What If?

[Captain Hammer]

Those deals - Virgin, Canon, Itapavia, Qatar Telecom and so on - were pretty much paying to get the team to the next race. Brawn weren't operating on a shoestring budget because they didn't have the budget for shoestrings.

[takagi_for_the_win]

Those deals - Virgin, Canon, Itapavia, Qatar Telecom and so on - were pretty much paying to get the team to the next race. Brawn weren't operating on a shoestring budget because they didn't have the budget for shoestrings.

Have to say, I never truly appreciated the extent of their financial problems until now. It certainly makes their already impressive achievement even more amazing when you consider they had less money than your average African family, and it would probably explain Button's and Barrichello's somewhat cautious style of driving towards the end of the season.

[Captain Hammer]

New one: what if Mercedes had actually made good on their promise to treat Hamilton and Rosberg equally, rather than bowing to public and media pressure to support Hamilton "more equally" (ie unfairly favour him)?

[takagi_for_the_win]

New one: what if Mercedes had actually made good on their promise to treat Hamilton and Rosberg equally, rather than bowing to public and media pressure to support Hamilton "more equally" (ie unfairly favour him)?

We'd be in pretty much the same situation we're in now, i.e. Hamilton leading by 10. Nothing will have changed.

[More_Blue_Flags]

The idea for this what if comes from some of the recent discussion in the 2015 Silly Season thread. What if Alonso had been driving for Williams this year instead of Ferrari?

I know, I can't think of a plausible sequence of events that would have seen Alonso move from Ferrari to Williams at the end of 2013 either, but this is purely a hypothetical - what could Alonso have done with this years Williams? Is the FW36 that much better than the F14T that he would have more podiums or even have won a race this year?

Related questions include:
1. Would Bottas look as impressive this year if Alonso was his competition at Williams rather than Massa?
2. Assuming Massa had stayed at Ferrari, how would his performance have looked this year compared to Kimi's? Would Massa have been significantly better than Kimi or would they have both been dismal?

[good_Ralf]

What if Sebastian Vettel got knocked out by Daniel Ricciardo in Q1 in Hungary 2012?

[Faustus]

Those deals - Virgin, Canon, Itapavia, Qatar Telecom and so on - were pretty much paying to get the team to the next race. Brawn weren't operating on a shoestring budget because they didn't have the budget for shoestrings.

Sorry, but that's not correct. The sponsorship rights to the entire car were sold to Virgin, for a relatively small amount. Virgin then made deals with different companies for different races. Brawn had nothing to do with the negotiations nor did they get any more money out of it.

[mario]

The idea for this what if comes from some of the recent discussion in the 2015 Silly Season thread. What if Alonso had been driving for Williams this year instead of Ferrari?

I know, I can't think of a plausible sequence of events that would have seen Alonso move from Ferrari to Williams at the end of 2013 either, but this is purely a hypothetical - what could Alonso have done with this years Williams? Is the FW36 that much better than the F14T that he would have more podiums or even have won a race this year?

Related questions include:
1. Would Bottas look as impressive this year if Alonso was his competition at Williams rather than Massa?
2. Assuming Massa had stayed at Ferrari, how would his performance have looked this year compared to Kimi's? Would Massa have been significantly better than Kimi or would they have both been dismal?

It is quite hard to say what Alonso could have done - Bottas has already picked up five podium places for Williams, and I don't think that he would have bettered that by much given that Bottas has picked up most of those podium finishes in races where you would expect Williams to be at their most competitive.

Perhaps the only places where he might have picked up podiums on top of what Bottas has achieved would be in Australia, where Bottas's pace in the race was better than the two McLaren's but he lost track position due to clipping the wall, and in Italy I expect that Alonso would have beaten Massa to the podium. As for victories, for the bulk of this season the W05 has often had pace to burn - just look at the way that both Rosberg and Hamilton have taken off after safety car periods, for example, when needing to build a gap - and the few races where Mercedes have slipped up were races where Williams were on the back foot, such as Canada, or were reasonably quick but simply not quite quick enough, such as in Spa.
The only race where I could possibly see Alonso winning out over Mercedes would have been in Austria, and that is because I think that Alonso might have gambled on stopping earlier than Williams did in that race and tried to gain track position through strategy.

