F1 season review DVDs just keep getting longer. The 2009 edition – weakly titled “Not in a hurry” – clocks in at more than four-and-a-half hours including extras.
The tightly-regulated broadcasting of Formula 1 means this is the only way you can buy video footage of Jenson Button’s championship victory and all the other highlights from the 2009 F1 season.
Happily they’ve done a decent, if unspectacular, job of the discs.
The first thing many fans will notice about the reviews is a new option allowing the narration to be turned off entirely. This means you can re-watch the highlights with just the engine noise and team radio.
This is an interesting addition but as I enjoyed Ben Edwards’ narration I didn’t use it much. Since the 2008 F1 DVD the producers stopped having Edwards deliver his commentary as if it were live. They also dropped the annoying practice of mixing cheesy music into the race footage, both of which are to the benefit of the production.
The picture quality is as good as you’re going to get from a DVD but here I come to my first grumble – where is the HD version? It’s high time we were able to buy these reviews on Blu-Ray or as an HD download.
FOA have total access to footage from F1 races so the breadth of material here is second to none. Indeed you have to say it’s a pity more of it doesn’t make it into the original live broadcasts.
Major incidents – like the Robert Kubica-Jarno Trulli crash at Shanghai, or the first-lap mayhem at Spa and Interlagos – are covered from multiple angles around the track and onboard the cars.
Continuing the practice from recent reviews there’s a separate onboard footage feature where F1 driver narrate different highlights from the season shot from their cars.
There’s a wealth of pit-to-driver radio as well including some entertaining and revealing moments. Such as an impatient Button hurrying his team mate along at Catalunya (“Come one Rubens, you can go quicker than this”), Massa being urged to save fuel in the same race, and an angry Lewis Hamilton bemoaning the state of his McLaren at Istanbul (“I’m heavier than a fricking boat!”). And best of all, Rob Smedley’s celebrated “Felipe baby” remark at Malaysia is there to enjoy again.
Of course the same two are also the subject of the most chilling moment in the review – Massa’s horrifying crash at the Hungaroring. The entire incident is analysed in detail with the on-board traces showing how Massa kept accelerating – while also braking – after he was hit by the spring dropped by Barrichello’s car.
Generally the review does a good job of analysing the major events of the year. The Hamilton/Trulli controversy at Melbourne benefits from a reconstruction of the moment Hamilton let Trulli past complete with audio from both teams, as well as substantial footage from Hamilton’s press conference at Malaysia.
But whereas past season reviews would cover everything going on in the sport – including the political developments around the racing – they seem to be deliberately overlooked by newer reviews. The entire FOTA/FIA row and the breakaway threat is ignored, as is Jean Todt’s election as FIA president.
The bonus extras vary in quality, particularly the hastily-assembled “sorry to lose you” features on Toyota and BMW, which are just short video montages set to music. A better example is the ‘Forza Felipe’ feature which covers his recovery from injury and includes a lengthy interview.
There’s plenty of new material here to keep fans happy and the lengthy review does a thorough job of reviewing an often exciting season. If you’ve got the review, please post your thoughts on it in the comments.
RaceFans rating
More F1 DVD reviews
- F1 2009 DVD review available to order
- 2008 F1 official DVD season review: "Luck does not come into it"
- Kimi made it at last! (2007 F1 DVD)
- Once Again! (2006 F1 DVD)
- Fantastic Fernando! (2005 F1 DVD)
- Michael does it again! (2004 F1 DVD)
- Michael & co. the dream team (2003 F1 DVD)
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Noelinho
10th December 2009, 0:19
Interesting. Will have to order it. However, the Blu Ray point is a little irrelevant – until they record in HD, it’s not worth it!
