That could well be a statement about the 2007 Formula One season. Except that Symonds was commenting at the end of the 1997 season, a year that had seen four different teams and six different drivers win races, nine teams grace the podium out of the eleven which raced, 15 different drivers on the podium out of a starting grid of 22 cars, and 20 different drivers score points out of 26 who started a race - at a time when only the first six finishers were awarded.

Back in 1997, there had been very little change to the chassis and engine regulations for several seasons. Similarly, the off-season between 2006 and 2007 marks the fewest changes to the rules that Formula One has seen in many years. Generally, the teams have spent the winter not revolutionising, not redesigning, but refining - refining their aerodynamic detail, refining their engines, refining their strategies. And as everyone approaches the optimal performance of their package, so they draw closer to each other.

In fact, the changes for this season have, in essence, effected non-change or uniformity. Engines have been 'frozen' at Japanese GP 2006 specification, with only minor development allowed and revs limited to 19,000 rpm. Reliability is now the key. Half the teams have also had to switch from Michelins to Bridgestones, but early concerns about adjusting from some teams have dissipated. Tyre performance will no longer be a determining factor in a race result.

The interest with the tyre regulations this year comes with the rule that all cars must run both the softer and harder compounds during a Grand Prix, which may induce some overtaking although the cars are still overly reliant upon aerodynamic efficiency. Otherwise, the more procedural changes to the weekend, such as third drivers but not third cars being allowed on Fridays, and the ability for backmarkers to make up a lap under the safety car, do not look like dramatically affecting how things will turn out..

BMW's pace in pre-season testing has put everyone on notice. Williams are desperate to rebound and will now have the consistency of Toyota engines. Toyota's own works team has a budget that gives them the potential to achieve much. Red Bull finally have an Adrian Newey-designed car and Renault engines, and Toro Rosso are running a clone with Ferrari power. Super Aguri intend to run last year's Honda, and Spyker enter the new season with an injection of enthusiasm and Mike Gascoyne in the team.

The fact that 2007 feels like a year in which the playing field has levelled up also creates a sense that, with only one world champion left in the field, there will be much jockeying amongst the established drivers and the rising stars to work out the post-Schumacher hierarchy. Added to the Alonsos, Raikkonens, Buttons and Fisichellas of this world are the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen in potentially race-winning cars, and others such as the impressive Adrian Sutil and Anthony Davidson.

Although the finer details of the new Concorde Agreement for 2008 and beyond might cause a few stirs, politics look like taking a back seat as well this year. The GPMA is old news, and the biggest fight on the horizon is over the alleged use of customer cars by Toro Rosso and Super Aguri a year before they are officially permitted. And even then this appears to have been a battle taken up only by concerned teams like Williams and Spyker, while frankly the rest are simply heads-down working on their own packages.

So, at this stage, rules stability but driver movements bode well for a competitive season, one which will drop to 17 events, include five fly-away rounds in the first seven races, and return to Spa Francorchamps and Fuji but miss out on Imola, Hockenheim and Suzuka. Of course, as normally happens, a few teams will probably come to the fore and a pecking order will be established, but we just won't know until Melbourne rolls around, the gloves come off, and the real combat begins.