131 replies to this topic

[TomNokoe]

I started watching F1 regularly in 2007 and I have to say I have been very lucky, because the 2007-2012 period must have been one of the best 6 year periods in F1 history.

My experience is broadly similar to yours and I strongly agree. The sport felt so organic and dynamic.

[Dolph]

Thinking back the most memorable season for me has been 1999.

 

It was supposed to be a Häkkinen-Schumacher rematch of a closely fought 1998 season, however, Irvine got a shock win instead. It still very quickly evolved into a Häkkinen-Schumacher fight with both having race ending crashes from the lead. Both Irvine and Frentzen were getting consistently good results and by the time Frentzen got his shock win at Magny-Cours Irvine was trailing Michael by just 6 points, whilst Michael was behind Mika by 8. Frentzen was closing in at 23 points.

 

After Michael had his accident, Mika had a run of bad luck and Eddie was bagging in wins and podiums and led Mika with a 52-44 points after the Hockenheim. That was a real shocker and one could see some possibility that Eddie could take it.

 

When Mika binned it at Monza, the standings were getting really close:

 

Mika 60p

Eddie 60p

Frentzen 50p

David 48p

 

Whoever could string a run of good races together would win it.

 

Then we had the Nurburgring race, where everyone on the grid looked like they were gonna win it, except Mika and Eddie. Frentzen led for a good while, Herbert won. Then The Michael came back with him running laps around the competition at Sepang and the Ferraris being DQ'd for a moment.

 

In the end Eddie lost the championship on a tie breaker 

 

It truly was a remarkable season made possible by various circumstances coming together. The only disappointment for me was DC's season as he had 6 mechanical DNF's compared to Mika's 3.

 

 

There's a really good Irvine documentary as well of the season with a lot of behind the scenes footage: 

Edited by Dolph, 10 February 2023 - 00:28.

[PlatenGlass]

It wasn't a tie-breaker though.

[midgrid]

The tie-breaker scenario would have occurred if Schumacher had let Irvine past in Japan.

[PayasYouRace]

I never forget Hakkinen being crowned champion in Malaysia when Ferrari were disqualified for their bargeboards, only to be reinstated soon after. I was really rooting for Eddie that year, despite despising Michael.

[PlatenGlass]

The tie-breaker scenario would have occurred if Schumacher had let Irvine past in Japan.

Yeah, and if they'd dropped Salo back at Monza, that's the championship (all other things staying the same of course).

[PlatenGlass]

While 1986 is the classic championship battle, the years preceding it are generally better for individual open races. I've watched BBC coverage for pretty much all races from 1979 onwards and they're mostly very good up to that point. 1984 is the main exception but even then the McLarens didn't generally dominate from start to finish and with Lauda generally qualifying in the pack, he had to fight his way through.

I'd say that 1987 starts the decline slightly and things don't really reach the level of 1979 to 1986/7 for an extended period again.

 

1979 to 1983 also had both turbo and non-turbo cars winning, and that added an extra dimension.

 

Edit - Also I think 1984 is a little bit like 2011 in that some of the races were actually not bad, even if the championship table makes it look like a snoozefest.

Edited by PlatenGlass, 10 February 2023 - 15:38.

[Jops14]

Thinking back the most memorable season for me has been 1999.

It was supposed to be a Häkkinen-Schumacher rematch of a closely fought 1998 season, however, Irvine got a shock win instead. It still very quickly evolved into a Häkkinen-Schumacher fight with both having race ending crashes from the lead. Both Irvine and Frentzen were getting consistently good results and by the time Frentzen got his shock win at Magny-Cours Irvine was trailing Michael by just 6 points, whilst Michael was behind Mika by 8. Frentzen was closing in at 23 points.

After Michael had his accident, Mika had a run of bad luck and Eddie was bagging in wins and podiums and led Mika with a 52-44 points after the Hockenheim. That was a real shocker and one could see some possibility that Eddie could take it.

When Mika binned it at Monza, the standings were getting really close:

Mika 60p
Eddie 60p
Frentzen 50p
David 48p

Whoever could string a run of good races together would win it.

Then we had the Nurburgring race, where everyone on the grid looked like they were gonna win it, except Mika and Eddie. Frentzen led for a good while, Herbert won. Then The Michael came back with him running laps around the competition at Sepang and the Ferraris being DQ'd for a moment.

In the end Eddie lost the championship on a tie breaker

It truly was a remarkable season made possible by various circumstances coming together. The only disappointment for me was DC's season as he had 6 mechanical DNF's compared to Mika's 3.


There's a really good Irvine documentary as well of the season with a lot of behind the scenes footage:
https://www.youtube....h?v=6kl82VHFDMY

Easily one of my all time favourite seasons and it cemented Irvine as my favourite at the time (Alongside Villeneuve and those BARs)

I really liked Coulthard in latter years, and I couldnt remember why I didnt like him at McLaren, I’ve gone back to watching 2000 highlights and it reminded me! He was just regularly miles off Hakkinen, if it wasnt bad reliability it wss a crap start, or mistakes in quali or just off the pace. Then every year “this year I’ll compete” only to be blown out of the water again. Same reason I didn’t like Bottas at Merc

[Dolph]

Easily one of my all time favourite seasons and it cemented Irvine as my favourite at the time (Alongside Villeneuve and those BARs)

I really liked Coulthard in latter years, and I couldnt remember why I didnt like him at McLaren, I’ve gone back to watching 2000 highlights and it reminded me! He was just regularly miles off Hakkinen, if it wasnt bad reliability it wss a crap start, or mistakes in quali or just off the pace. Then every year “this year I’ll compete” only to be blown out of the water again. Same reason I didn’t like Bottas at Merc

But wasnt Irvine the same as Coulthard? Off pace, bad reliability, etc?

[Jops14]

But wasnt Irvine the same as Coulthard? Off pace, bad reliability, etc?

Yeah but he had that 1 magic season where you really believed haha. And then i really enjoyed him at Jag, my appreciation for DC only really came with his RB exploits

[Myrvold]

But wasnt Irvine the same as Coulthard? Off pace, bad reliability, etc?

 

Irvine, at least up until end of 1999/start of 2000. Never went out and aimed high? Until Schumacher's injury he basically just enjoyed being a Ferrari driver, the salary and the connections he made in F1. Knowing that he wasn't going to beat Schumacher.

 

At least that's my impression. Then he wanted more after he challenged for the title in 1999, and ended up going to Jaguar for a pay-rise and being the lead driver.

[Spillage]

The best ones I've seen were 2008, 2012 and 2021. All three had a number of great races, a great championship fight, loads of different winners, loads of controversy, the lot really.

