him into title contention.

1. Denny Hulme -- 36
2. Jack Brabham -- 34
3. Jim Clark -- 28
4. John Surtees -- 24
5. Jochen Rindt -- 16
6. Chris Amon -- 15
7. Pedro Rodriguez -- 14
8. Jackie Stewart -- 12
9. Dan Gurney -- 11
10. Ludovico Scarfiotti -- 10
11. Graham Hill -- 9
12. Mike Parkes -- 8
13. John Love -- 6 (1 2nd)
14. Jo Siffert -- 6 (2 4ths)
15. Bruce McLaren -- 5 (1 4th)
16. Mike Spence -- 5 (2 5ths)
17. Richie Ginther -- 3 (1 4th)
18. Bob Anderson -- 3 (1 5th)
19. Chris Irwin -- 2
20. Peter Arundell -- 1 (1 6th, 1 7th)
21. Joakim Bonnier -- 1 (1 6th, 1 Non-Classification)
22. Lorenzo Bandini -- 1 (1 6th, 3 DNFs)

Early in the season, John Surtees had a series of absolutely fantastic results, sailing into the championship lead by the 1967 South African Grand Prix. By this point, Surtees had switched teams from Ferrari to the ambitious Honda outfit. In the meantime, Jack Brabham was continuing his run from 1966 with a win in the opening race and running well in races.

However, his teammate was gaining points behind his back. Denny Hulme was getting points consistently through the season, and with the new 'half-and-half' points system, he wouldn't be punished for it a la Graham Hill last season. And if doubters were pinning his performance in the championship to sheer consistency alone, a win in Monaco was enough to shut them up, and with 2 races left, thanks to the sheer unreliability of Surtees' Honda, the table looked like this:

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1967 Belgian Grand Prix (2 Rounds to go)

1. Denny Hulme -- 24
2. John Surtees -- 23
3. Jack Brabham -- 22
4. Jim Clark -- 19
---------------------------------

In the French Grand Prix, though, Jim Clark, who had already won two races this season, failed to finish, Surtees failed to even show up, and Brabham's victory over Hulme in second had left them as the only two remaining title contenders heading into the final race in Great Britian, with Brabham just one solitary point ahead of Denny Hulme.

At the British Grand Prix, Denny Hulme had a horrible start, dropping all the way down to eighth on the first lap from fourth while Brabham had climbed up to second in the early laps. On lap 9, this changed quite a bit as Hulme fought his way to fourth as Brabham got overtaken by Graham Hill a couple laps later. This left the two title contenders real close to each other to fight it out. By lap thirteen, Hulme got past Brabham for third, but Brabham would still win the title on count back.

Well, that was until lap 55, where Graham Hill had suspension troubles that required him to pit for repairs, this left Hulme in 2nd, with the two point gap to Brabham in 3rd enough to gift Hulme the title. Even as Brabham pushed, Chris Amon overtook him late into the race, to relegate Brabham off the podium and allowing Hulme to cruise in second place to take his first ever title.

1967-68 Season
Races: 1967 GER-1968 FRA (Best 5 Results from first six races, best 4 results from last five; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


The bright orange McLaren driven by Denny Hulme in the second half of the season that took Hulme to the championship

1. Denny Hulme -- 35
2. Graham Hill -- 33
3. Jim Clark -- 31
4. Jack Brabham -- 29
5. John Surtees -- 21
6. Jacky Ickx -- 17
7. Jackie Stewart -- 16
8. Pedro Rodriguez -- 11
9. Bruce McLaren -- 9 (1 win)
10. Jean-Pierre Beltoise -- 9 (1 2nd)
11. Chris Amon -- 9 (1 3rd)
12. Jochen Rindt -- 7
13. Richard Attwood -- 6 (1 2nd)
14. Ludovico Scarfiotti -- 6 (2 4ths)
15. Mike Spence -- 6 (2 5ths)
16. Lucien Bianchi -- 5
17. Dan Gurney -- 4 (1 3rd, 7 DNFs)
18. Brian Redman -- 4 (1 3rd, 2 DNFs)
19. Jo Siffert -- 3 (1 4th, 2 7ths)
20. Vic Elford -- 3 (1 4th, no other results)
21. Joakim Bonnier -- 3 (1 5th)
22. Jackie Oliver -- 2 (1 5th, 1 Non-Classification)
23. Silvio Moser -- 2 (1 5th, 1 DNQ)
24. Guy Ligier -- 1 (1 6th, 1 11th)
25. Piers Courage -- 1 (1 6th, 4 DNFs)

Switching teams mid-season is always a risk. Ascari did it in 1953-54 from Ferrari to Lancia, and that ended in an absolute shambles. Tony Brooks barely made it work in 1958-59, while John Surtees adventure into Honda last season ended with him dropping out of the top 3 in the championship.

Denny Hulme went for this brave risk in this season, switching from the successful Brabham team to their relatively new rivals McLaren, both of them teams started by the two fierce title contenders back in 1959-60; Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren. This was a move that would have been unusual at the start of the season and instigated a lot of brouhaha about Hulme's sanity, but by mid-season, Hulme had a really valid point.

Lotus had unveiled Ford's latest invention, the DFV engine, late last season at the Dutch Grand Prix, which Jim Clark used to take two victories to turn around his otherwise terrible season into a third place in the championship. And by the 1967 Mexican Grand Prix, Lotus and Clark were looking dangerous, having taken their second straight victory after Clark's incredible charge up the field in Italy, and the DFV engine was looking like a true contender. Brabham were still fast, with team leader Jack Brabham at the top of the standings and Hulme still grabbing podiums.

Bruce McLaren soon ditched his BRM units to get DFV engines for his own team in '68, which convinced Hulme to switch teams for the second half of the season, apart from his prior connection with McLaren in Can-Am Sportscars. Lotus were now the team to beat. Brabham commissioned Repco, Brabham's engine supplier, to build a brand new engine for the team in 1968 to compete with the DFV. The engine wars were well and truly on between DFV and Repco, the battle between teams was being fought with Lotuses and Brabhams, with McLaren well prepared to ambush them both. And the Driver's championship was heating up with Clark, Hulme and Brabham all caught up in the mix.

