F1 Season Reviews Reviewed: 1993

1993 is regarded by many F1 purists as the final year of the “golden era” of Formula 1. It was the final season for both Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna (Although as we all know Senna did take part in 1994, 1993 was his last full season).

It was Senna’s final season with McLaren as he drove what has been described by some as the most technologically advanced McLaren ever made.

It was the last season to have a Grand Prix in South Africa. It was the last season where traction control would be legal. It was the final season before refueling would return to F1 where fuel stops would be mandatory.

So when Senna, Prost, and Hill all stood on the podium together in Australia and when you look at that footage today you really get a feeling that this is the end of an era. Although at the time we probably didn’t properly appreciate it. But then again we also had no way of knowing what would follow in 1994.

So what about the 1993 season as a racing spectacle? The first thing to note watching the races back was that it was better to watch than the 1992 season and had more exciting races.

We had some great Senna vs Prost battles in South Africa, San Marino and The British Grands Prix. We had rain making the middle part of the Brazilian Grand Prix what can only be described as chaotic (that was also the first time the safety car would be used in an F1 race).

And you can’t talk about 1993 F1 without mentioning the Ayrton Senna “lap of the gods” where in the first lap of the European Grand Prix at Donington he climbed from 5th to first and then went on to win by more than a lap.

But the story of the season was Alain Prost in the Williams which was widely regarded as the best car getting the better of Ayrton Senna in the McLaren which for this season was powered by a Ford Cosworth engine. Honda having pulled out the previous season.

The TV coverage was given an extra facelift. The on-screen graphics were still the same but the Audio was given an extra push with stereo sound being used in more races.

If you watch this particular season’s Australian Grand Prix on F1 TV then it has a really good 2-channel stereo soundtrack. Also, the number of onboard cameras has more than doubled for this season. (you can see that they look different too. The thin silver bars behind Senna and Hill’s heads in the above picture are on board cameras).

So for every race as a minimum, you would get on board camera shots from the Williams, McLaren, Ferrari, and Benneton cars with others being added at a later date.

The on-screen graphics were much the same as the 1992 and were still in the host country’s local language as you can see below. (As I said in a previous article these graphics were also used in other sports such as athletics for example. This would be the final season before a change to something that we are more used to was introduced)

So what about the end-of-season review? The overall vibe of this review is much more chilled compared to previous reviews and there are some adjustments.

There’s only one narrator for example and there’s no real introductory montage of footage and even the intro music is much more chill than before and sets its own mood for the rest of the review.

The footage uses the same format as before with extra footage being slipped in where needed. Because there were more onboard cameras for each race there is more of this onboard footage available to use.

But bizarrely we don’t get any on-board footage at all until a brief shot on board with Senna going into the first corner at Donington in the European Grand Prix. But after this, the use of onboard cameras for extra footage ramps up.

During the San Marino Grand Prix for example, in the TV coverage, we miss Prost’s incredible piece of driving out of Tosa after the pit stops to go from 3rd to 1st because.. We were looking instead at a not-very-important Ferrari pit stop. (Italian TV production has a history of being terrible in races. No offence to the Italians reading this)

In the review, we first get an exterior shot from the tosa corner of Prost lining his move up then an onboard shot from Senna as Prost comes by and then we see Prost move past Hill immediately afterward to take the lead.

Incidents can be well covered with the use of some onboard cameras as well. Most notable of which has to be Hakkinen’s accident in Portugal. An onboard view from Schumacher’s bad start in Canada. Brundle’s race-ending spin in Spain seen from an extra camera at turn 1, Hill’s big spin at the chicane in Monaco practice (seen from the onboard perspective).

A great onboard camera sequence from Senna and Prost of their battle at Silverstone and the many incidents in qualifying and practice sessions are among the many extra footage highlights.

What’s missing however are interviews.. There are hardly any in this review. In fact the only ones I can recall from the review is a bit of footage from Bernie Ecclestone giving a press conference about the regulations for the rest of the year and a soundbite from Damon Hill at the start of the Hungary review.

Instead the review just solely focuses on the track action and little else. For me that’s not a problem as these are the main bits of the season review that I’m interested in but for others, I would imagine that hearing from the drivers as the year progressed would be a key part of a season review.

If there were more interviews (even the post-race press conferences) then the footage would be perfect because the extra footage combined with the TV coverage and the extra use of onboards actually make this review the best for track action footage so far.

The audio is probably the most striking thing about this review. To start with it’s just the same as any other. The races in South Africa and Brazil don’t do anything special when it comes down to a viewer experience.

But then we get to the European Grand Prix at Donington and all of a sudden the audio comes to life. It’s as if someone flicked a switch and we suddenly get greeted with an incredible-sounding stereo soundtrack. No fanfare it just.. Happens.

This is the first time in a Formula 1 end-of-season video that we actually get to hear a stereo sound effect and it sounds amazing. From this point on all the extra shot footage has a stereo sound effect. This is a great addition to the review and needless to say the effect it has on the viewer experience is something else.

In the modern era, we are spoilt with 5.1 surround sound at each race but in 1993 a VHS stereo sound really is an experience to behold. The BTCC reviews would have to wait another year until they had stereo sound added.

The effects are superb throughout and especially on the 2 British races as well as Australia where the official main feed controlled by local TV carried this for international distribution.

So with great extra footage. More onboard camera footage and stereo sound in a video review for the first time this should be the best review so far. But there’s a major problem. The narration.

The narrator for this video is Jonathon Ross. For the record, I think he’s a fine talk show host. I don’t think he’s the voice to have on an end-of-season Formula 1 review video.

His tone throughout just feels wrong to me. It’s very monotoned there’s no real feeling to any of it. It just doesn’t draw me in like Simon Taylor or Clive James narrations did. I know Jonathon has a speech impediment where he can’t pronounce the letter R where instead it comes out as a W so we get Fewawi and Gwand Pwix.

I know that’s not his fault and he deals with it in day-to-day life really well but I don’t think it’s suitable for an end-of-season Formula 1 video. I know from reading reviews for this video on Amazon a lot of viewers feel the same.

Also the narration feels slightly rushed in places as well.. There was one moment in particular during the Brazil race where in one sentence Jonathon tells us that Senna made a pit stop for dry tyres chased down Hill for the lead and overtook him using his sheer brilliance in the wet.

Jonathon finishes this sentence before we even see Senna in the pits. I realise that’s mostly an editing thing but it makes the commentary feel rushed.

Then in the practice/qualifying for the British Grand Prix, we have footage of the aftermath of Mark Blundell’s accident at Bridge Corner right after seeing a replay of Hill spinning off. Jonathon then says. “Hills moment must have looked like small potatoes after Blundell’s adventures” I was left thinking “Jonathon, What the heck are you talking about?” at that moment.

Is the narration the worst I’ve heard? No, it isn’t. 1985 was worse. But it did make the experience worse than it should have been.

So the verdict on the 1993 end-of-season review video. The ingredients are there. The extra onboards, the stereo sound, and the use of the official graphics give us rundowns of the championship positions after each race the results of the race, and even the results of qualifying.

This review on paper should be incredible. And while it is still a great experience to watch overall it’s let down by a couple of things. The lack of driver interviews in each race and the narration. I won’t say it ruins the viewer experience but it does make a difference.

Any other narrator would have made this so much better to the point where I could forgive the lack of interviews but sadly for me it’s only a 3.5/5 review for me. There’s plenty to build on for the next review, however.

So 1994 should be a better video. In the next article in the series, I will look at the 1994 video. It’s going to be a tough one to write. But not for the reasons you might think.