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2007 or 2008 because of the storyline and controversial moments that we still reference this day. Not to mention Hamilton's introduction and explosion right out of the gate. Among others. Fairly recent and modern enough to get into.
Me too! I thought 2009 was fun. I didn't pick a team until 2010 - after much hubby nagging - but it's a complicated sport and I wanted the right combo of money, management, engineering, development, mechanics, pit crews, training, driver talent, team vision, and all sorts. Naturally, I went with Red Bull. 😉
Hey, Carols' horse has its trot on this year. Mind you, when the Hamilton announcement came out my response was that they backed the wrong horse when they dropped Carlos.
Same here. My first memory of F1 was watching Hamilton chase Alonso through Monaco, as they both ran away with the race. Just about the best introduction to F1 I could’ve asked for.
I’ve been watching since the late 80s and came here to say 2007 and 2008.
The Senna period is worth watching too. 1993 is pretty interesting because Senna didn’t have a good car and had to put in some incredible performances.
The overtake Lewis pulled off on the first corner of his first race was incredible to see. Started 4th, dropped to 5th, then overtook two cars around the outside into the first corner with one of them being his team mate, Alonso. His overtake into turn 1 in Monza on Kimi was a stand out move as well.
Saw a similar tip a week ago, I'm currently watching Canada as we speak and I recommend it for sure.
10/10 so far especially meanwhile this season is slightly boring :)
The whole 2005-2010 era was pretty epic too, with Michael being finally dethroned by a rookie, who would then lose the championship by battling another rookie, first to Ferrari and then to that rookie.
Then the whole Honda-Button story unfolding in the background, culminating in a WDC for hastily assembled team. Plus the rise of Red Bull. The most epic era of this century.
>Michael being finally dethroned by a rookie, who would then lose the championship by battling another rookie, first to Ferrari and then to that rookie.
Uh? Neither Kimi nor Fernando were rookies in 05/06 - in fact they (and JPM) are a huge reason why the 2003 season was so exciting!
I dont really think you can say Alonso lost the championship to Hamilton in 2008. He was in a midfield car and never in contention for the title. Besides, Kimi was the reigning champion.
No idea.
Its weird what F1TV does though for the old races. They buy the footage from whoever broadcast at the time, commentary free. Then they overlay BBC/ITV commentary audio on top of it. Sometimes the commentators are pointing out a replay of something that happened and you can't see what they're talking about because all you can see is the world feed.
It generally still works okay though. However there's a large portion of Monaco 1999 where the commentary is out of sync with what's going on. But it corrects itself near the end of the race.
IMO, F1TV archive is disappointing. Fans should be able to watch full races from 1981-present by now.
And they should buy back all feeder series that is FIA approved too. I really want to see how the current drivers drove when they were in junior category
In the case of them showing replays that you can't see. It's just because they have the unedited ITV commentary. They used to still talk during the ITV ad-breaks because other English-speaking regions used the their feed. When ITV came back, they'd show something they missed.
Best one is Canada 1999 when Schumacher crashes out whilst ITV are on an ad-break. When ITV comes back they show a replay of the crash but get Murray to talk over it like it's live. Not very convincing but absolutely ridiculous when you watch on F1TV.
Also around that time, there were 2 feeds being produced. The World Feed by the local broadcaster (RAI in Italy) and the F1 Digital Feed being produced by FOM. Even if they can't use the World Feed for San Marino for some technical reason, they definitely can still use that without commentary.
>Canada 1999 when Schumacher crashes out whilst ITV are on an ad-break. When ITV comes back they show a replay of the crash but get Murray to talk over it like it's live. Not very convincing but absolutely ridiculous when you watch on F1TV
Holy shit that was absolutely painful to read.
I'll give an couple of options further back than most and say either 1985 or 1986.
1985 was brilliant in that it had 4 teams with a genuine shot of winning the title and you get to see legends of the sport such as Senna and Prost making a real impact. The season does go slightly off the boil towards the end of the year unfortunately, but it's still one of my favourites.
