The Iceman Waiteth
This is my (Backmarker's) timeline in which I try and describe how Formula One might have looked had Enrique Bernoldi got the Sauber drive for 2001, instead of Kimi Räikkönen. I'll actually make a post on the F1 Rejects' forum when I've completed 2001.
2001
Driver changes for the 2001 season
A number of changes to the teams' line-ups were made for the 2001 season: Olivier Panis, having spent a year testing for McLaren, moved to BAR, replacing Ricardo Zonta, who became test driver at Jordan; Jenson Button moved to Benetton, making way at Williams for Colombian CART sensation Juan Pablo Montoya; Gaston Mazzacane joined Prost from Minardi, with Nick Heidfeld leaving the French team for Sauber; making debuts would be the aforementioned Montoya, a young Spaniard called Fernando Alonso at Minardi, and Enrique Bernoldi at Sauber.
The Sauber decision had been a contentious one. Team Principal Peter Sauber had preferred a young Finnish driver called Kimi Räikkönen, but sponsors Red Bull had lobbied for their driver, Enrique Bernoldi to get the seat. In the end, with doubts circulating about the Finn's ability to cope with the reality of Formula One competition, given that he had only driven in 23 events so far, money talked, and Bernoldi got the drive.
As a result, the line-ups for the 2001 Formula One Season were as follows:
