F1 Fanatic

What if… Damon Hill had been resigned by Williams for the 1997 season?

Villeneuve would have had the edge over Hill but would have started throwing it away, just like Hill looked like doing in 1996. The race goes down to Jerez with Schumacher, Hill and Villeneuve with only 2 points covering them. The race goes on as it did but Schumacher never turns into Villeneuve as even if Jacques retired Hill would be champion. Getting baulked by Schumacher as he is nursing his car problem, Hill closes right up as Villeneuve goes on the inside of Schumacher, managing a fortuitous double overtake as the pair trip over each other. Hill wins a second WDC and moves to McLaren for 1998, however he does only a bit better than Coulthard and leaves in 1999, replaced by test driver Nick Heidfeld (seems logical after all, I’m not trying to big up Nick at every available opportunity!).

And I’ll finish on the question I posed earlier (please have a go at Dan’s too though, no anti-hijacking intended!):

What if…Nelson Piquet’s tyre had blown in the 1986 Australian Grand Prix instead of Nigel Mansell’s?

Fisi would have been a subserviant number two to Schumacher, with his speed becoming more and more evident throughout the season, culminating in a dream win at Monza.

The next season however expectations are high, and though Fisi manages to win three races, by mid season the pressure has become too much and he really begins to struggle. Ferrari wish to keep him on but, unable to cope with the expectations that come with being an Italian driver in a Ferrari, Fisi returns to Jordan.

Barrichello meanwhile takes over Fisi’s vacant Benetton seat and manages a brilliant first win at the 2000 Canadian GP. He struggles with the terrible B201 but shows enough promise for Ferrari to want to hire him to replace Fisi.

What if Alessandro Naninni’s career wasn’t cut so tragically short with that helicopter accident?

The question?