[Sterzo]

Some people are probably biased towards the first season that got them hooked on racing. One person definitely guilty of that is: me.

 

1957 – what did it have?

• The most aesthetically beautiful racing cars of all time.
• An aurally satisfying mix of four, six, eight and twelve cylinder engines.
• Spectacular cornering in full-blooded drifts.
• Incredible circuits: Nurburgring, Rouen, Pescara, Monaco and chicane-free Monza.
• Outstanding performances by two of the all-time greats, Fangio and Moss.

 

[Collombin]

I surely can't be the only one unable to view Sterzo's pics. It didn't bother me too much earlier, but I feel like I am starting to miss out now.

[sabjit]

2021 would be right up there if it didnt end in a way that brought the sports integrity into unprecedented disrepute 

[404KF2]

For me 1997 was THE classic, iconic, perfect season

Agree, in the recent era.

[F1 Mike]

1997 also had the greatest F1 game of that era of console gaming, which was released on the PlayStation

[Sterzo]

I surely can't be the only one unable to view Sterzo's pics. It didn't bother me too much earlier, but I feel like I am starting to miss out now.

Are you using Safari, Collombin? Perhaps you can see this one:

 

[Collombin]

Yes, Safari, but still no joy.

Maybe just describe each picture to me in a vivid and evocative manner? No need to go overboard though, you can keep it to less than 500 words per pic. Thx.

[KWSN - DSM]

Are you using Safari, Collombin? Perhaps you can see this one:

 

 

I am using Opera and can not see either.

 

If right-click and open in new tab I can see it.

Edited by KWSN - DSM, 16 February 2023 - 10:45.

[Nemo1965]

2021. No deaths, excitement and furore long past the end. 2008 a good second.

[messy]

1999 was really interesting but the reason I'd rate it behind '97 is that it seemed like everyone was doing their damndest not to win it and it opened the door for guys like Irvine and Frentzen to challenge through consistent scoring rather than being really quick. The pace advantage of McLaren in Melbourne was insane- 1.3 seconds a lap? Virtually double what it had been in 1998. But then they both broke down and you got the feelgood Irvine victory. Then, very much, Schumacher was the only guy who was able to go and tale the fight to the McLarens but I lost count of the number of times all of them- Mika, Michael and DC - broke down or crashed from the lead and it seemed like there was never a situation where all three were battling out out at the front because at least one of them was already out of the race. I think it was probably DC's worst season. He looked really brittle. But they were still well ahead of the rest on pace. Then, obviously, Michael was out of the picture and it was unreliable McLarens with unreliable drivers vs Ferrari's second string.

There was only one time I felt Irvine really took the McLarens on - Austria, and I remember being so chuffed for him that he had a 'proper' win amongst the ones that basically fell into his lap or were outright handed to him. I found watching Salo let him by in Germany or Schumacher playing around blocking everyone else and then catching back up with him at will quite frustrating really.

Frentzen's consistent picking up the pieces and banking thirds and fourths - along with his strategy gamble in France thar won him the race - almost did the job too but its not like he was title contender fast at any stage really.

And the clear fastest driver, Hakkinen, dropped the ball repeatedly or had his car fail on him while he was leading by miles. When the races didn't descend into chaos they were quite predictable and there was some absolute stinkers like Spain and Hungary.

I'd classify '99 as weirdly unsatisfying in a lot of ways.

Edited by messy, 16 February 2023 - 15:07.

[AnttiK]

I'd classify '99 as weirdly unsatisfying

 

That's also probably how the cars felt to drive with those '99 spec grooved tyres. Even the best cars that year seemed very inconsistent and "annoying" to drive on the limit.

 

Perhaps as a sign of that, 1999 had four races (three of those in bone dry conditions) where race leaders retired from a race due to unforced errors. I'd be surprised if there's another season with more instances of race leaders crashing/spinning out on their own. Perhaps 1995 would be a contender? But I have a feeling quite a few of the ones that year were partly or fully caused by a mechanical failure.

[Anuity]

At the time I remember thinking 1999 season was quite boring.  Yes, there were some unusual races, but the majority of them felt flat and unremarkable. The final race just seems to be a perfect wrap up for it.

it is a bit like 1996 for me. 

Thinking about it now, it does bring some good memories, and the storyline of Jordan and Stewart was nice, but I would not put it on the list of all time greatest.

 

1998 and 2000 were much more interesting and greater seasons overall.

[Dan333SP]

At the time I remember thinking 1999 season was quite boring.  Yes, there were some unusual races, but the majority of them felt flat and unremarkable. The final race just seems to be a perfect wrap up for it.

it is a bit like 1996 for me. 

Thinking about it now, it does bring some good memories, and the storyline of Jordan and Stewart was nice, but I would not put it on the list of all time greatest.

 

1998 and 2000 were much more interesting and greater seasons overall.

 

Same, I started watching in '98 and was a big Schumacher fan so that had something to do with my '99 disappointment. From a fan perspective, 2000 was honestly one of my favorite seasons. The racing itself (other than that pass at Spa...) wasn't necessarily the most memorable, but the outcome was, the F1-2000 remains for me one of the most beautiful F1 cars of all time, and that '00-'01 Mclaren had the most haunting screaming engine note that stood out even on a grid full of V10s. Lucky to have seen/heard those cars in person that season. 

[F1Frog]

Some people are probably biased towards the first season that got them hooked on racing. One person definitely guilty of that is: me.

 

1957 – what did it have?

• The most aesthetically beautiful racing cars of all time.
• An aurally satisfying mix of four, six, eight and twelve cylinder engines.
• Spectacular cornering in full-blooded drifts.
• Incredible circuits: Nurburgring, Rouen, Pescara, Monaco and chicane-free Monza.
• Outstanding performances by two of the all-time greats, Fangio and Moss.

 

 

I think perhaps 1957-1961 was the absolute peak of Formula 1 history. As well as having all the things you mention, apart from Fangio retiring full-time after 1957 and not all of those tracks lasting the entire period, although it was still a stellar set of tracks every season:

 

This was a time where motor racing was far more about the technological side and the awe of just watching the cars than it was about actual good racing, but the racing during this period was still absolutely outstanding, helped by the fact that the dominant driver of the era, Stirling Moss, insisted that 'it is better to be defeated honourably in a British car than to be victorious in a foreign one,' so raced in lesser cars and still pulled off some remarkable race wins and near-championships. 1958 was one of the greatest seasons ever, while 1959 also had an excellent title battle.

