Pre-season testing brought even better news, with both Renault and BAR-Honda turning in impressive times. With rising stars like Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button introduced into the mix of potential champions, the prospects for a bright season soared.

Alas, it took little more than the season-opening weekend in Australia to dash those hopes. Since Michelin were forced to redesign their regulation-breaching tyre in late 2003, they have failed to get back on terms with rivals Bridgestone. This advantage, coupled with Ferrari's performance and Michael Schumacher's irrepressible form this season, turned the 2004 championship battle into a dull and predictable affair.

The weather didn't help either. Ordinarily, rain can turn even the most processional race into a thriller. Often this season, the rain clouds teased and threatened, only to melt away prior to the race start. For the second summer in succession, wet-weather racing became a rare spectacle indeed. Although the bright and sunny weather reflected the mood in the Ferrari garage aptly, it was a long hot summer for the rest of the field.

For the fans, it was undoubtedly a privilege to see one of the sport's greatest ever drivers churning out top-notch winning performances weekend after weekend, and one that will probably only be fully appreciated once Schumacher has retired. But the sport can and should offer so much more.

It wasn't just the lack of competition for Ferrari and Schumacher up front, but also the disappointing inability of main rivals McLaren and Williams to even scrap for second. Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya are two top-tier performers. Seeing them struggling back in the minor placings only added to the frustration.

The only bright aspect was that racing, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Someone had to fill the spot, behind Schumacher, that was left vacant by the failure of Williams and McLaren. BAR's Jenson Button eventually emerged from the pack to claim the title of 'best non-Ferrari driver in the WDC', although it seemed likely for much of the season that one of the Renault pairing of Fernando Alonso or Jarno Trulli may triumph. The see-saw battle between the three drivers, and between BAR and Renault for the runner-up constructor spot, provided one of the few memorable highlights of the year.

Both Alonso and Button, as de facto leaders for their respective teams, have benefited immensely from the experience. Both entered the season as talented but often inconsistent individuals who could contribute to the team effort, but couldn't carry it. With Takuma Sato's inability to reach Button's level, and Jarno Trulli's bitter departure from Renault, both Button and Alonso were suddenly thrust into the new role of carrying the burden of team expectations solo. Neither disappointed, and they managed to maintain remarkable focus and consistency as the championship pressure mounted. That will put both in a prime position to resume the challenge against Schumacher, Barrichello, Raikkonen and Montoya in 2005.

Further down the field, there was less promising development. Nobody had seriously expected Mark Webber to challenge for a top six championship placing. But most expected the Australian to at least match his previous best finish, fifth on debut for Minardi in his home GP. However, even that proved too much for the luckless and despairing Jaguar outfit. As expected, Webber is too good to be overlooked, and the news of his signing for Williams mitigated an otherwise disastrous year, both for Webber and Jaguar.

The rookie prospects were no better. After being introduced to talents like Webber, Button, Raikkonen, Montoya and Alonso over the last five years, F1 fans have become spoiled to the point where we expect a major new talent to emerge each season. If such a talent lurks within the rookie class of 2004, it remains well-disguised. Neither Jordan's Giorgio Pantano and Timo Glock, nor the Minardi pairing of Zsolt Baumgartner and Gianmaria Bruni, attracted much attention for the quality of their drives. Austrian Christian Klien managed to provide occasional competition for Mark Webber at Jaguar, but not nearly consistently enough to mark him as a future star.

Instead, the 'young driver' credits for 2004 went to two of the sport's sophomore returnees – BAR's Takuma Sato and Sauber's Felipe Massa. Although both were outperformed by their more seasoned team leaders, Jenson Button and Giancarlo Fisichella, they nevertheless earned rightful praise for successfully developing from erratic over-drivers to calmer, more reliable performers.

Outside of its core business of providing exciting racing on track, F1 made solid marketing progress in 2004, via the addition of new events in Bahrain and China. While the new events took F1 racing to two new audiences, the new circuits didn't inspire the same excitement. Both are first-class race venues, with all the latest safety features and outstanding facilities. But each new Hermann Tilke circuit looks disturbingly like the last.

That is not entirely Tilke's fault. Modern racing aerodynamics, designs and materials mitigate against the type of racing that popularised F1 in earlier decades. And Tilke is clearly working to a narrow and well-defined brief. Nevertheless, it takes more than just an eye-catching main grandstand roof design to create a classic F1 track.

Historically, F1 has featured a range of truly unique circuits with widely differing characteristics, from the monstrous and daunting scope of the original Nurburgring to the claustrophobic confines of Monaco. Tilke circuits lack this diversity. The aim of making the sport more global, while increasingly limiting the featured circuits to the characteristic stamp of a single designer, is a contradictory approach that will not benefit the sport over the long term.

It's like scheduling all the tennis majors at Wimbledon or all the golf majors at Augusta. As great as these venues may be, more variety is required from a sport that claims to be truly international.

The business aspect of F1 also suffered during 2004. Ford and Jaguar's decision to withdraw from the sport threatens repercussions that could leave just seven active teams to contest the 2005 season. The looming crisis has resulted in yet more technical regulations and other measures to restore parity and sustainability, pitting Ferrari against the other teams in a struggle to either maintain or overturn the status quo.