On New Year's day, Clark took his third victory in a row at South Africa to take the championship lead by quite a margin. Sadly, though, the two time world champion would perish in a Formula Two race at Hockenheim in April while in the lead of the title race. His teammate Graham Hill took over the reins and picked up right where Clark left off, getting two wins in Monaco and Spain to lead the championship alongside Hulme. Speaking of Denny Hulme, he must probably be laughing at Brabham's face right now. His McLaren has managed to finish consistently in the points through the first three races of 1968, while Repco's engine for Brabham has been, in one word, absolute shite. It was fast, but it could not finish for the life of it. Here were the main championship contenders with three races to go

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1968 Monaco Grand Prix (3 Rounds to Go)

1. Graham Hill -- 33 (2 wins)
2. Denny Hulme -- 33 (1 win)
3. Jim Clark -- 31
4. Jack Brabham -- 29
---------------------------------

And here were the standings heading into the finale at France:

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1968 Dutch Grand Prix (1 Round to Go)

1. Graham Hill -- 33 (2 wins)
2. Denny Hulme -- 33 (1 win)
3. Jim Clark -- 31
4. Jack Brabham -- 29
---------------------------------

Exactly the same? All three contenders, Hulme, Hill and Brabham suffered mechanical gremlins in Belgium -Hulme suffered his while dicing for the lead near the end of the race- while the rain in the Netherlands took out Hulme with ignition problems while Brabham and Hill all had mechanical troubles. By now, it was pretty much settled that the DFV engine was the better of the two engines, with McLaren and Jackie Stewart taking wins in DFV engined cars, while Lotus was on par with McLaren so far through the season. However, there was a battle between drivers to be won, and that battle would be fought in France.

At Rouen-Les-Essarts, Hulme placed his car fourth on the grid, Hill a lowly ninth, and Brabham an even more lowly 15th. At the start, there was a massive crash involving Jo Schessler in the new Honda that would sadly take the French driver's life as the race continued on around the wreck. Brabham would drop right to the back of the field and would retire early on, eliminating him from championship contention. Around the same time Hill would drop out of the race as well with a driveshaft issue. This left Denny Hulme all alone among championship contenders. All Hulme needed to do was get a point. Just one point.

However, Hulme was having an absolute nightmare of a race. He was dicing amongst the midfield pack, and at one point was all the way back in twelfth place. Hulme then went on a charge. A powerful charge up the field. Within ten laps, he had pulled back up to eighth. After another three, he managed to find a way into the top six. Now it was just a matter of staying there. With the help of Jochen Rindt retiring and Pedro Rodriguez suffering gearbox issues, Denny Hulme went on to finish fifth, taking those two points he desperately needed for the championship.

The mid-season switch can be risky, but if you pull it off like Hulme did, in the middle of a furious team and engine war with your nearest competitors for the championship swimming like sharks at your feet, your decision will be hailed as the boldest move to take all the honours. And Denny Hulme did just that.

That's one good alternative season. You were right, it is amazing what you can do not changing anything....

1968-69 Season
Races: 1968 GBR-1969 GBR (Best 5 Results from first six races, best 5 results from last six; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Jackie Stewart putting in one of the greatest drives ever seen in Formula One, dominating in the wet 1968 German Grand Prix on the way to his first championship in Formula One.

1. Jackie Stewart -- 65
2. Graham Hill -- 40
3. Denny Hulme -- 32
4. Bruce McLaren -- 30
5. Jo Siffert -- 25
6. Jacky Ickx -- 24
7. Jean-Pierre Beltoise -- 13
8. Piers Courage -- 11
9. Chris Amon -- 10
10. Pedro Rodriguez -- 8 (1 3rd, 1 4th)
11. John Surtees -- 8 (1 3rd, 2 5ths)
12. Jochen Rindt -- 7
13. Johnny Servoz-Gavin -- 6
14. Vic Elford -- 5
15. Jackie Oliver -- 4
16. Dan Gurney -- 3 (1 4th,1 9th)
17. Richard Attwood -- 3 (1 4th, 1 14th)
18. Jack Brabham -- 3 (1 5th, 1 6th, 1 10th)
19. Joakim Bonnier -- 3 (1 5th, 1 6th, 1 Non-Classification)

The write-up won't be as long as the last season's, given Jackie Stewart's dominance over the entire field this season, taking seven wins en route to his first championship.

However, it wasn't all plain sailing for Stewart at first. Graham Hill's Lotus was much more consistent in scoring results than Stewart's Matra, so while Stewart's wins were peppered with DNFs and 6th place finishes, Hill's consistent podiums meant that, with just three races to go, Graham Hill was leading the championship by a point.

However, the potential fairytale championship for Graham Hill would not arrive. Amongst a mix of traditional Lotus reliability, lacklustre performances and failed four-wheel-drive experiments, Graham Hill would only score one more point in those three races while Jackie Stewart went to take three consecutive, comfortable wins in The Netherlands, France and Great Britian to win the title by a grand margin of 25 points.

1969-70 Season
Races: 1969 GER-1970 GBR (Best 5 Results from first six races, best 5 results from last six; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Jochen Rindt in the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix, his first win in the new Lotus 72 that carried him late in the season to a championship.

1. Jochen Rindt -- 55
2. Jack Brabham -- 38
3. Jackie Stewart -- 37
4. Jacky Ickx -- 28
5. Denny Hulme -- 25
6. Jean-Pierre Beltoise -- 19
7. Bruce McLaren -- 15
8. Chris Amon -- 14
9. Pedro Rodriguez -- 13
10. Graham Hill -- 10
11. Piers Courage -- 8
12. Henri Pescarolo -- 7
13. Clay Regazzoni -- 6
14. John Surtees -- 5
15. Mario Andretti -- 4
16. Ignazio Giunti -- 3 (1 4th)
17. Johnny Servoz-Gavin -- 3 (1 5th)
18. Jo Siffert -- 2 (1 5th, 1 7th, 2 8ths)
19. John Miles -- 2 (1 5th, 1 7th, 1 8th)
20. Rolf Stommelen -- 2 (1 5th, 1 7th, 2 DNFs)
21. Silvio Moser -- 1 (1 6th, 1 11th)
22. Jackie Oliver -- 1 (1 6th, 10 DNFs)
23. Dan Gurney -- 1 (1 6th, 2 DNFs)

From early in the season, everyone had no clue who the champion could possibly be. Jacky Ickx took a really early lead in the championship with two wins, while last season's champion Jackie Stewart, 1965-66 champion Jack Brabham and Austrian ace Jochen Rindt all put their names forward for early championship contention with some podium finishes. Come mid-season, Ickx decided to pull a Hulme from two seasons ago and switch teams mid-season, making a move from Brabham to Ferrari. Ferrari were seeking to improve under Fiat, who had recently bought the team.

