Motorsport Musings Ramblings of a racing enthusiast…

F1 Season Review 2009, er, Review

I hate Christmas television. My tolerance levels rapidly diminish as my goggle box becomes a dumping ground for all manner of utter tat, regularly interrupted by stomach-churning DFS commercials reminding me of their fabulous deals on a king size bed of nails. The festive TV schedule makes me want to stab myself in the eyes with knitting needles. It’s enough to make baby Jesus cry.

My sanity was on the verge of collapsing yesterday evening, when confronted with the notion of watching Ant and Dec present some zany yuletide-themed entertainment show comprising of several z-list celebrities. So I put the Morecambe and Wise wannabes to one side and decided to settle down and watch this year’s F1 season review on DVD (entitled 'Not in a hurry...') that Santa kindly dropped into my stocking instead.

I must admit that even under the circumstances, this wasn’t an easy decision to make and was met with some trepidation, given that last year’s efforts were nothing short of being absolutely dreadful. If this one was going to follow suit I wasn’t going to be a happy bunny, especially with its four hours running time.

Thankfully most of the criticisms I had last year seem to have been dealt with. Gone is the cringe-worthy, pretend, real-time commentary by Ben Edwards, and instead the narration is done in hindsight. No more “Hamilton is in the lead. OR IS HE?” moments which is a definite tick in the positive box already.

There is also an interesting addition this year that allows you to turn Edwards’ microphone off and listen to the engine notes and team radio instead. An odd, but welcome option all the same.

Another improvement in the sound department is the omission of the soft-rock soundtrack that was previously overused to invoke a sense of excitement, but instead left the viewer wanting to bung cotton wool into their ear canals.

Visually things have stepped up a gear as well this time around. Picture quality is as good as DVD standards allow, running in 16:9 widescreen ratio, though you have to wonder if a high definition version might be on the cards for 2010, but it’s the slick production that deserves commendation.

The entire format has been tinkered with and it’s all the better for it. There is an extensive pre-season interview with Williams F1 boffin Patrick Head, who covers in some detail the vast regulation changes brought in for 2009 and sets things up nicely for the 18 rounds that made up this season.

Buy F1 Season Review 2009 DVD

Each race is thoroughly covered, though the frankly boring onboard qualifying laps described by some of the charisma-free drivers in previous editions have now gone walkies, which in a way makes the whole package flow a lot more smoothly. Purists might bemoan the fact it sacrifices almost all the weekend action prior to Sunday afternoon, but I think it is all the better for it, as it leaves more room for actual racing and FOA have stuffed the two discs with a wealth of material, some that originally failed to make it onto the live broadcasts first time around.

Particular highlights include a slightly annoyed Lewis Hamilton turning the radio waves blue at Istanbul (“We need a frickin’ new car. I’m heavier than frickin’ boat.”), Luca Badoer’s form epitomised by shunting Adrian Sutil’s car in Parc Ferme at the end of the European Grand Prix, and the multiple angles of the chaos that ensued at the start of the Belgium Grand Prix.

For those of you craving for some onboard lap action, you will find them in their own extras section this year. But instead of showing just qualifying lap after qualifying lap, there are a variety of them on offer. From Nico Rosberg describing the warm-up lap procedures, Sebastian Vettel overtaking Jenson Button for the lead in China, to an onboard with rookie Sebastien Buemi taking a pitstop, near enough all the aspects which make up a a typical race have been covered.

Other extra features include all 25 drivers’ profiles, Brawn GP’s emergence from the ashes of Honda, a detailed look into Massa’s crash at the Hungaroring, a holiday brochure like feature on the new Abu Dhabi circuit and then two frankly lacklustre montages of the small contributions BMW Sauber and Toyota have made to F1 in the last few years.

Off-track happenings are covered as well, but aren’t lingered on for any longer than is necessary. The double diffuser debate, Hamilton lying to the race stewards in Australia and how Renault plotted to crash one its cars to fix the first Singapore Grand Prix all get a mention. Missing from the script though is any mention of the teams’ threat of a break away from F1 and the change at the top of the FIA with Jean Todt elected as its new president. A wise decision if you ask me as I don’t think the casual viewer wishes to be reminded of F1’s ability to constantly shoot itself in the foot and dwell over the negative aspects of the sport.

At just over four hours worth of content, I can thoroughly recommend this year’s offering. It is a marked improvement over the dire effort committed to DVD last year, with most of my previous criticisms having been addressed. The presentation is excellent and at no point did I find it tedious, which is some feat given my shorter than short attention span.

So if you're wondering what to spend those vouchers on that you received from your Auntie Maureen this Christmas, you could do a lot worse than treat yourself to this. Grab a few beverages, settle in and immerse yourself in what is an excellent recap of one of the most unpredictable and highly entertaining seasons in F1 for long, long, time.

Rating: ★★★★★

Formula One Season Review 2009 [DVD] is now available to buy from Amazon.