Review of Formula One 2000

Introduction

I`m an avid Formula One fan, and have watched the TV coverage for years, never missing a face, and I`m even keen enough to get up to watch the live races from the other side of the world in the middle of the night. I`m also lucky enough to be going to Silverstone in five weeks to watch the British Grand Prix in person.

For many years FIA have released videos containing each season`s highlights - one of my friends has them all - and this year, we`ve got a DVD as well - looking back at the 2000 season, where Michael Schumacher finally secured a World Drivers Championship for Ferrari despite being pushed to the penultimate race by McLaren.

This DVD contains highlights of all 17 races, not just the race highlights as shown on the video version, but with extra on-car views, pit views and interviews, alternate track views and a data readout.

Video

With Formula 1 being shot for worldwide television, it will come as no surprise that the video comes in full-frame - hopefully the future will see a move to widescreen, but the quality is excellent, with a very sharp and detailed picture during the race sequences. Obviously the on-car views offer differing quality as the footage is transmitted live during the race, but in general it is also excellent.

Visually, the highlights for each race give a little intro, the start, key moments from the race, the finish and post-race interviews. Obviously with 17 races to show, you don`t get too much of each one, and there`s about 15 minutes dedicated to each circuit. This includes about 6 minutes of highlights with commentary, with the remainder being the on-board shots, track shots, pit shots and data screen (a readout of who was where during the race).

Audio

Again, being made for TV there is no Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, instead we have Dolby Digital Stereo, which is perfectly adequate, and reasonable use is made of the rear channel.

Sonically, this is pretty much the same as TV coverage, with commentary and engine/crowd sounds during the highlights. The alternative views do not have commentary, just the sounds, although the pit footage contains interviews with drivers who have crashed out/broken down.

Features

There are no extras to speak of, but another way of looking at it is that the VHS version features highlights only, so all the extra views are DVD extras.

Conclusion

Overall, this is an excellent DVD for a Formula One fan.

There are four hours and fifteen minutes of material on the disc, which would have been excellent with just the highlights from the seventeen races, but the extra views make it even better.

Video and sound are good, and the menus well presented and easy to navigate.

Recommended.