However, nothing went Ickx's way as he started off in the Italian outfit. He retired from the next three races as the Ferrari struggled to finish. Of course, the other title contenders were still going strong. Stewart added another win to his name, while Rindt famously took the win from Brabham on the final turn of the 1970 Monaco Grand Prix when Brabham slid straight into the barriers to try and avoid Ronnie Peterson. With Jack, Jacky, Jackie and Jochen all suffering lacklustre efforts in Belgium due to retirements and so on, the championship table looked like this with three races to go:

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1970 Belgian Grand Prix (3 Rounds to Go)

1. Jackie Stewart -- 31
2. Jochen Rindt -- 28 (2 wins)
3. Jack Brabham -- 28 (1 win)
4. Jacky Ickx -- 24
---------------------------------

It was at the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix where Lotus unveiled their superb car for Jochen Rindt, the 72, as Rindt sailed to victory while Jacky Ickx managed to claw back from a puncture to finish third behind Stewart, leaving Rindt level with Stewart and Ickx matching Brabham.

However, the championship battle would come to an abrupt end at the next race, the 1970 French Grand Prix. Jacky Ickx had his Ferrari characteristically fail on him as he was leading the race, Jackie Stewart fell foul with ignition issues and Jack Brabham could only manage third as Jochen Rindt won yet again in the Lotus 72, effectively putting everyone else out of reach for the championship. And finally, as if to prove his point, Rindt would win his third consecutive race to well and truly seal the title in his hands, though that was mostly thanks to Brabham running out of fuel on the last lap, though he managed to steal the runner-up spot from Stewart with his second place.

1970-71 Season
Races: 1970 GER-1971 GBR (Best 5 Results from first six races, best 5 results from last six; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Jacky Ickx taking a win in the early part of the season at the 1970 Canadian Grand Prix. This early season form from Ickx was a key factor in him winning this year's championship.

1. Jacky Ickx -- 55
2. Jackie Stewart -- 48
3. Clay Regazzoni -- 35
4. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 22 (1 win)
5. Pedro Rodriguez -- 22 (2 2nds)
6. Denny Hulme -- 17 (2 3rds, 2 4ths)
7. Chris Amon -- 17 (2 3rds, 1 4th)
8. Ronnie Peterson -- 15
9. Rolf Stommelen -- 11
10. Mario Andretti -- 9 (1 win, 4 DNFs)
11. Jochen Rindt -- 9 (1 win, 1 DNF)
12. Reine Wisell -- 8 (1 3rd, 1 4th)
13. Jean-Pierre Beltoise -- 8 (1 3rd, 1 5th)
14. Francois Cevert -- 7
15. John Surtees -- 5
16. Henri Pescarolo -- 4 (1 4th, 1 6th, 1 7th)
17. Jo Siffert -- 4 (1 4th, 1 6th, 1 8th)
18. Jackie Oliver -- 2
19. Peter Gethin -- 1 (1 6th, 1 8th)
20. Derek Bell -- 1 (1 6th, 1 DNF)

Jacky Ickx is probably an exception to a rule that has been followed throughout several seasons, barring those dominated by a single driver like Clark's second title or Fangio in the early days. The rule was that one driver would be a dominating force for the first little bit of a season, taking the championship lead only to lose it in cruel and unusual circumstances.

Ickx, however, kept his lead from early on in the season. The Ferraris were running rampant in the first half of the season, with the team settling with Clay Regazzoni after he and Ignazio Giunti did a bit of a driver merry-go-round through the last bit of the previous season. Regazzoni proved to be the right choice, as he entered a championship battle with Ickx early in the season.

However, Ferrari's new challenger for the second half of the season was more unreliable than unreliable cars. Regazzoni proved that by finishing only two more races throughout the season. Furthermore, Jackie Stewart looked as threatening as ever, despite a poor first half to the season, his new Tyrell was without a doubt the fastest car on the grid, and he scored four wins in the last five races. Surely, that was enough to win the title with Ferrari falling off the deep end?

Ickx got lucky, however. His car managed to see the end of quite a few races, and coupled with Ickx's speed, Jacky Ickx managed to secure the title with two races to go at Zandvoort, a race where the wet conditions favoured the Ferraris as Stewart's Tyrell struggled to a disappointing 11th. Stewart did win the last two races, but those wins were only useful in taking second place from Regazzoni as he had no hope with Ickx, who was already celebrating his championship win by then.

1971-72 Season
Races: 1971 GER-1972 FRA (Best 5 Results from first six races, best 4 results from last five; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Jackie Stewart all alone on track in the 1971 United States Grand Prix. He was not alone in the race for the title, though, with early pressure from Francois Cevert and a late charge by Emerson Fittipaldi.

1. Jackie Stewart -- 41
2. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 36 (40)
3. Francois Cevert -- 29
4. Ronnie Peterson -- 23
5. Denny Hulme -- 22
6. Jacky Ickx -- 16
7. Jo Siffert -- 15
8. Jean-Pierre Beltoise -- 9 (1 win, 1 8th)
9. Peter Gethin -- 9 (1 win, 1 9th)
10. Tim Schenken -- 7 (1 3rd, 1 5th)
11. Chris Amon --7 (1 3rd, 3 6ths)
12. Mike Hailwood -- 7 (2 4ths)
13. Peter Revson -- 6 (1 3rd)
14. Mario Andretti -- 6 (2 4ths)
15. Howden Ganley -- 5 (1 4th, 1 5th, 1 8th, 1 9th)
16. Reine Wisell -- 5 (1 4th,1 5th, 1 8th,1 Non-Classification)
17. Mark Donohue -- 4
18. Andrea de Adamich -- 3 (1 4th)
19. Graham Hill -- 3 (1 5th,1 6th, 1 7th)
20. Carlos Pace -- 3 (1 5th,1 6th, 2 17ths)
21. Brian Redman -- 2
22. Henri Pescarolo -- 1

Jackie Stewart was undoubtedly the fastest driver as the previous season drew to a close, of course with his early season form ruining his chances for a title. However, this set up an interesting prospect for the season ahead. Would he continue to dominate in his Tyrell 003 or will his form falter and let someone take over?

