Champion elimination alt. REVERSED!

The place for alternate championships that use real results as a base of forming alternative results, driver careers, and games in general
User avatar
CarloSpace
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 703
Joined: 16 May 2016, 21:23
Location: Finland

Re: Champion elimination alt. REVERSED!

Post by CarloSpace »

2002
(Eliminated: Räikkönen, Button, Webber, Barrichello, Massa, Heidfeld, M. Schumacher, R. Schumacher, Montoya, Coulthard)

Following David Coulthard's rather dominating 2003 title, McLaren joined the likes of Ferrari and Williams to pack their cars up and sit out the 2002 season. Last year's runner up Jarno Trulli in the sole Renault was thus the favourite for the title. Trulli, along with his compatriot Fisichella in the Jordan were the only drivers to keep their seats from 2003. All the other seats were shuffled with a number of rookies like Mika Salo, Eddie Irvine and Alex Yoong joining the grid.

Salo and Irvine got a great start to their F1 career by finishing on podium on their début in Suzuka - Salo in 2nd and Irvine in 3rd. Long time backmarker driver Takuma Sato had got a full time seat with Jordan and won the race. Trulli showed his class by winning in US but it was Irvine who took the early control of the championship with a brace of victories in Monza and Spa. A DNF in Hungary however meant that the challengers weren't far off.

Points after Hungary 5/17:
1. Irvine -- 27
2. Trulli -- 22
3. Sato -- 18
4. Fisichella -- 17
5. Salo -- 12
6. Villeneuve -- 12
7. Panis -- 9
...


Next race in Germany saw a new team enter F1 as Arrows fielded cars for Frentzen and Bernoldi. The high attrition race was won by Sato who now took the championship lead. Salo finished second (and last). French GP was another of high attiition as well, this time three cars saw the finish line: De la Rosa 1st, Yoong 2nd and McNish 3rd. BAR took a 1-2 victory in the rainy British GP, with Villeneuve becoming the sixth different winner in eight races so far. Panis came close in the next round also, this time losing to Trulli who had finished in top-2 in all the races he had finished so far this year. Luckily for him, other teams were suffering from poor reliability and so the Italian was now leading the standings. Irvine meanwhile had scored zero points during this four race stretch.

Points after Europe 9/17:
1. Trulli -- 32
2. Sato -- 28
3. Irvine -- 27
4. Villeneuve -- 24
5. Fisichella -- 21
6. Panis -- 21
7. Salo -- 19
...


Trulli and Fisichella took 1-2's for Italy in Canada and Monaco: Fisichella won in Canada while Trulli added a third consecutive Monaco trophy to his impressive collection. In Austria Fisichella won again with the Toyotas of Salo and McNish joining him on podium and so the championship looked to be between the two Italians with five round to go.

Points after Austria 12/17:
1. Trulli -- 48
2. Fisichella -- 47
3. Sato -- 31
4. Irvine -- 30
5. Villeneuve -- 27
6. Salo -- 25
7. Panis -- 25
...


A couple of no scores for Fisichella and only 8 points for Trulli in the next two races however turned the standings around once more. Villeneuve, who had been solid but nothing spectacular so far, took second place in Spain and won in San Marino (ahead of Trulli, the other finisher), rising him to third in points. Spain by the way was won by Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the brand new Arrows. Next two were won by Salo and McNish as Toyota took its last F1 victories before leaving F1 at the end of the season. Trulli and Fisichella scored no points and thus the points standing ahead of the finale in Australia was exciting:

Points after Malaysia 16/17:
1. Trulli -- 56
2. Villeneuve -- 51
3. Fisichella -- 47
4. Salo -- 39
5. Sato -- 38
6. Irvine -- 36
7. de la Rosa -- 27
...


Three drivers in with a chance to become the F1 World Champion. After qualifying Trulli was on pole, followed by Fisichella, Panis, Villeneuve, Salo, Frentzen, McNish, Bernoldi, Irvine, de la Rosa and Yoong. Sato, whose car had stopped in qualifying after clutch failure, started last. Tensions were high and chaos ensued in turn 1. McNish, Panis and Fisichella were collected and had to retire. Trulli was leading the race comfortably but on lap 8 he spun off on his own in turn 2. Villeneuve as the last surviving contender now had to finish in top-2 in order to win the title but was struggling with Minardi's Alex Yoong in 5th place after losing positions in the lap 1 chaos.

Sato retired in lap 12 and on lap 19 Villeneuve was already 2nd following de la Rosa's pit stop which dropped the Jaguar driver to last place. It wasn't to be Villeneuve's day though. On lap 27 the rear wing of his BAR broke spinning the BAR into the walls with no chance to react. Eddie Irvine won the race but it was Jarno Trulli who had the biggest celebration as the 2002 F1 World Champion.

