What season did you most anticipate/look forward to?

[rjbetty]

Seeing that we are at a time of anticipating the soon-to-arrive new season, I was wondering what seasons people remember having the highest levels of antiicipation for.

I expect 2010 would be one of the most popular. I remember Murray Walker saying before the season that of all the seasons (that actually is all of them since 1950!) that he had never anticipated one as much as 2010!

Small wonder when you consider reigning champion was joining Lewis Hamilton in a British superteam at rejuvenated McLaren. Red Bull were looking like building on their promising 2009 and making a big challenge for the title, with Vettel having finished 2nd in 2009 and Webber's leg injury now fully dealt with. Alonso finally realised his destiny by joining Ferrari and Felipe Massa was back from his bad injury.

Most of all, Michael Schumacher had amazingly come back to Formula 1 - with the brand new Mercedes works team, joining the reigning champions and his old friend Ross Brawn. Nico Rosberg also got his big break alongside.

The promise of all 4 teams and these great drivers fighting for the title was tantalising. Plus there were to be not one, but FOUR* brand new teams joining, including the return of the cherished Lotus name to Formula 1. This was also the year the Senna name returned, and at the time Bruno was felt to have much potential.

*including USF1

So I guess 2010 would probably be the most popular choice.



Mine though was 10 years earlier. 2000 turned out to be a good and interesting season, but not one of the best ever. However, this is by far the season that I most anticipated and looked forward to ever. There was the promise of so much in what felt like a new era for F1 in the new millenium.

There were the bright new Ferraris with an improved engine now at least the equal of Mercedes, with Barrichello finally getting his long-deserved big break after baffling years in the wilderness. I had read of his '94 season and really felt he could be close to Schumacher, and about +0.18sec off in his first season, and win maybe 3 races. (He didn't turn out to be quite that good).

Jordan looked set to build on their brilliant '99 season and challenge the top teams regularly and continue to get some wins. They had a fresh new yellow livery and an exciting fast new driver in Trulli who was getting his big break too - and looked like he could be even faster than the in-form Frentzen.

The arrival of Jaguar Racing, with their beautiful car, and the arrival of almost champion Eddie Irvine to join the rejuvenated Herbert, who looked like enjoying his final few years on good form. They were set to challenge the big teams and fight with Jordan all the way, making it a big 4 with Ferrari, McLaren and Jordan.

There was the new BMW era for Williams which promised much and the arrival of the youngest British driver ever - Jenson Button!

Benetton had gone back to basics and promised an improved performance on their terrible 1999.

Prost were one of the most exciting of all. Their rich blue colour scheme looked more dazzling than ever, with bright new sponsors and the arrival of Jean Alesi. Joining his old friend Alain Prost, it really looked like Alesi could realise some potential. Prost has also finished 1999 amazingly strongly, qualifying 6th and 7th at Suzuka with Panis running 3rd early on. They looked set to make a big challenge for 5th in the WCC! There was excitement at the arrival of Nick Heidfeld. You have to remember that at the time, there was not yet a Montoya, no Raikkonen, Alonso, webber, Massa, and certainly no Hamilton, Vettel and Kubica. Heidfeld was considered the next big thing and a natural heir for glory at McLaren Mercedes (and he would have succeeded if it weren't for that pesky Raikkonen).

Sauber had what I thought was an even more beautiful livery than usual, especially with Mika Salo's helmet, and a strong Ferrari engine and closer links to the works team.

Arrows were definitely going to make quite an improvement, and it was great to see Verstappen returning to F1. Though on average he's not a top driver, he seemed like someone who can pull a big result out somewhere. They now had Supertec engines and their car looked a real improvement. (I had not yet clocked their outstanding Orange livery which to this day is my all time favourite)

Minardi were promising an improvement with a very tidy new car and fairly major sponsorship. They now had access to the works Ford engine of 1998 and retained Marc Gené who impressed in 1999. Even better, they looked set to sign Max Wilson, a very fast Brazilian driver.

BAR looked like bouncing back from their disastrous debut. They were much more humble and likeable. I thought their new white and silver car looked amazing, and they had a strong engine as Honda returned as a works partner. Ricardo Zonta could only improve and be stronger too. Podiums could be possible and 5th overall likely.

All this was enough to make me salivate. The season turned out to be nowhere near as I hoped as the top teams were too reliable and consistent, having honed their packages over stable regulations. Sadly, Jordan and Jaguar failed miserably and did not challenge the top teams. Also Prost were no quicker than before, and actually fell back relative to other teams. The Peugeots were so unreliable and relations in the team were terrible. Though I still believe the car was nowhere near as bad as people say. Barrichello, though a bit better than Irvine as he settled into his new team, did slightly less well than the high expectations I had of him, but he wasn't far short.

