Review of Maurice Hamilton's new book 'Formula One: The Champions'

Formula 1 world champions are indeed an exclusive bunch. Only 33 have reached the status from over 600 to compete in F1 across 70 years, not to mention the innumerable additional group who have not even made it that far. Few therefore would dispute long-serving F1 correspondent Maurice Hamilton describing F1's title as "the ultimate accolade in motorsport".

And Hamilton's latest book, Formula One: The Champions, is a fitting tribute to them. Released tomorrow on March 3 and published by White Lion, it is a stylishly-presented and sizeable 240-page hardback made up of written and photographic portrayals of every one of those 33, from Giuseppe Farina through to Nico Rosberg, stopping off at legends such as Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher, among several others, along the way.

Hamilton for this has allied his words with the photography of Bernard Cahier and his son Paul-Henri of The Cahier Archive photographic collection, reuniting the same trio that brought us 2016's The Pursuit of Speed title.

The task of portraying all the title winners going back to 1950, who as Hamilton notes at the outset are a diverse band in an ever-changing category, is a sizeable one. Yet these authors are well-placed to take it on, with Hamilton offering 40 years on the F1 front line as well as a keen eye for its history, and The Cahier Archive stretching back to the F1's beginnings and, uniquely, remaining throughout that time in its original hands.

The F1 British Grand Prix: The most memorable moments from Silverstone

It's almost that time of the year again for the most exciting race in British motorsport, as Formula 1 turns its attentions to the United Kingdom and more specifically, Silverstone. The world-famous and historical track will once again play host to the British Grand Prix on July 14, whereby Lewis Hamilton will be looking for his sixth win on home soil.

By Carlina Xavier from London, England -
It's time for a comeback, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://
commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7196609

The Stevenage-born driver is arguably one of the finest to represent Britain in F1, and he has often been the focal point of Silverstone's finest moments. 2019's race will be the 55th time that Silverstone has held the British Grand Prix so ahead of the spectacle, let's take a look at some of the most memorable moments from Silverstone.

Hamilton's first win at Silverstone – 2008
There's no better place to start than remembering Lewis Hamilton's first-ever win at Silverstone in 2008, which was the same year he won his first drivers' championship as well. The 23-year-old had endured a difficult qualifying which meant he started in fourth position, but the latter stages of the main race demonstrated what Hamilton was all about. He took a commanding lead early on but the maturity in his driving in such bad conditions was a joy to behold, and he duly crossed the line to a rip-roaring applause from the home faithful. Think he'll do it again this year? British Grand Prix Betting is available right now for the latest and best prices.

1973 French Grand Prix review for Motor Sport Magazine

By Anefo / Mieremet, R.. / neg. stroken, 1945-1989, 2.24.01.
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 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23303177

My latest classic grand prix retro review for Motor Sport Magazine's website is here. This time it's from the history-rich French Grand Prix.

I've looked back at the 1973 race, then as now at the Paul Ricard circuit (albeit there have been some adventures between times).

Then, Paul Ricard was an archetypal 'new' venue, with all the growing pains that entails. And that wasn't the only source of novelty in this '73 meeting. One new boy shook up Formula 1; another at last took his first F1 victory.

You can have a read of my retro re-tread here: https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/history/f1/1973-french-f1-grand-prix-peterson-breaks-his-duck

Plus you can check out my previous classic grand prix articles for Motor Sport here and here.

1982 and all that - is history repeating?

Nineteen Eighty-Two. For the historically-minded F1 fan the rather Orwellian air isn't inappropriate. Even in a sport rarely shy of providing notoriety it was a season that has strong claim to being its most notorious of all. It was possessed of almost everything, both highs and moreover desperate and extreme lows.

For extreme ill and some good, the 1982 F1 season
is possibly F1's most notorious
By Dijk, Hans van / Anefo / neg. stroken, 1945-1989, 2.24.01.
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And was one of a sort that perhaps is being repeated now. To an extent at least. Thankfully the worst of the 1982 season's depths look unlikely to be replicated this time; as most probably will not the scaling of the higher peaks. But the family resemblance is there.