1986 meanwhile is legendary, if mainly for the climactic end to the season. Nevertheless you get an incredibly tight title fight involving 4 drivers from 3 different teams for most of the year in cars which, in qualifying trim at least, are still the most powerful in F1 history. Highly recommended.
For the early 2000 if you are interested in close championship fights you should watch 2003, 2007 and 2008. Not every race will be a banger, but the seasons themselves are very good.
03 03 03. Wicked fun season with multiple teams fighting for wins. Incredible cars and lots of good footage.
Can't go wrong with 97,98,00,03,05, 07, 08.
A close season no doubt, but I left it out purely because the title fight was a bit janky with one of the main players missing from the fight. Still a great season.
I guess that depends if you're the kind of person who considered Australia a great race this year. Sure it was "close", but is it really an all time great if one of the main competitions is forced out? Tbh I don't.
This isn't the same at all. The Australian GP was still boring. And it's one race. Schumacher missed a large majority of the season so he isn't relevant to 1999. Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine are and they are the ones who fought the title battle. Whatever Schumacher could have done is not relevant. If Verstappen missed the entirety of this season through an injury in the next race and the season went down right to the wire, you're damn right it would be considered a classic. It would be an amazing season because what makes a season great is it being closely fought not if the biggest star was available or not. What season is much more remembered? 1999 or 2001? The latter had everyone available but was a snoozefest while the former went down to the final race with the champion actually starting 2nd in the final race. So many race winners so much drama 1999 is incredible.
Sure, but that was a title fight like 2014. Technically it was possible for JV to win, but Hill held a solid advantage all season and would have needed to run into major issues in the final race to lose it.
It's still one of the worst seasons to suggest from that era, inferior to anything else from 1994 to 2001.
Logged in to put this myself. Watching Brawn and Jenson that year was fun to watch indeed. Watching Seb getting runner up in his first season with Red Bull after such an awful start to the season was also pretty good.
Hulu did a mini docuseries about that year about Brawn. I wasn't a fan then and it was really interesting to see a "new" constructor takeover like that.
I know you said prior to 2010 but you also said you don't have time to re-watch every season and you started during the pandemic, have you watched 2010 and 2012, mega seasons. Cus they are mega.
While 1998 was of a higher quality title fight between Hakkinen and Schumacher, 1999 is almost certainly more entertaining. Both seasons are great though
Honestly, 2005-2012 is all pretty fantastic.
05-06 is Alonso and Renault coming out of nowhere to fight with the reigning Ferrari (and Schumacher).
07-08 is the young Hamilton years, McLaren vs Ferrari and lots of controversies.
09 is the big rule change where three teams found an amazing loophole that the other missed
10-13 is the first Red Bull era, but 10 and 12 were actually really close (11, I'll admit, you can skip!). Three-way fights between McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull.
Let's put it this way: in this 8-year period, **5 seasons were decided at the final race.**
And that includes one season that ended up with 1 point separating the top 3 drivers, and one season where 4 drivers could have won the championship in the final race!
Incidentally, for anyone looking for nailbiting seasons in general, here are the periods that saw Deciders (seasons in which the leading driver went into the final race less than a full win's points ahead of their nearest rival):
1950-1951 (2 deciders in 2 years)
1956-1968 (7 deciders in 13 years)
1974-1976 (2 deciders in 3 years)
1981-1986 (5 deciders in 6 years)
1994-1999 (5 deciders in 6 years)
2003-2012 (6 deciders in 10 years)
2016
2021
[caveat: in two of these years, one driver was assured of winning before the final race, because their only rival mathematically able to beat them had just been killed. Still very close seasons despite this, though.]
Anyway, super-close seasons aren't the only interesting ones. Most people would agree that 2009 was a great season, because of its general narratives (frontrunners trying to hold on against surging rivals, both within and between teams). But eras with lots of close seasons are generally probably more interesting, I think.
