![2008 F1 official DVD season review: \"Luck does not come into it\" (click to enlarge)](http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/2008f1dvdofficialseasonreview_luckdoesnotcomeintoit.jpg "2008 F1 official DVD season review: \\"Luck does not come into it\\"")
The quality of the footage is usually excellent on theses DVDs – have FOM kept that up while fixing the niggling faults that have afflicted recent F1 season DVDs?
A whopping four hours and 15 minutes of footage spread across two discs makes the 2008 review, by my reckoning, the longest official F1 DVD yet. It boasts much ‘never before seen’ material including another new angle on the Sebastien Bourdais-Felipe Massa incident at Fuji.
But a lack of material has never been a weakness of official F1 DVDs: the biggest bugbear for me has been the style of commentary and presentation.
Fixing the flaws
Happily the producers have retained what was good about the commentary (the excellent Ben Edwards) and discarded the bad: he no-longer has to narrate the review as if everything is happening for the first time right in front of him. He’s finally allowed to use the past tense.
This may not sound like much, but watching a DVD of events that happened months ago gets rather boring when the commentator has to pretend that everything is unfolding before his eyes. To see what I mean, watch Robert Kubica’s crash at Montreal on the 2007 DVD.
They have also almost entirely weaned themselves off the habit of intruding on the race footage with painfully unsubtle music. Apart from the odd montage the whimsy is kept to a minimum. Another plus point.
With these irritations out of the way I found the 2008 F1 review much easier to enjoy than its predecessors.
New footage
The 18 races are split between the two discs. That means you have to changes discs halfway through watching the full review – but how often do you watch a four-hour DVD from end-to-end anyway? It’s split up into one chapter per race with sub-chapters for ease of navigation.
Race highlights benefit from the full gamut of Formula One Management’s official video and audio, much of which does not get broadcast during live race coverage. Among the interesting material I don’t recall having seen or heard before were problems on the start gantry at Istanbul, Adrian Sutil’s pit-to-car radio at Monaco, Steadicam footage of the aftermath of Hamilton’s crash at Montreal, Hamilton talking to his brother after winning the British Grand Prix and onboard from Timo Glock’s final lap at Interlagos. There’s probably much more besides.
Of course, it helps that 2008 was largely a very entertaining season. Even if the 2002 season review was up to the same standard as this it still wouldn’t be any fun to watch.
The second DVD also contains a series of features on Ross Brawn, Force India, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastien Bourdais and Fernando Alonso. These were good, though I suppose I’ll only every watch them once, and for that I’m grateful they’re no longer part of the main season review as they have been before.
Controversy
The narrative tends to steer away from the political issues of the year, and the fall-out from the Max Mosley sadomasochism affair is largely avoided. I suppose if they’d included it the DVD might need an adult certificate rating.
There is plenty of footage of the year’s most controversial moments including a shot of the infamous Sebastien Bourdais-Felipe Massa crash which I’m sure was neither broadcast at the time nor included in the package of clips released by FOM afterwards in reaction to criticism of the stewards’ decision. The rearward video angle from Bourdais’ car clearly shows him hugging the kerb on the inside of the track, doing his utmost to keep clear of Massa’s car.
Technically, the video and audio quality seem quite satisfactory – however I’m no an expert on that. The onboard camera footage is discernibly poorer quality to the external shots, but that’s the same during live broadcasts.
There are clear challenges ahead in this area: F1 is dragging its feet on sorting out high-definition coverage and as soon as it is widely available they will need to ensure the season reviews are also available in a popular HD format.
That aside I don’t think there is anything more you could reasonably expect from this product. Many of the complaints I had about past DVDs do not apply to this year’s review and I think they’re moving in the right direction. Above all, it captures the confusion and emotion of those intense final laps at Interlagos perfectly, and that is the single memory most people will hold over from the remarkable 2008 F1 season.
F1 Fanatic rating
Buy the official 2008 F1 DVD season review
“Luck does not come into it” – The official 2008 F1 season review DVD
?é?ú19.99
Published by 2 Entertain
todd
4th December 2008, 5:13
nice review. i ordered it. hope you get your commission :)
Jonesracing82
4th December 2008, 7:22
may i ask when u got it Keith?
it’s still not released in oz! grrrrrrrr
todd
4th December 2008, 7:38
it’s not in thailand either, but amazon ships globally just buy it from amazon.co.uk
Jonesracing82
4th December 2008, 7:47
then i gota worry bout pal formats
it’s normally within a week of UK getting it that we get it! if not, i’ll start to panic
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
4th December 2008, 8:58
Todd – Thanks :-)
Jones – The publishers sent me a copy – although it arrived late! Stupid Royal Mail…
Ben (@al13nat0r935)
21st October 2016, 21:32
Do you know how to get the soundtrack for all the songs used in the dvd? Or do you know the followings two songs
The overtaking montage in italy
The spinning montage in britian
When you start watching the second disc where it recaps part 1?
Jonesracing82
4th December 2008, 9:08
lol, we normally get it withing a week of u guys i think/i hope!
Dank
4th December 2008, 9:11
Damn it. For the first time ever I’ve asked for this as a Christmas present so have to wait another three weeks to get my grubby mitts on it!
Sounds good though, glad they’ve taken on board the complaints about the cringe-worthy commentary and background music!
