Masters Season 4

Masters Season 4
Info
Drivers Champion	Alain Prost
Teams Champion	Maestro Motorsport-Honda
Engine Trophy	Ferrari
Navigation
Previous	Masters Season 3
Next	Masters Season 5

Masters Season 4 was the fourth FF1M Season. Although previously called the 1991 Season, it did not follow the 1991 Formula Calendar, nor did it contain drivers solely from that year, being run at the time as a Masters event. However, from this season onwards, the series did start to link each series to a year and used liveries from that year. It was the beginning of the series transformation from a 'Masters' event to a year on year rewriting of Formula 1 history which would be completed at the end of the Season 8.

In a tightly contested championship, Alain Prost won the Drivers Championship for the second successive season in his first season with Maestro Motorsport, once again beating Fernando Alonso at the final race of the season. Maestro Motorsport also won the Teams Championship after a late surge helped them to overhaul Exolite.

The season is notable for the introduction of testing and an overhaul in the points system. Previously, points were awarded down to 6th place under a 10-6-4-3-2-1 system, whereas from this season onwards, points are awarded down to 8th place under a 12-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 system. It has remained unchanged since then. Additional rules changes included engine suppliers being limited to a maximum of two teams.

Teams and Drivers

Team	Chassis	Engine	Tyre	No.	Race Drivers	Test Drivers
Maestro Motorsport	Lotus	Honda		1	Alain Prost
				2	Lewis Hamilton
M-Sport	Ferrari	Ferrari		3	Michael Schumacher
				4	Ayrton Senna
AquinoPlus	Benetton	Renault		5	Fernando Alonso
				6	Mika Hakkinen
Pedersen	Ligier	Renault		7	Nigel Mansell
				8	Gerhard Berger
Exolite	McLaren	Ferrari		9	Kimi Raikkonen
				10	Damon Hill
Gui Racing	Tyrrell	Ferrari		11	Nelson Piquet	Nelsinho Piquet
				12	Rubens Barrichello (1-11)
					Nelsinho Piquet (12-17)
A Racing	Footwork	Ford		14	David Coulthard
				15	Martin Brundle
Willow Images	Jordan	Toyota		16	Juan Pablo Montoya
				17	Jacques Villeneuve
FJR	Williams	Mercedes		18	Jenson Button
				19	Jean Alesi
Ajay Motorsports	Minardi	Toyota		20	Neel Jani	Andreas Zuber
				21	Gianmaria Bruni (1-10)
					Andreas Zuber (11-17)
Dodgem	Brabham	Ford		22	Giancarlo Fisichella	Giorgio Pantano
				23	Johnny Herbert (1-15)
					Giorgio Pantano (16-17)

Season Calendar

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit
1	Australian Grand Prix	Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne
2	Brazilian Grand Prix	Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Sao Paulo
3	San Marino Grand Prix	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola
4	Dutch Grand Prix	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort
5	Spanish Grand Prix	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmelo
6	European Grand Prix	Nurburgring, Nurburg
7	Mexican Grand Prix	Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City
8	Canadian Grand Prix	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal
9	French Grand Prix	Dijon-Prenois, Prenois
10	British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone
11	German Grand Prix	Hockenheimring, Hockenheim
12	Hungarian Grand Prix	Hungaroring, Mogyorod
13	Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot
14	Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza
15	Portuguese Grand Prix	Circuito do Estoril, Estoril
16	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka
17	Oceanic Grand Prix	Adelaide Street Circuit, Adelaide

Season Review

Round 1 - Australia

An overhaul to the regulations saw pre-season and in-season testing introduced to FF1M for the first time. In the previous three seasons, car development was determined by quizzes set by the AFIA. Furthermore, engine suppliers could now only supply a maximum of three teams in a bid to close up the field and prevent over and underdevelopment. Ferrari had supplied six teams last season and won all races.

The new rules seemed to benefit the two teams from Yorkshire, as the Goodyear-shod Exolite of Damon Hill won the first race of the season in Melbourne ahead of FJR's Jean Alesi, also on Goodyears. With the other FJR of Jenson Button in 5th place, they shared the championship lead with Exolite. Completing the podium was Gui Racing's Nelson Piquet, running on the Bridgestone tyres. Reigning teams champions M-Sport had a disastrous start to the season as both Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, many teams' dream line-up, failed to reach the chequered flag.

Round 2 - Brazil

Exolite continued their stunning start to the season with another victory, this time from Kimi Raikkonen, who finished ahead of M-Sport's Michael Schumacher and the other Exolite of Damon Hill. The two Brazilian teams both finished in the points, with AquinoPlus securing a 4th and 6th for Fernando Alonso and Mika Hakkinen, while Rubens Barrichello took 7th for Gui Racing. His teammate Nelson Piquet failed to finish.

