Remember How Great F1 Was?
Formula One used to be good. Yes, it did. Really! There was a time before DRS and KERS, before cars all followed each other in boring parades, and before they sounded like trash. Funnily, 2005 wasn't that time. The cars sounded great and there was no DRS or KERS, but the races still had more processions than we'd like.
But the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix was not a procession. Not close.
That season was the first for 2.4 liter V8 engines after eons of 3.0 liter V10 power. It forced drivers to brake later and maintain more cornering speed. There were also massive aero changes to the cars, including wing height regulations. These regulation changes were claimed to be because the FIA wanted to slow down the cars, but there was likely a different reason: Michael Schumacher.
Starting in 2000, Schumacher went on a winning spree that remains untouched until today. He won five straight titles for Ferrari. Many fans were turned off by him winning everything. Something had to change. So the cars did.
Ferrari didn't adapt well, building a car for 2005 that wasn't as quick as Fernando Alonso's Renault and ran on the less desirable Bridgestone tires. This meant that it was Schumacher's first time having to come from behind in ages. But if Schumacher excelled in a good car, he was brilliant in a bad one. The F2005 won precisely one race, the USGP where every Michelin car pulled out due to tire failure, and was nowhere everywhere else compared to the Renault and McLaren.
Nobody told Schumacher that. In this clip, from Imola, Schumacher is doing the best he can to get by Alonso's Renault. And though he doesn't win, the racing is tight, fair, and something we miss. F1 should just bring back V8s.
Check out the video here on F1's Facebook page.
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