16 replies to this topic

[Andretti Fan]

Watching a show on James Hunt today, I got to thinking about what could have happened if things had been a little different! What if Fittipaldi had decided to stay at McLaren instead of moving to Copesucar. With Hesketh still closing its doors, where would James have ended up. Most teams, especially the more competitive ones, already had their rosters set. Could Lotus be a possibility? Have him replace Bob Evans at the start of the season, then Ronnie goes to March as actually happened, and that changes the whole season. Does Emerson become Lauda's main rival? Does Chapman chose Gunman Nillson as Hunt's teammate! Does he still make a deal with Andretti? How would Hunt and Andretti work together as teammates? Lots of interesting questions there!

Edited by Andretti Fan, 30 December 2024 - 01:33.

[chr1s]

I think a more pertinent question would be what if Lauda had never crashed in Germany? The championship would have been over before the end of August and Hunt would probably have been forgotten by now....

[Doug Nye]

I am unconvinced that Hunt would have been just forgotten...  

 

If Lauda had indeed taken that title, there would have been a raging fire still burning within James - as there most certainly was within Nigel Mansell - or indeed within Damon Hill. McLaren remained at least competitive into '77 and with an unsatisfied Hunt at the helm the combination would certainly have given another title chase tremendous energy. More - indeed - than perhaps proved to be the case with James relatively fat and happy with his Champion status.

 

DCN

[Dick Dastardly]

Late '75, I remember hearing that Hesketh were quitting F1 due to financial pressures......then came the tragedy that wiped out the Hill Embassy team. After the sorrow of the loss of lives, I wondered if Embassy would switch their sponsorship to Hesketh. I can't remember the timeline from back then [it is 49 years ago !] but if James hadn't already signed for McLaren when the Hill accident happened, and Hesketh were able to remain in F1 due to receiving Embassy sponsorship, would he have stayed with the team?....  

[john aston]

Parallel or alternative histories are dangerous territory. Change one thing ,and  who knows what  else might happen as a consequence ? Suppose Lauda doesn't crash in the German GP but wins at a canter . But after a few schnapps too many post race , he unwisely decides to drive home and hits a spectator's car at speed on the autobahn . Although  the adult occupants are unhurt , their son Michael is fatally injured . The Schumacher family never attend a GP again . And on a  trip to the USA  to celebrate his championship  Hunt meets a young entrepreneur at a party and invests most of his winnings with the American's nascent firm . founded a few months before and called Apple.  

[lyntonh]

Parallel or alternative histories are dangerous territory. Change one thing ,and  who knows what  else might happen as a consequence ? Suppose Lauda doesn't crash in the German GP but wins at a canter . But after a few schnapps too many post race , he unwisely decides to drive home and hits a spectator's car at speed on the autobahn . Although  the adult occupants are unhurt , their son Michael is fatally injured . The Schumacher family never attend a GP again . And on a  trip to the USA  to celebrate his championship  Hunt meets a young entrepreneur at a party and invests most of his winnings with the American's nascent firm . founded a few months before and called Apple.  

The deliberately cynical and pointed scenario you have put together simply proves how worthless the thread topic really is.

it's like several other of the fantasy best-of lists, and mostly unconnected worst of this and that discussions that have recently become pleasing to some people who post here.

This thread is another one of those completely pointless flights of fancy, always described by the originator as being just for fun.

Perhaps the most obvious example being the endless sole-contributor Xmas etc thing.

 

If it's just for fun, put it in the Paddock club.

Edited by lyntonh, 31 December 2024 - 10:12.

[ian senior]

Personally, I am all in favour of completely pointless flights of fantasy? Why not? There is far too much serious stuff going on in the world today. One of them, of course , is treating discussion of past events in motor sport as if they were really , really important. In the overall scheme of things, things that take place on here are utterly pointless. But I am glad they happen. Long may they continue. And to the po-faced contingent, have a moderately happy new year, if you can manage it.

Edited by ian senior, 31 December 2024 - 13:16.

[B Squared]

No one is saying it can't be done at this forum, but the real history of the sport is rich enough for me.

[BRG]

No one is saying it can't be done at this forum,

Agree, but there seems to be one Grinch who differs!

 

Alternate History is a harmless sideline, not to be taken seriously.

 

However......if Emmo had stayed at McLaren, might Hunt have landed at Copersucar who needed a star driver to partner Hoffman.  And with Emmo qualifying the old Brazilian coffee crate fifth in his first race, maybe Hunt could have made an impact?   Or would brother Wilson have just soldiered on instead?

[Allen Brown]

(I agree this is harmless and not to be taken too seriously.)

So let me offer my own completely unserious scenario.  Walter Wolf might have dug deeper into his pockets and employed Hunt to go with Postlethwaite and the Hesketh 308Cs.  With Frank's ability to find sponsors, who knows what might have happened.  Results would have been immediate, Frank and Walter would never have parted, and the first honeycomb F1 car might have been the Postelthwaite/Head Embassy-Wolf FW06 for Hunt and Ickx to debut at the 1976 British GP.  

[sstiel]

https://www.mclaren....atest-what-ifs/ McLaren itself has done these counterfactuals.

[Roger Clark]

After several races over-achieving in uncompetitive cars, he joined Ferrari after Lauda's accident.  His stay there was short but long enough to build a relationship with Marlboro and he joined McLaren for 1977 when Fittipaldi left to join his brother's team.

[E1pix]

The deliberately cynical and pointed scenario you have put together simply proves how worthless the thread topic really is.
it's like several other of the fantasy best-of lists, and mostly unconnected worst of this and that discussions that have recently become pleasing to some people who post here.
This thread is another one of those completely pointless flights of fancy, always described by the originator as being just for fun.
Perhaps the most obvious example being the endless sole-contributor Xmas etc thing.
 
If it's just for fun, put it in the Paddock club.

Happy Freaking Holidays to you, Grinchy.

[chr1s]

Regarding Hunt and Lotus, I'm pretty sure he did talk to them at some point before he joined McLaren, I remember him saying something like "they took me out to lunch but I never got any!" I think he also described being number two at Lotus as a "nothing job". 

[Andretti Fan]

Ferrari chose Reutemann so that may not be an avenue for him. Hunt probably wouldn't want to play second fiddle to Peterson but might could replace him after he heads to March. Hunt and Nilsson sound like a good line up on paper, but how would James and Chapman get along? Could James get picked to replace Reutemann at Brabham? So many paths to possibly take!

[Rob Ryder]

If Hunt had tits he could have waited for the Women's F1 Academy       

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

What if?  You want 'what if?'  I'll give you 'what if?'

 

What if Michael May's wing on his Porsche 550 had caught on and builders for the 1957 F1 season and subsequent years adopted it?  Maybe something like this?

 

 

Tasty, huh?