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By Andrew Benson
Motorsport editor
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These three men are the future of Formula One
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Fernando Alonso's victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday has turned the 2003 Formula One season into the best for nearly 20 years.
Only two points cover the top three drivers in the world championship with three races to go, meaning 2003 will go down as one of the greatest seasons in Formula One history.
The last time there was a title battle this competitive was in 1986, when eventual winner Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna all had hopes at this point in the season.
And you have to go back to 1985 for this many winners in a single season.
After one year of almost total domination by Ferrari, we investigate the causes of this incredible turnaround.
What has made 2003 so close?
Eight drivers have won at least one race
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It may seen a long time ago, but even Fisichella and Jordan have won in '03
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Michael Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen, Ralf Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard and Giancarlo Fisichella have all seen the chequered flag this year. That is the most since 1983.
The title battle is incredibly close
Michael Schumacher, Montoya and Raikkonen are separated by just two points heading into the final three races. But although they are effectively out of it, Ralf Schumacher and Alonso can still mathematically win the title.
Five different teams have won a race
The last time that happened was in 1986.
Why has this happened?
New rules
The introduction of a swathe of new regulations for this season by Max Mosley, the president of motorsport's governing body, has without doubt had an impact on the championship.
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Schumacher is having a tough time of it this year
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The decision to ban refuelling between qualifying and race has mixed up the grids by allowing less competitive teams to qualify artificially high on the grid.
That means slower cars can influence the result of races.
This has been happening less and less as the season has developed because teams have worked out what is the best strategy for them and stuck by it rather than sacrificing their races by going for glory in qualifying.
However, it is still having an influence, such as in Hungary. There, the quickest two cars were the Williams-BMWs of Montoya and Ralf Schumacher.
But a bad start by them got them stuck behind slower cars and allowed Alonso to make the decisive break.
The new points system has also made it more difficult to close or open gaps quickly with a series of wins - although the championship would still be achingly close with the old system.
Resurgence of the British teams
At least part of the reason Ferrari utterly dominated last season was because McLaren and Williams under-performed.
The two great British teams made major improvements to their cars over the winter to rectify this and would be contenders even without the extra help they have got from one decisive area - tyres.
Tyres
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Ferrari's Bridgestone tyres are uncompetitive at the moment
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Ferrari's tyre supplier Bridgestone is struggling desperately at the moment.
It has the odd good race - usually when the weather is cooler such as in Silverstone. And they would still win any wet race.
But race in, race out the Michelins used by McLaren, Williams and Renault are the tyres to have, to at least as great a degree as the French company were struggling in 2002.
To over-simplify, the Michelins have more grip and they last longer and Bridgestone has been left behind - to the point that Michael Schumacher could only finish eighth in Hungary, hamstrung by his lack of grip.
The emergence of a "big four" rather than a "top three"
Renault have fulfilled their ambition of forcing people to talk about four big teams in F1 for the first time for years.
They have been improving steadily since the French car company took over the Benetton team in 2001. And the emergence of Fernando Alonso as a future superstar has helped turn them from hopefuls into winners, with the promise of much more to come.
A new generation of talent
Since the retirement of Mika Hakkinen at the end of 2001, Formula One has been waiting for the next man capable of taking on and beating Michael Schumacher. Now there are three.
Kimi Raikkonen is like Hakkinen in miniature - super-fast, super-cool and, difficult though it is to believe, even more monosyllabic in public.
Is Alonso F1's next megastar?
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Montoya's emergence has been expected for a long time - brave and bold, his talent is based on inspiration, reflex and pure natural ability.
Alonso is the big surprise this season, although not to those who have worked with him before or paid close attention to his drives with Minardi in 2001.
Hard as nails, but friendly and approachable and incredibly fast and consistent, he could be the best of the bunch.
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