Well, if he wasn't dominating, at least his teammate would support him. By challenging him for the title. Being in a completely different chassis to Stewart, Francois Cevert was matching each of the former world champion's moves step by step, capitalising on whenever Stewart retired or did poorly to snatch a few points away, and by Watkins Glen, Cevert was level with Stewart after his win. Unfortunately for Cevert, poor reliability and a few dodgy drives near the end of the season left him out of title contention by the end. But by then, a new challenger entered the fray.

Enter Emerson Fittipaldi and Lotus. Fittipaldi was a relatively new kid on the block, so to speak, only debuting last year, but began with a bang with a win in the United States, taking over from the late Jochen Rindt, and taking fourth in a hotly contested season. This time, though, the 'new', as in 'we added some bits to the old model', Lotus was struggling, and Fittipladi only managed to register one 2nd place in Austria in the portion of the season before 1971. However, Fittipaldi was in Lotus, and Lotus are not the team to allow a car that shite to continue being that shite, and tinkered and remodelled and repaired and improved the car to get ready for the second half of the season. Stewart had scored another victory in Argentina, but chasing the Brit was not an impossible task.

In fact, Stewart had a horrible run of form after Argentina. Consistent retirements, struggles with the weather in Monaco (where Jean-Pierre Beltoise took his only points of the season with a win) and even stomach ulcers got in the way of Jackie Stewart. And with Cevert suffering the same fate of unreliability and inconsistency, there was only one team picking up points consistently: Lotus. Since Dave Walker was a profiled reject, there was also only one driver picking up those points: Emerson Fittipaldi.

Fittipaldi got podium after podium, taking not just small chunks from Stewart's championship lead, but entire boulders from him. This domination came to a peak in Belgium, where Fittipaldi took another win with Stewart's stomach stopping the Scot from stepping in. Cevert also finally found his from back, and with a second place, gave himself an outside chance for the title with the final race quickly approaching in his home race: Clemont-Ferrand

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1972 Belgian Grand Prix (1 Rounds to Go)

1. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 34 (Could drop 4 points max)
2. Jackie Stewart -- 32
3. Francois Cevert -- 26
---------------------------------

Key words are in the brackets above: 4 points to drop. With Formula One's new half-and-half points dropping system, it was meant to affect those who have only had a stunning half-season, encouraging consistency throughout the course of the season. This put Fittipaldi in real trouble, meaning he can only add on to his points tally if he finished 1st or second.

However, at Circuit Charade, it was Chris Amon who put in the drive of his life, qualifying on pole and keeping the championship contenders at bay as the race started, making Fittipaldi's task even tougher. And then Amon went strayed onto the notorious rocks lining the rack that already ended Helmut Marko's career, puncturing his tyre. The resulting repairs took Amon out of contention for the win, so guess who inherited the lead?

No, not Fittipaldi. No late season climb cinderella fairytale in order here for the young Brazillian. Instead, it would be the Scottish veteran, Stewart, that inherited the lead, and having opened a significant gap to Fittipaldi in second, cruised right on to take the win and title in France. It wasn't his best season, hell, it was probably Stewart's wildest in quite a while, but a championship is a championship.

And in the end, when the stats come up, that's all that matters, isn't it?

© 1999? That's interesting....

1972-73 Season
Races: 1972 GBR-1973 FRA (Best 6 Results from first seven races, best 6 results from last seven; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


This photo from the 1973 Belgian Grand Prix perfectly sums up the season: Emerson Fittipaldi leading, Jackie Stewart snapping at his heels, and no other competition in sight.

1. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 68
2. Jackie Stewart -- 66
3. Denny Hulme -- 39
4. Francois Cevert -- 37
5. Peter Revson -- 28
6. Ronnie Peterson -- 26
7. Jacky Ickx -- 19
8. Carlos Reutemann -- 10
9. Mike Hailwood -- 9 (1 2nd, 1 4th)
10. Clay Regazzoni -- 9 (1 2nd,1 5th)
11. Arturo Merzario -- 7 (2 4ths)
12. Chris Amon -- 7 (1 4th)
13. George Follmer -- 5
14. Howden Ganley -- 4
15. Andrea de Adamich -- 3 (1 4th)
16. Graham Hill -- 3 (1 5th)
17. Jean-Pierre Beltoise -- 2 (1 5th, 2 8ths)
18. Niki Lauda -- 2 (1 5th, 1 8th)
19. Brian Redman -- 2 (1 5th, 1 DNF)
20. Wilson Fittipaldi -- 1 (1 6th,1 7th, 1 10th)
21. Mario Andretti -- 1 (1 6th,1 7th, No Other Results)
22. James Hunt -- 1 (1 6th, 1 9th)
23. Peter Gethin -- 1 (1 6th,1 1 13th)

This was a season of the old guard versus the new blood….in the most unusual of senses.

Driver-wise, the hottest, newest driver on the block was Emerson Fittipaldi. He had already launched a credible title threat last season, and many were predicting for this to be the moment where a new king would be crowned. But first, he'd have to get through the man who actually won the championship last time out, Jackie Stewart. The Scot was in his 9th season in Formula One, and retirement, he feels, is just beyond the horizon. But that does not mean he's going down without a fight.

Teams-wise, though, it was the same story, just flipped around. Fittipaldi was driving for Lotus, the team that had guided Jim Clark to two championships back in 1962-63 and 1963-64. They were definitely one of the more experienced teams in the paddock under the guidance of Colin Chapman, and by now, their team was going into 'god, they're old' territory. Hell, even their chassis was ageing, as the Lotus 72 underwent update after update, and every sign pointed to them to soldier on with the chassis into the 1972-73 season. Meanwhile, Stewart was driving for a relatively new team: Tyrrell. They have only been in the paddock for five seasons, and producing their own chassis for just three. Despite this, they already have a drivers title under their belt, and whenever they needed to upgrade, they'd just produce a new chassis instead of updating the old one.