 

And also, motor racing was far more about simply the joy and competition of racing rather than about money and fame, while the lack of professionalism, compared to now, gave the series an extra bit of charm and makes for more interesting stories. There was also still a huge amount of racing but not all of them counted for the championship, a system that keeps everyone happy as you can follow as much Formula 1 as you want without needing to commit to every race to keep in touch with the story. 

 

There were also a huge amount of great drivers racing during this period, with Stirling Moss, Tony Brooks and Jack Brabham perhaps the biggest names as well as Fangio in just 1957, but there were plenty more great drivers such as Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins, Luigi Musso, Stuart Lewis-Evans, Jean Behra Bruce McLaren, Maurice Trintignant, Masten Gregory, Jo Bonnier, Innes Ireland, Phil Hill, Wolfgang von Trips, and in the later years the occasional brilliant performance from Jim Clark, John Surtees, Graham Hill and Dan Gurney, who would become the best drivers of the next generation.

 

Of course, one major downside would be the fact that I have not watched a single full Grand Prix from this era, my love of it comes instead from watching snippets and highlights of races and reading the excellent Denis Jenkinson race reports. But I don't know how much of this era was available to watch on TV for fans at the time, and suspect it was not a lot. But that wouldn't have been a problem if it was all you had known, and I am sure that if the level of coverage that we get today was applied to every era of the past, 1957-61 would be more interesting to watch than today's racing, or probably any other period. And, of course, the dangers of racing and the many fatalities was another major problem although it perhaps wasn't as bad as in the years after, or the years preceding the world championship.

[Risil]

I feel 59 and especially 60 were pretty thin years for Grand Prix racing actually. Many of the big names were gone or reducing their participation, there was an odd situation where depending on the circuit the front-engined Ferrari was either dominant or virtually an also-ran, and while Moss was injured Brabham had fairly desultory opposition.

The best years of the 2.5-litre formula were 1954-58. Obviously it's a tremendous shame that the peak performance of Mercedes-Benz, Lancia, Maserati and Vanwall didn't coincide.

[juicy sushi]

I think my vote would be for 1990.  It had a legendary title fight, plenty of great drivers from other drivers, many classic tracks in configurations we don't see anymore, and the cars were at a bit of an aesthetic peak.  They didn't have the plethora of winglets that were to come, but all looked quite different from each other, while being lithe, aggressive things.  The variety of naturally aspirated sounds was also nice.  The level of power vs the weight was pretty good, and the cars could pass each other fairly well, unlike the rest of the 1990s and even worse the 2000s and 2010s.  

 

The 1990s suffered after that from cars that got increasingly worse at racing each other, especially after the 1998 changes, while also getting increasingly ugly as the noses went higher.  I think the average quality of driver on the grid in 1990 was worse than some of the years before and after, but there were enough good moments to make up for it.

[William Hunt]

All seasons from the 1970s and all from the 1980's up until 1987

[FirstnameLastname]

Came here to post 1999 - but most of it has already been discussed.

The intrigue of schumachers situation, how would salo do - could Irvine step up

Frentzens best F1 year - with wins for Jordan

Stewart Grand Prix with the hot hand grenade Ford engine. I remember being endlessly gutted for Rubens in Brazil

BAR debut with the quality street livery.

Loved that year.

[CoolBreeze]

For me, the best seasons would be the times when there was tobacco sponsorships involved, 200 enginees per season, and rather bottomless budgets. 

[F1 Mike]

I think my vote would be for 1990. It had a legendary title fight, plenty of great drivers from other drivers, many classic tracks in configurations we don't see anymore, and the cars were at a bit of an aesthetic peak. They didn't have the plethora of winglets that were to come, but all looked quite different from each other, while being lithe, aggressive things. The variety of naturally aspirated sounds was also nice. The level of power vs the weight was pretty good, and the cars could pass each other fairly well, unlike the rest of the 1990s and even worse the 2000s and 2010s.

The 1990s suffered after that from cars that got increasingly worse at racing each other, especially after the 1998 changes, while also getting increasingly ugly as the noses went higher. I think the average quality of driver on the grid in 1990 was worse than some of the years before and after, but there were enough good moments to make up for it.

Difficult to think of another fairly modern season with that level of drama on every level, aside from maybe 1997 which came close

[F1Frog]

For a bit of fun, here is my ranking of every season ever. Just a personal choice.

 

74 – 1994. For pure excitement levels, this season would be quite high up the ranking, but the entire Schumacher vs Hill battle just felt manipulated with Benetton’s punishment for their many ways of cheating being set to make the title battle close, rather than fitting the crime, and Schumacher should not have been world champion.

 

73 – 2002. An extremely dull season with zero interesting races, and Ferrari so far ahead they could just choose the winner most of the time. Schumacher never had to show how good he was.

 

72 – 1950. The championship started with Alfa Romeo so far ahead that they seemed able to just pick a winner, and with Farina and Fangio never finishing a race competitively together, the title battle between them came down to luck.

 

71 – 1952. A totally dominant season for Alberto Ascari, winning every race he entered and only having to work for it on the Nordschleife. But it was a great season performance by Ascari.

 

70 – 2015. Mercedes continued to hold a ridiculous pace advantage, but Rosberg was now rarely able to challenge Hamilton and the title battle was a foregone conclusion early on. Again, almost no interesting races.

 

69 – 2023. Max Verstappen utterly dominated as no races bar Singapore and Las Vegas had any jeopardy about the identity of the winner, and DRS was way too powerful. But there were some

interesting battles behind the winner.

 

68 – 2001. Just because it is such a totally forgettable season.

 

67 – 2013. Sebastian Vettel’s nine wins in a row after an interesting first half of the season but too dominated by the terrible tyres.

 

66 – 2004. Another dominant season but Schumacher had to work for his wins more and drove some very impressive races.

 

65 – 2017. A breath of fresh air to have two teams battling for the title, but the dirty air was so bad that races were often dull and Vettel’s title challenge fizzled out early.

 

64 – 1992. There were some interesting races but too many awful ones with no changes from start to finish and Nigel Mansell was miles ahead in a brilliant FW14B, the greatest car in history.

 

63 – 2022. Mercedes’ strange car, Ferrari’s pace with blunders and Charles Leclerc’s driving made this season fairly interesting but there weren’t any classic races, the title was wrapped up early and DRS was stupidly powerful.

 

62 – 2011. Although Vettel won almost every race, there were some interesting ones where McLaren were quick, and this had the brilliant Canadian Grand Prix which Jenson Button won from the back. Also the first season of DRS.

 

61 – 1964. Very controversial but I hated how unreliable every leading car was and it made the championship seem to be sort of random, even though Mexico City was very exciting.