Round 3 - San Marino

The first European race of the season saw a race of high attrition with incidents aplenty throughout the whole field and only eight finishers. It looked as if Jean Alesi would take his first ever FF1M win, but a suspension failure robbed him, which meant that the shrewd Alain Prost for Maestro Motorsport took the win, a good result after a somewhat quiet start to his championship defence. With Damon Hill retiring from the race, Prost took the lead of the championship. Joining him on the podium were Pedersen's Gerhard Berger and the other Maestro of Lewis Hamilton. Like in Australia, M-Sport recorded another double DNF.

Round 4 - Netherlands

For the first time in FF1M's history, the dunes of Zandvoort played host to a race, and the race was dominated by the two Exolites, as Kimi Raikkonen won ahead of Damon Hill. It was the team's second career 1-2 having achieved their first at the Nurburgring from the previous season, and both drivers overtook Alain Prost in the drivers championship. 3rd was Fernando Alonso, his first podium of the season after an inauspicious start to the season. To date, this is the only time FF1M has visited the Netherlands.

Drivers Championship

Position	Driver	Team	Points
1st	Damon Hill	Exolite	26
2nd	Kimi Raikkonen	Exolite	24
3rd	Alain Prost	Maestro Motorsport	23
4th	Jenson Button	FJR	14
5th	Mika Hakkinen	AquinoPlus	12
6th	Michael Schumacher	M-Sport	11

Teams Championship

Position	Team	Points
1st	Exolite	50
2nd	Maestro Motorsport	29
3rd	FJR	23
4th	AquinoPlus	23
5th	Gui Racing	12

Round 5 - Spain

Barcelona saw a welcome return to form for M-Sport after a difficult start to their championship defence. Having retired from the first four races, Ayrton Senna won the Spanish GP with teammate Michael Schumacher coming home in 5th to leapfrog the team up to 4th ahead of AquinoPlus, Gui Racing, and Pedersen. Completing the podium were championship leader Damon Hill, and for the first time this season, FJR's Jenson Button. Home hero Fernando Alonso came home 4th, while Season 3 winner Alain Prost recorded his first retirement of the season, while Kimi Raikkonen appeared to be alternating between winning and retiring.

Round 6 - Europe

Once again, the Nurburgring played host to the European GP, and the race would see a fifth different winner of the season, as Pedersen's Nigel Mansell took the victory, his first since the Italian GP of Season 2 when he drove for Gui Racing. He was joined on the podium by Lewis Hamilton and an on-form Ayrton Senna. In front of his adoring fans, Michael Schumacher came home in 5th place, while both Exolites failed to score, as did Alain Prost.

Round 7 - Mexico

The circus headed across the Atlantic Ocean for not one, but two races in the North American continent. The first of which was another venue and country hosting a race for the first time, the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. After two non-scores in the previous two races, Alain Prost returned to winning ways. Finishing in 2nd was Exolite's Kimi Raikkonen, with Fernando Alonso taking his second podium finish of the season. Damon Hill's 2nd retirement of the season meant that Prost retook the lead of the championship, but only by one point.

Round 8 - Canada

The second North American race at Montreal saw Ayrton Senna take his 2nd win of the season ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, whose 8 points propelled him into the lead of the championship for the first time. Taking another 3rd place was Fernando Alonso. Damon Hill once again suffered a retirement and slipped down another place in the championship. Exolite still held a commanding lead in the teams championship, however, as the halfway stage of the season was approaching, both championships were anyone's guesses.

Drivers Championship

Position	Driver	Team	Points
1st	Kimi Raikkonen	Exolite	40
2nd	Alain Prost	Maestro Motorsport	39
3rd	Damon Hill	Exolite	34
4th	Ayrton Senna	M-Sport	30
5th	Fernando Alonso	AquinoPlus	28
6th	Jenson Button	FJR	26

Teams Championship

Position	Team	Points
1st	Exolite	74
2nd	Maestro Motorsport	55
3rd	M-Sport	49
4th	AquinoPlus	47
5th	FJR	41

Round 9 - France

The third new circuit of the season saw the French GP move from Magny-Cours to the super-fast Dijon-Prenois. Fernando Alonso continued his resurgence as he took his first win of the season ahead of Damon Hill, who took his first points since Spain. Finishing in 3rd place was Nelson Piquet, his first podium since Australia. Prost took a somewhat anonymous 6th place, which actually moved Hill back into the lead of the championship. Meanwhile, FJR recorded their first non-score of the championship after a retirement for Jenson Button and a poor race for Jean Alesi.

