Schumachergate

This is an alternate timeline which shows what would happen if Michael Schumacher was punished for cheating his way to the 1994 championship, starting in 1997.

Plot
Michael Schumacher is summoned to Max Mosley's office after the end of the 1997 European GP at Jerez. Mosley tells him that he cheated Damon Hill out of the 1994 championship, and also tried to cheat Jacques Villeneuve out of this year's title, and for that, he must be punished.

Schumacher is stripped of all his Formula One wins and his two championships he won for Benetton, and he is banned from all F1-related events for life. And as a result, Hill is awarded the 1994 and 1995 titles and gets Schumacher's Ferrari seat for 1998. However, Schumacher's brother, Ralf, is allowed to stay in Formula One as he broke no rules.

1998
As mentioned above, Hill gets Schumacher's Ferrari seat alongside fellow Briton Eddie Irvine. Making their debuts in 1998 are 27-year-old Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa, who signs for Jordan, Japanese driver Tora Takagi for Tyrrell and Argentine teenager Esteban Tuero for Minardi.

The line up for 1998 is as follows;

Australia
The first race of the season saw Damon Hill take pole on his first outing for Ferrari, ahead of McLaren's Mika Häkkinen. Hill led into turn one as Ricardo Rosset's out-of-control Tyrrell ploughed into the wall, becoming the first DNF of the season.

The race saw Hill and Häkkinen battle all day long, until Häkkinen's engine blew four laps from the end. Hill took his first win since the 1996 Japanese GP, ahead of the defending champion, and his former Williams team-mate, Jacques Villeneuve. Hill also took the Grand Chelem, settng the fastest lap and leading every lap of the race. Ferrari celebrated a double podium with Eddie Irvine in third. Pedro de la Rosa had the lucky distinction of scoring points on his debut.

Brazil
Damon Hill took his second pole in as many races in a rained-off qualifying session which saw eleven drivers, including all three home heroes, crash out.

Fortunately for everyone, the race day was dry and sunny, and the rain had been dried up. Mika Häkkinen stole the lead from Hill into turn one, but Hill refused to let that happen and darted towards the Flying Finn in an order to take it back. Ricardo Rosset was having a bad start to his season, as his Tyrrell caught on fire on lap 7.

On lap 24, Arrows' Pedro Diniz took sixth from Ralf Schumacher, causing an instant roar from the crowd.

Yet again it was a battle for the lead between Hill and Häkkinen. This time it was Häkkinen who came on top as he took his first win of the season ahead of the Englishman.

Argentina
For round 3 of the championship in Buenos Aires, Jan Magnussen took a surprise pole for Stewart, beating out Damon Hill by a tenth of a second!

Magnussen got a good start into turn one, but Hill wanted to win again, so he tried as hard as possible to deny the Dane a maiden win. Ricardo Rosset's Tyrrell was still being plagued by failures, as the Brazilian suffered a puncture on lap 18. His team-mate Tora Takagi suffered the same fate a lap later, much to the dismay of Ken Tyrrell.

Magnussen led on the final lap, and it looked like he was about to become the first Dane to win a Formula 1 race. But, he suffered a problem which slowed down his Stewart, and Hill took the flag to extend his lead in the championship. Even though he finished second and still managed a maiden podium, Magnussen refused to attend the podium ceremony, possibly upset on losing a first victory at the last hurdle.

Championship Standings
TBA

San Marino
Before the race, it was announced that Jan Magnussen had walked out of the Stewart team, possibly in anger over being denied his maiden win in the last win. Dutchman Jos Verstappen was announced as his replacement. Pole was won by Damon Hill yet again.

Hill's dream turned into a nightmare on Sunday as the Briton's Ferrari stalled on the grid, as did his team-mate Eddie Irvine. Team principal Jean Todt started a search into who caused the engine failures. The race was won easily by Mika Hakkinen.

Spain
The second driver change in as many races occurred when Ricardo Rosset was booted from the Tyrrell team for his dismal performance in the first half of the season. He was replaced by South African driver Stephen Watson, who was the first driver from his country since Jody Scheckter in 1980. Then, the other Tyrrell driver Tora Takagi ended up being fired as well, leaving Ken Tyrrell no other choice but to hire Ulsterman Dino Morelli.

The race was interrupted by the presence of Hello Kitty after she found out that the season would end on her birthday in her home country (Japan) so she would celebrate. She demanded that Takagi be reinstated, this escalated into a full scale fight between Hello Kitty and Tyrrell. Tyrrell refused to re-sign Takagi, and this infuriated Hello Kitty so she purposely set Olivier Panis' car on fire. Panis was so angered by this that he ripped off her tail, and accidentally knocked out Esteban Tuero of Minardi. Panis was banned from life from all motorsport events and sent to prison. He swore revenge on Hello Kitty. Minardi chose Tuero's replacement at random, it was France's Christophe Tinseau, who won the final race of the 1996 F3000 season after Kenny Brack was disqualified.

Panis' Prost was withdrawn from the event and so the sole starter for the team was Jarno Trulli.

Let's get back to basics. Mika Hakkinen took a straightforward win from pole and set the fastest lap. He was now leading the title fight, as Damon Hill retired yet again. Watson finished 13th on his debut, and Morelli and Tinseau retired.

Monaco
Olivier Panis' replacement at Prost was revealed to be Michael Schumacher, since the German was given a reprieve by his fellow World Champion and team owner Alain Prost following his original suspension from the sport. Schumacher promised never to cheat again.

Jacques Villeneuve was determined to successfully defend his title from 1997 so fought for pole with Mika Hakkinen. However, he overshot into Sainte Devote and smashed into the wall. He was concussed and had to miss the event as Hakkinen stormed to pole.

However, this was where the randomicity really began as, on race day, Hakkinen's McLaren shot into the air like a rocket and plunged into the harbour, very nearly taking the boats with it. Then, Jarno Trulli's Prost was hijacked by a hypnotised Delia Ketchum while Trulli was on a loo break, and Damon Hill's Ferrari disappeared into thin air. Finally, Christophe Tinseau panicked after seeing a boy cry and drove the wrong way around the famous street circuit.