A F1 history rewrite 1950-Present . . . using Python
So, Let’s rewrite F1 history from the very beginning!
Prologue: What happened during these seventy years?
So, I have decided to rewrite Formula 1 history using a python simulation and only running it one time and this is what transpired! Be prepared for a lot of odd things!
Alfa Romeo was the dominant team in the early part of this decade but by the end of 1956, they withdrew from the sport. Oddly enough, in 1959, the driver’s championship was decided on countback for the first time in the sport’s history because Mike Hawthorn and Jack Brabham were tied on points at the end of the year, but Hawthorn won his second title of his career thanks to one DNF compared to Brabham’s two DNF’s. Obviously, the Italians dominated the sport this decade, winning eight of the ten team’s titles in the decade.
The 1960’s begin with a big technical revolution when newcomers Team Lotus entered F1 full-time with a purpose built mid-engine F1 car, however, it was full of flaws and Team Lotus barely made it through the season before leaving the sport altogether. However, the Cooper team decided to try their hand at a mid-engine F1 car the following season with excellent success with Tony Brooks winning the 1961 and 1962 driver’s championships. Ferrari then made the long-awaited switch to mid-engine cars for 1963 and tasted success that year with Bruce McLaren behind the wheel. By the start of the 1966 season, the FIA have decided to only allow mid-engine cars to compete in F1, leaving the few privateers that were remaining to switch to mid-engine cars after years of resisting the switch. In 1968, Alfa Romeo came back into F1 as an engine supplier for the newcomers Farina Racing team, who was headed by Nino Farina, who won the WDC in 1952. In one of the most fairy-tire endings in the rewritten history so far, the newcomers won both the driver’s championship with Peter Revson, and clinching the team’s title in dominating fashion in the first year of existence. Jackie Stewart finished off the 1960’s by winning his first title for Citroen. Another theme is bold new teams coming and going during this decade in addition to the decline of the privateers and Team Lotus, Lamborghini and Bugatti also tried their hands at F1 but failed as well.
By the start of the 1970 season, the FIA has effectively banned the independent “Privateer” teams from competing in the championship. Now, all of the remaining teams must pay all associated FIA entry fees before acceptance into the championship itself. In 1974, the second driver’s championship decided on countback occurred between now three-time WDC Graham Hill and Emerson Fittipaldi, both of whom were driving for Ferrari. Fittipaldi won his first title due to more race wins. Before the start of the 1977 season, the FIA implemented the modern-day two cars per team rule that is still with us to this very day. In addition, Renault also entered Formula one with the very first turbocharged engine in a Formula 1 car. Oddly enough, John Watson accomplished a three-peat of driver’s titles during 1975-77 driving for Mercedes.
Niki Lauda had to wait a little while, but he did win a WDC to his name in 1980 for the Ford Grand Prix team, who somehow is still hanging on for dear life with the aging DFV engine. In 1981, Mario Andretti won his second driver’s title. Before the start of the 1982 season, the FIA had decided to make Turbo-charged engines mandatory. This caused panic among some of the once-great teams, most notably BRM and Cooper, but they somehow got contracts with independent engine makers in time. Furthermore, in 1982, the calendar finally expanded to 16 races. Despite all of these changes, BRM (with the help of Zakspeed suppling them engines) won the team’s championship and Keke Rosberg won the driver’s title. By the end of the 1983 season, Renault left the sport altogether. By the end of the 1988 season, Engine power was obviously at an all-time high and thanks to that, Alain Prost won four driver’s titles for Ferrari. Obviously, wanting to slow down the cars, the FIA banned the turbo-charged cars before the start of the 1989 season, in favor of a 3.5L NA formula. Despite their efforts, Prost was able to secure his fifth driver’s title to finish off the 1980’s.
