2005 season review (1)

[season review]

here's the first part of my 2005 season review.

most improved team: red bull
think about it, one year ago this team was jaguar. they barely managed to get the car transformed from the infamous green to the red bull livery. not forgetting that their purchase deal was a bit of a rush too. therefore it was very surprising to see how well they performed. it wasn't just one or two races that they were spectacular, it was actually a pretty consistent performance. they also had a fantastic, if not the best, engine realiability this season, with only one failure.

with david coulthard's invaluable knowledge, his input to the team without a doubt made a difference. and with an impressive driving from klien, the team was able to finish above a more experienced sauber team. not bad effort at all.

least improved team: williams
at first i was going to say ferrari. but then i started thinking about it and realized that it wasn't that they didn't improve enough, but it was the new tyre rule that destroyed their season totally. in my opinion, there was nothing they could do about that because rules are rules, and their only significant input to bridgestone wasn't enough to compete with seven significant inputs to michelin.

with that in mind, i have to pick williams as the least improved team. the team used to be one of the strongest teams on the grid. with a bmw powerplant and numerous championship experience under their belt, this was a team which should have done more than it did. with michelin on their cars, ferrari was still able to beat them. how fucked was williams? other than monaco, in which heidfeld and webber were on the podium, this season was a disaster for them.

best looking car: mclaren
this was a tough one for me. mclaren has one of the best paint jobs on the grid. they have it mostly in black to hide minute details of the car from the rivals. from race to race, it seemed as though nothing has changed with the car other than the wing, but the fact is we couldn't see many of the details. for me, that made it boring to analyze their cars.

however, it is still the best looking car. it looked much better than mp4-19 after they made the nose fatter - the way it should be. other than the viking horns, which looked out of place, the car looked very nicely balanced. newey did a fantastic job with the design, not only did it perform superbly well as a package, it looked awesome.

biggest winner: renault
people who wish to debate on whether renault is the worthy champion are retarded. either that, or they are just biased mclaren fans.

last season they came in third after a fantastic fight to the wire with bar. this season, they won everything and where the hell is bar? it wasn't the demise of any other team that allowed renault to be on top. in fact, they won it by merit and it wasn't even close. alonso is 21 points clear, and renault nine points clear. renault won both championships, fair and square. period.

biggest loser: mclaren
who else? in 2003 they were only 1 point away from the driver's championship, even though kimi only had 1 race win as compared to michael's six race wins. that year they shouldn't even be a contender because they were shit. thus there's nothing sad about that year.

however this year they were awesome. they should have won. heck, they should have won everything! fastest laps, poles, race wins, and championships. instead, they didn't even come close enough to destroy everyone else. in fact, they lost big time. worst of all, ron dennis gave tons of bloody excuses (read fast machines for all the excuses george picked out). ron, take it like a man, accept defeat graciously, and congratulates your rival's victory. it's not all about you and your coorporate-induced team.



stay tuned for the second part of the 2005 season review, coming soon.



previous posts:
post-season: f1 car to become ugly
post-season: ted answers back
shanghai: renault takes it all
shanghai: pit strategy to determine all
shanghai: windsor's wisdom
japan: japanese gp is the bomb
japan: rain creates havoc in japan
brazil: championship alonso's to take
spa: go back to driving school!
spa: kimi will win spa
mid-season: eddie's words of wisdom
monza: where will the pay drivers go?
monza: kimi will win monza
monza: coulthard speaks his mind
turkey: excellent new turkey experience
mid-season: greatest f1 driver
hungaro-ring: one more pole to go
hockenheim: the rain that never came
hockenheim: pessimism says it all for germany
mid-season: 2006 qualifying hopefuls
silverstone: renault vs mclaren
magny-cours: absolute beauty
indianapolis: michelin farce
indianapolis: indianapolis motor speedway
montreal: post-montreal notes
montreal: canadian gp preview
montreal: lopsided mirrors?
nurburgring: ferrari to make or break
monaco: f1 and star wars don't mix
barcelona: the era is all over
imola: from zero to hero
imola: f1 aero upgrades
bahrain: what a joke
sepang: bring out the new car!!
sepang: toyota f1 rev party
sepang: klcc sauber f1 street demo
melbourne: the wait is over!
pre-season: the viking
pre-season: nose job
pre-season: b.a.r. unveiled a goose
pre-season: sweet sauber
pre-season: evolution not revolution
pre-season: sauber ain't coming


[tagged: ferrari, formula 1]