The GSOH - Round Two - 2003 vs 1953

[crmalcolm]

The next match of the GSOH bracket puts 2003 up against 1953.

Summaries from Wikipedia:

2003 - The 2003 season saw the introduction of new regulations intended to increase F1's excitement, stem falling global TV audiences and to help alleviate the financial difficulties of the smaller teams. One-lap qualifying was introduced as a way for smaller teams to get more television exposure. Optional Friday testing at Grand Prix events was introduced in exchange for fewer miles on stand-alone test days. This was intended to give smaller teams a cheaper alternative to these test days, which were to be banned in 2004. Only one type of wet weather tyre was allowed to be used in wet weather races. The points system for both the Constructors' and Drivers' titles was changed from 10–6–4–3–2–1 for the first six finishers at each round to 10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1 for the first eight finishers in an attempt to make the title contests closer.

While Ferrari's Michael Schumacher had won the 2002 championship by 67 points from his teammate Rubens Barrichello, the 2003 season was much closer. For a great part of the 2003 season, several drivers from several teams had mathematical chances of winning the world championship. Eight different drivers won a Grand Prix, amongst them three first time winners. Kimi Räikkönen, driving for McLaren-Mercedes, and Juan Pablo Montoya, driving for BMW Williams, both had a chance of claiming the 2003 championship until late in the season, with Räikkönen still mathematically in contention at the final race, the Japanese Grand Prix. Räikkönen lost the championship to Schumacher by two points, although he won only one race to Schumacher's six. It was Schumacher's sixth World Drivers' title overall, breaking Juan Manuel Fangio's 46-year-old record of five World Drivers' titles. Ferrari's defence of the Constructors' title was challenged throughout the year by Williams and McLaren, one of the few seasons where there were three front-running teams but in the end, Ferrari emerged victorious once again and the team clinched their fifth consecutive World Constructors' title since 1999.

Notable races include the chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix which was hampered by monsoon conditions, and the British Grand Prix where the track was invaded by the now-defrocked priest Neil Horan, who ran onto the Hangar straight, running towards the 250 km/h train of cars, wearing a green kilt and waving religious banners.

After failing to complete the 2002 season due to financial difficulties, the Arrows team had their application for admission to the 2003 championship rejected by the FIA prior to the season start date. No reason was publicly given by the FIA and Arrows subsequently folded after 25 years in Formula One since 1978.

2003 also saw a major leap forward in Formula One safety, with the HANS device being made a mandatory requirement for drivers to wear at all races beginning from the Australian Grand Prix onwards. However, this was not without controversy, as many drivers voiced their complaints about the device, including Barrichello, Jacques Villeneuve, Justin Wilson and Nick Heidfeld

The 2003 season is also notable for being the third and last season that fully-automatic gearboxes and launch control were allowed to be used in Formula One, since they were reintroduced in 2001. Both electronic driver aids had been used since the 2001 Spanish Grand Prix, and a rule-change in the technical regulations saw the FIA banning both systems for 2004.



1953 - Ferrari drivers again dominated the championship, taking seven of the eight Grands Prix. However, Juan Manuel Fangio's challenge in his more fragile Maserati took him to second place in the championship and a win at Monza. Ascari extended his unbeaten run to nine consecutive World Championship Grand Prix wins before his teammate Mike Hawthorn broke the sequence in becoming the first-ever British winner in the French Grand Prix at Reims after a thrilling battle with Fangio.

In 1953, all but one of the races counting towards the World Championship of Drivers were run under Formula 2 regulations, while the remaining one, the Indianapolis 500, was run under AAA Championship Car regulations. The 1953 championship was the first genuinely global World Championship of Drivers, with a championship event staged outside of Europe or the United States for the first time. That race, the 1953 Argentine Grand Prix, was marred by an accident involving the Ferrari of Giuseppe Farina, which crashed into an unprotected crowd, killing nine spectators.

[S griffin]

2003 was a nice competitive year ruined by the whole Michelin affair late on. But it was at least more competitive than the Ascari walkover of 1953

[BTCC frog]

I voted 1953, it was more competitive than the year before because Ascari did at least have the opposition of Juan Manuel Fangio in the Maserati, and there were two classic races in Reims and Monza. Reims 1953 is one of the greatest ever F1 races, with Hawthorn and Fangio trading the lead lap after lap, being chased down by Gonzalez, the only one of the leaders on a one-stop strategy rather than no stops. Monza was also a classic slipstreamer between Fangio, Ascari and Farina, which Fangio won on the final corner as Ascari spun.

But, looking at the results, Ascari did win more races that year than I remembered, so maybe I should have picked 2003 which was a nice three-way title fight, but still part of my least favourite era (perhaps it seemed better because the seasons before and after were quite dull), and I didn't really like the scoring system used first in that season.

[S griffin]

I agree on the scoring system. Didn't seem right that the gap between first and second wasn't bigger than the gap between second and third. Which is true for both years!