If you thought 2002 was a season of unprecedented success for Ferrari, or that it was not an exciting year, think again. Karl Ludvigsen reviews the year from his particular point of view and makes a prediction on what to expect from 2003

It was quite a season for Ferrari, no doubt about it. The red cars were dominant in race after race. And how about the job their lead driver did? He was fastest in practice, set the fastest race lap and won in 86 percent of the races! It's hard to imagine doing much better than that!

The season I'm talking about - you may have guessed - was exactly 50 years ago. That's how well Alberto Ascari and Ferrari did in 1952. There were many more Grands Prix then, but only seven counted for world points (leaving out the anomaly of Indianapolis). And that's how well Ascari did in six of those seven events.

What am I getting at? I followed Grand Prix racing closely then, and even though "Ciccio" Ascari was winning everything, I don't remember thinking it was boring. Maybe it was because I didn't have to watch all the races, which typically lasted three hours. Maybe it was because I had to wait so long between the big events. Maybe it was because journalists like The Motor's Rodney Walkerley really knew how to capture the atmosphere of the races. But even with Ascari taking almost all the trophies, Grand Prix racing was exciting in 1952.

It was in 2002 too.

I'm inclined to side with Frank Williams, who said that we should be aware that we're watching history - a great driver in a great car racing with phenomenal skill and aplomb. This was the season when Michael completed his suite; by taking the trophy in Austria he'd finally won all the races on the modern Formula One calendar. During the year the elder Schumacher set record after record, so much so that even he is becoming aware of them. I'm glad to have been able to see it happen, live on Digital TV.

It was a good year, too, for vintage Ferraris. I've always liked them. The short-wheelbase 250GT is one of my favorite cars, as are the early Barchettas and Touring-bodied coupes. But the Ferrari I'm referring to - you guessed it again - is the F2001. Ferrari double-crossed everybody by starting the season with last year's car because it wasn't rock-solid sure that its F2002 was at the necessary state of readiness. And wasn't it good! Regrettably for their rivals they didn't slow down the F2002 at all.

Williams topped Ferrari in one respect: it completed 1,963 race laps to Ferrari's 1,912. Williams said it was going to concentrate on reliability this year, and it did so to excellent effect. But in leading laps the red cars dominated: 865 for Ferrari versus 109 for Williams and 116 for McLaren. And the Ferraris were good at leading the laps that counted.

Williams started the year with a strategy that was in accord with the gospel according to Flavio Briatore. Our Flav said that "fifty percent of any win comes from being quick in qualifying - from being on pole." In today's racing with today's aerodynamics and tyres and tracks, this makes a lot of sense. It's so hard to pass that starting in front gives a massive advantage. And Williams achieved it. Montoya was on pole often - and practically every time he lost his lead on the first lap. So Williams changed its strategy to concentrate more on setting the cars up for the race. And what did Montoya do? Put it on pole again! The season didn't add up to much for Williams, but the record will show that they were vice-champions among makers, which is not chopped liver.

I liked Frank Williams's comment that "there's nothing worse than seeing your million-dollar race car spinning its wheels in the gravel," be it in practice or the race. That's why I think the major breakthrough for 2002 - a change that greatly improved racing and must continue in the future - was the substitution of paved runoffs for gravel. As early as Brazil we saw what a difference this could make. To his credit, this was the idea of American ex-racing driver John Fitch, a leading innovator in safety for the highway and racing circuits, who's been pushing for it for some time. We see that the idea has been adopted in colorful fashion for the amazing overhaul of Bernie's Paul Ricard track. Let's hope that all the tracks adopt paved runoffs, which will keep more cars in the races much more of the time and reduce risk of injury at the same time. That's not a bad combination.

Although ranking only third in the points, McLaren did set new standards in 2002 - standards for pit and paddock gear. Its pit crew showed up in the summer with astronaut-style backpack coolers, the absolute sine qua non of Grand Prix style. And in the paddock it unveiled its new communications center, a portable Paragon. Both of these were impressive, but they didn't make up for a paucity of points.

Force-cooled or not, we did see some great performances from the pit crews in 2002. These unsung heroes are usually noticed only when they goof. I haven't kept detailed records but I recall a 6.9-second McLaren stop in the crowded Monaco pits that was a jewel for David Coulthard. On David's cool-off lap after winning that race he heard Adrian Newey in his earphones: "That has to be your best ever, David." Coulthard's eighth race on his home-town track was indeed a victory to remember.

In a story that's all too familiar, the Big Three teams shut all their rivals out of 2002's race victories and left the smaller fry foraging for crumbs of points here and there. Sauber had hoped to hang on to fourth place in the standings but was bumped down to fifth by a cheeky French outfit with its Tonka-colored cars.

Sauber figured in one of the most spectacular crashes of this or any other year: Nick Heidfeld into the side of Takuma Sato's Jordan. That both were okay was a tribute to the design of today's Formula One cars. The same goes for Rubens Barrichello's impact with the wall at Indy at a hell of a rate of knots. And then he and all the others had to drive over those black skid marks leading straight into the wall! You think that's easy? Think again.

I hate to admit it, but I did miss Jean Alesi. The DTM's gain is Formula One's loss. And if Eddie "The Lip" Irvine goes we will be losing yet another of the characters of our sport. We are left with identikit graduates of junior formulae who are handled within an inch of their lives and afraid to say or do anything out of line. This is a drivers' formula, over and above any other considerations, and we need some characters if we are to deserve the attention of the major media.

Speaking of drivers, what did Alberto Ascari do in 1953? Well, his year wasn't so good. He was on the pole in 75 percent of his starts, set fastest lap in 50 percent and won 63 percent to collect another World Championship. And if you think that could suggest what will happen for Michael and Ferrari in 2003, you're right.