When the FIA tried to block Raikkonen's debut

When a young Finn, who had just won Britain's Formula Renault 2.0 championship, made his first Formula 1 test appearance for Sauber at Mugello in 2000, he didn't only catch the eye of Michael Schumacher - it was the start of a genuine controversy that ended in FIA president Max Mosley trying to stop the youngster racing in F1 at all.

So impressive were Kimi Raikkonen's two September tests that, by the end of the month, rumours swirled around that he would land a test deal. Then, in October it was announced that, with just 23 car races under his belt, he would race for Sauber in F1 the following year.

"There are several aspects why we very strongly believe that Raikkonen is the right man for us," said team boss Peter Sauber.

"First of all, his very professional approach and his astonishing maturity considering his age. Even more impressive is his natural speed. He seems to crank out fast lap times effortlessly.

"In comparison with other drivers, we never got the impression that he reached his limits. We still have to find out how fast he can go."

For Raikkonen's part, in characteristically understated fashion, he suggested his regular mount was more tricky.

"I actually found driving the F1 car was quite easy - much easier than getting back in a Formula Renault car afterwards."

So Raikkonen had a race seat, end of story. Well, not quite. As he was jumping straight from Formula Renault to F1, unprecedented then and something that has not happened since, there was the thorny issue of the superlicence. This would not be a simple completion of paperwork.

By November, it was clear this would be a matter for the F1 Commission and the FIA World Motor Sport Council. Autosport reported in the middle of that month that Raikkonen's bid for a superlicence was likely to be denied on grounds of inexperience.

"I will certainly not be pleased if the whole thing falls through just because of paperwork," said the Finn.

Raikkonen's superlicence was eventually approved, with the caveat that it was on a provisional basis and up for review, because of his performances in testing. The vote was 23-1 in favour, with the one dissenting voice Mosley.

"Unfortunately, the F1 Commission doesn't always do as I tell them, despite speculation to the contrary," said Mosley. "I do not believe that they adopted a defensible position in giving an inexperienced driver like Raikkonen a licence.

"It is quite wrong, given that we have strict criteria for graduation into F1."

Raikkonen, who went on to string together a remarkable rookie year in 2001 and later became world champion, said simply "there is no rule that you cannot come from slower [cars] than F3 or F3000".

He was right. And that's how Raikkonen came to make his grand prix debut over the objections of the president of the FIA.

VILLENEUVE TRANSFER SAGA

Open up a random issue of Autosport during the first seven months of 2000 and odds are you will stumble across a 'Jacques Villeneuve's future' story.

The Canadian, whose stock was still high and whose performances for the emerging BAR team were strong on track, was courted by just about every team on the grid. No surprise given he was out of contract at the end of the season.

Eventually, Villeneuve did a new, and very lucrative three-year deal to remain at BAR for 2001-03. But that followed several months of intense speculation.

The stories started in earnest in April with the news that McLaren had approached Villeneuve. That fact was confirmed by Villeneuve's ex-manager and BAR team boss Craig Pollock - who also threw Arrows and Benetton into the mix.

The following week, Autosport reported that Jaguar had joined the competition for Villeneuve's signature.

"There's not one top manufacturer who is not trying to get Jacques and we're trying to retain him," said Pollock.

"We have something to prove to him that the others don't. It will be very difficult to compete for the championship in 2001 but he wants a possibility of competing and a contract that gives him value in money, the right lifestyle out of F1 and an atmosphere conducive to getting results."

Later in April, Autosport ran the story "Villeneuve caught up in McLaren, BAR row" - with accusations from Ron Dennis that Pollock had talked about potential McLaren interest to raise Villeneuve's value.

"I don't know the purpose of what Craig said in the media, other than to talk it up regarding his option on Jacques or his retainer," said Dennis. "I don't like being used."

Even so, the prevailing opinion was that Villeneuve was well-placed to replace David Coulthard at McLaren in 2001.

But by mid-May, the belief was that McLaren was actually set to retain Coulthard, kicking off a whole new round of speculation.

Later that month, Williams technical director Patrick Head explicitly ruled out re-signing Villeneuve, with Jaguar, Benetton and McLaren all listed as rivals to BAR for Villeneuve's signature.

On June 8, Autosport published a story saying Villeneuve would be heading to Benetton.

"Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve is to switch to the Benetton team next season in a deal worth a reputed £23million," said the story.

"The French-Canadian has agreed to join Renault, which owns Benetton, according to sources close to the team. Unless there is a last-minute hitch..."

Jenson Button and Giancarlo Fisichella were talked about as top of BAR's list for replacements - with Pedro de la Rosa and Alex Wurz also apparently approached.

A few weeks later, there were suggestions Pollock could leave with Villeneuve - with the Benetton move still said to have been done.

Come June 22, BAR was claiming Villeneuve would stay, with Honda president Soichiro Tanaka saying the team had assured them the chances of the Canadian staying on "very good".

