In the high-octane world of Formula 1, where milliseconds define legacies and every point is fiercely contested, history is written by the victors. But what if that history, etched in the annals of motorsport, could be fundamentally altered by a simple change in the rules? A fascinating exploration by motorsport analyst Peter Brook does just that, applying the upcoming 2025 F1 points system to every season since the championship’s inception in 1950. The result is a seismic shift in the sport’s established narrative, a domino effect that dethrones legends, crowns new champions, and, most astoundingly, elevates Alain Prost to the pantheon of seven-time world champions, placing him on equal footing with Lewis Hamilton.

This is not mere fantasy but a meticulous recalculation based on a tangible future. The 2025 regulations, in essence, strip away the bonus point for the fastest lap, a modern gimmick designed to spice up the closing stages of a race. By removing this single variable and applying a consistent set of rules across seventy-plus years of racing, Brook’s simulation unravels the very fabric of F1 history, revealing a timeline that could have been. It’s a journey into an alternate reality where fate, fueled by a different mathematical formula, takes a sharp turn.

The 1980s emerge as the epicenter of this historical earthquake. In our timeline, the decade was a glorious battleground for titans like Nelson Piquet, Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna, and Alain Prost. In this revised history, it becomes the Prost era. The Frenchman, often dubbed “The Professor” for his calculated and intellectual approach to racing, sees his legacy magnified exponentially. The simulation hands him the 1983, 1984, and 1988 championships, titles originally held by Piquet, Lauda, and his eternal rival, Senna.

The implications are staggering. Lauda’s legendary 1984 comeback, where he famously beat Prost by a mere half-point—the slimmest margin in F1 history—is erased. In its place, Prost’s consistency and brilliance are rewarded, a testament to a driver who perhaps played the long game better than anyone. The most emotionally charged alteration, however, involves the iconic Senna-Prost rivalry. The bitter 1988 championship, a cornerstone of Senna’s legend, flips in Prost’s favor. The change doesn’t just add another trophy to Prost’s cabinet; it reframes the entire narrative of their epic and often toxic feud. Under this new system, Prost becomes a seven-time champion, a figure of such towering dominance that it forces a complete re-evaluation of who stands at the pinnacle of the sport.

The ripples of this temporal disruption extend far beyond Prost. The 1960s, an era of raw courage and innovation, also sees a significant reshuffling. Graham Hill, the quintessential British gentleman racer, emerges as a three-time champion, doubling his real-world tally. This rewriting of history comes at the expense of two of the sport’s most revered names: John Surtees and Jim Clark. Surtees’ unique achievement of being the only man to win world championships on both two and four wheels is cruelly snatched away in the 1964 recalculation. A title decided by team tactics and a selfless act from his Ferrari teammate Lorenzo Bandini is undone by the cold, impartial logic of the revised points. Clark, the quiet Scottish genius often regarded as the most naturally gifted driver of all time, also loses a title to Hill, a change that feels almost sacrilegious to motorsport purists.

The drama continues into the 1970s, an era immortalized by the film Rush and the fiery rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda. The 1976 season is one of F1’s most cinematic tales: Lauda’s near-fatal crash, his miraculous return from the brink of death, and Hunt’s dramatic, rain-soaked title victory at the final race in Japan. The simulation flips the script entirely. Lauda, whose heroic comeback fell just short in reality, is crowned the 1976 champion. This alternate ending provides a different kind of poetic justice, rewarding Lauda’s superhuman resilience and denying Hunt his only, and much-celebrated, world title. For Lauda, it marks a hat-trick of consecutive championships, cementing his status as the undisputed king of the mid-70s.

Even the 1990s, the era dominated by Michael Schumacher, is not immune to these historical revisions. Schumacher’s controversial 1994 championship, won after a collision with his rival Damon Hill in the final race, is overturned. In this alternate timeline, Schumacher’s “antics,” as Brook puts it, catch up with him, and Damon Hill is posthumously awarded the title his father, Graham, also gained in this simulation. It’s a moment of catharsis for the Hill family legacy and a black mark on the early career of the man who would go on to win seven championships in our reality.

The decade concludes with another stunning reversal. The 1999 season, which saw Mika Häkkinen claim his second title, instead crowns an unlikely champion: Eddie Irvine. The fiery Irishman, who stepped up for Ferrari after Schumacher broke his leg, becomes the Scuderia’s first driver’s champion in two decades. His victory, mired in the real world by a controversial disqualification and appeal, becomes a legitimate, history-making triumph in this simulation, a fittingly chaotic end to a turbulent decade.

While the most dramatic changes occur in the earlier decades, the modern era is not entirely untouched. The removal of fastest lap points and the standardization of rules for shortened races subtly alter the margins of victory. Lewis Hamilton’s 2014 title, for instance, is won by a different margin due to the removal of the unpopular double points rule for the final race.

The analysis also sheds light on the Constructor’s Championship, revealing a fascinating ebb and flow of fortune. Legendary teams like Lotus lose a staggering four titles, while others like McLaren and Tyrell gain one apiece. This demonstrates that the impact of the points system was not just personal but had a profound effect on the teams’ financial rewards, prestige, and historical standing.

In the end, this journey through a rewritten history is more than just a statistical exercise. It’s a profound exploration of the nature of sport, where greatness is not only defined by talent and courage but also by the arbitrary lines of the rulebook. It proves that the narratives we hold so dear—Lauda’s comeback, Senna’s raw passion, Hunt’s playboy victory—are all contingent on a specific set of circumstances and points allocations.

Alain Prost, in this alternate reality, is not just “The Professor” but the undisputed emperor of Formula 1, tied with Hamilton. His career, often viewed as a triumph of intellect over raw speed, is shown to be even more successful than we ever imagined. The simulation doesn’t diminish the achievements of drivers like Senna, Lauda, or Piquet, but it elevates Prost to a new stratosphere, asking us to reconsider what we value most in a champion. It’s a powerful reminder that history is not always a fixed, immutable thing. Sometimes, all it takes is a single change to a single rule to turn everything we thought we knew on its head.