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Great videos, I enjoyed watching them.

Nice one Andrew, thanks for sharing your memories from your Autosport days.

The most distinct memory from your Autosport days is when you assigned to work with Mike Gascoyne attempting to become a race engineer at Tyrell days during a cold, miserable Silverstone!

What about the 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix? Schumacher's drive from the back in a monsoon was pretty special, even if the Ferrari was way better than any other car.

Great to see these "Old Races" but where's 2004? Button's first Podium, hopefully he will take his first win here on sunday. What we're going to do about the Chinese races wasn't the first one in 2004. I wonder which one will win, my money is on 2007, I'm not a Hamilton fan but that race was his best ever win and maybe 2006 Schumacher's last win.

Fantastic stuff ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ keep it up!!!

A small thought-
Great footage and a brillaint service. However, on some of the newer tracks, would it be possible to see some of the classic races that have been wrongly cut from the calender? Ones such as San Marino and Canada spring to mind.

Um, paulsf1fix, Hamilton very much didn't win the Chinese GP in 2007, as he ended it in the gravel trap at the pit entrance. His win, which I agree was outstanding, was in 2008.

Good article about Malaysia '99 - there was so much going on that season that it's still very hard to know what to make of it, but it's likely to have a place in history for a whole load of reasons which have little to do with what happened on the track.

Nice highlights!

I don't think there's really been an amazing Malaysian GP yet but those were pretty good. I look forward to this weekend, looks like it's gonna be a wet race.

I'm pretty sure the top 5 Spanish and Monaco GPs will be really good I can't wait lol.

I'm sorry, but what exactly were we "picking"... as far as I can see we only have 5 short highlights showings? That seemed a waste of voting if you ask me...

I agree D.M.N. - it was a bit strange to pick a race and have all five put on the website and red button with the approximate same length.

But Andrew Benson only described his experiences about the 1999 event (which won).

I can see the same happening for China and Bahrain before the European season kicks off. I can already guess which Spanish and Monaco GP races will be shown (if they are put on the list). Can't wait!

That's not quite the whole story now is it. For the obvious negatives that Shumey had - here he showed his class.

He wiped the floor with everyone that day and he had no write to... if I remember correctly his problem was slowing his car up so much to give Irvine the win.

I went to one of these Malaysian GPs. Cannot remember the year but it was very wet and Ferrari won. But I do recall it was one of the years traction control was banned. Standing by the trackside it was obvious Ferrari were running some form of traction assist, you could hear it. The way they came out of the corners you could see it too. How did they get away with it?

Rewatching Massa messing it up in '07 was fun but ow come we haven't got extended highlights of the '99 race?

I think the 1999 race highlights should win due to the Ferrari's "no, after you" tactics, and of course seeing Damon Hill (briefly) in one of his last F1 races.

With regard to hightlights, will we get more comprehensive highlights a la AUS 86 and 94?

I hope so, because I can't wait to see Monaco 92, Britain '94 and Spain 96.

Rewatching Massa messing it up in '07 was fun but ow come we haven't got extended highlights of the '99 race?

.........

The reason the Australian races were extended was because the timing (1986 and 1994) meant the Grand Prix highlights programmes made by the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ could be used. As the Malaysian races (and Bahrain, China, Turkey etc) started when ITV had the rights, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ obviously couldn't make a new highlight programme for each race. I think you might agree it would waste a lot of time trawling through past races from the last 12 years and attaching radio commentary in the appropriate places.

Point taken regarding post '96 highlights programmes.
Glad I taped post '96 races.

I'll always remember Jacques Villeneuve's comments regarding Massa's ability to handle an F1 car - he can't even drive one safely in a straight line (Massa's period in the Sauber cars)

Hang on one minute...how can Malaysia 2001 be 'unavailable' yet you got Malaysia 1999 which was also on ITV?
How can you be having problems?
Murray and Martin in a more exciting race then the panzy Ferrari 1999 race...may dig out that 2001 DVD to see it again!

Yeah Sorry MrNeutron I got this race mixed up with Japan 2007, Please accept my apologies...

Also I thought... Wouldn't the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ have the tapes from when these races were on ITV? because they still had the rights to the radio broadcasts, surly they can put the original soundtrack to the video tapes but even this sounds like an editors nightmare!!! the only way round it, had they kept James Allen it would have been a lot easier but please don't go down that route!!! THE European rounds will probably be from 1996 Maybe???? we could have a blog devoted to this? Monaco 1996 or 1992 is where money is on and the same for Spain as these follow on after these tricky ITV covered races.... We could be on this forever.....

"A small thought-
Great footage and a brillaint service. However, on some of the newer tracks, would it be possible to see some of the classic races that have been wrongly cut from the calender? Ones such as San Marino and Canada spring to mind."

great idea. There are many tracks missed from the calendar this year that have provided classic races. You could have 2 or 3 races from these tracks and then the best 2 races from say, Bahrain or China due to the general lack of good races to show highlights of on these newer tracks.

It seems ridiculous to ask us to 'vote' for our preferred race when all the candidates will be shown in the same length anyway.

For these races where footage doesn't exist prior to 1996, we preferably need to vote for a classic guest race from another circuit. If that isn't possible, the vote winner needs to be extended in length or voting needs to be scrapped.

For 1997-2008 ITV have recordings of their highlights shows from when they broadcast the sport. Since they seem prepared to allow the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ to use their commentary, could the vote winner use an edited version of ITV's highlights? ITV were prohibited from showing graphics over the World Feed so all you would have to do is edit out the start, finish and interviews - a relatively simple exercise.