You'll be aware that F1 right now is in a state of civil war. That some political wrangle or other is at all points it seems elbowing into view. F1 in 1982 was just the same.

It even then as now had roughly the same protagonists, and literally the same in the case of Bernie Ecclestone. Though unlike now the warring factions then were Bernie and his FOCA organisation set against the FIA (or FISA at its sporting arm was then known) and particularly against its autocratic head Jean-Marie Balestre. Now Bernie and the FIA are allies, and they are allied against the teams. Again the rather Orwellian whiff is present - three 'superstates' of the governing body, commercial rights holder and teams in perpetual war, alliances shifting like water.

Famous five: F1's honourable acts

The debate about the Sebastian Vettel-Mark Webber case from the recent Malaysian race has indeed been an enduring one, as well as is more nuanced than many on both 'sides' of the debate are appreciating. But one notion that has been fairly commonly expressed in the discussions that I do refute is that ruthlessness is required to prevail in F1, and that Vettel's actions were commendable on these grounds.

I do not believe that is true. While I am not so naive to think that ruthlessness doesn't help you I also absolutely do not believe that it is necessary. And for various reasons I'd like to think that there's still room for honour in sport, including in F1. Indeed, we can cite many of F1's greatest champions and purest racers who - while their will to win cannot be questioned - were also always absolutely honourable: Fangio, Moss, Clark, Stewart, Villeneuve, Hakkinen among others, and the positivity of their legacies reflect their honour as well as their talents. And it troubles me the number of people who appear to take the view that honour can if anything be considered as a weakness. I don't know if it in this case represents partisan Vettel/Red Bull supporters falling into line, the dubious legacy of Senna and Schumacher (both notorious for their win at all costs attitude), or is a more general indictment of our age. But I for one will always rail against such a notion.

And in my attempt to redress the balance ever so slightly I have complied five examples from history wherein honour did prevail in F1 and drivers prioritised doing the right thing to the detriment of their own chances.

Peter Collins, 1956
When we are given cause to agonise over the rights and wrongs team orders in F1 some talk about it like it's a new thing. Indeed in Monaco in 2002, the race after that wherein Rubens Barrichello notoriously had slowed on the line to let Michael Schumacher through to win, a protest banner could be spotted among the crowd stating 'Fangio didn't need team orders'. Not so, on either point. Back in F1's good old days when men were men and racing was pure team orders were even more endemic, and applied much more vigorously, than they are now. Simply ceding position to your team mate was just the beginning of it, it was common to go so far to cede your car to a nominated team leader mid-race should he have broken down or crashed earlier (and any subsequent points from that race would be shared).

Further thoughts on the European Grand Prix

The real story from Valencia?
What was the biggest story from the European Grand Prix in Valencia just passed? Fernando Alonso's victory was as unexpected as it was brilliant, and only a curmudgeon will have been left unmoved by his emotional home win, all of which leaves him a clear 20 points clear in the drivers' table.

Are Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull set to dominate?
Credit: Morio / CC

But in the midst of all this was the real story of the weekend, at least in the longer term, missed? Before his alternator failed him at mid distance Sebastian Vettel had routed the field. With Red Bull having turned up with a technical upgrade so extensive that one team member quipped that it was not so much a B-Spec as a D-Spec, no one could live with Seb. From pole position (acquired comfortably) at the start of the race his lap-on-lap lead went like this: 1.9 seconds, 4.0, 5.3, 6.8, 7.6, 8.5, 9.2. And by lap 22 he had upwards of 20 seconds in his pocket over the next guy, more than enough to make an additional pitstop and still be leading, before first the safety car and then, definitively, a dud alternator destroyed his advantage. It was an astonishing show of supremacy, the like of which we've almost never seen in F1 2012-style, but that we saw repeatedly last season.