2002 STANDINGS

Code: Select all

 1. Jarno Trulli          56 (3 wins, 4 x 2nd)
 2. Jacques Villeneuve    51 (2 wins, 3 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
 3. Giancarlo Fisichella  47 (3 wins, 1 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd)
 4. Eddie Irvine          46 (3 wins, 1 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
 5. Mika Salo             45 (1 win, 5 x 2nd)
 6. Takuma Sato           38 (2 wins, 2 x 3rd)
 7. Pedro de la Rosa      30 (1 win, 1 x 3rd)
 8. Allan McNish          26 (1 win, 3 x 3rd)
 9. Olivier Panis         25 (2 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd)
10. Heinz-Harald Frentzen 21 (1 win, 1 x 3rd)
11. Alex Yoong            12 (1 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
12. Enrique Bernoldi       5 (1 x 3rd)
User avatar
CarloSpace
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 703
Joined: 16 May 2016, 21:23
Location: Finland

Re: Champion elimination alt. REVERSED!

Post by CarloSpace »

2001
(Eliminated: Räikkönen, Button, Barrichello, Heidfeld, M. Schumacher, R. Schumacher, Montoya, Coulthard, Trulli)

Following Jarno Trulli's title in 2002, Renault withdrew from F1 selling their team to the Italian clothes business Benetton which hired Giancarlo Fisichella to lead their assault. Fisichella was arguably the biggest favourite going into the season alongside the promising rookie Mika Häkkinen who was leading McLaren's comeback to the sport.

Häkkinen started the season well dominating the first two GP. A gearbox issue in Monza forced him to retire but another victory and a second place finish in Hungary and Belgium made him clear favourite for the season. Monza was won by Jaguar's veteran Pedro de la Rosa and Spa by Fisichella who had struggled in the other races, scoring just five points. Villeneuve, eager to improve his silver medal from 2002, had scored three second place finises already and was sitting second in points. Third was another rookie, Jean Alesi, who had joined Jordan and had impressive four podium finishes in the first five races of his career.

Points after Hungary 5/17:
1. Häkkinen -- 36
2. Villeneuve -- 21
3. Alesi -- 16
4. Fisichella -- 15
5. de la Rosa -- 13
6. Frentzen -- 8
7. Panis -- 7
...


Next race in Hockenheim on the brand new ultra-fast over 6 km circuit saw a shuffled line up as Heinz-Harald Frentzen was sacked from Prost and Jean Alesi had been brought in as his replacement in a shock move. Frentzen was due to take Alesi's seat at Jordan but not before the British GP - Ricardo Zonta would drive the Jordan in Germany. This move meant that Prost had already replaced both of their drivers since Tomáš Enge had been replaced by Luciano Burti after just three races. After all of this, the German GP was won by Jacques Villeneuve with Fisichella in second. Alesi took his fifth consecutive third place finish which also marked the first podium finish for Prost GP.

Häkkinen returned to form by winning in Silverstone but had to retire before formation lap in France - again due to gearbox problems. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, now driving Jordan, took his fourth career victory. Next two races were again won by Häkkinen and it really looked like there was no one to challenge him as long as the McLaren held together.

Points after Canada 10/17:
1. Häkkinen -- 66
2. Villeneuve -- 38
3. Alesi -- 29
4. Fisichella -- 26
5. Frentzen -- 24
6. de la Rosa -- 21
7. Panis -- 16
...


Häkkinen only won one more race (San Marino) in the remaining seven races but it was enough for him to seal the title. Eddie Irvine, who had struggled to replicate his 2002 form, won the Monaco GP which was to be his only victory of the season. Panis (x2), Villeneuve and Frentzen (x2) were the other winners of the late season.

2001 STANDINGS

Code: Select all

 1. Mika Häkkinen         86 (7 wins, 2 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
 2. Jacques Villeneuve    61 (2 wins, 4 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd)
 3. Olivier Panis         52 (2 wins, 3 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
 4. Heinz-Harald Frentzen 50 (3 wins, 2 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
 5. Jean Alesi            50 (1 x 2nd, 6 x 3rd)
 6. Giancarlo Fisichella  32 (1 win, 2 x 2nd)
 7. Eddie Irvine          30 (1 win, 2 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
 8. Jos Verstappen        24 (1 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
 9. Pedro de la Rosa      21 (1 win, 2 x 3rd)
10. Luciano Burti         17 (2 x 3rd)
11. Enrique Bernoldi       8 (4 x 5th)
12. Ricardo Zonta          3 (1 x 4th)
13. Tarso Marques          3 (1 x 5th)
14. Tomáš Enge             1 (1 x 6th)
15. Gaston Mazzacane       1 (1 x 6th)
User avatar
CarloSpace
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 703
Joined: 16 May 2016, 21:23
Location: Finland

Re: Champion elimination alt. REVERSED!

