I've discovered that stupendous website last month and I can't get my mind out of it.
https://www.statsf1.com/en/default.aspx
There are trillions of whatifs hidden in that site guts.
Gilles Villeneuve, for a start. At the time of his death (May 8, 1982) he was completely disgusted with Ferrari and Pironi and was negociating with Ron Dennis / McLaren for 1983. Lauda / Villeneuve 1983, whew. Mclaren still lacked the all powerful TAG Porsche V6 and even Lauda OTL could do nothing against Renault and Brabham. 1984 will be different, but where will Alain Prost go in this case ?
And imagine, this train wreck - Monaco 1984 - with Villeneuve battling Senna (and Bellof). Oh dear. https://www.statsf1.com/en/1984/monaco.aspx
Stefan Bellof https://www.statsf1.com/en/stefan-bellof.aspx
He was bound for Ferrari in 1986 and he was to meet Enzo Ferrari in september 1985. Alas, he crashed his Porsche 962 in Spa Francorchamps and was killed.
Ferrari in 1986 would have been Alboreto and Bellof, at the expense of Stefan Johansson. OTL Alboreto and Johansson did not won any races but got a lot of podiums. Bellof would destroy Alboreto and probably get a couple of victories (as Berger did that same year driving for Benetton).
Then the 1986 championship was so close (with Prost beating Mansell and Piquet devastating rivalry with an inferior car) that even a lone victory by Bellof could change the outcome.
Elio de Angelis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elio_de_Angelis
His death was completely unfair. And he was very young (born 1958) nearly as young as Senna (1960). So his career was barely halfway, although stuck with a fast declining Brabham team... if he can sneak to Williams in place of Patrese in 1988, then he might be world champion in 1990 or 1991, when Williams got the Renault V10 and all the advanced technologies, and only Senna supernatural talent managed to snatch a pair of titles for McLaren.
Farther in time (1978), the respectives fates of Ronnie Peterson, his wife Barbro, and his fellow swede pilot Gunnar Nilsson, are a total heartbreak.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnar_Nilsson
Nilsson won a single race in 1977 and saw himself as Peterson heir in F1. And then Peterson died in Monza 1978 thanks to a stupid accident and stupid doctors; his wife never got over his death and committed suicide ten years later; while late 1977 Nilsson found- too late - he had testicular cancer and died one month after Peterson, just in time to go to his funeral, ravaged by his terminal illness.Within the span of a month, Sweden lost his two F1 stars and two gentlemen drivers.
Sickening.
Peterson was bound for McLaren (like Villeneuve !) when he died. With hindsight, the last years before Ron Dennis (1979 - 1981, despite pilots like Watson, Tambay, Prost and De Cesaris) where hopeless. By contrast in 1982 both Watson and Lauda were contenders for the title. Maybe Peterson could have pulled it.
https://www.statsf1.com/en/default.aspx
There are trillions of whatifs hidden in that site guts.
Gilles Villeneuve, for a start. At the time of his death (May 8, 1982) he was completely disgusted with Ferrari and Pironi and was negociating with Ron Dennis / McLaren for 1983. Lauda / Villeneuve 1983, whew. Mclaren still lacked the all powerful TAG Porsche V6 and even Lauda OTL could do nothing against Renault and Brabham. 1984 will be different, but where will Alain Prost go in this case ?
And imagine, this train wreck - Monaco 1984 - with Villeneuve battling Senna (and Bellof). Oh dear. https://www.statsf1.com/en/1984/monaco.aspx
Stefan Bellof https://www.statsf1.com/en/stefan-bellof.aspx
He was bound for Ferrari in 1986 and he was to meet Enzo Ferrari in september 1985. Alas, he crashed his Porsche 962 in Spa Francorchamps and was killed.
Ferrari in 1986 would have been Alboreto and Bellof, at the expense of Stefan Johansson. OTL Alboreto and Johansson did not won any races but got a lot of podiums. Bellof would destroy Alboreto and probably get a couple of victories (as Berger did that same year driving for Benetton).
Then the 1986 championship was so close (with Prost beating Mansell and Piquet devastating rivalry with an inferior car) that even a lone victory by Bellof could change the outcome.
Elio de Angelis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elio_de_Angelis
His death was completely unfair. And he was very young (born 1958) nearly as young as Senna (1960). So his career was barely halfway, although stuck with a fast declining Brabham team... if he can sneak to Williams in place of Patrese in 1988, then he might be world champion in 1990 or 1991, when Williams got the Renault V10 and all the advanced technologies, and only Senna supernatural talent managed to snatch a pair of titles for McLaren.
Farther in time (1978), the respectives fates of Ronnie Peterson, his wife Barbro, and his fellow swede pilot Gunnar Nilsson, are a total heartbreak.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnar_Nilsson
Nilsson won a single race in 1977 and saw himself as Peterson heir in F1. And then Peterson died in Monza 1978 thanks to a stupid accident and stupid doctors; his wife never got over his death and committed suicide ten years later; while late 1977 Nilsson found- too late - he had testicular cancer and died one month after Peterson, just in time to go to his funeral, ravaged by his terminal illness.Within the span of a month, Sweden lost his two F1 stars and two gentlemen drivers.
Sickening.
Peterson was bound for McLaren (like Villeneuve !) when he died. With hindsight, the last years before Ron Dennis (1979 - 1981, despite pilots like Watson, Tambay, Prost and De Cesaris) where hopeless. By contrast in 1982 both Watson and Lauda were contenders for the title. Maybe Peterson could have pulled it.
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