What season did you most anticipate/look forward to?

[steveaki13]

1996 for me. As a Canadian who remembered and admired Gilles' exploits, and watching his boy take the INDY500 and championship in 95, I eagerly anticipated his jump to F1. Was not disappointed, and have followed F1 more closely ever since, even though I'd been interested since the Jochen Rindt championship (1970?)

Those first 2 seasons in F1, Jacques was awesome. I remember watching that first race in 96 and the battle Hill & Villeneuve had.

Always liked Jacques. Just think he should quit after losing the BAR drive.

[rjbetty]

I think Jacques was probably more impressive in 98, 99 and 2000!

[rjbetty]

Yer 1997s start was good.

Coulthard winning that first race after Mclarens woes. And as you say many interesting things happened in the season.

Although for you it was more mythical as you say. I still enjoyed it.


Can I ask rjbetty. Did you like Fisichella coming into the season. Or was it just that drive at Hockenheim.

Its just that in 1996 Fisichella had tough times in the Minardi but was clearly talented.

With 1997, I mean mythical cos my memories of it seemed exquisitely good, but possibly not as great in reality as it was in my mind...? I never appreciated it at the time. I thought F1 was just always like that every year, with Arrows winning a couple of races a year and every team being up there like 2012!

Yeah it was really after Hockenheim that I settled on Fisi as my driver to support. I didn't know anything about 1996 or before at the time. Though I remember him being taken out of a strong position in Argentina by team-mate Ralf - my first proper race. I remember The ITV guys talking about Ralf's podium, but that Fisi might be waiting round the back of the garage afterwards to punch him, or something like that.

But I really first became aware of Fisi at Monte-Carlo. I didn't know any drivers back then as that was only my 2nd race. This was the race that hooked me for life btw. I always thought F1 was just cars driving round, but the sight of the cars racing in a CITY (and in the rain) fascinated me and I was glued the whole time. I keep remembering the classification every lap was

1.M.Schumacher
2.Barrichello
3.Fisichella
4.Irvine
5.Panis

and noticing how Barrichello and Fisichella's names were similar. It was my brother and sister who were knowledgable at the time. It was because they said they felt sorry for Fisi and that he needs some points that made me want to support him. I was supporting Schumacher for the title but kinda wanted another driver to be no.1. Fisi was amazing back then. We all thought he could become champion. *sigh*

[wedge]

1993 - 96: Senna v Prost; there was something special about Senna driving for Williams, Schumi to challenge Senna for WDC; Hill v Schumi part 2; Hill Jr v Villeunueve Jr, surely its Hill's year?

97 - 02 I was more interested in following American motorsports. Predictable domination in F1 (2000 being the anomaly).

2003 onwards there was finally a realisation that fans needed to be entertained and in a decade the pendulum has swung from one extreme to the other, the emergence of a golden era and the return of drama and controversy of inter team rivalry played out to the public.

05 - McLaren dream team.

Most anticipated year for me would be 07. After spectacular performances in GP2 as well as karting prodigy. The news that Lewis Hamilton was going to jump straight into a McLaren was like news of the Second Coming.

[jens]

I have to say you guys (especially rjbetty and steveaki) have good memory function. If someone asked me what I remembered from the 1999 season, for example, all I could bring up would be Schumacher's crash at Silverstone, and the title battle between Häkkinen and Irvine.

Well, I have very special memories from 1999, so haven't forgotten that at all. I was still a young kid at the time and the season made a big impression on me. In terms of anticipation I guess I didn't expect anything from that year (on those days I didn't even predict or expect properly anything anyway). McLaren and Ferrari had dominated the sport the previous year and I thought more of the same would follow. I was excited about F1, but I thought F1 on the whole was boring, because a couple of teams would dominate and others don't get a sniff at it.

But then I saw Barrichello in the Stewart-Ford leading the Brazilian Grand Prix, which stunned me. I saw Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the Jordan-Mugen Honda getting race wins and challenging for the title. Also Schumacher got injured and the perennial underachiever Eddie Irvine took the championship lead and challenged for the title till the end. Mika Salo very uniquely driving for Ferrari and getting podiums! World Champion Jacques Villeneuve scoring no points at all, even less than Arrows and Minardi!

And the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring is one of the most incredible races I have ever seen. Before the race tension was building up. Four title contenders and a crucial race. They were all looking strong, racing at the front and then - bam! - rain fell and all those title contenders disappeared from the front.

Incredible season it was. There were a lot of retirements that year and a few disappointments for me as well. For instance Fisichella spinning out of the lead of the European Grand Prix and losing his first win. But on the flip side Jarno Trulli silently left a strong enough impression to earn a ride in a very competitive team for the next season, which I was happy about.

[EuroTroll]

Yeah, you're another of our memory freaks!

[jens]

Yeah 2005 was one of the best too, but by this time I was learning that seasons never quite reached the (way too) high expectations I had for them. I always wanted another season like 1997, which thru my rose-tinted spectacles, had taken on an almost mythical quality. I was only getting into F1 then, and just thought things like Arrows leading, Jordan and Prost being in the mix for wins as well as the FOUR top teams, Stewart having a few big days and Herbert doing well, was all just run of the mill stuff. I had a shock in 1998 then, and since then no season had really lived up to 1997.

Hah. I started following in 1998, so I had quite low expectations. So whenever there have been seasons like 1999, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012, they have been a pleasant surprise. Because other than these you have hardly had over 2-3 teams, who can realistically challenge for a race win during a season.

I remember I got into F1 during the Brazilian Grand Prix in 1998. And I was really frustrated, because McLaren was leading by a minute! I considered it utterly unfair and boring, thought that McLaren was cheating (how else could they be so fast) and how could you get excited about such domination. But still I got interested in those incredibly quick rockets moving on tarmac, which are competing against each other, so that I checked out exact time for the next race... and once we got there, Schumacher and Ferrari stunned me by defeating the all-conquering McLaren! So I guess it was worth it to get excited about F1.

To EuroTroll. Yeah, it is nice to have good memories. That's why I try to keep them. Sometimes I also go on YouTube and refresh my memory with some old videos and moments, which I once saw live.

[EuroTroll]

To EuroTroll. Yeah, it is nice to have good memories. That's why I try to keep them. Sometimes I also go on YouTube and refresh my memory with some old videos and moments, which I once saw live.

Sure. I'm just envious, you know. I wish my memory was that good..