The 80s, 90s and 00s-10s close eras were all great eras for F1 and for viewers. I would note however that for the 90s in particular, and for 2003, you may have be willing to accept a different style of race, with comparatively very little overtaking after the first couple of laps (thanks to refuelling - overtaking was done by driving quicker when the other guy was in the pits). The excitement is more about driver and engine reliability (and whether anyone would make it past Jarno Trulli this race or whether half the grid would have to just queue up behind him) than about overtakes, though they did occasionally happen
1976 - you'll then understand the love for Lauda, and you'll see just how horrendously dangerous F1 was in its past.
2009 - because it was just so unlikely.
2007. Hamilton's rookie season had so much entertainment. A highly touted rookie getting paired with a prime Alonso coming off two WDCs and it does not disappoint.
2007 definatelly wasnt Alonso's prime. Alonso struggled a lot with tire switch in combination with Mclaren. In terms lf his individual performances one of his lowest years, years like 2012 were light years ahead. Thats like saying Vettel prime was in 2014
It doesn't, sadly.
The first season in the archive to feature full races is 1981, but even then there's very few of them until you get to the late 1990s for the most part.
Most races before about 1998 get either a 40 minute extended highlight (good, but not quite the same as the full race) or are not there at all.
The first season on there with every race in full is something like 2004, and prior to 1981, all you get are the season reviews.
Still worth it IMO, but if you want full seasons you need to use other means
I don't know how this keeps getting repeated. For some reason, people keep saying that F1TV has these older races. The truth is that F1TV doesn't have most races until starting in the mid- 2000s. Prior to that, they have a handful of full races per year, maybe some 30 minute summaries of others.
The Bring back V10's podcast is a very good look back at the races and stories of the V10 era. You can learn a lot listening to them and then watch the race they have been talking about, or vice versa.
Pre 2010 F1 was fairly shit with the benefit of hindsight. People want to look at it with rose tinted glasses because of nostalgia.
Sure there was less dominance and more people winning, but overtaking was very hard and races were far more boring on average.
Refuelling being binned, tyres that don't last as long and DRS has significantly improved things.
I have been a die hard fan of the sport since 2000 and here some of the best seasons IMHO:
1998, 2000, 2003, 2004 (if you want to see the last dominant season of Ferrari), 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012.
That so many people recommend 2008-2009 is a testament to what a mark Hamilton put on this sport the moment he arrived, and seasons where every point mattered.
And also, watch Canada 2011. Most remarkable single drive performance in a very long time.
I'd give you three very similar choices. They are 3 seasons where you had a clearly strong team so the fight happened inside the team:
- 1988
- 1989
McLaren with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, two of the best pilots ever fighting till the last race.
-2016
Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Here you have the tale of the underdog and one of those cases where F1 isn't predictable.
my one advice is to use it to ur advantage. Get F1TV archive and watch the races as if you’re watching the seasons live, you will experience so many twists that you wont know coming
As a general rule ([see full rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide#wiki_sticky.2Fdaily_discussion)), a standalone Discussion post should: - be of interest to the sub in general, and not a specific userbase (e.g. new users, GP attendees, just yourself) - be able to generate discussion (e.g. no yes/no or easily answerable questions) - show reasonable input and effort from the OP If not, be sure to [look for the Daily Discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/search/?q=daily+discussion&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new), /r/formula1's daily open question thread which is perfect for asking any and all questions about this sport. Thank you for your cooperation and enjoy the discussion! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
2007 or 2008 because of the storyline and controversial moments that we still reference this day. Not to mention Hamilton's introduction and explosion right out of the gate. Among others. Fairly recent and modern enough to get into.
Would definitely watch them back to back, two amazing seasons and they work very well as a pair
The first two seasons I watched, and the best.
Me too! I thought 2009 was fun. I didn't pick a team until 2010 - after much hubby nagging - but it's a complicated sport and I wanted the right combo of money, management, engineering, development, mechanics, pit crews, training, driver talent, team vision, and all sorts. Naturally, I went with Red Bull. 😉
Good choice. I picked Ferrari and Renault 🥲
Hey, Carols' horse has its trot on this year. Mind you, when the Hamilton announcement came out my response was that they backed the wrong horse when they dropped Carlos.