 

60 – 1995. It was impressive that Schumacher won so comfortably in a car no better than the Williams, but again there weren’t many memorable races.

 

59 – 1970. Having a posthumous champion brings it down, and only the Monaco Grand Prix with Rindt’s late charge stands out.

 

58 – 2005. The first year after Ferrari’s dominance was good to see a new battle at the front, although it was strange having the McLaren much faster than the Renault but unreliable.

 

57 – 1978. Interesting from a technical perspective with the Lotus 79 and ground effect coming good, but the races were not memorable at all.

 

56 – 1955. Mercedes were perhaps the most perfect of any F1 team in history at this stage, with the eight-wheeled car of Fangio and Moss dominating.

 

55 – 1968. A good three-way battle for the title with lots of competitive cars and Jackie Stewart’s remarkable win on the Nurburgring.

 

54 – 1963. A season of utter domination from Jim Clark, but to the point that it made it impressive rather than boring, particularly his win in Spa.

 

53 – 2000. The last season of Schumacher vs Hakkinen so a great title battle, but not many great races due to overtaking being too difficult at this time in Formula 1.

 

52 – 1962. Not the best title battle with Clark much faster than Hill but less reliable, but one of the greatest races ever on the Nurburgring.

 

51 – 2019. No title battle at all, but with some interesting storylines across the season like Vettel vs Leclerc and quite a few great individual races.

 

50 – 1974. There may have been a very close title battle, but the races weren’t particularly exciting or memorable. Most notable for the arrival of Niki Lauda.

 

49 – 1954. Probably Fangio’s greatest season with the wins in two different cars, and that famous battle between Fangio, Ascari and Moss in Monza. I didn’t like this Mercedes, and it was a shame to have no Lancia.

 

48 – 1977. An interesting dynamic of the faster Lotus against the more reliable Ferrari and a lot of cars in contention, but not much of a storyline behind the season.

 

47 – 1983. An interesting season of the turbo cars finally becoming reliable, and the races were interesting to watch, but generally there is not much to say.

 

46 – 1991. Senna vs Mansell wasn’t quite as good as Senna vs Prost but there was still some great racing between these drivers. Again, generally not much to say.

 

45 – 1980. Perhaps another slightly forgettable season but Alan Jones was an exciting driver to watch and the turbo Renaults also kept the season fairly interesting.

 

44 – 2016. The tense battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton reached its climax and the fact that Rosberg edged it, and all the incident between the two, made this a fascinating season, as did Verstappen’s arrival, but again many individual races were dull.

 

43 – 1996. Having Schumacher performing miracles in the Ferrari was great, but while there were a few great races, the general refuelling problems meant there were also a lot of bad ones.

 

42 – 1966. The return to the 3-litre engines was a good move and Clark and Surtees both put in some special drives, but Brabham dominated in a dominant car.

 

41 – 1987. The second year of the big four didn’t quite have the same thrill as the first and was a little more forgettable, while it felt like the wrong Williams driver won the title.

 

40 – 2014. The first year of Hamilton vs Rosberg was closer than expected, had some controversy between the two teammates, and also had three absolute classics in Bahrain, Canada and Hungary. It was also interesting to have a different pecking order behind, but Mercedes were too far ahead.

 

39 – 1972. The arrival of the Lotus 72 and Emerson Fittipaldi made this interesting although his title battle with Stewart was slightly ruined by Stewart’s health problems, and Beltoise and Amon starred in Monaco and France respectively, two fantastic races.

 

38 – 1999. The season that nobody wanted to win as Hakkinen was error-prone, Irvine not particularly quick and Frentzen coming close despite the Jordan being nowhere near the level of the other two cars. A good season.

 

37 – 1985. There were a lot of exciting races, and Senna was in a competitive car for the first time while Prost reached his peak with a great title victory as that battle with Alboreto fizzled out early.

 

36 – 2020. I actually really enjoyed this season, with all the different tracks, and a lot of crazy races like Monza, Turkey and Sakhir, while the midfield drivers finally had opportunities for podiums.

 

35 – 1979. The arrival of the thrilling driving of Gilles Villeneuve and some great battles with Alan Jones, and interesting spells of different teams holding the advantage with the quick Ligier and Renault as well.

 

34 – 1969. Jackie Stewart emerged from the pack of similarly-matched cars to put in an incredible, dominant title win, and his wins in Monza and Silverstone after battling Rindt were great races.

 

33 – 2009. Sometimes the pecking order seemed random and the races weren’t the most entertaining, but the fairytale story of Brawn taking the championship massively brings this season up.

 

32 – 1967. The dynamic of the fast Lotus against the reliable Brabham was less interesting than the internal battles in those two teams, Hulme edging Brabham and Clark edging Hill, while there were a few great races like Monza.

 

31 – 2006. If the 2005 season felt slightly fixed to get rid of Ferrari, 2006 was more like Schumacher actually being dethroned with almost equal cars with Alonso of Renault and a great title scrap, albeit it was slightly more like they took turns to have the best car rather than being equal each time.

 

30 – 1993. A return of Senna vs Prost was nice and their battles made this a good season, but there were still a few very processional races.

 

29 – 1971. Not much of a title battle and Stewart effectively dominated with the best car, but there were plenty of fascinating races to keep it interesting, particularly the wet race in Zandvoort.

 

28 – 1960. The theme of Stirling Moss staying in contention despite driving weaker cars was halted by his accident and Brabham dominated, but there were a few great drives from the next generation of Clark, Hill and Surtees.

 

27 – 2018. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel finally had practically equal cars to battle for the championship with, so it was remarkable that Hamilton so comfortably beat Vettel with his finest season. But the gap from the top three to the midfield was a joke.

 

26 – 1951. The first proper title battle was between two greats in Fangio and Ascari with the Alfa Romeo and Ferrari similarly-matched for the first time, and it came down to a strategic move in the final race, while Gonzalez also got a fine win in Silverstone.

 

25 – 1956. It was the closest championship battle between Fangio and Moss and a classic finale in Monza, but there was too much of Fangio’s teammates handing their cars to him all season, but at the same time, Peter Collins shouldn’t have been in the mix having been so much slower than Fangio.

 

24 – 1973. A brilliant championship victory for Jackie Stewart against two faster Lotuses who fought among themselves.

 

23 – 2003. A proper challenge to Schumacher was finally mounted after some rule changes including an awful points system, and there were many great races and just two points in it at the end.

