That is not to take anything away from Michael or Ferrari's achievements. A record fifth straight world drivers' title for the German, and his team's sixth consecutive constructors' championship, smashing more records than plates at a Greek wedding along the way, was a testament to how both driver and engineers - those at Bridgestone in particular - had turned the intensity switch up another notch. They produced the fastest, most powerful, and yet also the most reliable Grand Prix cars the world had ever seen, and perhaps will ever see. And for that they can only be admired.

But at the same time, as the Ferrari juggernaut turned more and more into a machine, addicted not to the drug of competition but to the ecstasy of winning, so the remaining charisma, passion, mystique that epitomised and symbolised the team in the past slowly drained out from them. True, they may have had more resources, more test tracks, and yes it was up to other teams to catch up. But it was a fine line between asserting their privileges and their rights on one hand, and appearing flauntingly arrogant and having no humanity or grace towards their sport on the other.

Ferrari's aristocratic attitude and lack of personality while they were winning was certainly a cause for disappointment. But perhaps more so was how none, not one of their rival teams were able to get their act together in a remotely similar way. Williams and McLaren both failed in going radical, and whilst the former wallowed in relative mediocrity, the latter started off worse but improved, albeit all too late. Renault lost their technical direction and then tore themselves apart. A little by default, BAR stepped up to the plate splendidly, but really only ever managed to get 80% of the job done.

Perhaps disillusioned by Ferrari's dominance and the inadequacies of their own teams, it was not a particularly impressive year on the driving front. Only Michael and Jenson Button lived up to or exceeded the expectations and hype that had been created, especially after 2003. A low-quality season in the rookie ranks was tempered by the fact that, of the other emerging young stars of the last few seasons, few were thoroughly consistent and all are still yet to reach full bloom in terms of their potential. That was frustrating; there were simply too few sparks to liven up too many dull races.

Indeed, whilst the rule changes at the start of 2003 had seemingly worked, the further amendments for this season turned out to be a disaster. Fridays turned out to be virtual non-events, and the less said about two hours of back-to-back qualifying - longer than a race time - the better. The complete overhaul of both the technical and sporting regulations for future years announced early in the season before the Spanish GP have now almost been forgotten as the intricate details for 2005 and 2006 have been painstakingly, painfully thrashed out - predictably slowly.

Maybe it was just the comparative lack of action on the track, but the level of politics in the paddock reached alarming heights. It wasn't just a red corner, blue corner affair either. There was the FIA, caught up in its own internal jostling with Max Mosley's on-again, off-again resignation, the manufacturers still playing the breakaway-championship card, the clamorous voices of privateer battlers Eddie Jordan and Paul Stoddart, and Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One Management. Positional changes in this game surely happened a lot faster than on the circuit. Who agreed with whom depended on the issue and what was at stake.

A few reviews ago we described it as "brinkmanship", and it was definitely that. There was brinkmanship over rules for next year and beyond. There was brinkmanship over driver contracts, especially the Button saga. There was brinkmanship over the survival of races, which hasn't been resolved. And there was also brinkmanship over the survival of teams, with Ford putting Jaguar and Cosworth up for sale in a clear warning to the sport, Red Bull stepping in to buy the remains at the eleventh hour, and Jordan and Minardi just staying alive. F1's not for the faint-hearted ­ and that's not just the driving bit.

And so what of 2005? Heavily reduced aerodynamics may slow cars down by 4-5 seconds, whilst the apparent prohibition of tyre changes and the one-engine-per-two-races rule also look likely to increase lap times. Is it enough of a fresh start, even before more radical rules for 2006 come in, to bring everyone back to more of a level playing field? Perhaps also the driver changes with Juan-Pablo Montoya at McLaren, Mark Webber at Williams and Giancarlo Fisichella at Renault in particular will give those teams a new impetus as they try to end the Ferrari dominance. We can only hope.

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