Harvs
10th December 2009, 0:41
brings us back to the HD in f1, the entire season isnt shot in HD so making a HD review would be completely pointless wouldnt it?
ashes1991
10th December 2009, 17:49
It can be upscaled to HD though, me and a mate did (or as close as possible) through watching it on our PS3 using Play TV, so if we can do it, it cant be that hard for them to sort it out.
sato113
10th December 2009, 0:46
we’re moving closer to HD anyway with some on the onboard shots from 2009 being in very high quality. I’ve got my girlfriend to order the dvd so can’t wait! ;)
Nitpicker
10th December 2009, 13:27
There’s no such thing as “moving closer to HD”. It’s either HD or it isn’t.
The better-quality onboard shots will be down to better cameras/lenses, not necessarily a move to HD.
sato113
11th December 2009, 2:26
yeah which means that they’re experimenting with better cameras to see if it works or not. and it did work I think. now the next step will be making the larger manned cameras HD.
Serbian Kimi
10th December 2009, 1:21
Well you can download it for free on some fantastic torrent trackers:)
Keith knows which ones I’m referring to:)
A good season review, by the way….
sato113
10th December 2009, 2:39
don’t promote illegal filesharing on this site. but ye u can download it like that.
Myles Woerner
10th December 2009, 3:16
Keith, do you know of a version that will work in the United States? I’ve been searching all over the internet, but I can only find “Region 2” DVDs. Would you happen to know when they usually release the Region 1 version?
Nitpicker
10th December 2009, 13:24
I don’t know about Region 1 copies but you could always play it on a PC or use a multi-region DVD player.
Joshy
10th December 2009, 14:39
Where can I find me a multi region DVD player?
verasaki
10th December 2009, 21:14
Joshy, if you are in the US, I found a Phillips on either Amazon or Best Buy- can’t remember. It was a bit more pricy but I’ve saved a bundle on foreign films and Brit tv dvd’s because they’re usually cheaper and someone also told me that some of the dvd’s issued in Europe get cut to crap when they’re licensed for US release. I have no idea how true that is.
Joshy
11th December 2009, 13:46
Cool okay, I live in the States up in the North East. I will have to check that out. Thanks.
Focused
10th December 2009, 4:10
2007 and 2008 were better productions and more entertaining imo, probably because this year was soooo boring in comparison. Yet with that being said, quality is top notch and it’s worth viewing nonetheless.
Jonesracing82
10th December 2009, 6:23
the quality of the racing shown can’t be a judgement of the DVD as the DVD can’;t make a dull season interesting!
i found the DVD to be very good, most things as explained above are there in detail, incl. the Trulli/Sutil press conferance! i am glad the politics of the sport rnt included as it’s not interesting, as a fan all i worry about is how good the races are, as with rules changes etc it all basically stays the same anyway. tho Jean Todt becoming the presidant should perhaps have been shown, but it’s a minor issue.
one thing that irritated me tho was the censorship…..
Jonesracing82
10th December 2009, 6:24
P.S i also worry about an exciting title battle :P
christopher (sennaboy3)
10th December 2009, 9:19
US version is still absent? Amazon doesn’t even have it posted with an upcoming release date…starting to get a bit worried.
PJA
10th December 2009, 9:21
As the DVDs for 2007 and 2008 have come down a lot in price since they were released, I am wondering whether to buy it now or to wait as I won’t have time to watch it for a while anyway.
spanky the wonder monkey
10th December 2009, 10:34
i picked up the 2008 one around may this year at pound-land for, unsurprisingly, a quid.
João Pedro CQ
10th December 2009, 10:10
It seems very good. It’s a shame that the official F1 reviews have never been to a portuguese store
wasiF1
10th December 2009, 10:30
It seems you had fun Keith.
ajokay
10th December 2009, 10:40
I’m glad they havn’t wasted time with covering the breakaway threat and the FIA president election, would just be lots of people in suits walking into meetings and courtrooms anyway… 4 Hours of racing and features is what we want.
Funny that this DVD isn’t region free though, stuff like this usually is. Exempt from classification and region free, like the old Jeremy Clarkson videos or something.
Nitpicker
10th December 2009, 13:31
I agree that they didn’t get bogged down into the political stuff. It would be difficult for them to cover it impartially anyway I think. However pretending that it never happened is a bit odd!
