This is the second part of my article relating my own experiences of being a Grand Prix fan and attempting to compare them with other fans of our beloved sport.

In this article, I explain how I became a complete Formula One fan and also, how the last few years have been odd, agonising and at times, simply just annoying. Hope you enjoy it.

2000: Schumacher's Breakthrough

The season 2000 was a tight one, with Hakkinen and Coulthard appearing as strong as ever, but the Ferrari act seemed to have come together finally. Michael Schumacher began winning with more frequency.

The Australian Grand Prix that year involved an odd occurence. Ralf Schumacher had been tagged by Jacques Villeneuve's BAR Honda and the Canadian and German had been sent flying into the air. 

A marshal had been killed in the accident. I thought now that the drivers were so safe they could never die in an accident again, it was everyone else in danger now.

So Schumacher won the Championship. I thought he had to do it some time. I accepted 2000 as a painful necessity of statistics. Surely he had to wrap up at least one title at Ferrari?

Building Bitterness

But no, it was not to be a flash in the pan or a trick of sheer statistics. It was to be statistics rewritten. Schumacher won again, and again and again and AGAIN!

Slowly as I watched and the years advanced, tuning in to the Grand Prix filled me with an odd sensation.

As I watched the build up and remember the qualifying the day before, a feeling in my chest of immense apprehension built every race.

Whoever was the man who was Michael's rival, whether it be Hakkinen, Coulthard, Ralf or whoever I knew whilst simultaneously hoping otherwise, that they could not win. 2002 proved this more than any other year.

The races would begin, and it didn't matter where Michael Schumacher started, I just knew it! I knew he would find some way to the front!

Ron Dennis claims the first thing he feels on Mondays after a Grand Prix his cars did not win is pain, it was a similar feeling.

Williams, McLaren, Renault, Honda, to be honest I wasn't a proper fan (of course I was always McLaren) of any team, as long as they were going to trounce Ferrari. Their tactics and their forgiven infringements as well, burned up my temper.

Bitterness isn't really the word and it stays to this day. Escaping penalties for his aggressive driving against his brother in 2001 and 2002 and various other aspects of the Ferrari operation made me want to hate F1, but I couldn't because I loved it.

I don't know if anyone else experienced anything like this? All throughout the 2000's until 2004, I loathed Ferrari.

Closer races in 2003 brought the excitement level right back up after anti-Ferrari measures were employed. They made the races closer and Michael Schumacher still won.

I didn't mind as much, the man was beginning to look beatable. However, with Ferrari so dominant the previous year, I learned a trick for coping. Watching the lower teams.

In 2002, a driver arrived in F1 that was endlessly entertaining to watch and very likeable to the point where you willed him on even though he was really struggling. His name was Takuma Sato.

Cheering for the Underdog

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