So, has Red Bull put a massive stride on the opposition which will be decisive for where honours go this year? Well, I wouldn't put it past them; Adrian Newey and his team are perfectly capable of such a eureka moment. And, something that's under-commented on, Red Bull's record of in-season development is an excellent one. Try to remember one of its upgrades that didn't work and it's genuinely difficult to cite many (or any) examples. Of course, on the flip side it's been such an unpredictable season so far with such a multitude of variables that it may be foolish to base too much on one race; Vettel qualified only seventh in the Spanish round which followed his win in Bahrain earlier this year, and while Nico Rosberg trounced all in China he's barely been seen at the front since. And at least some of Seb's Valencia dominance owed to his closest potential rivals on pace being tucked up behind slower cars. Silverstone next up, which is a very different circuit to Valencia, should give us a clearer sense of how the land really lies.

But without wishing to play the bad fairy at the christening, do you ever suspect that the close and unpreditable 2012 we've been enjoying may be about to come to an end?

The Phoenix: Williams rises from the ashes

There was a time when Frank Williams was a joke figure in F1. Yes, seven world drivers' titles, nine constructors' titles and 113 Grand Prix victories later it seems an odd assertion. But for years Frank Williams was perceived as a forever struggling, stumbling presence in the paddock with cars invariably near the back of the pack.

He had success in his first year in the sport in 1969, claiming two second places running a privately-entered Brabham with Piers Courage driving, but after that point it appeared that Frank, year after year, was condemned to salvaging what he could from the latest failed project.

Piers Courage in a Brabham entered by Williams in 1969
Credit: Lothar Spurzem / CC

As everyone prepared for the start of the 1978 season there seemed little reason to re-evaluate that judgment. Recent form wasn't encouraging: in 1976 even with access to Canadian oil millionaire Walter Wolf's cash success for Frank's team was meagre, with no points scored. Further, after Frank was sidelined the Wolf team went on to claim three victories and finish in second place in the constructors' table the following season. And while this was going on Williams, starting again with his own operation, again scored no points competing with a private (and what turned out to be a long in the tooth) March.

His designer for the new season, Patrick Head, concurs: 'You've got to remember that Frank's reputation from his early efforts was not great. He was known as "W*nker" Williams...everybody thought his cars were just there to fill up the grid'.

Return to Ricard?: F1 re-establishes its French connection

F1 is poised to re-establish its French connection it seems. Following on quickly from the long overdue return of French drivers to the sport this year (and no fewer than three of them), the equally long overdue return of a French race sounds imminent.

France is the country of motor sport's very roots. The first ever organised motor race took place there in July 1894. Such races eventually became Grands Prix and Grandes Epreuves (the use of the French lexicon isn't coincidence), which in turn eventually became Formula One. And a French Grand Prix appeared on the F1 calendar every year aside from 1955, when it was cancelled in the wake of the Le Mans disaster, seeming to be part of the furniture. But after 2008, after years of threatening by Bernie, the unthinkable happened and the French round was dropped for the 2009 season. F1's itinerary has stepped away from its heritage and core support notably in recent times - and surely the dropping of the French round is the most egregious.

Felipe Massa - winner of the last ever
French Grand Prix, in 2008
Credit: Thijs Bekkema / CC

But the issue of the French round's return has moved on in recent days ever so slightly. France's Prime Minister Francois Fillon, himself a motor racing man - he's on the committee of the Le Mans 24 hour race and has competed in the Le Mans legends sports car race - visited the Paul Ricard circuit last week. And while the actual confirmation of the returning French Grand Prix that many anticipated was not forthcoming, it did sound like it isn't far off. Fillon's utterances indicated that money is in place and Bernie is on board, with only a small and surmountable gap in finances to be bridged. It also seems that alternation of the race with another venue (most probably Spa) is how the race will be scheduled, and that the race's venue will be Paul Ricard.

F1's American Odyssey

There was some good news for F1 last week. On Tuesday a 10 year deal for a new F1 race in New Jersey was formally announced.

The race, to be known as the Grand Prix of America, will be held from 2013 onwards on roads around Port Imperial in the towns of Weehawken and West New York, and will feature the New York City skyscape on the other side of the Hudson river as its backdrop. Attempts to stage an F1 event in or around New York City seem to have been made since the dawn of F1 itself (see here for more), but now, finally, it looks like it will be a reality.