Finally, in early July, Villeneuve's new deal to stay at BAR was agreed and announced.

The other major talking point in the driver market was the future of Button, who was always destined to lose his seat to Williams-contracted Juan Pablo Montoya.

Linked with a litany of teams, he eventually joined Renault-owned Benetton for what would be a difficult 2001 campaign.

Among the other question marks in the season were rumours that Johnny Herbert would be axed by Jaguar early in the year (some British national newspapers even suggested Damon Hill might come out of retirement to take the seat after visiting the San Marino GP), while Alex Wurz was also under pressure at Benetton.

In the end, both saw out the season but were replaced for the following year - Herbert retiring from F1 to attempt to crack America, with Wurz joining McLaren as a test driver and Olivier Panis leaving that role to race for BAR in 2001.

ZONTA'S TESTING DISASTERS

Back in the early days of this century, it wasn't unusual for there to be mishaps during testing and, in 2000, BAR driver Ricardo Zonta had two monstrous accidents.

At Silverstone in April, Zonta suffered a pushrod failure and lost his right-front wheel on the approach to Stowe and went off at 190mph.

The car skipped over the gravel trap and was pitched into a roll, hitting the top of the tyre barrier and being pitched over the top of the fence.

A lost wheel ended up landing between two grandstands, while Zonta's car ended up upside down on the other side of the fencing in an area spectators were not permitted in even outside of test sessions.

Zonta escaped uninjured, but described it as a "near-miss tragedy" - expressing concern for marshals had it been a race weekend.

You might describe it as a once-in-a-lifetime incident - but just two months later Zonta found himself heading towards the Parabolica at Monza at 185mph and the brakes didn't work.

Zonta spun the car onto the infield, narrowly missing the barrier then flew back across the track and into the tyre barrier at the Parabolica. He was fortunate only to suffer bruised knees.

Zonta wasn't the only one to have a big testing shunt. Giancarlo Fisichella clashed with Jarno Trulli's Jordan earlier in the season at Valencia, resulting in his Benetton somersaulting.

THE PITLANE SPEED LIMITER BAN

Then, as now, a major talking point in F1 was the regulations, with all sorts of plans for improvements to enhance the show, increase overtaking and the like all under discussion.

But one extreme rule change was made early in the season, when pitlane speed limiters were banned amid all sorts of accusations about various driver aids being used, including traction control.

Ahead of the British GP, the decision was made to outlaw cockpit-controlled pitlane speed limiters. This meant the drivers would have to regulate their speed themselves to avoid penalties.

The move was made in a series of changes aimed to clamp down on teams using systems that had the effect of traction control. Initially, these were to have been brought in a little earlier, but were deferred to April's race at Silverstone, the fourth round of the championship.

"We have reason to believe that the speed limiting devices were also being used to assist the cars at the start," said FIA president Max Mosley.

Later, the FIA changed its mind on the basis of drivers' complaints.

"I thought it introduced a certain unnecessary risk," said Michael Schumacher.

"For the high technology we have now, it sounded rather old fashioned. There was even an incident with Rubens [Barrichello] where he was concentrating so much on the speed that he did not see the red flight [at the end of the pitlane] and the marshal was telling him to stop."

The compromise was to allow teams to run the speed limiters, but not to be allowed to run sensors on the rear wheels. This stopped them being used to prevent wheelspin.

Later in the season, there were various proposals tabled. Among those were ideas of how to boost overtaking, how to make the rulebook simpler and generally engage the fans more.

Sound familiar?

SILVERSTONE'S WEATHER DISASTER

The move of the British Grand Prix from mid-summer to April always seemed like a bad idea. Sure enough, heavy rain meant that car parks were waterlogged and that many spectators were told to stay away on qualifying day.

On the morning of the race, five hours worth of traffic jams built up, with police warning those who had yet to set off for the race not to try as they would never make it.

"This weekend has underlined the problems of racing at this time of year and I hope people will understand that we have done everything we possibly can," said Silverstone chief executive Denys Rohan.

"You simply cannot Tarmac 2000 acres of land - we're in the countryside. Even with the benefit of hindsight, we cannot see a different way."

Despite complaints about fixture congestion, with 17 races on the calendar, the race moved back to the summer for 2001.

PEUGEOT VOWS NEVER TO RETURN

Peugeot withdrew from grand prix racing at the end of 2000, ending a seven-year stint as an engine supplier with first McLaren, then Jordan and finally Prost.

But shortly after the official announcement was made, company president Frederic Saint-Geours said he expected it never to return.

"I want one thing to be made totally clear and that is that we are pulling out of Formula 1 for good," he said.

"In life, one must never say never, but if you want my opinion it is that Peugeot will never again race in F1."

The Peugeot engine did live on in 2001 and '02 running as an Asiatech, the company that acquired the assets of the Peugeot F1 programme, supplying Arrows and then Minardi.