Round 10 - Great Britain

After a quiet couple of races, reigning champion Alain Prost returned to form with a commanding win ahead of Ayrton Senna and teammate Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was in fact the only Brit to finish in the points after Damon Hill, Jenson Button, Nigel Mansell, David Coulthard, Martin Brundle, and Johnny Herbert all failed to scored. Of those, only Nigel Mansell was still running when the chequered flag fell.

Round 11 - Germany

Both Exolites utilised their extremely powerful Ferrari engines to lock out the front row at the long straights of Hockenheim, but both got into a lot of bother on the first lap when they collided with each other at the first chicane. Hill was the big loser in this incident while Raikkonen kept the lead, but still on the first lap, he crashed out at the stadium handing a massive lead to Jenson Button. Unlike Imola, the FJR didn't break down, and Button dominated the race to take the team's first ever victory.

Alain Prost kept out of trouble to finish 2nd ahead of Ayrton Senna, who had taken his 5th podium in seven races, cementing his status as a championship contender. Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher could only manage 6th place, which was actually his first points finish since his other home race in what had been a terrible season for him so far.

The race contained two other significant landmarks; the first time a driver change occurred as Ajay's Gianmaria Bruni was replaced by Andreas Zuber before the race. The change had obviously worked as Zuber scored a very respectable 8th, and not by virtue of a high attrition race either as 16 cars finished. This race opened the floodgates for other teams to make driver changes, as Gui Racing replaced Rubens Barrichello with Nelsinho Piquet for the next race to make it a father-son combination.

The other landmark saw the first instance of a disqualification. Both Dodgems of Giancarlo Fisichella and Johnny Herbert were kicked out after the race after it was believed that team principal Boris Johnson was seen promoting a wild commentator's delight at Button's first ever FF1M win. Nobody had the heart to tell Johnson that Button had won the Brazilian Grand Prix of Season 3.

Round 12 - Hungary

Having seen a chance of victory ruined by his own teammate, Damon Hill bounced back brilliantly to win the Hungarian GP in front of the consistent Fernando Alonso and Jean Alesi, who almost inspired by his teammate's win in the previous race, took his first podium since Australia. Prost recorded only his second retirement of the season so far, but his consistent form from previous races kept him at the top of the drivers championship, albeit with many very hungry drivers hot on his heels.

Drivers Championship

Position	Driver	Team	Points
1st	Alain Prost	Maestro Motorsport	62
2nd	Damon Hill	Exolite	59
3rd	Fernando Alonso	AquinoPlus	57
4th	Kimi Raikkonen	Exolite	44
5th	Ayrton Senna	M-Sport	44
6th	Jenson Button	FJR	39

Teams Championship

Position	Team	Points
1st	Exolite	103
2nd	Maestro Motorsport	89
3rd	AquinoPlus	80
4th	M-Sport	66
5th	FJR	63

Round 13 - Belgium

In another high attrition race, none of the top four championship contenders managed to finish the race. Ayrton Senna was the best of the contenders with a 4th place, but it was redemption for Jean Alesi who finally took his first ever win ahead of Gerhard Berger and Jacques Villeneuve, his first time on the podium since Portugal last season. The race also marked the first time both Piquets finished in the points.

Round 14 - Italy

Monza provided yet another unpredictable race with another new winner, the ninth of the season. This time around, it was the Gui Racing of Nelson Piquet (The older one) who took a surprise win, which delighted team boss Guillerme Cramer. Once again, key championship contenders failed to finish, including both Exolites, who were in real trouble with their Ferrari engines consistently failing to complete a full race distance. The main beneficiary was Jenson Button, who took a very useful 2nd pace to move within 15 points of the leader, Alain Prost, and completing the podium for the first time this season was Mika Hakkinen.

With just three races to go, both championships were still wide open. The drivers championship still had 36 points on offer for all drivers, which meant that even 10th placed Mika Hakkinen had a mathematical chance to overhaul Alain Prost. As for the teams championship, there were 60 points available for all teams. Mathematically, 7th placed Gui Racing were still in contention, even though their 59 point deficit to Exolite made their chance completely unrealistic. If form was anything to go by, then FJR and Jenson Button had good potential to steal both championships.