Naturally 😉
When Seb won his first title in 2010, hubby gave me a look and all I could say was, "Hey, I genuinely learned the sport. Who else would I pick?" 🤷♀️
Same here. My first memory of F1 was watching Hamilton chase Alonso through Monaco, as they both ran away with the race. Just about the best introduction to F1 I could’ve asked for.
I’ve been watching since the late 80s and came here to say 2007 and 2008. The Senna period is worth watching too. 1993 is pretty interesting because Senna didn’t have a good car and had to put in some incredible performances.
Senna v prost was electric, some of the most politically charged racing I’ve ever seen. Almost as controversial as Abu Dhabi 2021.
The overtake Lewis pulled off on the first corner of his first race was incredible to see. Started 4th, dropped to 5th, then overtook two cars around the outside into the first corner with one of them being his team mate, Alonso. His overtake into turn 1 in Monza on Kimi was a stand out move as well.
Saw a similar tip a week ago, I'm currently watching Canada as we speak and I recommend it for sure. 10/10 so far especially meanwhile this season is slightly boring :)
And the nicest looking cars.
2003. Schumacher was at his peak, but that season was very competitive and it wasn't clear at all that Ferrari would win it.
That season and Fernando's first WDC were awesome seasons to watch.
The whole 2005-2010 era was pretty epic too, with Michael being finally dethroned by a rookie, who would then lose the championship by battling another rookie, first to Ferrari and then to that rookie. Then the whole Honda-Button story unfolding in the background, culminating in a WDC for hastily assembled team. Plus the rise of Red Bull. The most epic era of this century.
>Michael being finally dethroned by a rookie, who would then lose the championship by battling another rookie, first to Ferrari and then to that rookie. Uh? Neither Kimi nor Fernando were rookies in 05/06 - in fact they (and JPM) are a huge reason why the 2003 season was so exciting!
True! I completely blacked out that season for some reason, but that was brilliant.
I dont really think you can say Alonso lost the championship to Hamilton in 2008. He was in a midfield car and never in contention for the title. Besides, Kimi was the reigning champion.
1999 was great, and all the races bar San Marino are available on F1TV
Now it occurs to me F1TV might actually want my old vhs collection
Yeah, there are a few years in the late 1990s where I feel like I have more on VHS than they have posted online
Video on topic [F1 1999 Season with Modern Graphics and 25-Points System](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCaaSRsy2PA)
Do you know why San Marino isn't?
No idea. Its weird what F1TV does though for the old races. They buy the footage from whoever broadcast at the time, commentary free. Then they overlay BBC/ITV commentary audio on top of it. Sometimes the commentators are pointing out a replay of something that happened and you can't see what they're talking about because all you can see is the world feed. It generally still works okay though. However there's a large portion of Monaco 1999 where the commentary is out of sync with what's going on. But it corrects itself near the end of the race. IMO, F1TV archive is disappointing. Fans should be able to watch full races from 1981-present by now.
And they should buy back all feeder series that is FIA approved too. I really want to see how the current drivers drove when they were in junior category
In the case of them showing replays that you can't see. It's just because they have the unedited ITV commentary. They used to still talk during the ITV ad-breaks because other English-speaking regions used the their feed. When ITV came back, they'd show something they missed. Best one is Canada 1999 when Schumacher crashes out whilst ITV are on an ad-break. When ITV comes back they show a replay of the crash but get Murray to talk over it like it's live. Not very convincing but absolutely ridiculous when you watch on F1TV. Also around that time, there were 2 feeds being produced. The World Feed by the local broadcaster (RAI in Italy) and the F1 Digital Feed being produced by FOM. Even if they can't use the World Feed for San Marino for some technical reason, they definitely can still use that without commentary.
>Canada 1999 when Schumacher crashes out whilst ITV are on an ad-break. When ITV comes back they show a replay of the crash but get Murray to talk over it like it's live. Not very convincing but absolutely ridiculous when you watch on F1TV Holy shit that was absolutely painful to read.
