I’m still not entirely convinced that 2010 was the greatest Formula 1 season ever. It was certainly a classic, but the best in the sport’s 60 year history? Not in my humble opinion.
But it was definitely a corker. A year in which we were treated to lots of action, crashes, mistakes, wrangles and a quality title fight throughout the course of the season. Shame it was bookended by two of the dullest race I’ve seen in recent times.
Unfortunately, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi can’t be erased from our memory banks, but they can be glossed over, like they are in the official 2010 Formula One Season Review DVD, which can be yours for the princely sum of £6.99 in these post-Christmas times that we live in.
Entitled “Sebastian’s Coming of Age,” this latest season review comes on the now standard two-disc format, requiring an old school swap over midway through proceedings. Which is just as well really, as at just over four hours long, even the most hardcore of racing fans will need a quick comfort break at some point.
All 19 races are of course covered, and I have to say that the production team have done an excellent job of condensing hours worth of footage into what is a decent highlights package. All the important moments make an appearance, along with the not-so-important events such as Kamui Kobayashi’s run of front wing failures during the Australian Grand Prix, Kobayashi’s last lap overtaking master class in Valencia, and er, Kobayashi’s chicane antics during the Japanese Grand Prix.
If I were to nitpick, I would suggest that there isn’t really enough unseen footage though. It would have been brilliant to see onboard footage of Lucas di Grassi’s crash on the warm up lap in Japan, or a different angle of Tonio Liuzzi’s coming together with the tyre wall during the Brazilian Grand Prix for example.
Where it does excel though is with the team radios. Robert Kubica complaining that someone had left their mobile phone in his car during free practice in Bahrain is priceless. Then there’s an entire conversation between Lewis Hamilton and his race engineer about his strategy during the Australian Grand Prix, Rubens Barrichello’s rant after the infamous overtaking manoeuvre in Hungary… I could go on, but you get the idea. It’s absolutely packed to the gills with unheard snippets of dialogue and is an aural treat indeed.
Away from the actual racing, there’s the usual pre-race amble, this time voiced by Will Buxton, which provides a brief overview as to what the state of play is up until that point. These bits don’t really add anything to the DVD and the constant montages repeating what’s been seen about 15 minutes previously does become wearisome after a while.
And while I’m on a complaining roll, let me get the following out of my system: there is no attempt made to cover anything that happened during the off-season. The driver changes, the revised regulations, the new additions to the Formula 1 paddock; all these are glossed over and don’t receive a mention until they’re involved in something during a race.
That, and the lack of quality unseen footage, are the only moot points worth mentioning with this latest offering. Compare it to what was dished out just a few years ago – where we had to endure an ear-bleeding rock track and Ben Edwards feigning real-time commentary – and you realise that “Sebastian’s Coming of Age,” isn’t actually all that bad, and should take pride of place on your DVD shelf.
Rating:
Like you I was broadly pleased with this year’s review.
One point on unseen footage though: do we really want them to keep back important and informative footage from the live broadcasts just to put it on the end-of-season DVD? I don’t.
The bit with Kubica and the ‘phone was funny though.
Well yes and no.
If it’s a pivotal moment in the race, then there’s no reason for them to keep it aside in an effort to try and boost sales of the DVD.
An example would be Hulkenberg claiming tenth position from Alguersuari on the last lap of the Korean Grand Prix. I don’t recall seeing this at the time, and it wasn’t on the DVD either.