 

22 – 1953. The Ferrari was still clearly quicker than the Maserati but there was a good title battle after the domination a year earlier, and to have two all-time classics in eight races with Hawthorn vs Fangio in Reims and Fangio vs Ascari vs Farina in Monza made this a special season.

 

21 – 1965. A season all about Jim Clark putting in the greatest season performance in history with remarkable wins in Spa-Francorchamps, Clermont-Ferrand, and particularly Silverstone, and dominating despite having a car no better than the next-best.

 

20 – 1984. Plenty of brilliant races and so many competitive teams somehow culminated in a dominant season by one team, and although it came down to half a point, Prost was clearly the better driver and extremely unlucky not to win.

 

19 – 1998. A great season-long battle between Hakkinen and Schumacher, the latter with a great comeback, and many great races and some controversy to boot.

 

18 – 1982. A season with so many different winners it appeared random but was actually filled with storylines, and the majority of the races were very exciting.

 

17 – 1959. A nice three-way title battle with Moss the fastest almost every time despite driving for a privateer, but losing to unreliability, and two classic races at Monza and Sebring to end the season.

 

16 – 1988. This was a season of two true greats, both pretty much at their peak, in the same car that was the class of the field, just utterly dominating and was a nice head-to-head battle before it got ugly. The dropped scores made it a bit complicated in terms of who was really better.

 

15 – 1975. Although Niki Lauda established himself as champion early on, the majority of races had something really interesting and memorable going on, and with many famous underdog performances none more than Hesketh.

 

14 – 2007. The actual individual races weren’t the best, but the storyline of a rookie going into a team with the best in the world and outperforming him, then both narrowly losing after the controversy of Spygate, and so much controversy between Hamilton and Alonso, is among the greatest ever.

 

13 – 1957. This is up here for the time, more than the season. Fangio and Moss, Maserati and Vanwall, at Rouen, the Nurburgring and Pescara, was perhaps the peak of motor racing. But there were classic races at Aintree and Fangio’s comeback win on the Nordschleife.

 

12 – 1986. A brilliant season of two evenly matched Williams drivers in the best car just being pipped at the post by Alain Prost’s slower McLaren with one of the greatest season performances ever, although apart from Adelaide I don’t recall many classic races.

 

11 – 2012. The early season lottery made for plenty of exciting races, and all season, Alonso seemed to punch above his weight by dragging the Ferrari into title contention, and Brazil was a classic race, as was Malaysia early in the season.

 

10 – 1990. Round three of Senna vs Prost but in different teams, and with Prost and Mansell being teammates. There were some great races early in the season, and with it all coming down to that extraordinary incident in Suzuka.

 

9 – 2010. An amazing five-way battle for the championship, Vettel being clearly fastest but having lots of bad luck, intra-team controversy at Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull and Michael Schumacher’s return. As well as being the only modern season with no refuelling and no DRS.

 

8 – 1961. Having Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips, two totally different drivers not among the elite of Formula 1 but in a dominant car battling it out was a great story, and with Stirling Moss at his peak twice beating them in a much slower Lotus. There were three classic races out of eight.

 

7 – 1997. A great driver in a good car versus a good driver in a great car ended up with Schumacher and Villeneuve on almost equal points going into the final race, and with dirty tactics from both teams ending in Schumacher deliberately hitting Villeneuve was a fascinating title battle. There were also a plethora of great races with random great underdog stories from Benetton, Jordan, Arrows and Prost.

 

6 – 2008. This title battle was filled with classic races and a mixture of brilliant Hamilton drives and clumsy ones, while there was a win for Vettel of Toro Rosso, and a controversial Singapore Grand Prix still being discussed now. The ending in Interlagos was the most exciting conclusion to a championship season in history.

 

5 – 1981. A season filled with fascinating controversies surrounding the FISA/FOCA wars and the ingenious hydro-pneumatic suspension Brabham. Almost every race was great to watch, especially the two remarkable wins for Gilles Villeneuve and the Alan Jones vs Alain Prost battles, while the season finale was curious and came down to one point.

 

4 – 1958. This season ranks very highly because of the close title battle, but mainly because every single race was extremely memorable and had something really interesting going on. Buenos Aires was probably the best with Stirling Moss saving his tyres to do no pitstops and win in the underpowered Cooper, while Brooks’ wins in Monza and the Nurburgring were also special races, as was Moss vs Hawthorn in Portugal and Morocco.

 

3 – 1989. The most exciting period ever in Formula 1 was Ayrton Senna vs Alain Prost, and it reached its highest point when they were teammates and totally split the team in half, with Senna’s extraordinary speed and Prost’s intelligent driving yielding similar results on points and the psychological warfare reaching a climax in Suzuka, the most exciting motor race in history, as Prost and Senna finally collided and caused even more controversy with FISA. This was also the season of 39 cars and pre-qualifying.

 

2 – 2021. This season should have been right at the top. Never before have you had the two clear best drivers on the grid in basically equal cars at almost every race, battling out on track so often with so many races being absolute classics for such different reasons. The strategic battles of Bahrain, Spain, France and USA among others as well as races of complete carnage. The controversial incidents between Hamilton and Verstappen made the season even more interesting. But Abu Dhabi was a step too far and the worst officiating that I know of in any sport, ever, after Michael Masi had lost control in Jeddah as well and there were some annoying track limits problems. It was also the introduction of sprint races and the year that fans became so toxic. And the budget cap reveal left a sour taste as well. In hindsight, it appears the greatest season ever, but I cannot ignore that it wasn’t hugely satisfying at the time. There were also some amazing drives from Norris, Leclerc and Russell in lesser cars and the Ocon and Ricciardo wins, with Hungary a particularly brilliant race. This should have been the perfect season, but it fell short.

 

1 – 1976. There is a reason there is a brilliant film about this season. The story of Hunt vs Lauda was the most fascinating in Formula 1 history, mainly due to Lauda’s extraordinary comeback, from dominating the first half of the season, to almost dying in the accident on the Nurburgring, then coming back so soon after in Monza while Hunt was now dominating, and the two ending up on almost equal points. But also it was interesting because of the controversy between the two teams at Jarama and Brands Hatch, possibly with both decisions going the wrong way and it not quite feeling manipulated like 2021, while the Fuji finale was among the most exciting races in history. There were also plenty of other great races during the season such as John Watson and Ronnie Peterson winning and some good battles between the title contenders and the Tyrrells. It wasn’t the perfect season because there weren’t enough close races between Hunt and Lauda, but it was the greatest season ever in Formula 1.