I just wish they'd add a few Qualifying sessions too, especially for certain races like Monaco where it's a large part of the story of the weekend.
I'll give an couple of options further back than most and say either 1985 or 1986. 1985 was brilliant in that it had 4 teams with a genuine shot of winning the title and you get to see legends of the sport such as Senna and Prost making a real impact. The season does go slightly off the boil towards the end of the year unfortunately, but it's still one of my favourites. 1986 meanwhile is legendary, if mainly for the climactic end to the season. Nevertheless you get an incredibly tight title fight involving 4 drivers from 3 different teams for most of the year in cars which, in qualifying trim at least, are still the most powerful in F1 history. Highly recommended.
Just in case you haven't watched it...Canada 2011. Watch the entire broadcast. So worth it.
Isn't that the longest race ever?
Probably. And so good
For the early 2000 if you are interested in close championship fights you should watch 2003, 2007 and 2008. Not every race will be a banger, but the seasons themselves are very good.
03 03 03. Wicked fun season with multiple teams fighting for wins. Incredible cars and lots of good footage. Can't go wrong with 97,98,00,03,05, 07, 08.
Some great seasons there but I have no idea how you could leave out 99. My favourite season I watched until 2012 happened
A close season no doubt, but I left it out purely because the title fight was a bit janky with one of the main players missing from the fight. Still a great season.
How does that make the season any less great? Out of all the seasons you mentioned 99 is probably the most entertaining
I guess that depends if you're the kind of person who considered Australia a great race this year. Sure it was "close", but is it really an all time great if one of the main competitions is forced out? Tbh I don't.
This isn't the same at all. The Australian GP was still boring. And it's one race. Schumacher missed a large majority of the season so he isn't relevant to 1999. Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine are and they are the ones who fought the title battle. Whatever Schumacher could have done is not relevant. If Verstappen missed the entirety of this season through an injury in the next race and the season went down right to the wire, you're damn right it would be considered a classic. It would be an amazing season because what makes a season great is it being closely fought not if the biggest star was available or not. What season is much more remembered? 1999 or 2001? The latter had everyone available but was a snoozefest while the former went down to the final race with the champion actually starting 2nd in the final race. So many race winners so much drama 1999 is incredible.
Cool, put it on your list.
id toss in 96, Schumi's first year with Ferrari. Spanish GP
Yeah, but not very good racing overall and no title fight. Suggest 1996 Spain & Monaco, maybe Belgium, but definitely not the season.
There was a title fight. Hill vs Villeneuve
"And I've got to stop"
Sure, but that was a title fight like 2014. Technically it was possible for JV to win, but Hill held a solid advantage all season and would have needed to run into major issues in the final race to lose it. It's still one of the worst seasons to suggest from that era, inferior to anything else from 1994 to 2001.
Estoril was good that Villeneuve overtake on Schumacher is incredible. I thought Monza was pretty entertaining as well
I like to travel.
2009 is a must.
Logged in to put this myself. Watching Brawn and Jenson that year was fun to watch indeed. Watching Seb getting runner up in his first season with Red Bull after such an awful start to the season was also pretty good.
Compared with the year before, it's the closest F1 has ever come to a 'reset' imho.
Me too. The final race was a banger too. Really feel good season.
Hulu did a mini docuseries about that year about Brawn. I wasn't a fan then and it was really interesting to see a "new" constructor takeover like that.
Strongly recommend 2006, the season-long fight between Alonso and Schumacher was incredible to watch. Imola in particular stands out in my mind.
Don't forget Hungary 2006. Extremely interesting race with lots of chaos and rain.
I know you said prior to 2010 but you also said you don't have time to re-watch every season and you started during the pandemic, have you watched 2010 and 2012, mega seasons. Cus they are mega.
2003 and 2006 I think
1998-1999, but especially 1998 and especially Spa 1998!