Somehow by the time we get to the start of the 1990’s, the F1 calendar has reached 18 total races. At the end of the 1990 season, there was the third time a driver’s championship was decided on countback. This time it was Ayrton Senna, who was driving for Farina-Alfa Romeo, and Elio De Angeles, for Mercedes. De Angeles won due to more race wins 4 to 2. The following year, Senna got the last laugh and he won his first driver’s title by two points over Nelson Piquet. Gerhard Berger returned the favor for Mercedes winning his only driver’s title in 1992, and Senna responded with a second driver’s title in 1993. At the end of the 1994 season, Mansell has won his second driver’s title. In 1995, Mika Hakkinen won his first driver’s title for Dallara. By the time we reached the 1996 season, track safety became a huge point of emphasis and as a result, the FIA had to take a hard stand on this issue, the end result being that the calendar was reduced to 17 races by this time. Oddly enough, it was Ivan Capelli winning the driver’s title that season, for the Ford Grand Prix team, who by this time are using V10 engines after finally scrapping the proven V8 engine re-introduced in 1989 and had its roots in the mid 1960’s. Before the start of the 1998 season, the FIA made a massive set of rule changes which included grooved tires, narrower width, and reduction of engine displacement to 3 liters. By the end of the 1990’s it was obvious that the Lamborghini F1 team, who re-entered F1 in 1983, first with a crazy 1.5L V12 turbo engine before the turbo ban, before switching to their signature V12 engine for the 1989 season, had become the team to beat, thanks to Michael Schumacher winning two driver’s titles to his name.
Before the start of the 2001 season, the Lotus name was back in F1, but this time under partnership with Toyota to supply them state-of-the-art V10 engines. The 2002 season was a nail-biter but Jacques Villeneuve prevailed over his Dallara teammate Mika Hakkinen by one point. At the end of the 2004 season, Michael Schumacher did the unthinkable, breaking Alain Prost’s driver’s title record with his sixth title. The following season, which was the last of the three liter era, Giancarlo Fisichella somehow won a driver’s title for Mercedes. Before the start of the 2006 season, the FIA finally got with the modern times, and introduced 80HP Hybrid Systems to the cars and switched the engine formula to 2.4 liter V8 engines on top of that. Despite this, Michael Schumacher extended the driver’s title record way out of reach by the end of the 2008 season, winning nine total driver’s titles. Before the start of the 2009 season, the new era of aerodynamics took effect and did it’s intended job shuffling up the pecking order.
The 2010’s and last season
The FIA had finally did the unthinkable before the 2010 season, they finally overhauled the points system to the modern top 10 finishers system still being used in present day. By the end of the 2013, a possible new force had emerged, Nico Rosberg for Ferrari, who somehow won three straight driver’s titles up to that point and was on top of his game. However, for the 2014 season, they bought in the V6 turbo-hybrid era, with the hybrid systems doubling in power output to 160. By that time, the calendar has expanded to 21 races. By the end of the 2015 season, Nico Rosberg had managed to claim his fifth straight driver’s championship. In the 2016 season, Kimi Raikkonen managed to claim his third driver’s title after winning back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010. The following season, Lewis Hamilton finally broke though and claimed his first World driver’s championship. Also, for Ferrari, they had claimed their 25th team’s championship in their long history. In 2018, Max Verstappen made history by becoming the youngest ever driver’s champion for Lamborghini. In 2019, Sebastian Vettel finally secured his long-awaited world driver’s championship for Ferrari. In 2020 however, Lewis Hamilton reclaimed the driver’s title for Ferrari.
Now, what’s next: Well, most everything has changed. First, the cars will become more futuristic than ever before thanks to the now-mandatory Halo device. Second, the engine formula has been changed again. This time it will be 2 liter V8 Turbocharged engines with the hybrid systems making even more power than ever now to 250HP. There’s also a new commitment to wellness and health, this has caused the race calendar to shrink from 20 races in 2020 to 16 races in 2021. Finally, in an effort to attract promising new teams to the sport, the FIA have finally expanded the entry list to 13 teams for 2021 and forcing all of the teams to abide by a hard spending cap of $150million per year. So, in this next post, I will unveil the entry list for the re-written 2021 season.