Viewing the ITV’s highlights would be great for the winner, though if resource limitations make this implausible that’s of course understandable.

Thank you for the Malaysian GP edits and sharing your memories of 1999.

I would encourage the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ to consider, if possible, our suggestion of having a miscellaneous-nation ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ highlights as a voting option for race countries with limited histories. The next two (China and Bahrain) as well as Turkey, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi later in the season would be prime candidates.

I do agree with the choices but two other moments stand out in my mind. The first 5 laps of 2001- the monsoon. The other moment was Fisichella going to the wrong grid slot an unbelievable error. Love Malaysian Gp never know whether it will be wet or dry, although the races have not normally been affected by rain, in reality we are due a wet Malaysian GP. Good luck teams, all of them. Malaysian is the race that i respect the F1 teams to compete in because its only a few days after Australia and in that heat is truly a physical masterclass of man and machine. Think cars who've adapted well to KERS will do well at this track. Toyota after the strong showing in Australia, despite problems i think will be quietly confident. Mclaren and Renault i think will be doing a rain dance because otherwise i think they will struggle to get out of Q2 in Qualifying and finish in the any higher than the low points positions. We'll see.

Yes, I would also like to request if possible:

1) ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ highlights of race countries not featured for Bahrain and China. I would love to see the 1984 race that Keke Rosberg won.

or if not..

2) ITV highlights with the ITV stuff edited out if need be.

I would like to watch the classic highlights of other races for the next two countries as well. Who wants to see past China/Bahrain zzz? Just kidding, though it would be good to watch old San Marino or Detroit..

Can ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ show ITV highlights? I don't think that's possible.

I was looking forward to a full highlights show again, but I guess as the races were during the ITV tenure, we can't have them. Think 1999 was the correct winner, but none of the 10 MAS GP's really stand out for me!

Just one question, how come we can have the Murray Walker and Martin Brundle commentary for the races, but not the James Allen and Martin Brundle commentary, but we can listen to James in the pits for 2000 and 2001?

Is it because Murray and Martin are ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ men as oppose to James who is whatever he is now

Thanks for clarifying those things Andrew. I accept there are those limitations and still look forward to the short edits to come for Bahrain, China, and Turkey.

If possible, be sure to have classic European GPs on hand for the round of Europe this year. Remembering great races like Mansell's first win at Brands Hatch in 1985, as well as Senna's victory at Donnington Park 1993 were classified as the "European Grand Prix".

I remember Malaysia 2001 vividly. I'm sure its been said here before. But i remember both Ferrari's flying off at the same turn when it started to rain. Cars were aquaplaning everywhere, especially down the last straight before the final corner. Schumacher came in for his stop but had to queue behind Barrichello and just made it before the safety car came out. Then they were at the tail of the field, Michael took Rubens and nursed his intermediate tyres for a very long time and won the race, classic times!

One other memory is Malaysia 2002 when Schumi was qualifying and lost the back end on the fast chicane and somehow stuck it on pole...wonderful

As I stated in a previous post I agree that the 2001 race with the monsoon soon after the start was probably the better race, but the 1999 race was incredable for the reasons that you have highlighted in the background material. Thankyou for sharing these memories with us.

post # 28 - I would add the 1985 and 1997 European Grand Prix's to that list.

Post # 14 - I would recomend Monaco 82, Britain 86 or 08, and Spain 86 or 92.

Anyway that is a debate for later in the season. Thankyou for sharing your memories with us. Personally I enjoy to remenisce and am enjoying your blog. Good job.

Shame about the techy problems with the 2001 footage but great highlights again, particularly enjoyed the 1999 footage.

The 1999 season was fascinating. It was very much a case of speed verses reliability, as well as a bit of luck. The McLaren was the quickest car on the circuit, dominating practice and qualifying. The Ferrari - although it didn't have the speed of the McLaren - was proving to be the more reliable car, more importantly for Irvine who picked up 2 wins and a 2nd when Hakkinen retired due to technical problems. Coulthard was dogged with problems throughout the season - the story of his life at McLaren - with six retirements due to technical problems. There is a view held by many that the Ferrari was a bucket of bolts but I don't agree to this; it was hardly a Minardi. By 1999, Ferrari had come a long way since Schumacher and Brawn joined the team.

The stats for this season make very interesting reading. Irvine and Ferrari were by far the more consistent whilst Hakkinen and McLaren blew hot and cold, with Hakkinen finally winning the WDC by 2 points. A classic case of speed versus reliability.

Sadly, the "barge board" incident overshadowed this season.

Andrew, if I could put forward another idea, would it be possible - for China, Bahrain, and Turkey rounds - to give the fans a choice of either showing 5 minute clips for all races, or else showing the voted race in full on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖi?
I realise the difference is about 25-30 minutes for the edits vs about 90 minutes for the full race, though as the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ showed about 90 minutes worth of highlights for the Australian round, I wondered if the full race might be possible if it's the fans choice?

If you don't get to read on this old thread, I'll post it on the next blog.

I should add to the above, the main point of 'full race' against extended highlights which you've already given a reason for not showing, would be that the full race obviously requires little time and resources in editing. Surely about as much as the 5 minute edits(?)

OT sorry, but has anyone else noticed the MotoGP headline about Rossi being "angry to try to win".. classic! Say it in an Italian accent and then try to spot the glaring mistake! Anyone peckish?

Didn't really comment on the race itself first time around. My personal memories of the back end of the '99 season were of only reluctantly supporting Irvine as a Brit even though he was the main Brit in the title race that year(I think DC had fallen out of contention by Malaysia).