F1 Season Reviews Reviewed: 1984.

The 1984 Grand Prix season was all about 2 drivers on the same team. Alain Prost and Niki Lauda in the all-conquering McLaren Tag Porsche cars.

The racing was probably not the most memorable but the championship story was one of the most extraordinary in the sports history. The championship was won by Niki Lauda with Alain Prost in 2nd by half a point.

Many analysts are keen to try and point out where and how Prost lost the title. Some say it was his spin on some oil in Austria while challenging for the lead. Others will argue that it was the early stoppage of the Monaco Grand Prix due to bad weather and therefore awarding only half points for the race that was the root cause of Prost’s loss. This is also how the half-point conundrum occurred in the first place.

Monaco was the most talked about race from that season, however. It was stopped early due to bad weather and not restarted so only half points were awarded (this only happened a further 2 more times in F1 history at the time of writing this article in 2019).

But the talking point of this race was Ayrton Senna finishing second in the unfancied Toleman. A car that 2 years before was nicknamed the turbo-engined truck. Senna passed a lot of big names to get to second place (Lauda being one of them).

There is a second school of thought that Stefan Bellof in the Tyrell who was also coming up fast through the field would have even taken Senna eventually and won the race. It’s one of those mysteries that we will never fully know the answer to. One of many. One thing to note is that Senna’s first point in F1 came earlier on in the season with a superb and hardly ever talked about 6th place finish in South Africa.

One other race that people talk about was the one off Dallas Grand Prix which was held on a circuit that was so bad it was condemned by the FIA after the event.

The race was exciting possibly because cars were struggling to cope with the disintegrating circuit. But the action at the front in the first half of the race was very watchable with Mansell holding the field back until an unfortunate brush with the wall meant he had to relinquish his lead.

That race was won by Rosberg but made all the more remarkable by being one of only 2 races where both McLarens failed to finish.

But what about the review itself? It starts off with a video montage for the first time since the 1981 review. The tune used is nothing special but Ride the Sky be Derek Austin is yet another stereotypical 1980’s generic track that does the job it was set out to do.

The intro uses the first half of the track without a chorus as the song cuts off just as it starts. The end credits are done to the chorus, however. For this year too a wrong from the previous year has been righted and the commentary has been suitably adjusted and Clive James returns for the second of his three appearances in the season reviews.

In fact, right after the intro, you see Clive James on camera talking from the Estoril circuit in Portugal which was where the final race of the season was held.

In terms of footage used, it’s virtually the same formula as the 1983 review. This was one area I felt the 1983 review got it right. Like with all reviews so far the TV coverage forms the backbone of the review footage but with plenty of extra footage thrown in.

We see for example an incident at the Monaco hairpin involving Hesnault and Patrese which wasn’t shown on the TV coverage. Johnathan Palmer crashing out of the Detroit Grand Prix is another incident that we get to see.

And there’s a very interesting view of the crash in the British Grand Prix where you get a real sense of the carnage that ensued at Graham Hill bend on the opening lap.

There are a lot of instances like this where you get angles of incidents that weren’t shown on TV or indeed incidents that had never before been seen by the TV audience and I maintain that although it’s unclear as to the relevance of such footage in the grand scheme of the review in some cases.

It’s good to see these incidents being used. The one downside is sometimes it can and does break up the momentum of the review in places. The example I use is the Palmer crash in Detroit where the review goes from talking about the leaders to looking at this back marker crash like it’s a big event. Which it isn’t.

Something a little different however is the use of footage of qualifying. Showing spins and incidents that may appear of interest to the casual viewer. It’s a sad fact that some tune in for the crashes. It shouldn’t be like that in an ideal world but it’s a reality that you have to accept sometimes.

One such incident from the qualifying footage that some may find amusing is Hesnault getting stuck behind another car that has an expiring engine and he throws his hands out of the cockpit in one of the most animated ways I’ve ever seen in a very anguished style.

One thing I don’t see the point of is at the start of Monaco. I don’t know that we need to see topless women sunbathing somehow (yes the official video review of a Formula One season has topless women in it) I get they want to show Monaco in the sun but there are better ways I’m sure than that.

The review ends with Clive James doing another piece to camera to close the review.

The sound quality is pretty standard. The distortion on the extra footage is still present but less notable and the sound of cars hitting barriers in the case of Palmers incident in Detroit adds a bit more rawness to the sound than we’ve had in previous years.

The sound on the footage of Piquet retiring from the Dallas race is also really good when you hear the car wind down and the turbo makes that hissing noise.

Again sounds that you don’t get to hear much on TV which today you take for granted with the 5.1 surround sound is a real novelty here and it does add a little something to the review. Even the sound from the TV coverage sounds OK. Not as atmospheric as the 1982 review but it is still an OK listening experience.

For the commentary, a lot of wrongs from the 1983 review were righted. It was done by Clive James and it’s not done as live either. It’s all in the past tense in a documentary style which is what most would expect from a review and most important of all there’s no annoying woman chiming in every so often with retorts that are neither needed nor entertaining. (again nothing against Brian Kreiskey but his humor was something best kept to himself)

I don’t think the commentary is as good as it was in the 1982 review but that’s mainly down to the extra footage that breaks up the momentum in some places.

Not only does watching a random spin from a backmarker break up the flow of the footage sometimes it does the same to the commentary as well in parts. But it is still a very watchable experience.

So in summary the 1984 review is better than 1983 and does a great job of telling the story of what was an extraordinary championship story.

Not as good as the 1982 review that Clive James previously narrated but the flow is broken by some of the random extra footage. If they did a proper DVD then the footage would make a great extra features section.

But the footage in itself is still great to see and the addition of some qualifying footage makes the review feel more rounded. There’s work to do to make it perfect but it’s still a very solid video.