If other drivers started at 17

[James Early]

I was thinking about how young Max Verstappen is and then wondered, what if other drivers started in Formula 1 at the same age and the results were quite extraordinary! Here we go....

1) Lewis Hamilton
Lewis has been a driver in Formula 1 since 2007 where he was a -young- 22 year old... If he had been 17 his first season would have been smack bang in the middle of the early 2000's Ferrari dominance, 2002. Possibly teamed with good ol' Kimi or even David Coulthard. Rivaling Ralf Schumacher for fourth place in the championship.

2) Fernando Alonso
Actually, Fernando Alonso was extremely young when he jumped on the F1 train, at 19 driving for Minardi in 2001. So would it be that strange to see him in 1999 in that blue and white Minardi capable of scoring possibly a point or two? He could have been teamed with Marc Gene!

3) Nigel Mansell
Now this is quite surprising, Mansell actually began his Formula 1 career in 1980 where he was 26 years of age. So it might come as a shock to hear that if he joined as a 17 year old then it would have been the year 1971. He would have joined with other greats such as Nicki Lauda and James Hunt. Mansell would have had one of the longest careers in Formula 1 out of almost any of the drivers ever if he had joined in 1971 and left when he did. Can you imagine Max Verstappen winning the championship 21 years in the future, because that's how long it would have took Mansell...

Thanks for reading, I know I've missed out a lot of drivers but this was only a quick little thing.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Max Verstappen winning the championship 21 years in the future

If Red Bull Racing can secure a deal with a better engine supplier and Adrian Newey gets enough of playing around with boats I think Max will be a WDC winner even before that age, unless Sainz continues to grow at an even faster rate.

 

[Ho3n3r]

Nice post.

And Schumacher would have joined before the Senna-Prost thing even took off, in 1986.

3 way epic legends battle, anyone?

 

[the_sigman]

So Senna would race against Villeneuve and the Professor would race against Hunt. Not bad

 

[Deleted member 161052]

With this...

• Vettel would debut in F1 in 2005
• Michael Schumacher would debut in 1986 and then Ralf in 1993
• Jos Verstappen would debut in 1989
• Hill would debut in 1978
• Häkkinen would debut in 1986

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

He could have been teamed with Marc Gene!

Luca Badoer. Gene was there with Telefonica, I don't see any good reason to have 2 Spanish, and not a free driver like Luca (who was pretty good at that time)

• Hill would debut in 1988

1977!

That means Damon Hill would've joined F1, the same year as Williams entered a customer March for 11 races, with a best finish of 7th! (not counting the first effort, Frank Williams Racing Cars).

 

[Deleted member 161052]

1977!

That means Damon Hill would've joined F1, the same year as Williams entered a customer March for 11 races, with a best finish of 7th! (not counting the first effort, Frank Williams Racing Cars).

But 1978 equals he's entering as a full-time driver.