As for how Bottas would look, well, since I expect that Alonso would be much more consistent and finishing higher than Massa, yes, inevitably that would probably make Bottas's results look a little less impressive - nevertheless, I still think that Bottas would put in a respectable enough performance for him to still be given a fair amount of plaudits. Several of his better results have come where he has had to fight his way through the field, so his stronger recovery drives would still probably be winning him praise even against tougher opposition.

As for what might have happened if Massa was alongside Kimi at Ferrari, to be honest I suspect that Massa might beat Kimi as well - Massa would have the advantage of being the incumbent driver, and therefore having a greater insight into the development of the car; furthermore, I do think that the handling characteristics of the car might work slightly better for Massa (Kimi is having a lot of issues with the front of the car, it seems, whereas Massa seems to be able to cope with an understeering car a little better than Kimi), so that might have also played into his hands.
There might also be a confidence boost for Massa if he was out of Alonso's shadow and against Kimi instead, since Massa outperformed Kimi in 2008 and was doing so again in 2009 before his accident; he might well believe that, if he'd beaten Kimi before, he could beat him again, and that psychological boost could help lift his performance a bit.

[More_Blue_Flags]

Perhaps the only places where he might have picked up podiums on top of what Bottas has achieved would be in Australia, where Bottas's pace in the race was better than the two McLaren's but he lost track position due to clipping the wall, and in Italy I expect that Alonso would have beaten Massa to the podium. As for victories, for the bulk of this season the W05 has often had pace to burn - just look at the way that both Rosberg and Hamilton have taken off after safety car periods, for example, when needing to build a gap - and the few races where Mercedes have slipped up were races where Williams were on the back foot, such as Canada, or were reasonably quick but simply not quite quick enough, such as in Spa.
The only race where I could possibly see Alonso winning out over Mercedes would have been in Austria, and that is because I think that Alonso might have gambled on stopping earlier than Williams did in that race and tried to gain track position through strategy.

I would have thought that apart from Austria, Canada or perhaps Belgium might have been the best opportunities for a Alonso/Williams win, although I am having trouble thinking of what Williams could have done differently to get ahead of Ricciardo at Spa.

As for what might have happened if Massa was alongside Kimi at Ferrari, to be honest I suspect that Massa might beat Kimi as well

I tend to agree with that, I just wonder if Massa would have been able to get anywhere near the podium in this years Ferrari, or if his results would be close enough to Kimi's that Ferrari's underperformance would be put down to two drivers past their prime rather than the inherent weaknesses of the car?

[mario]

Perhaps the only places where he might have picked up podiums on top of what Bottas has achieved would be in Australia, where Bottas's pace in the race was better than the two McLaren's but he lost track position due to clipping the wall, and in Italy I expect that Alonso would have beaten Massa to the podium. As for victories, for the bulk of this season the W05 has often had pace to burn - just look at the way that both Rosberg and Hamilton have taken off after safety car periods, for example, when needing to build a gap - and the few races where Mercedes have slipped up were races where Williams were on the back foot, such as Canada, or were reasonably quick but simply not quite quick enough, such as in Spa.
The only race where I could possibly see Alonso winning out over Mercedes would have been in Austria, and that is because I think that Alonso might have gambled on stopping earlier than Williams did in that race and tried to gain track position through strategy.

I would have thought that apart from Austria, Canada or perhaps Belgium might have been the best opportunities for a Alonso/Williams win, although I am having trouble thinking of what Williams could have done differently to get ahead of Ricciardo at Spa.

