Dynasty Sports

I have often wondered what it would be like to have a Formula One racing career that started as young as that of Max Verstappen (aged 17 in 2015, but first participation just before his 17th birthday, GP Japan 2014) and went on as long as that of Fernando Alonso (first test in 1999, still active in Formula One in 2026). So, that is exactly what we're gonna do!

As my avatar Danimal5981 already reveals, I am from 5th September 1981. So, in order to make my F1-debut at age 17, we'd have to go back to 1999. This is before a certain Michael Schumacher started to dominate in a Ferrari. These were the days of peak-Mika Häkkinen. People hadn't heard yet of Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, or Lewis Hamilton. Max Verstappen was a toddler, Lando Norris would enter the world in late 1999, but Oscar Piastri or Kimi Antonelli weren't even born yet. Teams such as Mercedes and Red Bull don't exist yet. This is the V10 era, where it's usually between Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and the odd outsider such as Benetton or Jordan.

We will enter the world of Formula One as the youngest rookie until Verstappen would join in 2015. Can we rewrite the history books? Remember, at this point in time Juan Manuel Fangio (a driver from the 1950s) still holds the record amount of 5 F1-world titles, while Alain Prost is regarded as the most successful F1-driver, while Ayrton Senna was arguably the most gifted. Michael Schumacher is only a double world champion at this time, both of them won with Benetton. He moved to Ferrari in 1996, but was beaten by Damon Hill (1996), Jacques Villeneuve (1997) and Mika Häkkinen (1998). All these drivers

Thanks to some excellent mods on Codemasters / EA Sports F1 games, we can rewrite the whole F1-history of the 21st century with a little 1999 prologue.

Can we challenge Michael Schumacher in his Ferrari, or even break his dominant spell? Can we later go head-2-head with the likes of Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, or the current generation?

July 12th 1999 - Michael Schumacher has suffered multiple fractures in both legs after crashing out in the opening lap of the 1999 British Grand Prix. The German Ferrari-driver was rushed to hospital where it became apparent the injuries were quite serious. The double world champion of 1994 and 1995 is at least ruled out for the remainder of this season, as recovery for these injuries are set at around six months, if ever.

Ferrari-boss Luca di Montezemolo now has two important decisions to make: who is going to drive the Ferrari for the remainder of 1999? If Di Montezemolo thinks the constructor's championship is most important, he might go for a more experienced driver. But if somebody needs to drive in support of sudden first driver Eddie Irvine, someone lesser known might be picked.

The second choice is about what happens after: can Michael Schumacher get fit again and back to top form, or not? And even if so, it is commonly known Di Montezemolo is somewhat disappointed in Schumacher for not (yet?) delivering a single world title and is carefully looking for a new driver line-up. But then there are team boss Jean Todt, Engineering genius Ross Brawn and designer Rory Byrne who essentially have tied their future to that of Michael Schumacher.

The first choice needs to taken quickly, as the next race is on July 25th on the A1-Ring near Spielberg, Austria. For this 9th round of the 1999 championship, Schumacher's injury has changed little for the other drivers. Mika Häkkinen is in the lead position with 40 points, but the runner-up Eddie Irvine still has 32 points like Michael Schumacher. Heinz-Harald Frentzen is surprisingly close in his Jordan, also because David Coulthard is experiencing many technical flaws in his McLaren-Mercedes.

Back in 1999, only the top 6 was rewarded with points: 1st - 10 pts, 2nd - 6 pts, 3rd - 4 pts, 4th - 3 pts, 5th - 2 pts, 6th - 1pt.

Ferrari has announced, 17 year old Daniel Marzec is to race for Ferrari during the weekend of the Austrian Grand Prix (23 July - 25 July). The Polish Ferrari Academy driver got the call after a succesfull test at Imola (pics below). If Marzec indeed is racing on Sunday, he'll be the youngest ever Formula One driver with 17 years, 10 months and 20 days.

The decision comes from Luca di Montezemolo. The Ferrari boss explains: 'Marzec is a mega talent. Obviously we wanted to bring him more gradually. He was currently fighting in the World Series with guys like Fernando Alonso, Tomas Scheckter and Giorgio Pantano; other talents we undoubtebly will see in F1 in the future. Then we wanted to progress him to Formula 3, Formula 3000 and maybe some time at Minardi in Formula One. But exceptional times call for exceptional decsions about exceptional talents. I have all confidence that he will do a fine job.'

Marzec has for now been only been confirmed for the race in Austria: if things turn out bad, Ferrari can always change course and opt for a third driver by the time the German Grand Prix is due. But should the move with this youngster turn out to become a success, Ferrari will have a hard nut to crack about its 2000 line-up.

Intrigued and following

Looking forward to how this goes. I like the premise.