[Sterzo]

Obviously, no-one can argue with a personal choice, F1 Frog. BUT... for me, 1976 was one of the most awful and tedious seasons, with squabbleas and disputes and results changed long after the event. I went to two of the championship races, at Brands Hatch and the Nurburgring. The first featured delays, arguments, obscene behaviour by the crowd (reminiscent of seventies football hooligans) and a result not known until later. The day after the second was spent waiting for news of Lauda's death.

[Risil]

Froggie were you judging by any consistent criteria? I know you said personal choice but what factors personally matter to you?

[PayasYouRace]

1994 is one of my favourite seasons. Can’t possibly agree on putting it last, especially when the broadly similar 2021 is ranked 2nd.

[JosefStatin2]

Hi all, interesting thread. For everybody that mentioned 2012, for me is great, because of what Alonso (almost) achieved. I was at Hockenheim that year, will last long in my memory.

[JosefStatin2]

[snip]

Awesome thread!

Edited by PayasYouRace, 12 January 2024 - 16:31.

[Collombin]

1994 is one of my favourite seasons. Can’t possibly agree on putting it last, especially when the broadly similar 2021 is ranked 2nd.

The knee jerk track changes in 1994 were another downside to that season. I don't know if I would place it dead last, but certainly bottom quartile.

1983 needs a bit more love. The cars slid around a lot that year, maybe the suddenness of the ground effects ban left the engineers a bit behind the curve.

[eab]

1994 is one of my favourite seasons. Can’t possibly agree on putting it last, especially when the broadly similar 2021 is ranked 2nd.

Funny, the (second part of the) second sentence, in a way, is exactly what I was thinking when I startED reading the ranking: Now watch the '21 season getting way up there 

 

 for the effort though.

Edited by eab, 13 January 2024 - 10:22.

[juicy sushi]

Some other great seasons, but not F1 seasons would be the classic CART seasons of 1993 and 1995-1999.  The first is Mansell's American Tour, and it was definitely something special.  Perhaps his best year as a driver, and the cars look so stunning.  And the other years are essentially Peak CART, with 1000hp motors, great battles on track, some truly terrifying speed, and that unique mayhem Indycar seems to have at its core.

[Gravelngrass]

1983 just for the cars, specially the Brabham.
1988-1991 same, for the Ferrari, Mclaren, Benetton and others. Plus, if you ignore the Mclaren dominance in 88-89, it was something that will probably never be repeated in F1 again (best drivers together in best cars). You should try to find all the race interviews and extra footage because you’ll be able to see the development of the Senna-Prost rivalry.
2007 just for the whole Alonso-Hamilton debacle and the amazing final.
The Alonso vs Vettel seasons were pretty cool too. 2010, 2012…

[PlatenGlass]

1994 is one of my favourite seasons. Can’t possibly agree on putting it last, especially when the broadly similar 2021 is ranked 2nd.

I wouldn't put 1994 last, but I don't really view it as similar to 2021 (which I also wouldn't put 2nd).

[Radoye]

2021 was just as manipulated from early on to artificially generate a grandstand finish as 1994 was. And it blew up in the faces of those doing the manipulation in a similar way, with the last race instead of a spectacle being marked with scandal and controversy. In the end no one came out of it happy and smelling like a rose, which is too bad - Schumacher, Hill, Verstappen and Hamilton all deserved better for their efforts.

[Dan333SP]

Broadly agree on some older posts about the 2007-2012 period being probably the best 5+ year run in the sport's history in terms of exciting overall seasons, but it is interesting that there was so little actual passing during that time. The fields were supremely close (except 2011), huge variety in number of winners, titles that came down to the last race and in one case the last corner, but generally there were lots of processional races during that era. Probably intensifies the feelings about the races where there were crucial passes and great action, like the 2011 Canadian GP which I was lucky enough to be at. 

[Sterzo]

"22 – 1953. The Ferrari was still clearly quicker than the Maserati but there was a good title battle after the domination a year earlier, and to have two all-time classics in eight races with Hawthorn vs Fangio in Reims and Fangio vs Ascari vs Farina in Monza made this a special season."

 

A spot-on description. I'd promote it to somewhere near the top because my personal criteria would be: exciting races, brilliant circuits, beautiful and spectacular cars. I did think of "inspirational drivers" too, but we've had that ingredient every year.

[DW46]

For a bit of fun, here is my ranking of every season ever. Just a personal choice.

74 – 1994. For pure excitement levels, this season would be quite high up the ranking, but the entire Schumacher vs Hill battle just felt manipulated with Benetton’s punishment for their many ways of cheating being set to make the title battle close, rather than fitting the crime, and Schumacher should not have been world champion.

73 – 2002. An extremely dull season with zero interesting races, and Ferrari so far ahead they could just choose the winner most of the time. Schumacher never had to show how good he was.

72 – 1950. The championship started with Alfa Romeo so far ahead that they seemed able to just pick a winner, and with Farina and Fangio never finishing a race competitively together, the title battle between them came down to luck.

71 – 1952. A totally dominant season for Alberto Ascari, winning every race he entered and only having to work for it on the Nordschleife. But it was a great season performance by Ascari.

70 – 2015. Mercedes continued to hold a ridiculous pace advantage, but Rosberg was now rarely able to challenge Hamilton and the title battle was a foregone conclusion early on. Again, almost no interesting races.

69 – 2023. Max Verstappen utterly dominated as no races bar Singapore and Las Vegas had any jeopardy about the identity of the winner, and DRS was way too powerful. But there were some
interesting battles behind the winner.

68 – 2001. Just because it is such a totally forgettable season.

67 – 2013. Sebastian Vettel’s nine wins in a row after an interesting first half of the season but too dominated by the terrible tyres.

66 – 2004. Another dominant season but Schumacher had to work for his wins more and drove some very impressive races.

65 – 2017. A breath of fresh air to have two teams battling for the title, but the dirty air was so bad that races were often dull and Vettel’s title challenge fizzled out early.

64 – 1992. There were some interesting races but too many awful ones with no changes from start to finish and Nigel Mansell was miles ahead in a brilliant FW14B, the greatest car in history.

63 – 2022. Mercedes’ strange car, Ferrari’s pace with blunders and Charles Leclerc’s driving made this season fairly interesting but there weren’t any classic races, the title was wrapped up early and DRS was stupidly powerful.

62 – 2011. Although Vettel won almost every race, there were some interesting ones where McLaren were quick, and this had the brilliant Canadian Grand Prix which Jenson Button won from the back. Also the first season of DRS.

61 – 1964. Very controversial but I hated how unreliable every leading car was and it made the championship seem to be sort of random, even though Mexico City was very exciting.

60 – 1995. It was impressive that Schumacher won so comfortably in a car no better than the Williams, but again there weren’t many memorable races.