As for what might have happened if Massa was alongside Kimi at Ferrari, to be honest I suspect that Massa might beat Kimi as well

I tend to agree with that, I just wonder if Massa would have been able to get anywhere near the podium in this years Ferrari, or if his results would be close enough to Kimi's that Ferrari's underperformance would be put down to two drivers past their prime rather than the inherent weaknesses of the car?

In Canada, whilst Williams showed promise in qualifying, their lap times in the race were a little less competitive - in clear air, Bottas's lap times were about the same as Ricciardo's times, but tended to drop off slightly sooner towards the end of the stints due to Williams having slight issues with rear tyre wear in that race. Perhaps Alonso might have done better than Bottas by managing to fight his way through traffic more quickly than he did, but Ricciardo would probably have still be shadowing him in that race and still posed a threat for victory.

As for Spa, in race trim Ricciardo was much faster than Bottas was - he had him amply covered, sometimes to the tune of a second a lap - whilst although Massa did manage to lap faster than Ricciardo, he was on a compromised strategy anyway due to damage to the car and therefore is kind of an odd one out anyway. I don't see how Williams could have covered the pace deficit to Ricciardo in that race, so I think that Bottas probably got the most out of the car in that race.

As to the Kimi-Massa question, I think that Massa would probably be some way ahead in the WDC, but not that far ahead of him - after all, Alonso has only troubled the podium himself twice so far this season, and I do not think that Massa would have been able to drag similar performances out of the car. I'd agree that, in that instance, the results would perhaps be close enough for Ferrari's poor performance to be at least partially written off as down to the limitations of the drivers rather than the car, although the engine would probably still be criticised as a weak point nevertheless given the way in which the Mercedes powered teams have blasted past them at times.

[Dj_bereta]

What if Indycar become more popular than F1 after this crisis?

[dr-baker]

What if Indycar become more popular than F1 after this crisis?

Wouldn't be a bad thing. If they became slightly more ChampCar-like with some European rounds (they do have enough European drivers to make it worthwhile, I reckon).

[Alextrax52]

What if Indycar become more popular than F1 after this crisis?

My new years resolution (it's still 2014 but after the year I've had I'm looking to 2015) is to watch indycar next season. From the odd race I have seen it's a great series. I watched Huertas's win this season and I'm going to give it a shot

[Frogfoot9013]

What if Indycar become more popular than F1 after this crisis?

My new years resolution (it's still 2014 but after the year I've had I'm looking to 2015) is to watch indycar next season. From the odd race I have seen it's a great series. I watched Huertas's win this season and I'm going to give it a shot

I already watch more IndyCar than F1 anyway, and with the way F1 is going, will probably barely pay attention to it next year.

[mario]

What if Indycar become more popular than F1 after this crisis?

On that point, I was wondering if the IndyCar series has actually managed to return back to the same level of popularity that they had before the series split all those years ago? I was under the impression that IndyCar, whilst gradually building back up to where it was, is still some way short of that benchmark in the Americas and a long way short of regaining the same sort of public profile that the sport had internationally.

[Salamander]

What if Indycar become more popular than F1 after this crisis?

I would be totally okay with this situation because it would mean people actually invest in IndyCar, we get a season that doesn't end in bathplugging August, with more overseas races, with a great base car for racing which also allows for aero kits, different engine manufacturers, but still pretty much anyone can win. Have I mentioned that Ed Carpenter's single-car team, an organisation which was one of the clear minnows of the sport, won 3 times this year? Equal with Ganassi and Andretti, 2 of the 3 biggest teams in the sport? Because that happened.

What if Indycar become more popular than F1 after this crisis?

On that point, I was wondering if the IndyCar series has actually managed to return back to the same level of popularity that they had before the series split all those years ago? I was under the impression that IndyCar, whilst gradually building back up to where it was, is still some way short of that benchmark in the Americas and a long way short of regaining the same sort of public profile that the sport had internationally.