Two different drivers, two different teams, two completely different formulas. Let's see how they panned out…

The start of the season was a frantic rush for wins, podiums and securing top spots for both Lotus and Tyrrell, both attempting to start the season off with a bang. With the sole exception of Jacky Ickx winning at the 'Ring, all wins over the first nine races were split between Stewart and Fittipaldi, with each team sticking to their own respective strategies, with Fittipaldi getting that slight upper hand. It was at the ninth race, Sotuh Africa, where Tyrrell decided to step up a notch. Their 006 Chassis, used by teammate Francois Cevert, was looking to be their fastest chassis yet. Giving the chassis to Stewart to drive, he went from 16th on the grid to win.

This rattled the Lotus team. They needed to do something, quick sharp, to fend off Tyrrell's and Stewart's new challenge. What to do? Well, they couldn't build another chassis on such short notice. So they had to upgrade the Lotus 72 once again. It seemed to work in Montjuic next time out, with Fittipaldi winning the race, but that was helped by Stewart suffering a brake failure. The next few races proved that either the 006 was the better car, or Stewart was the better driver, as Stewart took two wins on the trot, ahead of Fittipaldi, to close up the gap in the championship.

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1973 Monaco Grand Prix (2 Rounds to Go)

1. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 68
2. Jackie Stewart -- 61
---------------------------------

The penultimate round of the championship was in Anderstorp, held for the first time at the Scandinavian Raceway. The majority of the race was run with Fittipaldi in second and Stewart. This would have gifted Fittipaldi the title, as Stewart would need to win the next race with Fittipaldi scoring zero, zilch and nada in the next race.

Advantage: Fittipaldi.

However, by lap 69, Fittipaldi started slowing and started dropping down the order, eventually pulling up with a few laps to go with a gearbox failure. This promoted Stewart to second, and with just a few laps to go, looked like he was going to close the gap up to a single point heading into the finale at Paul Ricard

Advantage: Stewart

Then the Tyrrell's brakes failed. Again. Stewart didn't pull out of the race like he did at Spain, but he dropped through the field nonetheless, behind Hulme, behind Cevert and behind Reutemann, into fifth spot. Only two points. Stewart was still quite a distance behind.

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1973 Swedish Grand Prix (1 Round to Go)

1. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 68
2. Jackie Stewart -- 63
---------------------------------

The finale at Paul Ricard beckoned. Jackie Stewart took the pole position, needing second or better to win the championship. However, at the start, it was Jody Scheckter in the McLaren that took the lead in only his third Grand Prix start, with Fittipaldi's teammate Ronnie Peterson jumping Stewart into second. These three, along with Hulme and Fittipaldi, formed a five car train that would remain close for sixteen laps. However, Hulme dropped out with issues to his tyres, requiring a pit stop. Surely, though, that's just a one-off puncture, isn't it?

A few laps later, Stewart suffered the same exact problem as Hulme, relegating him to twelfth after his pit sop, and necessitating a lot of catching up to do for the young Scot. Fittipaldi, meanwhile, had a title to secure. He was waved through by Peterson and begin to challenge Scheckter for the lead. The South African youngster was held up by a slow Jean-Pierre Beltoise, and Fittipaldi saw a gap into the final turn. Fittipaldi and Scheckter collided, sending Scheckter up on two wheels and breaking Fittipaldi's suspension, eliminating both drivers from the race.

Stewart, in the meantime, was on a charge up the order. He breezed by de Adamich, swept past both Lauda and Hill in one lap, flew by Merzario, easily disposed of Hunt, took advantage of Scheckter's and Fittipaldi's demise, and overtook Ickx on the track. That seems like a lot one driver could do in a race, and it was. Was it good enough for the title?

Not really. He came fourth, just half a second from a podium and a meagre five seconds behind his desired second place. There's only so much a driver can do in a race, and that was too much for Stewart to do as Emerson Fittipaldi celebrated his first title which he could have oh so easily thrown away.

1973-74 Season
Races: 1973 GBR-1974 NED (Best 7 Results from first eight races, best 6 results from last seven; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Emerson Fittipaldi putting on a show in the final race of the season to help seal his championship.

1. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 45
2. Ronnie Peterson -- 43
3. Niki Lauda -- 30
4. Jackie Stewart -- 29 (2 wins)
5. Clay Regazzoni -- 29 (3 2nds)
6. Peter Revson -- 27
7. Jody Scheckter -- 23
8. Carlos Reutemann -- 18 (1 win, 1 3rd, 1 4th, 2 6ths, 2 7ths)
9. Denny Hulme -- 18 (1 win, 1 3rd, 1 4th, 2 6ths, 1 8th)
10. James Hunt -- 17 (1 2nd,1 3rd)
11. Jean-Pierre Beltoise -- 17 (1 2nd,1 3rd)
12. Francois Cevert -- 16
13. Mike Hailwood -- 12
14. Patrick Depailler -- 11
15. Carlos Pace -- 10
16. Jacky Ickx -- 8
17. Jean-Pierre Jarier -- 6
18. Hans-Joachim Stuck -- 5
19. Jackie Oliver -- 4
20. Wilson Fittipaldi -- 2
21. Graham Hill -- 1 (1 6th, 1 7th, 1 8th)
22. John Watson -- 1 (1 6th,1 7th, 3 11ths)
23. Arturo Merzario -- 1 (1 6th,1 7th, 1 15th)
24. Howden Ganley -- 1 (1 6th, 1 8th)
25. Gijs van Lennep -- 1 (1 6th, 1 9th)

The scoreboard says that only two drivers, Emerson Fittipaldi and Ronnie Peterson, fought it out for the title, but in reality, there was a much, much bigger scramble for that title.