59 – 1970. Having a posthumous champion brings it down, and only the Monaco Grand Prix with Rindt’s late charge stands out.

58 – 2005. The first year after Ferrari’s dominance was good to see a new battle at the front, although it was strange having the McLaren much faster than the Renault but unreliable.

57 – 1978. Interesting from a technical perspective with the Lotus 79 and ground effect coming good, but the races were not memorable at all.

56 – 1955. Mercedes were perhaps the most perfect of any F1 team in history at this stage, with the eight-wheeled car of Fangio and Moss dominating.

55 – 1968. A good three-way battle for the title with lots of competitive cars and Jackie Stewart’s remarkable win on the Nurburgring.

54 – 1963. A season of utter domination from Jim Clark, but to the point that it made it impressive rather than boring, particularly his win in Spa.

53 – 2000. The last season of Schumacher vs Hakkinen so a great title battle, but not many great races due to overtaking being too difficult at this time in Formula 1.

52 – 1962. Not the best title battle with Clark much faster than Hill but less reliable, but one of the greatest races ever on the Nurburgring.

51 – 2019. No title battle at all, but with some interesting storylines across the season like Vettel vs Leclerc and quite a few great individual races.

50 – 1974. There may have been a very close title battle, but the races weren’t particularly exciting or memorable. Most notable for the arrival of Niki Lauda.

49 – 1954. Probably Fangio’s greatest season with the wins in two different cars, and that famous battle between Fangio, Ascari and Moss in Monza. I didn’t like this Mercedes, and it was a shame to have no Lancia.

48 – 1977. An interesting dynamic of the faster Lotus against the more reliable Ferrari and a lot of cars in contention, but not much of a storyline behind the season.

47 – 1983. An interesting season of the turbo cars finally becoming reliable, and the races were interesting to watch, but generally there is not much to say.

46 – 1991. Senna vs Mansell wasn’t quite as good as Senna vs Prost but there was still some great racing between these drivers. Again, generally not much to say.

45 – 1980. Perhaps another slightly forgettable season but Alan Jones was an exciting driver to watch and the turbo Renaults also kept the season fairly interesting.

44 – 2016. The tense battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton reached its climax and the fact that Rosberg edged it, and all the incident between the two, made this a fascinating season, as did Verstappen’s arrival, but again many individual races were dull.

43 – 1996. Having Schumacher performing miracles in the Ferrari was great, but while there were a few great races, the general refuelling problems meant there were also a lot of bad ones.

42 – 1966. The return to the 3-litre engines was a good move and Clark and Surtees both put in some special drives, but Brabham dominated in a dominant car.

41 – 1987. The second year of the big four didn’t quite have the same thrill as the first and was a little more forgettable, while it felt like the wrong Williams driver won the title.

40 – 2014. The first year of Hamilton vs Rosberg was closer than expected, had some controversy between the two teammates, and also had three absolute classics in Bahrain, Canada and Hungary. It was also interesting to have a different pecking order behind, but Mercedes were too far ahead.

39 – 1972. The arrival of the Lotus 72 and Emerson Fittipaldi made this interesting although his title battle with Stewart was slightly ruined by Stewart’s health problems, and Beltoise and Amon starred in Monaco and France respectively, two fantastic races.

38 – 1999. The season that nobody wanted to win as Hakkinen was error-prone, Irvine not particularly quick and Frentzen coming close despite the Jordan being nowhere near the level of the other two cars. A good season.

37 – 1985. There were a lot of exciting races, and Senna was in a competitive car for the first time while Prost reached his peak with a great title victory as that battle with Alboreto fizzled out early.

36 – 2020. I actually really enjoyed this season, with all the different tracks, and a lot of crazy races like Monza, Turkey and Sakhir, while the midfield drivers finally had opportunities for podiums.

35 – 1979. The arrival of the thrilling driving of Gilles Villeneuve and some great battles with Alan Jones, and interesting spells of different teams holding the advantage with the quick Ligier and Renault as well.

34 – 1969. Jackie Stewart emerged from the pack of similarly-matched cars to put in an incredible, dominant title win, and his wins in Monza and Silverstone after battling Rindt were great races.

33 – 2009. Sometimes the pecking order seemed random and the races weren’t the most entertaining, but the fairytale story of Brawn taking the championship massively brings this season up.

32 – 1967. The dynamic of the fast Lotus against the reliable Brabham was less interesting than the internal battles in those two teams, Hulme edging Brabham and Clark edging Hill, while there were a few great races like Monza.

31 – 2006. If the 2005 season felt slightly fixed to get rid of Ferrari, 2006 was more like Schumacher actually being dethroned with almost equal cars with Alonso of Renault and a great title scrap, albeit it was slightly more like they took turns to have the best car rather than being equal each time.

30 – 1993. A return of Senna vs Prost was nice and their battles made this a good season, but there were still a few very processional races.

29 – 1971. Not much of a title battle and Stewart effectively dominated with the best car, but there were plenty of fascinating races to keep it interesting, particularly the wet race in Zandvoort.

28 – 1960. The theme of Stirling Moss staying in contention despite driving weaker cars was halted by his accident and Brabham dominated, but there were a few great drives from the next generation of Clark, Hill and Surtees.

27 – 2018. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel finally had practically equal cars to battle for the championship with, so it was remarkable that Hamilton so comfortably beat Vettel with his finest season. But the gap from the top three to the midfield was a joke.

26 – 1951. The first proper title battle was between two greats in Fangio and Ascari with the Alfa Romeo and Ferrari similarly-matched for the first time, and it came down to a strategic move in the final race, while Gonzalez also got a fine win in Silverstone.

25 – 1956. It was the closest championship battle between Fangio and Moss and a classic finale in Monza, but there was too much of Fangio’s teammates handing their cars to him all season, but at the same time, Peter Collins shouldn’t have been in the mix having been so much slower than Fangio.

24 – 1973. A brilliant championship victory for Jackie Stewart against two faster Lotuses who fought among themselves.

23 – 2003. A proper challenge to Schumacher was finally mounted after some rule changes including an awful points system, and there were many great races and just two points in it at the end.

22 – 1953. The Ferrari was still clearly quicker than the Maserati but there was a good title battle after the domination a year earlier, and to have two all-time classics in eight races with Hawthorn vs Fangio in Reims and Fangio vs Ascari vs Farina in Monza made this a special season.

21 – 1965. A season all about Jim Clark putting in the greatest season performance in history with remarkable wins in Spa-Francorchamps, Clermont-Ferrand, and particularly Silverstone, and dominating despite having a car no better than the next-best.