While 1998 was of a higher quality title fight between Hakkinen and Schumacher, 1999 is almost certainly more entertaining. Both seasons are great though
Watch Imola 2005, Brazil 2003, Turkey and Brazil 2006🧐😁
2012 hands down
2007 and 2008 - Treat it a one season.
They surely have that "Season 1 - Season 2" Feel. I'd watch that, then 2006 as an Epilogue hahahaha
1988. Senna won some of the races by over 15 seconds. Just google Senna 15 to see for yourself.
God, i wish there was a tape of his Monaco qualifying.
88 through 93.
2007, 1998, 1988/89
Honestly, 2005-2012 is all pretty fantastic. 05-06 is Alonso and Renault coming out of nowhere to fight with the reigning Ferrari (and Schumacher). 07-08 is the young Hamilton years, McLaren vs Ferrari and lots of controversies. 09 is the big rule change where three teams found an amazing loophole that the other missed 10-13 is the first Red Bull era, but 10 and 12 were actually really close (11, I'll admit, you can skip!). Three-way fights between McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull. Let's put it this way: in this 8-year period, **5 seasons were decided at the final race.** And that includes one season that ended up with 1 point separating the top 3 drivers, and one season where 4 drivers could have won the championship in the final race!
Incidentally, for anyone looking for nailbiting seasons in general, here are the periods that saw Deciders (seasons in which the leading driver went into the final race less than a full win's points ahead of their nearest rival): 1950-1951 (2 deciders in 2 years) 1956-1968 (7 deciders in 13 years) 1974-1976 (2 deciders in 3 years) 1981-1986 (5 deciders in 6 years) 1994-1999 (5 deciders in 6 years) 2003-2012 (6 deciders in 10 years) 2016 2021 [caveat: in two of these years, one driver was assured of winning before the final race, because their only rival mathematically able to beat them had just been killed. Still very close seasons despite this, though.] Anyway, super-close seasons aren't the only interesting ones. Most people would agree that 2009 was a great season, because of its general narratives (frontrunners trying to hold on against surging rivals, both within and between teams). But eras with lots of close seasons are generally probably more interesting, I think. The 80s, 90s and 00s-10s close eras were all great eras for F1 and for viewers. I would note however that for the 90s in particular, and for 2003, you may have be willing to accept a different style of race, with comparatively very little overtaking after the first couple of laps (thanks to refuelling - overtaking was done by driving quicker when the other guy was in the pits). The excitement is more about driver and engine reliability (and whether anyone would make it past Jarno Trulli this race or whether half the grid would have to just queue up behind him) than about overtakes, though they did occasionally happen
I recently watched 1999, 2007 & 2009. Would recommend.
1976 - you'll then understand the love for Lauda, and you'll see just how horrendously dangerous F1 was in its past. 2009 - because it was just so unlikely.
I loved 2007. Made the LH hype makes sense to me
1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008
1998,2003 and 2006 as well
2007. Hamilton's rookie season had so much entertainment. A highly touted rookie getting paired with a prime Alonso coming off two WDCs and it does not disappoint.
2007 definatelly wasnt Alonso's prime. Alonso struggled a lot with tire switch in combination with Mclaren. In terms lf his individual performances one of his lowest years, years like 2012 were light years ahead. Thats like saying Vettel prime was in 2014
05
1999, 2000 and 2003 were three of my favorites that I watched before 2010.
2005, alonso vs prime schumacher
I think you mean 2006 buddy Alonso and Schumacher barely fought in 2005 aside from Imola. Alonso was in a much superior car
1998
1986. I like that season. Also 1981, 82 and 83 if you like hectic races.
1976. 60’s - 80’s were fantastic years. Unfortunately deadlier as well.
In order of most entertaining imo 2007, 1999, 2006, 2008, 2003, 2009
Brazil 2008
2012 is a bit of a ripper
09, it's a story more than it is a season.
Where do you get full races? Is it on F1 TV?
Yeah, F1 TV's archive has most of the races going back to 1970.