The first bit of the season, however, was all Jackie Stewart and, rather surprisingly, Peter Revson. The American had taken victory whenever chaos had descended onto the field, from the first lap pileup at Silverstone in 1973 to the maddening scramble behind Formula One's first safety car in Canada which had three drivers-Revson, Fittipaldi and Howden Ganley out of all drivers-believe they had won the race. Some decent race pace also allowed his McLaren to keep alongside Stewart in the dominant Tyrrell 006 and Ronnie Peterson in the Lotus 72, who had scored win after DNF after win after DNF.

Two-time champion Stewart suddenly left F1 in tragic circumstances, though, when his protege and teammate Francois Cevert fatally crashed qualifying for the 1973 United States Grand Prix. Peterson went on to win that race, placing him in a decent lead ahead of teammate Fittipaldi and Revson in the McLaren. Well, until the driver merry-go-round started.

Fittipaldi, probably upset with the ageing Lotus 72, moved to Revson's McLaren to use their new, innovative M23 chassis which Revson had brought considerable success with. Revson himself ditched McLaren in order to join a promising new team: Shadow. Their new DN3 chassis had promise, using a relatively new material, titanium, in most of the cars bits, though the chassis remained aluminium. The only driver to hold station amongst the top 3 was Peterson, under the promise that a brand new chassis would arrive later on in the season.

1974 started brightly for McLaren, alright enough for Shadow, and disastrously for Lotus. For a rising outfit, McLaren managed to get wins from both their drivers in the first two races, Hulme in Argentina and Fittipaldi in Brazil, helping give Fittipaldi the platform he needed to challenge the top drivers. For a new outfit, the DN3 was doing alright, as Revson helped bring the car up to the front rows of the grid in qualifying, though reliability was going to be an issue that they would need to work on in the future. For an established outfit, Lotus were in shambles. The elderly Lotus 72 was like a dog in its final years. Sure, it grabbed pole for Peterson, but dreadful reliability hampered results for both drivers in the first few races of 1974. Don't worry, they were told, our brand new chassis, the Lotus 76, will come out in South Africa.

However, tragedy was to strike in South Africa. Peter Revson was practicing with the Shadow at Kyalami, and was reportedly enjoying the car in his hands. However, one of the titanium ball joints was a bit rough, failed, and pitched Revson into the Armco. In a similar incident to Cevert, Revson's DN3 went under the Armco barrier, killing the promising young American driver. Shadow would replace all the tricky titanium machinery with steel from the next race.

Peterson meanwhile, had a brand new chassis, the Lotus 76. Simply put, it was shite. If the 72 was an elderly dog on its last legs, the 76 was a newborn puppy with one leg. Despite technical breakthroughs like an electronic clutch, it was slow, both drivers claimed it lacked feel, and the electronic clutch was no better than the conventional one. By the time the 72 returned to its kennel, Fittipaldi had all but closed the gap up to nought. Peterson responded by winning the crown jewel, Monaco, while Fittipaldi could only manage fifth. Despite Peterson's mishaps with the 72, his pure pace saw him in the lead of the championship with two rounds to go:

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1974 Monaco Grand Prix (2 Rounds to Go)

1. Ronnie Peterson -- 43
2. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 38
---------------------------------

At the next round in Sweden, Peterson qualified high as usual, but the Lotus retired early in the race, as usual. Fittipaldi, despite having a terrible qualifying, managed to salvage a fourth place, leaving him two points shy with just one round to go: Zandvoort.

---------------------------------
Championship Standings: 1974 Swedish Grand Prix (1 Round to Go)

1. Ronnie Peterson -- 43
2. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 41
---------------------------------

However, before the race at Netherlands, there was a testing session that Lotus attended. I am not sure where or when, but during that test, Peterson had a heavy accident that knocked him unconscious. Thankfully, Peterson was alright afterwards and was able to take part in the Dutch Grand Prix, but he was woefully off form, barely scraping the top ten in qualifying and only going on to finish eighth in the race. Fittipaldi, meanwhile, had an easy race, allowing the Ferraris of Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni-two drivers who were on fire in the second half of the season- to take a 1-2 as he settled for a comfortable third place, taking the title by just two points over his now-former teammate, Ronnie Peterson.

1974-75 Season
Races: 1974 FRA-1975 SWE (Best 6 Results from first seven races, best 6 results from last seven; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)



Emerson Fittipaldi (top) and Carlos Reutemann (bottom). These two drivers went through the season tit for tat, right down to the wire...

Okay, I'll admit it's unfair to let these two drivers share the spotlight. In reality, a total of five drivers all had their hats in the ring at some point of the season to take the championship, with a sixth doing superbly well, just too little too late. It was a fantastic season, even battles, win for win, podium for podium, it was feisty and fantastic.

From the word go, Ronnie Peterson continued right from where he left off from last season, taking the first race win in France.

--Side Note-- Had the 1973-74 season been extended one race in the beginning or one race at the end, Peterson would have won the title instead of Fittipaldi --Side Note--

After the first six races, Peterson would still be the one holding the championship lead, being the only one with two race wins. However, he was being chased by the Ferrari of Clay Regazzoni, using consistency rather than pure pace to launch himself to second. Jody Scheckter in the McLaren was putting up a fight as well, while Emerson Fittipaldi was had the faster car and better pace, but none of the reliability whatsoever, only registering his first win at the sixth race: Canada.

The next few races were vital in the eventual championship hunt. Peterson's next few races were dreadful. Horrible. Dog shite levels of shite, not helped by the now centenarian Lotus 72. Regazzoni had a fair few results, but the eventual unreliability of the Ferrari bit Regazzoni and left him high and dry. Scheckter was equally unreliable, but a win in South Africa kept him on track. Fittipaldi, meanwhile, kept his momentum well up, and an additional race win rocketed him to a sizeable lead in the championship, and with the misfortunes of others, looked certain to retain his crown three seasons on the trot…

...if not for a new contender popping up out of nowhere. Well, not really nowhere, given he did win a race in Austria. However, his Brabham BT44 found some solid footing, and Reutemann picked up incredibly in form, getting four podiums within the next five races, including the tragic half-length 1975 Spanish Grand Prix that saw Fittipaldi withdraw from in qualifying due to the unsafe barriers surrounding the circuit. That withdrawal gifted Reutemann the opportunity to narrow the gap to four, small points.

