The 2002 season became predictable very early on, and it was soon clear that Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari team would dominate the Championship. In the end, the predictions proved right, and the German crushed the opposition. However, there was a lot more than Schumacher winning 11 races in 2002. Richard Barnes reviews the most relevant events of a season that will be remembered for several reasons

Master director Alfred Hitchcock once suggested that the key to making a hit thriller was to find a couple of memorable cinematic moments, laden with emotional impact, and then find a storyline to string them together. The 2002 Formula One season had its moments, but the result was hardly a thriller, let alone one worthy of a Hitchcock comparison. Tension and surprise were Hitchcock's staple ingredients and, after the convoluted plot twists of the 1999 and 2000 Championship battles, the 2002 season provided a plotline that grew dull and predictable long before the season finale.

The premise for this season's story had shown great potential. McLaren had impressed in pre-season testing, and Williams would surely build on the raw power advantage of their BMW engine. With Juan Pablo Montoya a year older and more experienced, and Ralf Schumacher continuing to mature into season contender rather than occasional race winner, Michael Schumacher would surely be pushed to the limit for the duration of the 2002 season.

Eight months and seventeen Grands Prix later, Formula One is in turmoil, the insult of Ferrari's manipulated finishes only adding to the injury of their record-setting dominance. The result is a great deal of negotiation and regulatory soul-searching, tinged with panic, to avoid the nemesis of any global sport - the unsold ticket and the blank television screen. If 2002 is remembered for anything, it will be that the sport's own ambitions finally caught up with it. For too long, F1 has tried to be all things to all people - sport for sporting fans, business opportunity for business people, entertainment for the masses. Something had to give. It's ironic that the sport's current crisis has been fuelled by the very qualities that F1 holds dear - supreme performance and reliability.

Nevertheless, there were many bright moments during 2002, most notably from McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen and Williams's Montoya. Although neither managed to emulate their more experienced teammates, David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher, in snatching rare consolation wins from Ferrari, the rising stars did enough to consolidate their status as Champions-in-waiting. On two occasions, they also provided thrilling and tenacious wheel-to-wheel racing. Montoya's race pace was often disappointing, but seven pole positions showed his speed and aggression over a single lap. Raikkonen's feat of outqualifying his team leader 10-7 would have been even more impressive if spilt oil from Allan McNish's stricken Toyota hadn't derailed his sterling drive in France and denied him a maiden victory.

Further down the grid, Mark Webber impressed from the start with a season-high fifth place in front of his home crowd in Australia, and later became the only driver to record a season whitewash over his teammates in qualifying. Renault's Jarno Trulli finally disproved the myth that his speed is limited to single-lap qualifying attempts, and Takuma Sato left it until the very last race of the year before providing a glimpse of why he was so highly-rated in F3.

Other than Ferrari, no team made great progress during the year, although the glimpses shown by Renault and Toyota (early on) and Jaguar (later) hint that all three could shortly challenge the long established reign of Ferrari, McLaren and Williams at the head of the field.

In any other season, these performances would provide lasting and satisfying memories. Unfortunately, they will be dwarfed by the negative memories of 2002 - the farcical finishes in Austria and the United States, the awkward but unrepentant interview answers from the podium finishers afterwards, the empty Arrows garages during the latter part of the season, and the frustration of seeing the season dominated by two cars who resolutely refused to race each other, whatever the circumstances.

Both Ferrari and Schumacher have remained upbeat in public, dishing out effusive praise all round to ensure that no member of the organisation goes uncredited. It must be vexing, though, that in this season of unprecedented record-setting, their triumphs have been met with public indifference or, at best, faint praise.

Schumacher, in particular, missed Mika Hakkinen this season. The Finn's feisty and capable defence of his 1999 crown validated Schumacher's 2000 WDC title, probably the most rewarding of his five career titles. This year, despite his seventeen successive podium finishes and new benchmarks in season wins (11) and WDC points total (144), Schumacher's achievements have received less public adulation. Without Hakkinen in a competitive McLaren, there is no reliable competition to anchor and give credence to Schumacher's level of performance.

The lack of variety is not restricted to race results. The commercialisation of modern F1 has also led to a dearth of variety in other areas, and a brief review of the season's tapes reveals just how homogeneous the sport has become. The '70 laps of a 75-second circuit' formula, the ubiquitous chicanes, the red tifosi army punctuated by the odd defiant Finnish flag or Union Jack, the carefully-scripted and corporate-correct interview responses from the drivers - these are almost invariable throughout the year.

Fan allegiances cannot be regulated, but the circuits certainly can. With the reworking of Hockenheim and the demise of Spa-Francorchamps, Monaco remains the only standout circuit left on the calendar - and for all the wrong reasons unfortunately. Whatever its traditional or glamour value, the narrow twisty streets of Monaco provide unrelentingly dull racing.

German track design guru Hermann Tilke has become the scapegoat for much of the criticism regarding the current generation of tracks. That's unfair, as Tilke must work within a narrow design envelope, and generally delivers great results. Two of his circuits, Sepang and Hockenheim, produced some of the best racing all year. It's also an impossible design task to provide multiple overtaking opportunities for cars which feature carbon brakes, automatic gearboxes, grooved tyres, traction control and aerodynamics that disrupt the balance of following cars.

Clearly, F1 is committed to the new breed of ultra-safe tracks and high-tech driver aids. The new regulation changes for 2003 will also do little to unseat Ferrari and restore parity to the field. Banning team orders, for example, is a noble but unworkable ideal. Yet, there is still hope that 2003 will see a great improvement in the level of competition. F1 has been through periods of lopsided dominance before, in which one team was deemed unbeatable, and the opposition has always discovered a way to unseat the reigning Champions.

The solution will not come via legislation alone, but rather from the intense human frailties evident at all levels of the sport. Aside from Ferrari, the rest of the field is relatively well balanced, and the midfield racing during 2002 was the closest in years. Ferrari's fall from power may not be imminent but, in line with the established trends in sport worldwide, their dominance can't last forever either. 'Season 2002' may not have been a classic thriller, but the sequel may prove highly entertaining. Roll on 2003.