IndyCar is still suffering a massive hangover from the split, and it's management is still prone to stupid decisions, even though they got rid of Brian Brainfart (in case you don't know who that is, he's the guy who thought going green on oval while it was raining was a good idea). Such as ending the season in August.

Which is a real shame, because the racing is better than any other racing series IMO, especially if you're not counting GP2.

[Frogfoot9013]

As this is a What if? thread, here is one I thought of a while back:
What if there were HWNSNBM Temples in every town across the world like there should be?

[Nessafox]

As this is a What if? thread, here is one I thought of a while back:
What if there were HWNSNBM Temples in every town across the world like there should be?

Lot of trouble with non-believers, probably. I believe it's the best not to force our believe upon others, as our mighty lord will protect us when other religious people destroy each other. Altough we should inform Taki Inoue about it, he looks like the perfect prophet.

[Frogfoot9013]

As this is a What if? thread, here is one I thought of a while back:
What if there were HWNSNBM Temples in every town across the world like there should be?

Lot of trouble with non-believers, probably. I believe it's the best not to force our believe upon others, as our mighty lord will protect us when other religious people destroy each other. Altough we should inform Taki Inoue about it, he looks like the perfect prophet.

I can just imagine at religious services "A reading from the prophet Taki".

[Backmarker]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/2011180.stm

It is widely believed that Jaguar are considering hiring Alonso for 2003 - Eddie Irvine's expensive contract is up for renewal this season and he is not expected to stay on.

Alonso had been seen as a candidate to replace Renault's Jenson Button when the English driver's contract expires at the end of the year.

But Button is now tipped to stay at the French team after much improved performances.

What if, huh?

[UncreativeUsername37]

What if Alexander Wurz took 13th in the 1999 Belgian GP?

[good_Ralf]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/2011180.stm

It is widely believed that Jaguar are considering hiring Alonso for 2003 - Eddie Irvine's expensive contract is up for renewal this season and he is not expected to stay on.

Alonso had been seen as a candidate to replace Renault's Jenson Button when the English driver's contract expires at the end of the year.

But Button is now tipped to stay at the French team after much improved performances.

What if, huh?

Alonso would have more or less matched Webber's quali results and would probably have better race results, but he would at best have got only a few podiums i.e. in Austria or Hungary. It might have been the same for Button against Trulli at Renault, Button usually getting beaten by his teammate in quali but outpacing him in races.

[Backmarker]

Alonso would have more or less matched Webber's quali results and would probably have better race results, but he would at best have got only a few podiums i.e. in Austria or Hungary. It might have been the same for Button against Trulli at Renault, Button usually getting beaten by his teammate in quali but outpacing him in races.

Would Webber have even gone to Jaguar, if Alonso had? At the time It would have meant two drivers managed by Briatore in the same team. I would guess at an Alonso-Pizzonia line-up at Jaguar, with Webber testing at Renault, 'safe' in the knowledge that Button would be returning to Williams (I believe Williams' option on him ran through 2003). In which case Alonso would have destroyed jungle boy.

[Jocke1]

What if Kevin Magnussen never scores another podium ever?

Yes. What if..

[David AGS]

He would be in the rare books of scoring a podium on debut!

Now, as discussed, apologies if done before!

What if Ford built and ran the V-12 in 1992 as the team confirmed?

What would happen if Pedro Diniz stayed at Forti for 1996? (Had a 3 year deal with the team)

In 1999, (Headline) Arrows opt for Cash not Dash. The team took Toranosuke Takagi instead of Mika Salo. What would happen to the other Flying Finn if he stayed another year at Arrows with that below par chassis?

Ken Tyrrell wanted to run Jos Verstappen in 1998. Would would have happened had he replaced our friend Rosset?

[MorbidelliObese]

In 1999, (Headline) Arrows opt for Cash not Dash. The team took Toranosuke Takagi instead of Mika Salo. What would happen to the other Flying Finn if he stayed another year at Arrows with that below par chassis?