Post by CarloSpace »

2000
(Eliminated: Button, Barrichello, Heidfeld, M. Schumacher, R. Schumacher, Coulthard, Trulli, Häkkinen)

Following Mika Häkkinen's dominate 2001 title McLaren had seen enough and disappointed at the lack of competition decided to retire from F1 again for an indefinite time. Sauber on the other hand were back in with two drivers, rookie Pedro Diniz and returning Mika Salo. Another notable returnee was Alexander Wurz, 2-time race winner, whose last race was the victorious 2005 San Marino GP. He joined Benetton to team up with Fisichella who was looking to bounce back after a disappointing 2001 season. Biggest change on the line up was at BAR; Panis was out and former Toyota and Jordan driver Zonta took his place.

It was a rather rocky start at BAR for Zonta as he was miles off the pace of his more experienced teammate Villeneuve who started the season as the #1 favourite. The Canadian won the first two rounds before finishing second to Frentzen in USA to take the championship lead. Both Villeneuve and Frentzen retired the next round at Monza which had a shock winner in Arrows' Jos Verstappen. Next two round were won by Frentzen and the title race looked to be between him and Villeneuve. Irvine had driven consistently but hadn't looked like a challenger despite being quite close in points.

Points after Hungary 6/17:
1. Villeneuve -- 34
2. Frentzen -- 30
3. Irvine -- 21
4. Salo -- 15
5. Wurz -- 14
6. Verstappen -- 12
7. Zonta -- 11
...


German GP was won by Salo who still had some hopes a title alive. Villeneuve though regained his control with wins from Austria and France. Frentzen meanwhile only managed a single second place finish from the French GP. Third man on podium there was Giancarlo Fisichella whose title hopes had been long gone. His only other points scoring position so far had been the fifth place finish at the season opener and since than he had gone seven races without scoring. A victory in Canada for the Italian however shower signs of the tides changing...

Points after Canada 10/17:
1. Villeneuve -- 58
2. Frentzen -- 36
3. Salo -- 34
4. Irvine -- 25
5. Verstappen -- 18
6. Wurz -- 18
7. Fisichella -- 16
...


Before Canada Fisichella had been 52 points behind Villeneuve in the standings. Since then Fisichella went on to win Monaco, Europe and Great Britain and added a fourth place finish in Spain, a race won by Frentzen who also was still with a realistic shot at the title. Especially since Villeneuve only collected three points from the same strecth of races. Surprisinlgy, neither Frentzen nor Fisichella was Villeneuve's closest challenger at this point - it was in fact Mika Salo! Salo had been a consistent podium finisher with just three DNF's which had helped him to rise up to second in points. As such, with three races to go, it was all to play for at the top of the stadings.

Points after Great Britain 14/17:
1. Villeneuve -- 61
2. Salo -- 50
3. Fisichella -- 49
4. Frentzen -- 47
5. Irvine -- 32
6. Wurz -- 24
7. Zonta -- 19
...


Villeneuve however resurrected at just the right time. A victory in San Marino ahead of Salo and Irvine extended his championship lead to 15 points. Fisichella and Frentzen were already out of contention now. There was to be no contention between Villeneuve and Salo either because Sauber elected to withdraw Salo and Diniz from the Brazilian GP on safety grounds after both drivers had had a rear wing failure during the weekend. So Villeneuve was the World Champion before the race had even started. To cap his season he went on to win the season finale in Australia before announcing his retirement from the sport. Fisichella, with his win in Brazil took second place in the championship having scored 59 of his 65 points in the last eight races of the season.

2000 STANDINGS

Code: Select all

 1. Jacques Villeneuve    81 (6 wins, 2 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
 2. Giancarlo Fisichella  65 (5 wins, 1 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
 3. Mika Salo             56 (1 wins, 4 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd)
 4. Heinz-Harald Frentzen 53 (4 wins, 2 x 2nd)
 5. Eddie Irvine          36 (3 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd)
 6. Alexander Wurz        29 (1 x 2nd, 3rd)
 7. Ricardo Zonta         25 (5 x 3rd)
 8. Jos Verstappen        22 (1 win, 1 x 2nd, 1 x 3rd)
 9. Pedro Diniz           21 (1 x 3rd)
10. Johnny Herbert        19 (1 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd)
11. Pedro de la Rosa      15 (2 x 2nd)
12. Gaston Mazzacane       7 (1 x 4th)
13. Marc Gené              6 (1 x 4th)
14. Jean Alesi             5 (1 x 4th)
Post Reply