20 – 1984. Plenty of brilliant races and so many competitive teams somehow culminated in a dominant season by one team, and although it came down to half a point, Prost was clearly the better driver and extremely unlucky not to win.

19 – 1998. A great season-long battle between Hakkinen and Schumacher, the latter with a great comeback, and many great races and some controversy to boot.

18 – 1982. A season with so many different winners it appeared random but was actually filled with storylines, and the majority of the races were very exciting.

17 – 1959. A nice three-way title battle with Moss the fastest almost every time despite driving for a privateer, but losing to unreliability, and two classic races at Monza and Sebring to end the season.

16 – 1988. This was a season of two true greats, both pretty much at their peak, in the same car that was the class of the field, just utterly dominating and was a nice head-to-head battle before it got ugly. The dropped scores made it a bit complicated in terms of who was really better.

15 – 1975. Although Niki Lauda established himself as champion early on, the majority of races had something really interesting and memorable going on, and with many famous underdog performances none more than Hesketh.

14 – 2007. The actual individual races weren’t the best, but the storyline of a rookie going into a team with the best in the world and outperforming him, then both narrowly losing after the controversy of Spygate, and so much controversy between Hamilton and Alonso, is among the greatest ever.

13 – 1957. This is up here for the time, more than the season. Fangio and Moss, Maserati and Vanwall, at Rouen, the Nurburgring and Pescara, was perhaps the peak of motor racing. But there were classic races at Aintree and Fangio’s comeback win on the Nordschleife.

12 – 1986. A brilliant season of two evenly matched Williams drivers in the best car just being pipped at the post by Alain Prost’s slower McLaren with one of the greatest season performances ever, although apart from Adelaide I don’t recall many classic races.

11 – 2012. The early season lottery made for plenty of exciting races, and all season, Alonso seemed to punch above his weight by dragging the Ferrari into title contention, and Brazil was a classic race, as was Malaysia early in the season.

10 – 1990. Round three of Senna vs Prost but in different teams, and with Prost and Mansell being teammates. There were some great races early in the season, and with it all coming down to that extraordinary incident in Suzuka.

9 – 2010. An amazing five-way battle for the championship, Vettel being clearly fastest but having lots of bad luck, intra-team controversy at Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull and Michael Schumacher’s return. As well as being the only modern season with no refuelling and no DRS.

8 – 1961. Having Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips, two totally different drivers not among the elite of Formula 1 but in a dominant car battling it out was a great story, and with Stirling Moss at his peak twice beating them in a much slower Lotus. There were three classic races out of eight.

7 – 1997. A great driver in a good car versus a good driver in a great car ended up with Schumacher and Villeneuve on almost equal points going into the final race, and with dirty tactics from both teams ending in Schumacher deliberately hitting Villeneuve was a fascinating title battle. There were also a plethora of great races with random great underdog stories from Benetton, Jordan, Arrows and Prost.

6 – 2008. This title battle was filled with classic races and a mixture of brilliant Hamilton drives and clumsy ones, while there was a win for Vettel of Toro Rosso, and a controversial Singapore Grand Prix still being discussed now. The ending in Interlagos was the most exciting conclusion to a championship season in history.

5 – 1981. A season filled with fascinating controversies surrounding the FISA/FOCA wars and the ingenious hydro-pneumatic suspension Brabham. Almost every race was great to watch, especially the two remarkable wins for Gilles Villeneuve and the Alan Jones vs Alain Prost battles, while the season finale was curious and came down to one point.

4 – 1958. This season ranks very highly because of the close title battle, but mainly because every single race was extremely memorable and had something really interesting going on. Buenos Aires was probably the best with Stirling Moss saving his tyres to do no pitstops and win in the underpowered Cooper, while Brooks’ wins in Monza and the Nurburgring were also special races, as was Moss vs Hawthorn in Portugal and Morocco.

3 – 1989. The most exciting period ever in Formula 1 was Ayrton Senna vs Alain Prost, and it reached its highest point when they were teammates and totally split the team in half, with Senna’s extraordinary speed and Prost’s intelligent driving yielding similar results on points and the psychological warfare reaching a climax in Suzuka, the most exciting motor race in history, as Prost and Senna finally collided and caused even more controversy with FISA. This was also the season of 39 cars and pre-qualifying.

2 – 2021. This season should have been right at the top. Never before have you had the two clear best drivers on the grid in basically equal cars at almost every race, battling out on track so often with so many races being absolute classics for such different reasons. The strategic battles of Bahrain, Spain, France and USA among others as well as races of complete carnage. The controversial incidents between Hamilton and Verstappen made the season even more interesting. But Abu Dhabi was a step too far and the worst officiating that I know of in any sport, ever, after Michael Masi had lost control in Jeddah as well and there were some annoying track limits problems. It was also the introduction of sprint races and the year that fans became so toxic. And the budget cap reveal left a sour taste as well. In hindsight, it appears the greatest season ever, but I cannot ignore that it wasn’t hugely satisfying at the time. There were also some amazing drives from Norris, Leclerc and Russell in lesser cars and the Ocon and Ricciardo wins, with Hungary a particularly brilliant race. This should have been the perfect season, but it fell short.

1 – 1976. There is a reason there is a brilliant film about this season. The story of Hunt vs Lauda was the most fascinating in Formula 1 history, mainly due to Lauda’s extraordinary comeback, from dominating the first half of the season, to almost dying in the accident on the Nurburgring, then coming back so soon after in Monza while Hunt was now dominating, and the two ending up on almost equal points. But also it was interesting because of the controversy between the two teams at Jarama and Brands Hatch, possibly with both decisions going the wrong way and it not quite feeling manipulated like 2021, while the Fuji finale was among the most exciting races in history. There were also plenty of other great races during the season such as John Watson and Ronnie Peterson winning and some good battles between the title contenders and the Tyrrells. It wasn’t the perfect season because there weren’t enough close races between Hunt and Lauda, but it was the greatest season ever in Formula 1.

Fabulous to read, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[DW46]

Of the seasons I’ve seen 1997 just shades 2021 for me with 2014 a distant 3rd. I like a tasty title fight. I also really liked 2014, Nico’s Monaco antics revitalised my interest in F1 which had waned since Schumachers first retirement.

Seasons I’d wish I’d seen; 1976, 1988, 1957.

[Risil]

What I like about 1998 was how it was a pretty boring straightforward season that sometime in July went absolutely batshit brilliant.

[Risil]

It's interesting how so many of the most competitive and hard-fought seasons dissolved into stupidity and recriminations and the governing body ****ing the bed at the end.