Maybe Luca Badoer would look back more fondly on his career

Salo would likely have at least matched PDLR, but given Arrows' funding for 2000 - besides Orange there was Repsol and a bunch of Dutch companies, I reckon a Verstappen/de la Rosa combo would still have been likely. Salo might still have found himself in the Sauber (simply by dint of jumping from one midfield team to another), rather than any Ferrari link, but I doubt he'd have then been headhunted by Toyota for 2002.

Hmm maybe he then stays at Sauber for '01 (I seem to remember him leaving Sauber for the Toyota year long testing gig rather than getting dumped). Would Kimi have came to Sauber's attention in such a way if they didn't have the vacancy there?

...then again maybe without the PIAA cash Arrows hit the wall in '99 and all of the above is moot

[Rob Dylan]

What if Red Bull had their dream and the V8s continued as they were after 2013, with no replacement by the new V6s for a few years?

[mario]

What if Red Bull had their dream and the V8s continued as they were after 2013, with no replacement by the new V6s for a few years?

Well, for a start we know that McLaren would probably be in much greater trouble from 2015 if they had persisted with the V8 engine.

We can assume that Honda probably would not have returned to the sport to partner with McLaren under the V8 format - the Honda V8 was already one of the least competitive engines in the field when they pulled out, and even with restrictions on development, being out of the sport for several years would have made that situation even worse.

Now, that would potentially leave McLaren in a very difficult situation with regards to their engine supplies - their relationship with Mercedes had already broken down before the introduction of the V6 engines had been agreed, so Mercedes may have refused to extend their contract with McLaren. At best, McLaren might have been able to negotiate an extension on customer terms - which was the deal they had to accept from Mercedes for the final two years of their contract - which would take a fair chunk out of their budget for the foreseeable future. That, however, assumes that Mercedes wouldn't have acted on their threat to withdraw from the sport if the V6 engines were not introduced.

If it did go as far as Mercedes refusing to extend the contract, Ferrari engines, one would assume, would be out of the question (I can't see Ferrari selling engines to a direct rival like McLaren), so the only manufacturer engine supplier would be Renault. Whilst there may have been an incentive for Renault to sell them engines, Renault's partnership with Red Bull - who are Renault's official works team - might have caused problems, since I imagine that Red Bull might have raised objections over such a deal.

In that scenario, therefore, at best McLaren might have been able to negotiate a customer engine deal with Renault, whilst at worst it is possible that Red Bull could lobby Renault to turn McLaren away. That might have forced McLaren to turn to Cosworth and accept their engines, which would at least secure them engines, but probably at a cost of their competitiveness - mind you, the other options would also entail having to accept customer status and having to pay for their engines, and the loss of that revenue would probably have also ensured that they would decline in competitiveness as a result.

Back to the wider picture, it raises a number of questions about what some of the other manufacturers would have done. Mercedes have indicated that they would have withdrawn from the sport if the V6 engines had been vetoed, and it is certainly possible that it was not an idle threat, whilst Renault were similarly insistent that they would withdraw too.

If both of those manufacturers did act on that threat, the effect would have been pretty devastating on the sport, although whether both Mercedes and Renault would have gone for the nuclear option is debatable. I could, however, see at least one of the two pulling out, and it would probably have been Mercedes - that, in turn, would have left McLaren and Force India without engines, and since I struggle to see who would have bought the Mercedes works team, I imagine that would have simply been shut down altogether. It would also, presumably, have forced Williams to persist with the Renault engine deal too, although they were not hugely satisfied about the support - or, rather, the lack of support - they felt Renault were giving them.

If, in the best scenario, Mercedes and Renault stayed on, I expect that Mercedes would have ploughed the money the spent on engine development on developing their new car. Mercedes had already shown signs of definite improvement in 2013, and that was with a car that was really an intermediate development platform for 2014, so a sustained development program under the V8 format would probably have put them closer to Red Bull.