MrPippy
4th December 2008, 18:32
Also asking for it for Christmas, but the NTSC/Region 1 edition doesn’t come out until the 16th–pretty late for something that is an obvious gift idea.
TommyBellingham
4th December 2008, 20:27
Cant wait to see the footage of Timo’s last lap at Brazil. Hope it shuts up all the awful people who think he let Hamilton win the title
Priscilla
4th December 2008, 21:23
Hi everybody!
Can we see in another languages or only in english?
Senor Paz
5th December 2008, 6:03
I presume “Luck does not come into it” refers to Hamilton’s season. Haha, laughable. The irony is hard to bear.
Jonesracing82
5th December 2008, 6:29
does the NTSC/region 1 version include australia?
Jonesracing82
5th December 2008, 9:54
i just read it’s not due out here (oz) till march ’09!
i do hope that incorrect!
todd
6th December 2008, 4:03
#11
hah yeah, wonder if they’ll chose a different cover catch phrase when they release it in brazil
‘anything can happen in the rain when you drive a toyota’
Lenny
7th December 2008, 11:42
I must say the picture quality is brilliant when using a blu ray player and a HD tv but the onboard quality is pretty average.
Dominic
10th December 2008, 18:34
awesome review, but there where mistakes in the dvd
MALAYSIA – hamlton was 1st and then pitted
“hamilton managed to be in 2nd before pitting…
END OF SEASON POINTS
“vettel finished 10th” – when he didn’t, he finished 8TH
loo9n
23rd December 2008, 9:56
great improvement this year..
i don’t remember piquet spinning
on the warm-up lap at singapore..
he really made a mess of that race..
GP2engine
13th December 2016, 3:08
What a mess yet to come ;)
Dank
28th December 2008, 12:47
Just finished watching it and thought it was disappointing and made an otherwise exciting season somewhat dull.
Very few unique pieces of footage which we haven’t seen before even on the live-feed or on F1.com. The only few I could think of was the starting issue in Instanbul and the brief conversation between Lewis and his brother at the end of the race in Silverstone. Where was the footage on Piquet’s spin on the first lap of Brazil which we never got to see for example?
And the bias towards Valencia was cringe-worthy. The drivers and managers describing how it was a brilliant venue to be etc?!!
The ‘extra features’ were severely lacking as well. Ross brawn being all optimistic about Honda’s chances for next season? Alonso looking through some pictures? Bourdais talking about, er, sorry, what was he talking about again?!!
Seriously struggled to remain awake whilst watching it. Too long and not enough new footage. I would seriously wait for this to be heavily reduced before purchasing, even if it has become a yearly ritual for most folk.
david
2nd January 2009, 1:49
what is the song on the lewis goes back in time segment
Larry
5th January 2009, 19:18
Does anybody know if there is an HD (Blu ray) version coming soon?
Thanks in advance,
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th January 2009, 20:09
I haven’t heard anything about a HD version and I wouldn’t bet a penny on it happening. Formula One Group are so far behind in adopting new technologies it’s beyond a joke. I’d be surprised if the 2009 review comes out on Blu-Ray…
Dazza
6th January 2009, 11:01
just posted this on another item but Zavvi are selling the 2008 F1 review DVD for £7.99 if anyone hasnt already got a copy, only in store they’ve stopped taking orders on their website as they are going under
Journeyer
8th January 2009, 13:44
Keith, not to pitpick or anything, but you said:
Wasn’t 2007 also a two-disc set?
Dank
8th January 2009, 18:32
Definitely one disc here in the UK.
Jonesracing82
11th January 2009, 6:30
nope ’08 was the 1st 2 disc one, tho it’s still not released here in oz! WHAT A JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dmw
17th January 2009, 2:33
The DVD was awful. The narration somehow manages to take the excitement and drama out of the races with awkward commentary that is always trailing the action. It puts you to sleep. The recaps are totally incoherent—if I did not watch the race I would have no idea what happened.
Dank
17th January 2009, 10:47
Completely agree! This year’s review doesn’t seem to have earned itself many positive reviews and I’m a bit surprised that Keith gave it 5/5
The Autosport forums took a distinct dislike to it. Pretty much sums up all my views there (page two onwards)
Chaz
28th January 2009, 11:22
This dvd is an incredible disappointment and a waste of money. Yet again F1 could have done so much more and succeeded only in coming up embarrassingly short…
Larry
2nd February 2009, 15:36
What an exiting season. I bought it, played on my Blu Ray player and HD TV and the picture quality is really bad. I was disappointed. They are presenting all GP on HD format and are not able to provide fans a better season review DVD quality. Shame on them!
AfroCoder
22nd February 2009, 13:51
Got the DVD.
Still shake like I don’t already know the outcome whenever I watch it.
Awesome!!!!!!!!!!
AfroCoder
22nd February 2009, 13:55
However, I’ll add that yes, the commentary itself wasn’t as good as ITV’s during the season, bar all the annoying commercial breaks. Still brought back some fond pictures of the season.
Wasn’t happy in particular with the amount and angle of some footage though.
Ben (@al13nat0r935)
15th October 2016, 22:05
Does anyone know what the soundtrack is for this dvd or the name of the songs in the following parts
Italian grand prix overtake montage
British grand prix spinning montage
or how do i find the soundtrack?