It seems as though the big 4 teams are starting to have some parity between them. McLaren, Ferrari and Benetton have all made improvements over the last few races and perhaps next season will be the kind of season we all hoped that this one turn out to be. After all, wouldn't it be nice to watch a GP where the outcome was truely in doubt until the last few laps? Wouldn't it be great to watch a qualifying session where any one of 8 drivers could take the pole? Obviously it's never been that cut and dried in F1, there has always been domination, if not from Ferrari, then from McLaren, or Williams. If this is ever to happen here's what I see has to happen next season.

First of all Renault has to fall out with Williams. Certianly to a degree that Benetton gets slightly beneficial treatment, rather than the equal foooting they currently share with Williams at Renault. This could be caused by Williams letting Damon Hill go to McLaren with the #1. Hill would be more than capable of taking the rapidly improving McLaren to victory. So it's Damon to McLaren.

Next Hakkinen would have to go to Benetton to replace Gerhard Berger. I feel that Mika is not far from his maiden Grand Prix victory, and he may even get it this season with a little luck. Gerhard on the other hand looks far from the winning form he displayed early in his career. Perhaps its time Gerhard took a trip across the pond to fill Fittipaldi's empty Indycar seat.

Thirdly, Ferrari have to develop some reliabilty. They have always had the resources. If they can stay the course with their current personnel they have the talent to be truly competitive. Schumacher is obviously the most talented driver in F1, but Ferrari, with it's top heavy management structure is the hardest team in the top 4 to win with, just ask Alain Prost.

Last, Williams will have to hire Frentzen to replace Hill, and to attract BMW for '98. Frentzen then would have to have a little trouble getting on with a new crew. Also, Williams would suffer from having a "lame duck" engine supplier. Throw in a couple of botched pit stops at inopportune times, and you have a recipe for a season of mediocre performance.

The '96 season promised to be on of the most exciting seasons in recent years. The best driver was going to revive Ferrari. The World Champion Constructors were getting a hard charger and a willy veteran that both lacked the reliability they needed to let their talent shine through. The best car was being driven by a driver who had been humbled the year before, and a rookie from Indycars. It sounded like a recipe for an exciting season of grand prix racing. Instead we have just 4 winners after 13 races, one of the winners being a fluke. The constructor championship was won 3/4 of the way through the season, and after the Hungarian GP two drivers from that same team are the only ones able to win the driver's championship.

So next season when all the chips start to fall in interesting places, like they did this year. Remember that there will always be some factor that no one counts on that screws up our hopes for an exciting season.