2002 Formula One World Championship (Alt)

This is a fictional account of an alternative version of the 2002 F1 season. For the real 2002 season, see the 2002 Formula One World Championship

The **2002 FIA Formula One World Championship** was the 56th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It began on 3 March and ended on 13 October after seventeen races.

## Teams and drivers

† All engines were 3.0 litre, V10 configuration.

### Team changes

**Prost withdraws.** The Prost team was placed into receivership in November 2001, and was liquidated by the receivers in January 2002. This ended the long history of the team which had competed as Ligier from 1976 to 1996 and as Prost Grand Prix from the following year. The absence of Prost meant that the car numbers 18 and 19 were left unoccupied for the season. Phoenix Finance bought the remains of Prost Grand Prix and attempted to enter Formula One starting at the Malaysian Grand Prix with former Minardi drivers Gastón Mazzacane and Tarso Marques. However, their entry was rejected by the FIA for not purchasing all of the Prost team. They still attempted to race at Malaysia, but race officials prevented them from competing in the event, even with a court appeal.

**Toyota debuts.** Japanese auto maker Toyota entered the championship after much development work in 2001.

**Benetton -> Renault.** The Benetton team had been sold to Renault in 2000, and was renamed *Renault F1* for 2002. The team did not substantially change apart from the name, as Benetton had been running a car with Renault components since 1995.

Asiatech, who had supplied engines to Arrows in 2001, switched their supply to Minardi for 2002. This replaced Minardi's Cosworth engines (rebadged as European) from the previous season. Completing what was effectively a straight swap, Arrows signed a deal with Cosworth to use their engines for 2002.

### Driver changes

* The 2002 season featured several driver line-up changes before the season and more changes during the season proper.
* With three races left to go in the 2001 season, Mika Häkkinen announced that he was not intending to drive in F1 in 2002. Denying any claim of retirement, he stated that he needed a sabbatical and would return to McLaren at a later time. Häkkinen's seat at McLaren was taken by his fellow Finn Kimi Räikkönen, after he was released by Sauber. Räikkönen was replaced at Sauber by the 2001 Euro Formula 3000 champion Felipe Massa.
* Midway through 2001, Giancarlo Fisichella announced his intention to leave Benetton after 2001 to drive for Jordan. Benetton, renamed as Renault, replaced Fisichella with Minardi driver Fernando Alonso. Jordan completed an all-new lineup for 2002 with BAR test driver Takuma Sato, whose position in the large test driver pool at BAR was taken by compatriot Ryo Fukuda. Jean Alesi, who had driven for Jordan at the end of the 2001 season, did not seriously pursue an F1 drive for 2002 and instead signed up a drive with Mercedes in the DTM series. Ricardo Zonta, realising that he had no future at Jordan, left his reserve seat there to drive in the Telefonica World Series, later returning to F1 in 2003 as a test driver for Toyota.
* Heinz-Harald Frentzen, without a drive after the collapse of Prost, joined the Arrows team for 2002. This was his third different team within two seasons, after having been dumped by Jordan mid-season in 2001 and subsequently joining Prost until that team's collapse. Despite being under contract for another season, Jos Verstappen lost his Arrows seat to Frentzen, and the Dutchman was unable to secure a drive at another team. He later resurfaced at Minardi in 2003.
* Fernando Alonso left Minardi after an impressive 2001 campaign, and signed on with Renault. Alonso's seat was taken over by Benetton test driver, and International Formula 3000 series runner-up, Mark Webber.
* For their first season in Formula One, Toyota employed Mika Salo (formerly with Sauber in 2000) and debutant Allan McNish, who had previously driven a Toyota GT-One at Le Mans.
* Luciano Burti, who had driven for both Jaguar and Prost in 2001, left the struggling Prost team before their collapse in order to join Luca Badoer in a test role at Ferrari. Tomáš Enge, who had filled in for the injured Burti at Prost in 2001, was dropped by the team at the end of the 2001 season for financial reasons, and he returned to International Formula 3000 for 2002.
* Antônio Pizzonia was signed to become a Williams test driver alongside Marc Gené. Pizzonia had been driving a Williams sponsored car in the International F3000 series in 2001, and he continued that drive in 2002 along with his test duties at Williams.
* André Lotterer, who drove for the Jaguar Junior Team in the British Formula 3 series in 2001, was signed as a test driver for Jaguar's Formula One team for 2002.

Mid-season changes
* BAR test driver Anthony Davidson made his Formula One debut when he replaced Alex Yoong at Minardi for the Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix. The team suspended the Malaysian after he failed to qualify for the third occasion in 2002. Minardi had planned to replace Yoong with Justin Wilson, but Wilson was too tall to fit into the car in accordance with the safety requirements.

## Results and standings

### Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top six finishers