After the next race, a wet and wild Monaco Grand Prix, that gap was extended to ten, massive points, after a particularly poor showing from Reutemann and Fittipaldi able to hold his own in the wet. The championship was now practically Fittipaldi's to lose. And boy, did he lose it. With just 12 laps to go, Fittipaldi was keeping fourth place safe, secure and intact, three extra points to keep Reutemann, Scheckter, and the ever hopeful Regazzoni at bay. Within nine laps, he slid down the order like a bar of soap and out of the points altogether. Add Scheckter's and Reutemann's podiums in the race and Fittipaldi, while still relatively in the clear, could easily lose the title if he had one terrible race in Sweden and Reutemann or Scheckter have one amazing race in Anderstorp.

To put it simply, if Fittipaldi failed to score, Reutemann needed second to tie on points, first to take the title. Scheckter needed a win, and a win only. Well, all Fittipaldi needed to do was not put in a terrible performance, and he'd win the title.

Fittipaldi went on to produce the most average, irrelevant performance of his career. Started 11th, fell further down the field to 13th by lap 1, and though he managed to fight his way past retirements and other drivers to fifth, he eventually dropped to a lacklustre eighth. Reutemann, on the other hand, was on fire, taking the lead early in the race and setting cruise control for the majority of it all. However, as the race neared its end, Reutemann was dreadfully slow, losing time with oversteering issues and the like. Niki Lauda slowly caught up to the Brabham, and on lap 69 out of 80, passed Reutemann for the lead, and went on to take the win.

Reutemann, meanwhile, was second. And with Scheckter and Fittipaldi nowhere in the race, this is how the top two in the standings looked:

Carlos Reutemann -- 45 Points
Emerson Fittipaldi -- 45 Points

Yes, the top two in the championship finished with the same amount of points. Now it's time to do a little count back. The wins column is normally what separates two title contenders in the standings. but in this case…

Emerson Fittipaldi -- 2 Wins (1974 Canada, 1975 Argentina)
Carlos Reutemann -- 2 Wins (1974 Austria, 1974 USA)

…they were also tied on wins. Now we really have to dig deep to find out who will win. And as we move to 2nd places…

Emerson Fittipaldi -- 4 2nds (1974 British, 1974 Italian, 1975 Brazilian, 1975 Monaco)
Carlos Reutemann -- 2 2nds (1975 South African, 1975 Swedish)

…we finally have your winner. The champion for the 1974-75 season is Emerson Fittipaldi.

Hell, this entire season, outside of Fittipaldi and Reutemann, was an absolute free for all. 8 drivers picked up victories in this 14 race season. And the driver who got the most wins was Lauda, with 3, all of them in the final three races of the season to jump everyone, and I mean everyone, into third in the championship, only 5 points behind Fittipaldi and Reutemann. Five drivers ended up within 9 points of the crown, two within…well, zero points. What a fantastic season.

1. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 45 (2 wins, 4 2nds)
2. Carlos Reutemann -- 45 (2 wins, 2 2nds)
3. Niki Lauda -- 40
4. Jody Scheckter -- 37
5. Clay Regazzoni -- 36
6. Ronnie Peterson -- 28
7. Carlos Pace -- 24
8. James Hunt -- 18
9. Patrick Depailler -- 14
10. Jacky Ickx -- 11
11. Jochen Mass -- 10.5
12. Denny Hulme -- 9
13. John Watson -- 5
14. Mario Andretti -- 3 (1 4th, 2 7ths)
15. Arturo Merzario -- 3 (1 4th,1 9th)
16. Mark Donohue -- 2 (1 5th)
17. Tom Pryce -- 2 (2 6ths, 1 8th)
18. Vittorio Brambilla -- 2 (2 6ths,1 9th)
19. Jean-Pierre Jarier -- 1.5
20. Tony Brise -- 1
21. Lella Lombardi -- 0.5

This is great!!

1975-76 Season
Races: 1975 NED-1976 FRA (Best 7 Results from first eight races, best 6 results from last seven; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Niki Lauda at the United States Grand Prix in 1976, one of the few races he didn't on the way to a dominant championship.

1. Niki Lauda -- 84.5
2. James Hunt -- 52
3. Clay Regazzoni -- 29 (2 wins)
4. Jody Scheckter -- 29 (2 wins)
5. Patrick Depailler -- 27
6. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 26
7. Jochen Mass -- 19.5
8. Carlos Reutemann -- 18
9. Jacques Laffite -- 16
10. Carlos Pace -- 12
11. Tom Pryce -- 11
12. John Watson -- 6 (1 3rd)
13. Hans-Joachim Stuck -- 6 (2 4ths)
14. Vittorio Brambilla -- 5.5
15. Mario Andretti -- 5
16. Gunnar Nilsson -- 4 (1 3rd)
17. Alan Jones -- 4 (2 5ths)
18. Ronnie Peterson -- 3
19. Chris Amon -- 2 (1 5th, 1 8th, 2 12ths)
20. Mark Donohue -- 2 (1 5th, 1 8th, 2 DNFs)
21. Gijs van Lennep -- 1

No need for any long essay style recap of each title contender and definitely no epic drama to end the season. This championship was Lauda's from the word go, and he crushed, dominated, beat senseless, trashed and ruled over the field in a way no one has ever seen before. One particular point of the season, from the 1975 USA Grand Prix to the 1976 Monaco Grand Prix, saw him take victory in five out of seven races that helped contribute to a thirty point lead over his nearest contender and outscoring the rest of the field almost three times over.

The only guy who could keep pace was the eccentric Brit James Hunt, who managed to start strong with a surprise win for Hesketh, and his move to McLaren was accompanied by some really quick drives, but Hunt could never capture the reliability he so desired to match Lauda in the championship, but with a stronger team behind his back, Hunt could look strong in future seasons. Scheckter was caught in a battle for third with Clay Regazzoni, but his consistency lost him third due to the count back rule. Fittipaldi couldn't make it four titles in a row, though. Despite a quick start to the championship that matched even Lauda, he opted to help out at his brother's own team midway through the season, giving up a fourth consecutive title in the process.

76-77 could be interesting with Lauda's absence and Hunt looks like he struggles for reliability during the first half of 1977. That could open it up for the likes of Scheckter, Depaiiler and Andretti.