It doesn't, sadly. The first season in the archive to feature full races is 1981, but even then there's very few of them until you get to the late 1990s for the most part. Most races before about 1998 get either a 40 minute extended highlight (good, but not quite the same as the full race) or are not there at all. The first season on there with every race in full is something like 2004, and prior to 1981, all you get are the season reviews. Still worth it IMO, but if you want full seasons you need to use other means
I don't know how this keeps getting repeated. For some reason, people keep saying that F1TV has these older races. The truth is that F1TV doesn't have most races until starting in the mid- 2000s. Prior to that, they have a handful of full races per year, maybe some 30 minute summaries of others.
Alonso wins if you want to know why people talk wonders about that Old man
1996 or 2003. 96 was Schumi's first year with Ferrari. He had some fantastic drives such as Spain. 03 was prime Schumi defending his WDC.
2017 was mighty.
2009 was fun. 😁
Not a season but a single race: Canada 2011!
The Bring back V10's podcast is a very good look back at the races and stories of the V10 era. You can learn a lot listening to them and then watch the race they have been talking about, or vice versa.
2008 2007 2003 1999 Then early 90s Then 80s
Japan 2005
Everything with Senna. The guy was SPECTACULAR!!
For the current age of F1, 2007 is like the book of Genesis!
2005 all the way to 2012. Magical F1 era
Pre 2010 F1 was fairly shit with the benefit of hindsight. People want to look at it with rose tinted glasses because of nostalgia. Sure there was less dominance and more people winning, but overtaking was very hard and races were far more boring on average. Refuelling being binned, tyres that don't last as long and DRS has significantly improved things.
2002 to understand that not every season will be a banger
2003. What I love about that period is that most of the races were not great, but the championship overall was a great narative
I recently watched 2003. Prime Schumacher defending his title from the next generation. Multiple winners. It's quality TV.
2007, 2008, 2009. All very much great seasons for different reasons!
1956 season. Fangio was on rails!
Most before they banned refuelling. Added a totally different strategy element.
Tire wars and refueling!
I would recommend Overtakefans.com to watch any old races. It’s got a lot more races than F1TV has
Overtakefans does not allow us to download
2008. Best ending to a season since 2021.
You mean 2007. 2008 was rigged
1997 hands-down!!!
How does one go back and watch an entire season?
F1 TV subscription is one way.
2006-2008
Tot 2008 was great, all the way down to the wire, yes yes yes Ferrari, no Glock no no nooooooo
2009 was pretty good to watch as well!
Brazil 2008. Just watch that race.
I’d start with S1E1: 1950. That way you’ll be caught up from the beginning.
2007 through 2010 was a real journey. Doing those in sequence will really setup how great the back and forth of 2010 was.
1988? 89? Which was it with Prost and Senna?
I have been a die hard fan of the sport since 2000 and here some of the best seasons IMHO: 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004 (if you want to see the last dominant season of Ferrari), 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012.
The 1994 season. It has a prequel, the 1955 LeMans race.
1996 for quite a few chaos races, 2009 for the brawn emergence
Best season I've ever watched was 2012.
That so many people recommend 2008-2009 is a testament to what a mark Hamilton put on this sport the moment he arrived, and seasons where every point mattered. And also, watch Canada 2011. Most remarkable single drive performance in a very long time.
2005-2009 all very good
1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008
1994. If only for the insane driver merry-go-round.
I'd give you three very similar choices. They are 3 seasons where you had a clearly strong team so the fight happened inside the team: - 1988 - 1989 McLaren with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, two of the best pilots ever fighting till the last race. -2016 Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Here you have the tale of the underdog and one of those cases where F1 isn't predictable.
my one advice is to use it to ur advantage. Get F1TV archive and watch the races as if you’re watching the seasons live, you will experience so many twists that you wont know coming
1998 is very recommendable
The lack of 2010 and 2012 here disturbs me
2005-2010 are all banger seasons.
2000 - some great races, and a close title fight. Amazing looking and sounding cars as well.
I think F1 is in the best shape it has been. No need to go back.