Of course FOM stuff is restricted by region. Video games companies have been region-coding their software for decades, it means they have lots of control about what is sold in which territories. You wouldn’t expect Bernie to relinquish that would you?
ajokay
10th December 2009, 14:28
But surely selling copies of a region free DVD worldwide is better than not selling region 2 DVDs everywhere but Europe?
verasaki
10th December 2009, 21:43
ajokay, i’ve always wondered why dvd players arent’ all multiregion players.
Ned Flanders
10th December 2009, 13:49
Every year I decide to wait until after Christmas to buy the review so it’s cheaper, but round about this time each year I decide I can’t go any longer without F1 and buy it anyway.
I must admit my preferences are completely different to Keith’s- I quite like the music, for example. My two favourite season reviews were from 2001 and 02, but they have really bad ratings on this site….
mzx
10th December 2009, 14:18
There’s no way to buy it here in Russia, so I got it off torrents – and loved it. Great job on team radio, all the best stuff is there, making for that special atmosphere. And yeah, I’d easily pay for an official HD download of this.
Actually, this season I’ve watched more of BBC recordings than of actual live tv, however great the Russian commentary was. And if I could buy an online HD subscription for 2010 races, I’d do that too.
Danny Downs
10th December 2009, 14:57
I was able to purchase a copy of the season in review from my local bestbuy.. I went online and searched all stores in my area and got lucky and found a couple stores that had a few copies. I would suggest that anyone who I looking for this give it a try.. I was also able to find copies on amazon.ca.. I am located in Canada btw
Danny Downs
10th December 2009, 15:24
If you do a search on bestbuy.ca or bestbuy.com you can find it under FIA. Amazon.ca and Amazon.com also have it available under the search of FIA. Although Amazon.ca only has 2 copies left. Hope this helps anyone who is looking for it :-)
Phil T
10th December 2009, 19:56
I thought it might have been in HD or on Bluray or whatever. I may as well just watch some of the 70 or so hours worth of this season I kept on my hard disk !
Ace
10th December 2009, 22:54
I’m always disappointed by the Official Season Reviews. I’d much prefer a ‘Full Season’ disc set that includes the races in full, and maybe even a ‘per driver’ review of the season.
Ultimately, it would be great if the full season set (that doesn’t exist) included BBC’s race buildup and post-race forum as well, but then it would be a BBC production and not a FOM affair.
I’m not holding my breath.
Zindon
10th December 2009, 23:59
On the subject of HD, as I understand it all of the FOM equipment is HD. I’m sure I read somewhere that the feed to the hospitality suites at the circuits themselves is HD. It’s simply that Bernie won’t pay for the bandwidth to broadcast the HD signal out on the world feed. You would hope that the recordings are kept in HD, which means a Blu-ray version of this season review would be entirely possible.
I have to say, I’m very glad this site keeps banging the drum for HD. It’s criminally overlooked by the rest of the F1 media. I remember watching NASCAR in HD over in the US in Autumn 2007, where it had been in HD for ages. Even a mickey mouse series like A1GP is/was in HD.
Johnny
29th May 2010, 4:33
“It’s simply that Bernie won’t pay for the bandwidth to broadcast the HD signal out on the world feed”
Where is that info from? We get F1 in HD in Australia.. did last year too.
These DVD’s are great.. they sell cheaply on the f1.com store.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th May 2010, 8:23
Are you sure it’s not just an ‘upscaled’ feed – i.e. not true HD?
SaloolaS
21st December 2009, 23:35
I love the part ‘A champion’s drive’.
Amazing onboards (Glock’s first lap at Singapore, Rosberg’s start at Sepang).
sato113
4th January 2010, 12:47
brilliant review! I especially loved the onboard feature from every race (timo vs jarno, monza! :D)
jc
11th July 2010, 18:19
I think they should go back to qualifying laps when they do the onboard at every track in the review and as an extra instead of a special part of a race
Andria Carlone
2nd January 2011, 7:59
That was a pretty vital insight for me personally