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The Alternative History of Grand Prix

posted 13 years ago by ubercommando
3 replies | jump to latest

Just from what is mentioned in the script and also what can be inferred from the movie, here is what I think is the alternative timeline of John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix:

1958: Roger Stoddard wins his first F1 World Championship in a Vanwall (The painting on the wall of the Stoddard mansion reveals this).
1959: Jack Brabham wins the championship (Brabham's name is mentioned in the Monza race)
1960: Jack Brabham wins the championship again. Pete Aron begins his F1 career (Aron mentions in an interview before Monaco that he's been an F1 driver for 6 seasons).
1961: Jean-Pierre Sarti wins his first world championship in a Ferrari (Another painting shows Sarti winning in a sharknose Ferrari).
1962: Roger Stoddard wins his second world championship in a BRM. (Not mentioned in the script but as there is no Graham Hill in the world of the movie...he plays another driver...then it's logical that the brilliant Stoddard would have won that year as well)
1963: Jim Clark wins his first world championship for Lotus (Clark is seen in the movie). Roger Stoddard is killed in a race (conjecture, but it fits with the timeline).
1964: Jean-Pierre Sarti wins his second world championship for Ferrari (Sarti is mentioned as being a double world champion. As there's no John Surtees in the movie's world, this would have been the year Sarti would have won it). Scott Stoddard begins his F1 career in a BRM (it's mentioned that Scott is in his 3rd season as a Grand Prix driver). Pete Aron leaves Ferrari and joins BRM.
1965: Jim Clark wins his second championship in a Lotus. Nino Barlini begins his Grand Prix career after winning 2 motorcycle world championships.
1966: Pete Aron wins the World Championship for Yamura.

And now the speculation: As the fictional drivers of Grand Prix have replaced Mike Hawthorn, Tony Brooks, Graham Hill, Phil Hill, Taffy Von Trips, Lorenzo Bandini, John Surtees, Mike Parkes, Chris Amon and Jackie Stewart...what would have happened next?

1967: Denny Hulme wins the championship for Brabham (Hulme's name is mentioned in the movie).
1968: Scott Stoddard finally wins the world championship for Lotus (by 1968, BRM were on the decline and Clark's death would have given an opportunity for Stoddard).
1969: Nino Barlini wins the championship for Ferrari (The 1969 Ferrari was awesome and only the bad luck of Chris Amon and the brilliance of Stewart saw the latter win).
1970: Jochen Rindt wins the world championship for Lotus (Rindt is seen in the movie).
1971: Scott Stoddard wins his second world championship.
1972: Emerson Fittipaldi wins his first world championship.
1973: Scott Stoddard wins his third and final world championship before retiring to help his wife's growing fashion empire.

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[–] naturboy99 13 years ago

1964: Pete Aron leaves Ferrari and joins BRM.

I don't agree with this for a reason I posted in another thread. In the beginning when we are introduced to the characters by the race announcer at Monaco, he clearly says "Pete Aron, NOW driving for BRM, Aron hasn't won a race since leaving Ferrari 3 seasons ago" as if this is his first race with BRM.

I believe he competed for two years with an unnamed team.

But thanks for the timeline, that was pretty well thought out.

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[–] ubercommando 13 years ago

You could be right about Aron being in an unnamed team before BRM, I'd forgotten about that bit of dialogue from the Monaco announcer.

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[–] kenny-164 13 years ago

Ftr I don't think saying Aron's was "now" racing for BRM meant he had just started, since the prior reference to him was his driving for Ferrari, some years before that.