Drivers Championship

Position	Driver	Team	Points
1st	Alain Prost	Maestro Motorsport	62
2nd	Damon Hill	Exolite	59
3rd	Fernando Alonso	AquinoPlus	57
4th	Ayrton Senna	M-Sport	49
5th	Jenson Button	FJR	47
6th	Kimi Raikkonen	Exolite	44

Teams Championship

Position	Team	Points
1st	Exolite	103
2nd	Maestro Motorsport	94
3rd	AquinoPlus	86
4th	FJR	83
5th	M-Sport	71

Round 15 - Portugal

Estoril saw Alain Prost answer any doubters in the most convincing way possible, by taking a crucial win to bridge the gap between his rivals. Fernando Alonso's 2nd place made him the Frenchman's nearest challenger, as Damon Hill suffered yet another engine failure, as did his teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who was now out of mathematical contention for the championship. Worse for Exolite, Maestro Motorsport had now taken the lead of the teams championship. One more victory would give Prost back-to-back championships, but the teams championship was still all to play for with five teams still in with a chance. Meanwhile, Gerhard Berger's 3rd place in the race edged Pedersen further clear of Gui Racing in the battle for 6th in the championship.

Round 16 - Japan

Two races ago, ten drivers were in contention for the drivers championship. After Suzuka, that number had been whittled down to just two. Fernando Alonso stole a march on the opposition and won the race, while Prost was rooted down in 5th. The Spaniard's victory moved him to within two points of the Frenchman heading into the final race. Completing the podium were Lewis Hamilton and Mika Hakkinen.

As for the teams championship, a double retirement for FJR mathematically ruled them out of the battle, but Maestro Motorsport, AquinoPlus, and Exolite were separated by just nine points, but the odds favoured Maestro.

Drivers Championship

Position	Driver	Team	Points
1st	Alain Prost	Maestro Motorsport	79
2nd	Fernando Alonso	AquinoPlus	77
3rd	Damon Hill	Exolite	62

Teams Championship

Position	Team	Points
1st	Maestro Motorsport	117
2nd	AquinoPlus	112
3rd	Exolite	108

Round 17 - Oceania

For the first and so far only time in FF1M's history, Australia held two races in one season, with Adelaide playing host to another championship showdown. The championship was a straight fight between Alain Prost and Fernando Alonso, and in the race, both raced hard against each other, but despite Alonso's best efforts, Prost was just too good. He won the race, and with it back-to-back driver championships. Prost's 5th win of the season also guaranteed the teams championship for Maestro Motorsport, the first of their career. Joining Prost and Alonso on the podium was the driver who won the Season 2 championship, Nigel Mansell, so it was a fitting end to a magnificent season.

Results and Standings

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top 8 classified finishers in race.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
Points	12	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

Race by Race

Round	Grand Prix	1st	2nd	3nd	Winning Team
1	Australian Grand Prix	Damon Hill	Jean Alesi	Nelson Piquet	Exolite-Ferrari
2	Brazilian Grand Prix	Kimi Raikkonen	Michael Schumacher	Damon Hill	Exolite-Ferrari
3	San Marino Grand Prix	Alain Prost	Gerhard Berger	Lewis Hamilton	Maestro-Honda
4	Dutch Grand Prix	Kimi Raikkonen	Damon Hill	Fernando Alonso	Exolite-Ferrari
5	Spanish Grand Prix	Ayrton Senna	Damon Hill	Jenson Button	M-Sport-Ferrari
6	European Grand Prix	Nigel Mansell	Lewis Hamilton	Ayrton Senna	Pedersen-Renault
7	Mexican Grand Prix	Alain Prost	Kimi Raikkonen	Fernando Alonso	Maestro-Honda
8	Canadian Grand Prix	Ayrton Senna	Kimi Raikkonen	Fernando Alonso	M-Sport-Ferrari
9	French Grand Prix	Fernando Alonso	Damon Hill	Nelson Piquet	AquinoPlus-Renault
10	British Grand Prix	Alain Prost	Ayrton Senna	Lewis Hamilton	Maestro-Honda
11	German Grand Prix	Jenson Button	Alain Prost	Ayrton Senna	FJR-Mercedes
12	Hungarian Grand Prix	Damon Hill	Fernando Alonso	Jean Alesi	Exolite-Ferrari
13	Belgian Grand Prix	Jean Alesi	Gerhard Berger	Jacques Villeneuve	FJR-Mercedes
14	Italian Grand Prix	Nelson Piquet	Jenson Button	Mika Hakkinen	Gui Racing-Ferrari
15	Portuguese Grand Prix	Alain Prost	Fernando Alonso	Gerhard Berger	Maestro-Honda
16	Japanese Grand Prix	Fernando Alonso	Lewis Hamilton	Mika Hakkinen	AquinoPlus-Renault
17	Oceanic Grand Prix	Alain Prost	Fernando Alonso	Nigel Mansell	Maestro-Honda

Championship Standings

*The original displayed results revealed that Maestro Motorsport were missing 2 points from the Japanese GP. The audit has now taken effect.

Engine Trophy