The positive things were Williams BMW, as Jenson Button was a revelation! Michael Schumacher finally winning the title for Ferrari is still the most feel good moment I have experienced in F1. My favourite driver Fisichella and Benetton finishing 6th and 4th overall respectively (if a bit by default)! BAR looking far more humble and respectable; Villeneuve and Zonta scoring points. Mika Salo scoring decent points at times.

However, one of the main things I remember 2000 for was the amazing season of the Orange Arrows! Wow what a way to bounce back after 1999! Strong qualifying performances and even better in the races. The cars were astounding in a straight line and were well balanced. The potential was almost absurdly high. I think they were capable of 3rd in the WCC.

Ok that's enough. I also looked forward to 1999 and 2001 though the former in particular turned out much differently than expected.

[EuroTroll]

I was most looking forward to the 1994 season.

I was a huge, huge Senna fan as a kid, and this was going to be the year when Senna dominated, after a couple of seasons in the inferior McLaren. I anticipated seeing a Senna victory after a Senna victory after a Senna victory. Before the season, people were actually earnestly asking whether Senna would win every race that season. I wouldn't have minded...

Well, it turned out rather differently of course...

[steveaki13]

One of the seasons I looked forward to most was 2003.

We had had 3 seasons of Schumi/Ferrari winning and the rules had been completely changed for the first time in years. Single lap qualifying, loss of Sunday warm up, parc ferme.

We had 5 British drivers out of 20. Coulthard, Button, Irvine, Firman & Wilson.

All these things and a damp and drizzly race day, led to such anticipation before the race start.

It didnt dissapoint either being a great season and a great first race in Oz.

Other seasons I looked forward to. 1994 as ET said was and interesting looking season and I was young so doubly excited.

1998 originally because of the change of rules. As it turned out in that first race I thought it was going to be a onesided championship, but Mclaren were caught.

2003 as I said.

2005 again a rule change led to intrigue.

[rjbetty]

Yeah 2003 is a good one.
- The promise of McLaren doing better
- Fernando Alonso joining an improved Renault. I had no idea he would do so well.
- One of the most exciting things was the new Geoff Willis BAR with a better Honda, a revitalised Villeneuve, and Jenson joining.
- Toyota's second season with better drivers
- Another favourite in Fisichella surely having a better time in a much improved Jordan Ford. Sadly it didn't turn out that way - I was hoping for the equivalent of 16pts in old money.
- Minardi really benefitting from the new rules and a massively more powerful Cosworth engine, plus good drivers who in my naivety I thought would do better than Webber (as Justin beat Webber to the 2001 F3000 title). I was really thinking they'd get a few points finishes.



1999 was another one. I remember getting a copy of F1 Racing and reading Murray's season preview. That season promised so much after a kinda boring (in a lot of ways) 1998
- Ferrari closing up, and Irvine also edging closing to Schumacher and having the chance to challenge the McLarens on merit sometimes.
- Coulthard having less misfortune than 98 (when he could have won maybe 7 races but only got 1) and challenging his team-mate more.
- Jordan looking like the 3rd best team with Hill really getting in the mix! Also I thought Frentzen might do better than expected, but only tipped him for 7th on 19pts - he did rather better!
- Williams brighter livery and the arrival of Ralf and Zanardi! I have to say I just can't understand why so much was expected of Zanardi - I never saw him beating Ralf overall, but could see him putting in a brilliant 2nd place or something. I never imagined he would score no points!
- My favourite driver Fisi and Benetton at least looking more solid and improved over 98...
- The arrival of BAR with exciting drivers Villeneuve and Zonta to challenge Benetton and Williams
- Sauber becoming strong, scoring about 18pts and fighting well with the Supertec teams. Diniz scoring 1 or 2 good 4th places.
- Stewart with their new Ford engine and strongest ever driver line-up with Herbert joining. Jackie Stewart predicted they would win a race. Oh how I laughed at the time...
- Prost to although finish 9th, do much better and score a few more points. Alain Prost said they could have been in the fight for 3rd in the constructors championship. If they had that performance in '98 they might have stood a chance possibly...
- Arrows signing 2 strong drivers. Tom Walkinshaw said they were both better than Salo. I actually liked their livery.
- Minardi signing Luca Badoer. I had read about him and was so happy I would actually get to see the man himself race.

- All the teams in general closing the gap to the front!

[steveaki13]

Fisi did get his win though in 2003. Thats a historic moment.

It was a shame at Jordan.

After many uppermidfield seasons in the early and mid 90s. Then in 1998 & 1999 they became front runners, but 2000 promised the same but the Jordan was dissapointing. As were Trulli & Frentzen.

