Suspended in a three-week limbo between races, the political machinations in F1 again become the focus of attention. This time, two significant individuals have broken ranks with the group-of-nine and joined Bernie Ecclestone, Max Mosley and Jean Todt at the negotiating table. Before we get to the heart of what this means for the attempts … Continue reading Editorial: Formula Ferrari
Renault have made a dominant start to the 2005 season – but Toyota, Ferrari and McLaren are chasing them hard. They need to be, because if they’re not on terms with the regie at this, the first race of the ‘European season’, they can kiss their title dreams goodbye. With the first three ‘flyaway’ races … Continue reading San Marino Grand Prix 2005 Preview
Bahrain gave us a cracking race – but what did the wider world make of it? We take a look at the coverage of the Bahrain Grand Prix in the major British papers, in this week’s media review. Most of the Bahrain reactio focussed on the Fernando Alonso-Michael Schumacher battle, surely the first of many … Continue reading Bahrain Grand Prix 2005 Media Review
It’s been a fixture for 25 years but the San Marino Grand Prix, the next stop on the F1 calendar, isn’t what it was. 2005 hasn’t been a bad season so far and now, at Bahrain, we have had our first real corker of a race. There was plenty of passing up and down the … Continue reading Editorial: Passion Killer
Four rookie drivers made their debut in last month’s Australian Grand Prix, and acquitted themselves with varying degrees of success. But how well did the rest of the grid fare on their debut races – did they show glimpses of greatness or opening night nerves? 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps Michael Schumacher, Jordan Ford – … Continue reading When they were young
Not five years ago, the British Formula Three Championship was part of your golden ticket to F1 glory and the series’ stars were seemingly on the fast-track to Grand Prix stardom. But the arrival of the rival 3 Euroseries may have changed all that. Jenson Button, Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson are all recent British … Continue reading British Formula Three preview
Fernando Alonso again swept all before him to take a second consecutive win – including the new Ferrari F2005s which failed even to score points.
Juan Pablo Montoya’s indifferent start to 2005 is not calculated to improve with the news that he will not race in Bahrain, still nursuing a shoulder fracture incurred while playing tennis. Frustratingly for McLaren they have still not modified an MP4-20 to fit their taller and preferred third driver, Alex Wurz. Instead, their second test … Continue reading Montoya’s injury
Premiership footballers are latest thing corrupting the nation’s youth. Apparently the sight of angry, impassioned sportsmen raging at referees over decisions that have gone against them is warping the fragile little minds of Britain’s junk food-stuffed sprogs. Some teachers and parents are even going so far as to suggest that football be screened after the … Continue reading Editorial: Come get some
Once upon a time not so long ago, Formula One drivers could be seen in action nearly every weekend; in non-Championship Grands Prix, Group C Sportscars, Touring Cars or even just thrashing a Saloon Car for a bit of fun. But why no more? Even in the mid-90s Giancarlo Fisichella intermittently alternated between the International … Continue reading Doin’ it for fun
The majority of books on Formula One are biographies of driver and histories of famous teams. Koen Vergeer’s Formula One Fanatic is something quite different, and an essential book for fellow F1 fans. Koen Vergeer’s Formula One Fanatic is a rare piece in the world of F1 literature – it’s not yet another cash-in biography … Continue reading Bookshelf Essentials: Formula One Fanatic
There are no shortage of coffee-table F1 books, resplendent with exquisite photography and teeming with statistics. But Formula 1: The Autobiography, though huge, offers something more: The history of F1 in the words of the drivers themselves. Walk into any second-hand bookshop and in the motorsport section you’ll probably find a few dozen different ‘encyclopedias’ … Continue reading Bookshelf Essentials: F1 – The Autobiography
Gerald Donaldson’s memorable biography of Gilles Villeneuve is tipped to become a film to hit cinema screens in 2007. It is a classic book on one of the sport’s most beloved drivers, that every F1 fan should read. There have been many Formula One drivers who have impressed, astounded even, and tragically died, leaving behind … Continue reading Bookshel Essentials: Villeneuve
Yes, it’s just what Formula One literature needs – yet another biography of Ayrton Senna. But Tom Rubython’s biography can make a worthy claim to being the definitive work on one of F1’s greatest figures. The Life of Ayrton Senna is a substantial 600-plus page work, meticulously researched and thoroughly detailed. Rubython is the author … Continue reading “The Life of Ayrton Senna” reviewed
After a dismal (by their standards) start to 2005, Ferrari have pressed their new car into action two weeks ahead of schedule. Can they close the gap to Renault, or will the technical Bahrain circuit reveal that their true weakness is their Bridgestone tyres? The 2004 Bahrain Grand Prix won the FIA’s award for best … Continue reading Bahrain Grand Prix 2005 Preview
According to Autosport-Atlas Ferrari have decided to cancel their testing session at Silverstone in June. It is a response to the near-universal criticism of their refusal to pursue cost-cutting reductions in testing. However there is still no sign that they will back down from their two somewhat contradictory stances on testing: that their reduction in … Continue reading Ferrari offer testing truce?
Michael Schumacher has finally gotten behind the wheel of the F2005 and immediately after getting out of the car told the journos from Autosport-Atlas and that this was the super-fact, razor-sharp machine that would allow him to renew his crushing domination of F1: “This car has been driven quite a lot, it’s not as if … Continue reading Schumacher drives F2005
Ferrari are in trouble – there is no doubt about it. They never looked like running with the leaders all weekend long, and by the end of second qualifying Michael Schumacher was four seconds behind, languishing in 13th. After 56 laps he was 1m 20s behind Alonso, and had been lapped at one stage. A … Continue reading Editorial: So what’s it gonna be this time?
Few drivers split opinion in the way Jacques Villeneuve does. Some see him as a mercurial genius who livens up the Grand Prix paddock with his bravery and outspoken antics. Others feels he is a waster who talks better than he races. When he left BAR towards the end of 2003, most people agreed that … Continue reading Villeneuve: Should he stay or should he go?
Depending on who you ask, the Grand Prix World Championship is either ‘the promised land’ for F1, or an idle threat made by a small group of manufacturers who want more money out of the sport. The ‘GPWC’ acronym has been echoing around the paddock for a few years but perhaps never more than in … Continue reading Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC)