1976-77 Season
Races: 1976 GBR-1977 FRA (Best 8 Results from first nine races, best 7 results from last eight; Total Points/Tiebreaker Criteria in Brackets)


Jody Scheckter guiding the crazy six-wheeled Tyrrell P34 in the wet at Fuji 1976

James Hunt powering alone in his McLaren M23 in the wet at the Japanese GP in 1976,leaving a trail of spray in his wake.

Honestly, these two drivers rarely matched each other results wise. Where one was all-ruling, the other was faltering and vice-versa. Similarly, one was consistently on-the-mark with his results, the other haphazardly scoring wins and podiums when he felt like it. One was racing with crazy cars and start-up teams, the other raced with a crazy life, often starting it up with a woman. That first driver was Jody Scheckter, the other was James Hunt.

Obviously, looking back on last season, Niki Lauda looked to continue that reign with an iron fist over the Formula One field, scoring a podium in Great Britian behind Hunt. However, at the Nurburgring next time around, Lauda crashed heavily into the German forest, suffering life-threatening burns and sidelining him from, miraculously, only the first few races. The one person to take advantage was the winner of the season-opener, James Hunt. Taking three wins from the first four races of the championship, he went on to take two more in Canada and the USA to pull a massive gap over second place Scheckter, racing in the six-wheeled beauty of a P34.

However, as Hunt was racking up more points than meat at a butcher's, there was some revising to do to the standings. You see, in the season-opener, Hunt was allowed to take the restart after a first lap melee, despite having failed to finish that first lap. Protests were launched from many teams; Ferrari, because they wanted that glorious victory, Tyrrell, so that Scheckter can gain some good scores with a podium, and Copersucar, because they'd do anything to get points. The deliberation over this decision took a very, very long time; Lauda had his crash and returned, Hunt was continuing his winning ways and Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi managed to complete his entire Formula One career between the race and the tribunal. The decision went in Ferrari and Co.'s favour, Lauda gained three points, Hunt lost nine. This was the beginning of Hunt's bad form throughout the season.

As 1977 rolled around, there very few developments abound unlike other winter breaks. Hunt kept his place at McLaren, Ferrari kept Niki Lauda, and Tyrrell stuck to their insane six-wheeler. The only major change was a new team: Wolf Racing. Walter Wolf took over Frank Williams Racing Cars, removed the eponymous team manager from his position, got Harvey Postelthwaite to design him a car, and bagged second place in the championship at the time Jody Scheckter. If there are gambles to win a championship, Scheckter took the biggest of the lot. From six wheels to unproven machinery, this was the racing equivalent aiming for a royal flush in a game of blackjack (I don't know gambling, forgive me).

And boy, did Scheckter play backgammon. First race for the new team, he wins. After a DNF in Brazil, Scheckter powered his way to four podiums on the trot. Not bad for a new team. Meanwhile, in the McLaren camp, Hunt had the pace, but had none of the finishes and zero of the luck. Scheckter passed him for the lead of the championship, Lauda was coming back from his injury strong, and even Mario Andretti was smacking his lips for the title. Other drivers were fighting hard for podiums and points everywhere, turning the season into a hell of a hectic one. With three races left and Hunt just five points behind Scheckter, this close to the season will be fierce, intense, high-scoring, mouth-watering, seat-gripping excitement as wins will be traded up and down the board between the two title contenders…

1977 Belgian Grand Prix

Jody Scheckter -- DNF
James Hunt -- 7th

1977 Swedish Grand Prix

Jody Scheckter -- DNF
James Hunt -- 12th

Oh.
The gap didn't even change a bit.
Lauda? Andretti? Only one podium and a fifth amongst them? Well, that's them out of contention.

The gap was still five points heading into France. James Hunt managed to pull the lagging M26 into third on the grid, Scheckter was stuck in 8th. As the race started, Hunt rocketed to the lead, which is where he needed to be. Scheckter, in the meantime, was midfield in the region of P6 to P-Nowhere. This was what Hunt needed.

What Hunt did not need, though, was for other cars to be faster. Those cars were the Brabham of John Watson and the Lotus of Mario Andretti, and within 20 laps, Hunt was back to third. Only four points gained, Hunt would not take the title.

The laps went on, the order stayed the same, Hunt was still third, losing time to the leading duo. Scheckter was well out of it, even spinning out of the race with fourteen laps left. However, Hunt was still third. He needed second. Watson and Andretti were nose to tail out front, hopefully something could happen to them…

Alas! On the last lap, Watson's engine started sputtering. It was drying up its fuel reserves. Andretti continued to win the race, but Watson was the main focus. Will his Alfa engine last the fumes? Will his Brabham stop inches before the line? Will Watson finish the race? Is Hunt going to win the championship?

The answers to those questions were yes, no, yes and, sadly for Hunt, no.

1. Jody Scheckter -- 57
2. James Hunt -- 56
3. Mario Andretti -- 51
4. Niki Lauda -- 49
5. Carlos Reutemann -- 28
6. John Watson -- 23 (1 win, 1 2nd)
7. Gunnar Nilsson -- 23 (1 win, 1 3rd)
8. Patrick Depailler -- 23 (2 2nds)
9. Jochen Mass -- 23 (1 2nd)
10. Jacques Laffite -- 19
11. Clay Regazzoni -- 14
12. Ronnie Peterson -- 11
13. Carlos Pace -- 9 (1 2nd)
14. Emerson Fittipaldi -- 9 (2 4ths)
15. Alan Jones -- 8
16. Tom Pryce -- 6
17. Vittorio Brambilla -- 4 (1 4th)
18. Hans Joachim-Stuck -- 4 (1 5th)
19. Jean-Pierre Jarier -- 1 (1 6th,1 8th)
20. Renzo Zorzi -- 1 (1 6th, 4 DNFs)

Sorry for the wait, but this season was a little bit of writer's block for me, and studies for A Levels taking me off course from the internet a little. But, nevertheless, I have a new alternative championship that I'll run alongside this, and it'd probably take less time as well, so watch this space end November!

WaffleCat wrote:The deliberation over this decision took a very, very long time; Lauda had his crash and returned, Hunt was continuing his winning ways and Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi managed to complete his entire Formula One career between the race and the tribunal.

I like this sentence.