2001 you still felt they were a potential front runner. I remember Frentzen qualified 4th & Trulli 7th in Oz, but again it wasn't to be as they slipped to midfield once more.

From 2002 it was a sad fall. 2002 was a weird one, their car was quite slow but occasionally would score points. A real midfield car.

Continuing their fall was 2003. Take out that win in Brazil, Firman only got 1 point. Fisichella scored a couple more, but they were now battling Minardi in some races.

So in 2seasons they had gone from potential front runner to tailender.

2004 was equally sad. Heidfeld did OK in a slow car, but having Pantano in the other car was poor.

2005 in all ended as it became Midland.


But you look at this fall from grace and it was quite sudden.

[Garry Walker]

Probably 1994, because I knew Senna vs Schumacher was going to be good. Alas, it was not to be.

[Knock-on]

2013 and after that I will mostly be looking forward to 2014. I don't tend to look backwards much

[rjbetty]

Fisi did get his win though in 2003. Thats a historic moment.

It was a shame at Jordan.

After many uppermidfield seasons in the early and mid 90s. Then in 1998 & 1999 they became front runners, but 2000 promised the same but the Jordan was dissapointing. As were Trulli & Frentzen.

2001 you still felt they were a potential front runner. I remember Frentzen qualified 4th & Trulli 7th in Oz, but again it wasn't to be as they slipped to midfield once more.

From 2002 it was a sad fall. 2002 was a weird one, their car was quite slow but occasionally would score points. A real midfield car.

Continuing their fall was 2003. Take out that win in Brazil, Firman only got 1 point. Fisichella scored a couple more, but they were now battling Minardi in some races.

So in 2seasons they had gone from potential front runner to tailender.

2004 was equally sad. Heidfeld did OK in a slow car, but having Pantano in the other car was poor.

2005 in all ended as it became Midland.


But you look at this fall from grace and it was quite sudden.

Yeah I felt the same way about Jordan at Melbourne 2001; they looked in good shape! I found it strange that everyone was hyping BAR and Prost/Alesi for success, yet not mentioning Jordan much...

Also I remember the 2002 pre-season, the Eghbal Hamidy (guy behind the 2000 Arrows aerodynamics IIRC) designed distinctive Jordan driven by Fisichella with works Honda engines looked strong in testing, and Fisi looked set to easily be best of the rest. I thought he might have a shot at beating Kimi to 6th overall if Kimi had bad reliability (which he did) - but when the season started they were nowhere.

I really thought they were going to at improve at least a little in 2003 with good Ford engines, and the chance to solve many of the issues with the car and make it more driveable. Also Jordan looked good at the end of 2002, qualifying 7th and 8th in Japan.

I hate to moan but that Brazil situation was my worst F1 moment. It was enough to kill my passion and it's never recovered... I just wanted to see him win that first race. *sob*

[steveaki13]

I hate to moan but that Brazil situation was my worst F1 moment. It was enough to kill my passion and it's never recovered... I just wanted to see him win that first race. *sob*

Do you mean because the win was awarded to Kimi originally?

That was quite a strange moment, I remember jumping up when Fisi took the lead from Kimi and he pulled away. Then that huge Webber Crash and then Fernando running into the debris at full speed.

Never sure it was right he got a podium after causing the Red Flag. Thought he should have got a time penalty.

[rjbetty]

Do you mean because the win was awarded to Kimi originally?

Yeah. It wasn't the fact they took the win away from Fisi, it was the fact they gave it back to him a week or 2 later when the moment was completely gone and it was in a way 'worthless'. This meant Fisi never got to celebrate his first win. I firmly believe there is something very intangible and vitally important for a driver to be able to experience this so they can move on to the next level.

I would like to hear more about how Fisi feels about since as I always felt it affected him somehow and put a lot of what fire there was in him out. I don't think he was really quite the same after that.

His Melbourne 2005 win was great and he got to celebrate, but it was the second one. It's the first one that matters. I always felt like people would say it doesn't matter... but I'm convinced it does!

That was quite a strange moment, I remember jumping up when Fisi took the lead from Kimi and he pulled away. Then that huge Webber Crash and then Fernando running into the debris at full speed.

Oh I remember that clearly. There was so much confusion about the race ending, it being 75% distance and the aftermath of the crash etc that it took a couple of minutes to start thinking about who was leading the race. It was an amazing moment as it dawned on me who the leader was - almost too good to be true, as Fisi is my all time favourite and he had come so close on several occasions, and had suffered in bad cars for so long. But it was too good to be true. *sob*

Never sure it was right he got a podium after causing the Red Flag. Thought he should have got a time penalty.

That's a good point actually, but I was extremely pleased to see Alonso had got another podium, already having scored 14pts (and almost winning Melbourne too apparently)