The 2003 Formula One World Championship was possibly one of the most entertaining seasons in recent years - and certainly stood in stark contrast to the tedious affair of 2002. If Formula One's mission in 2003, of rejuvenating the sport, was largely accomplished, the new year ahead brings with it new challenges to the sportsmen, businessmen, engineers and fans alike. Atlas F1's Richard Barnes looks ahead, at 2004

During the 2003 season Formula One rejuvenated itself, putting two crushingly dominant Ferrari seasons behind it to produce one of the closest Championship finishes in memory. The turnaround was due partly to the new qualifying and points-scoring regulations, and partly due to the natural ebb and flow of manufacturer, tyre supplier and driver fortunes.

Although the tense championship battles served to revive close competition at the head of the field, there was widespread discontent that the 'down to the wire' result was largely contrived for the sake of marketing and mass entertainment. Ferrari's top management and McLaren's David Coulthard were among the most vocal critics of the new regulations. If either had hoped for a reversal of official thinking in 2004, they were to be disappointed.

If anything, the FIA's regulation changes for the coming season have taken the 2003 tweaks a step further. Although the points system will remain unchanged, the one-lap qualifying system has been further removed from F1 traditions. In 2004, both the pre-qualifying and qualifying single lap sessions will be merged into one extended session on Saturday, with refuelling still prohibited between qualifying and the race start.

During 2003, F1 was blessed with an unusually dry season. The only qualifying session skewed by changing weather was, ironically, for the crucial season finale at Suzuka, where the Schumacher brothers and Renault's Jarno Trulli faced the impossible task of trying to match their rivals' earlier times in conditions of steadily worsening rain. In 2004, it will take just a few such squalls to have the fans, the teams and the drivers in uproar over the revamped qualifying system.

As if impounding the cars in parc ferme for Saturday night didn't pose enough of a technical handicap to the race engineers, the 2004 regulations allow for only one engine to be used per car per race weekend. The controversial rule, which was not supported by many of the teams, could cause major problems for the engineers. Having a driver demoted ten grid slots (due to an engine failure in practice) is a penalty that none of the Championship contenders can afford. Yet, as witnessed during 2003, most teams have developed an admirable capacity to ensure flawless reliability under the most trying circumstances. Doubtless, they will adapt to the one engine rule without a hitch.

The new race weekend regulations have also aimed to introduce extended testing, sponsorship and talent-scouting opportunities for the less competitive teams on the grid. Friday testing will allow the bottom six teams in the Championship to run a third car, possibly with alternative sponsor livery, and piloted by a rookie with less than six GP races on his CV during the previous two seasons. While it may produce something of a carnival atmosphere on Fridays, Jaguar driver and Grand Prix Drivers Association co-president Mark Webber has questioned the wisdom of allowing rookies to familiarise themselves with F1 on track during a race weekend.

Webber's fears seem unfounded. Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Webber himself have set a new standard in F1. Today's rookies are expected to be immediately safe, competitive and comfortable with F1 machinery, despite the vast horsepower and traction gulf between F1 and the junior formulae.

For all the teams, extra pressure will also accrue from the length of the new extended season. For the first time ever, the F1 calendar will feature 18 Grands Prix, with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps returning to replace the axed Austrian GP, and with two brand new events in China and Bahrain. The extended calendar means that, on three occasions in 2004, teams will have just one week to recuperate from one GP, travel to and prepare for the next. The one week breaks will happen between Monaco and Europe in May, between Canada and the US in June, and between France and Britain in July.

The new events on the calendar cement the sport's claims to true global status. The mainland Asian and Middle Eastern markets have, until now, been untapped. Bringing F1 to literally billions of potential new fans in these regions can only be good for the sport's international future. Initially, it appeared that the new Grands Prix might be launched at the expense of established and popular events in Belgium, France and Canada. Thankfully, the financial and other concerns have mostly been resolved, although some doubt still lingers over funding and team agreements for the proposed French Grand Prix on July 4th.

The new Bahrain and Shanghai tracks, both penned by designer Hermann Tilke, are both promising and troubling at the same time. While Tilke's designs are often dismissed as glorified kart tracks by purists used to the classic original Monza, Spa-Francorchamps and Nurburgring layouts, the blame cannot be laid entirely upon the designer's shoulders. Tilke has to work within the narrow specifications laid down by the sport's authorities and also has to deal with the technical difficulties of overtaking in modern F1.

On the latter issue, Tilke designs do offer at least one legitimate overtaking spot per circuit, irrespective of the modern cars' ludicrously short braking distances and aerodynamic disturbance. While this in itself is not enough to ensure a classic design, it is an improvement over some of the more traditional circuits like Monaco and Hungaroring. Frustratingly processional racing is not a feature of Tilke tracks.

Both Williams's Ralf Schumacher and BAR's Jenson Button have given enthusiastic previews of the two new Tilke tracks in China and Bahrain, offering descriptions like 'exciting' and 'varied'. The Tilke origins are immediately apparent at both circuits, with the trademark V-shaped hairpin and sweeping left-right corner complexes characterising both layouts.

It is this very personalised design stamp that proves troubling. F1 has always featured an eclectic calendar - pairing short, cramped tracks with flat-out wide open layouts, or pancake-flat circuits like Silverstone with the exaggerated elevations of Mosport. For all their technical complexity and challenge, Tilke circuits ultimately fill only one niche in the F1 portfolio. The sport desperately needs more key designers, whose layouts will differ markedly from Tilke's in both design concept and execution.

Despite the best efforts of the sport's authorities to mould the season and the sport to their will, 2004 will be decided by the efforts, innovations and performances of the designers, engineers, strategists and drivers. And, as ever, their fortunes will in turn be heavily influenced by the four crucial and palm-sized contact patches provided by the competing tyre manufacturers, Bridgestone and Michelin.

Traditional thinking would conclude that Bridgestone have fallen behind in the technology race, and that the 2004 Championship will be a straight fight between Williams, McLaren and Renault, the leading Michelin runners. It's a truism in F1 that manufacturers cannot reverse the characteristics of the development curve, and that Michelin must succeed Bridgestone, just as Bridgestone succeeded Goodyear before them.

Bridgestone did manage to hang on grimly in 2003, thanks to some timely legislative intervention and a fortuitous shower at Indianapolis. However, unless the Japanese tyre giant has been able to work off-season miracles or 2004 turns out to be an excessively wet season, it would appear that Michael Schumacher's quest for a seventh title may be a bridge too far. But then, who'd have predicted, after the Ferrari cakewalk of 2002, that McLaren could challenge so strongly with a dated design in 2003? It is this delightful unpredictability that makes the off-season a time of such speculation, hope and optimism.

In terms of championship spectacle, 2003 will be a tough act to follow. And with the new technical regulations and extended calendar, the 2004 season will in itself be a tough act for the teams and drivers. Reliability and season-long consistency will again be the keys. Whether Michael Schumacher can again prevail for another record-setting title, or whether the era of Ferrari dominance will finally be ended, F1 looks set for another memorable season. If it's anywhere near as close and competitive as 2003, F1's launch into the Middle East and China couldn't have come at a more opportune moment.