5 Classic Cars I Would Like To See In F1 2018

F1 2017 was brilliant for many reasons. One of the highlights was the addition of 12 classic F1 cars to race and look back on with pride. With five new cars already added to the upcoming game already, I decided to list five classic cars I would like to see included in the release or as a DLC later on in the year.

However, there is a catch to this. The choices must be cars from teams that have not had any of their cars featured in the line-up already - so there will be no entries from Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, etc on this list. Also, it's one car per team - to make things more interesting. And as usual, this list is in no particular order.

5) STEWART GRAND PRIX SF3 (1999)

View gallery image

In 1999, McLaren and Ferrari were battling it out for the number 1 spot, but behind all of that was an incredible feel good story in the Stewart GP team. Since entering the sport in 1997, the team that was the namesake of 3 time F1 champion Sir Jackie Stewart had always been punching above their weight, but by their third season in F1 - with the experience of Rubens Barrichello and Johnny Herbert behind the wheel, they became a force to be reckoned with.

The SF3 was proof that you certainly don't need to have the biggest budget on the grid to be competitive. With this Ford powered beast, Barrichello took a surprise pole position at the French Grand Prix in torrential rain, and managed to finish 3rd in the race. But later on in the year at the European GP, Johnny Herbert went one better by scoring a famous race victory for the plucky underdogs - by taking advantage of retirements and rainy conditions to win. At the end of 1999, Ford bought out the team - rebranding it as Jaguar Racing for 2000 (which didn't really end well). The SF3 is a sporting achievement that Scotland can be proud of, and should definitely have a place in F1 2018's classic line-up.

4) HONDA RA106 (2006)

View gallery image

Another one-win wonder, the Honda RA106 was the car that I like to believe that kickstarted Jenson Button's ascent into top driver territory in F1. Button took the RA106 to a brilliant victory at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix from 13th on the grid, battling wet conditions and a string of retirements to take an unlikely win. I say unlikely because despite possessing two very capable drivers (Button & Barrichello) and a big budget - the way that things were panning out for the Honda team in 2006 was anti-climatic to say the least. The victory at the Hungaroring circuit saved Honda's season from being a disappointment, and is an example of the car and driver coming together perfectly at the right time.

3) TOYOTA TF105 (2005)

View gallery image

Now you may be thinking - what the hell is a Toyota doing on a classic car list? Don't you know that they never won a race? Yes, I do, but there's a very good reason I've added the TF105 to this list.

The TF105 and the Toyota team in general are a classic case of "What If?" in F1. There was no doubt that the car was pretty damn good, scoring several podiums and even gaining a pole position in 2005 - but what if they had turned a couple of those podium places into race victories? What if they had won a couple of races in 2005 and carried on that momentum into 2006? What if they eventually started challenging for championships? What if their parent company hadn't pulled them out of F1 a few years after, due to said results?

That's why I've put the TF105 on this list. What if you could drive this car in F1 2018, and find out for yourself if it was truly a top car?

2) BENETTON B194 (1994)

View gallery image

Coming into 1994, Benetton had established itself as the nearest challenger to Williams. With future record breaker Michael Schumacher at the wheel, the B194 was a piece of technical genius designed by Rory Byrne - and allowed Schumacher to win eight races and his first of seven Drivers Championships in F1, although the way he won the championship was very controversial - colliding with Williams's Damon Hill at the final race in Australia, taking them both out of the race and handing Schumacher the crown by one point over Hill.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS - SO BAD THEY WERE BRILLIANT

Now I want to have a little bit of fun before I get on to the last entrant on this list. Here are three F1 cars from years past that are so awful, but almost merit a spot on this list because of their hilariously bad fortune in the sport and cult status amongst F1 fans.

BRABHAM BT60B (1992)

View gallery image

For a start, that livery is absolutely comical. It's like it was designed purely to get more TV time during races, and to serve as a reminder that they still existed as a team. But sadly, the Brabham team had been on the decline for years leading up to 1992 - and by the Hungarian Grand Prix, they were on their last legs. The BT60B failed to qualify for seven of its eleven race entries, and withdrew from the sport after the Hungarian GP due to lack of funding. Still, the BT60B gave Damon Hill his F1 debut - and in 1993 he replaced Nigel Mansell at Williams. Light at the end of tunnel, I suppose...

HISPANIA RACING F110 (2010)

View gallery image

Let's see, a new F1 team? Check. The first Spanish team to compete in the sport? Check. Employing the (then) up and coming nephew of the legendary Ayrton Senna? Check. Being incapable of being financially stable, being bought out, renamed after one of the owner's companies, only just making the start of the season, and having a car that was so f**king awful that if entered two decades ago wouldn't even make it past the pre-qualifying stage? Check.

Hispania Racing were the modern day meme team (before memes were even a thing), and are fondly remembered for how not to be a new entrant in F1. Thankfully, Haas took notes from this in 2016, and they didn't come anywhere close to the disaster that was Hispania in 2010.

MASTERCARD LOLA T97/30

View gallery image

We are now in full-on meme team territory. For those of you unaware of the short-lived MasterCard Lola F1 team from 1997, there's a good reason why. Out of its two race entries in the 1997 season, the T97/30 (driven by Vincenzo Sospiri and Ricardo Rosset) failed to qualify for the opening round in Australia - with Sospiri posting a personal best lap time that was eleven seconds off the pole position time set by Jacques Villeneuve. Before the next race in Brazil, MasterCard decided to pull their sponsorship - leaving the team £6m in debt and with the T97/30 showing absolutely no signs of improvement, Lola withdrew from the sport altogether.

The reason I've included the T97/30 in the honourable mentions is that it is a car that despite being possibly the worst entrant in F1's history - it has developed a cult following from a big group of F1 fans (myself included), and actually being able to drive the car in F1 2018 would be an amazing experience. But we can only dream I suppose...

Alright, enough messing around. Let's get on to the last entrant on this list.

1) MERCEDES-BENZ W196 (1955)

View gallery image

I bet no one reading this article was born in or before 1955 - but that's irrelevant. The Mercedes-Benz W196 was the original dominant machine in F1, winning all but two races during the 1955 season, and being driven by a total of six drivers - two of them being Juan Manuel Fangio and Sir Stirling Moss. Fangio won four races compared to Moss's one on his way to the Drivers Championship crown that year.

The reason I've included the W196 in this list is because of the time era it raced in. Back in its day, F1 tracks were normally comprised of mostly long straights with no real technical corners to speak of. So it would be very interesting to see how the W196 would do on modern day circuits such as Baku and Sochi, and how it would compare to modern day F1 cars.

YOUR OPINIONS PLEASE

Do you like my choices? What classic cars would you like to see added in F1 2018? Let me know in the comments below. As always, thanks for reading - and I'll see ya later...