Nevertheless, it is plausible to assume that both Red Bull and Ferrari would expect to continue near the front of the field in that situation. In some ways it might have been a repeat of the status quo from 2013, with Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes at the front, McLaren sliding back in form as they struggled for engines and most of the midfield unable to progress forward under a rule set that locked in an advantage for those larger teams. It would probably not have been healthy for the sport in the longer term though, since all it would be doing is deferring some of the problems the sport already had until a few years down the line, and perhaps creating further new problems for the future.

[Dj_bereta]

What if Red Bull had their dream and the V8s continued as they were after 2013, with no replacement by the new V6s for a few years?

The first thing that come to my mind is: Vettel winning his 5th title in-a-row or Ricciardo winning his first title. Another year with Red Bull dominance.

[UncreativeUsername37]

What if Red Bull had their dream and the V8s continued as they were after 2013, with no replacement by the new V6s for a few years?

The first thing that come to my mind is: Vettel winning his 5th title in-a-row or Ricciardo winning his first title. Another year with Red Bull dominance.

As we know, there are two possible long-term reasons why Ricciardo beat Vettel this year:
1. Vettel isn't really quite champion material and just had a good car and a midfield-tier teammate
2. Vettel was actually worthy (behind Alonso, anyway) with the cars he won with, but is bad at the 2014 era cars

Too many F1 arguments are just people taking one side based on their particular biases and yelling at the other side when there's really no way to tell right now. And Ricciardo's other teammates hardly help an evaluation of him.

[good_Ralf]

The first thing that come to my mind is: Vettel winning his 5th title in-a-row or Ricciardo winning his first title. Another year with Red Bull dominance.
As we know, there are two possible long-term reasons why Ricciardo beat Vettel this year:
1. Vettel isn't really quite champion material and just had a good car and a midfield-tier teammate
2. Vettel was actually worthy (behind Alonso, anyway) with the cars he won with, but is bad at the 2014 era cars

Too many F1 arguments are just people taking one side based on their particular biases and yelling at the other side when there's really no way to tell right now. And Ricciardo's other teammates hardly help an evaluation of him.

I've believed that 2. is the main reason for Vettel's horrible year. Although if that were to be the case Ricciardo would probably have been in the same position as Webber if he were at Red Bull in the pre-2014-spec cars.

[watka]

What if Red Bull had their dream and the V8s continued as they were after 2013, with no replacement by the new V6s for a few years?

Would have been a possibility that McLaren made their own engines, given the work they have done on their road cars.

[tBone]

I'm sorry if some of these were already asked, I haven't seen them browsing through this topic.

What if Ford/Jaguar would have decided to continue their team, instead of selling It to Red Bull?
What if the new super license points system would have been introduced for the season 2000?
What if Jos Verstappen would have gotten the Jordan seat in 1999, replacing Damon Hill halfway?
What if crashgate would never have been discovered?

[Captain Hammer]

What if Formula 1 teams followed M-Sport's business model?

M-Sport are able to compete in the WRC by building Fiesta rally cars to a variety of specifications. These then get sold to customers, which provides income for them to race. They are on a lower budget compared to the likes if Volkswagen, Hyundai and Citroën, but it's a system that works (they recently sold their one hundredth Fiesta R5).

So, what if the FIA approached smaller teams to build chassis for spec series - like the new Formula 2 - that could be mass-produced? Eventually, economies of scale (the theory that if you produce in bulk, costs will come down) will kick in, and smaller teams will get a source of income. The likes of Dallara and Mygale might not like it, but the teams have a greater need.

[mario]

What if Formula 1 teams followed M-Sport's business model?

M-Sport are able to compete in the WRC by building Fiesta rally cars to a variety of specifications. These then get sold to customers, which provides income for them to race. They are on a lower budget compared to the likes if Volkswagen, Hyundai and Citroën, but it's a system that works (they recently sold their one hundredth Fiesta R5).

So, what if the FIA approached smaller teams to build chassis for spec series - like the new Formula 2 - that could be mass-produced? Eventually, economies of scale (the theory that if you produce in bulk, costs will come down) will kick in, and smaller teams will get a source of income. The likes of Dallara and Mygale might not like it, but the teams have a greater need.

Wasn't that kind of already the case with the now defunct Formula 2 series, where Williams designed and fabricated the chassis for the series?

[Captain Hammer]

Sort of, but Formula 2's problems stemmed from a complete mismanagement of the category rather than from having a Formula 1 constructor design and build the cars. MSV weren't just the promoters, they were running the cars - the motorsport equivalent of having church and state being the same thing, and they were trying to do it as a standalone series like European Formula 3, but it was relying on established drivers - like Bortolotti and Soucek and Palmer - to sustain it early on. And then there was the way that the path to Formula 1 was Formula 2 followed by GP3, GP2, Formula Renault 3.5 and Formula 1; I can only assume that, before Gerhard Berger was running the junior series program, the FIA had employed George Lucas.

Plus, they gave Plamen Kralev, the Fire King himself, a seat.

[mario]

Sort of, but Formula 2's problems stemmed from a complete mismanagement of the category rather than from having a Formula 1 constructor design and build the cars. MSV weren't just the promoters, they were running the cars - the motorsport equivalent of having church and state being the same thing, and they were trying to do it as a standalone series like European Formula 3, but it was relying on established drivers - like Bortolotti and Soucek and Palmer - to sustain it early on. And then there was the way that the path to Formula 1 was Formula 2 followed by GP3, GP2, Formula Renault 3.5 and Formula 1; I can only assume that, before Gerhard Berger was running the junior series program, the FIA had employed George Lucas.

Plus, they gave Plamen Kralev, the Fire King himself, a seat.

I suppose the broader question would be whether a midfield sized team like, say, Force India or Sauber would necessarily be prepared to commit to such a project for the longer term.

I imagine that they would be wary of allocating resources to designing, manufacturing and maintaining the cars unless they were reasonably certain that series would remain in operation for an extended period of time, therefore ensuring that they would have a steady stream of revenue for enough time to recoup their initial development costs. Did Williams ever manage to recover their development costs before the Formula 2 series collapsed? I'm not entirely sure that they did.

Even then, there is the issue that most of the smaller independent chassis manufacturers, like Dallara, Mygale or Tatuus are structured in such a way as to mass manufacture a standard chassis at the lowest cost - in fact, their entire operations are centred around such a premise - so I imagine that, in a competition to produce a low cost chassis, those outfits would probably win out.

[dr-baker]

So, following on from some observations/comments in the Mastercard Lola thread, what if Simtek, Pacific, Forti and Lola had all entered F1 in 1994? What would pre-qualifying have looked like? What would the turn-over of drivers have been like? Would Lola have survived to compete in the European part of the season?

[FullMetalJack]

So, following on from some observations/comments in the Mastercard Lola thread, what if Simtek, Pacific, Forti and Lola had all entered F1 in 1994? What would pre-qualifying have looked like? What would the turn-over of drivers have been like? Would Lola have survived to compete in the European part of the season?

Easiest thing David Brabham would ever do, it'd be easier than pre-qualifying in 1990 for Larrousse drivers Aguri Suzuki and Eric Bernard.

I imagine he'd use the time as an extra free practice session and use it as an extra hour to set the car up.

[Dom_Wings]

IndyCar is still suffering a massive hangover from the split, and it's management is still prone to stupid decisions, even though they got rid of Brian Brainfart (in case you don't know who that is, he's the guy who thought going green on oval while it was raining was a good idea). Such as ending the season in August.

No wonder it was Danica who spun first.