Could a team 'do a leicester' in F1?

[ukaskew]

For those that don't know, in the world of football Leicester City have basically done the equivalent of Manor winning the Constructors Championship this year. 5000-1 odds yet over an entire season they comfortably outperformed the established big money clubs with an entire squad worth less than many individual players and after only just managing to stay in the league a year before.

Could this ever happen in F1, and if not, is the sport poorer as a result? I'm struggling to think of many freak one off results (Fisichella 2nd at Spa about 8 years ago, Vettel winning in the Toro Rosso, Bianchi 9th at Monaco), let alone genuine upsets over the course of a whole championship. I guess Brawn is the obvious contender, but with the pedigree involved it never felt like a major shock as such.

Most sports have the potential for an upset, and that's what many nuetrals or fair weather fans tune in to hope for. It doesn't feel like F1 has that, or even the potential for that to happen.

[ukaskew]

kambites said:

Anyone know what the odds of Brawn winning the championship were at the start of the year?

Button was 5-1 for the Championship after pre-season, 50-1 prior to that.

Aside from the Brawn comparison, how about shock/freak one-off results aside from those I've mentioned in recent years, and could we realistically expect another?

Edited by ukaskew on Tuesday 3rd May 08:32

[ukaskew]

kambites said:

OK so nowhere near the 5000:1 that Leicester were. I wonder what the odds of Manor winning this year were? It would be interesting to know which side of 5000:1 they were.

Precisely 5000-1, ironically.