This race of course joins the round in Austin, which is to feature on the calendar from 2012, again with a 10 year deal and to be known as the United States Grand Prix, meaning two US rounds on the F1 schedules in the near future, and for the first time since 1984.


An impressive promotion and 'lap' of the new Austin track, by Red Bull and David Coulthard

All of this is not before time in my view. I've long been of the view that there should be at least two US rounds on the F1 calendar. There should be no doubt of the country's ability to stage two races. For the purposes of the F1 calendar America should be thought of as a continent rather than as a country: there will be close to 2,000 miles between the two venues (and how many European rounds are within that radius of each other?).

Looking back: the time F1 drivers banned one of their own

In the build up to last week's Japanese Grand Prix the Italian magazine Autosprint reported that some F1 drivers wanted Lewis Hamilton's driving to be raised as a matter for discussion at that event's drivers' briefing.

I'm very glad that nothing came of that. Such a move would have been shameful, with the strong stench of a witch hunt. Furthermore, it would have been absolutely unnecessary. Yes, it can't be denied that Lewis Hamilton has been making contact with other cars too often over the last 12 months or so, but we're not talking about someone new on the scene, or someone unproven. Lewis Hamilton has been in F1 for close to to five years, and in that time proven beyond doubt that he's one of the sport's most accomplished performers. And up until the Italian race of last year (when his habit of tagging other cars began) he didn't make contact with other cars that often. It's very hard to think of occasions before that wherein he was involved in an incident with another car that was unequivocally his own fault. Hitting Kimi Raikkonen in the pitlane in Canada in 2008 is arguably the only one, and he's far from the only one to be caught out by that pit exit. Not bad for someone who in that time firmed himself up as F1's most exciting and willing racer and overtaker.

F1 does have a previous when it comes to egregious behaviour by some drivers towards one of their own. One time before a few 'senior' drivers effectively banned one of their fellow number from a Grand Prix. This they did by coercing the organisers of a race, on pain of them withdrawing and forcing the event to be cancelled, not to accept that driver's race entry. The year was 1978 and the banned driver was Riccardo Patrese.

Looking back: 'A typical English summer's day', the 1975 British Grand Prix

Rain and the British Grand Prix are reasonably familiar acquaintances. This has been the case this weekend, with each session for the F1 cars being disrupted by rain showers to some extent. However, whatever happens this weekend, or indeed at any other F1 race, it's very hard to imagine any being as rain-affected as the British Grand Prix of 1975, which was then as now at Silverstone.

After two days of rain-interjected practice, the race pivoted on two rain separate storms sweeping over the circuit. The second of which was of such force that it accounted for thirteen cars (compare that to the six that left the track via the Nurburgring river in 2007), leaving only six cars running as the race was terminated ten laps ahead of time. In between, the drivers did their best to put on a diverting motor race, with seven different leaders, and nine changes of lead, and a top order that swayed this way and that.

The F1 circus gathered at Silverstone for the 1975 race, and the large and enthusiastic crowd present across the three days (practice was Thursday and Friday, and the race on the Saturday - not unusual at the time), and the fact that everyone who was anyone in British motorsport was in attendance it seemed, ensured a jamboree atmosphere. This was despite the persistently iffy weather, storms intermingling with bright sunshine throughout.

Ronnie Peterson prepares for the start
Credit:  Lawson Speedway

The 1975 British Grand Prix was also one of watersheds (perhaps appropriate given the weather). First of all, Graham Hill had finally announced his retirement from driving, after a then record 176 starts, to concentrate on running his F1 team. I say 'finally' partly as the decision wasn't exactly unexpected, his previous attempt to qualify an F1 car was back in the Monaco event over two months earlier, but also because his performances had been far short of his former majesty for a number of years. Still, Hill threatened to bring the house down when he did a demonstration lap just before the race start, smiling, waving and minus a crash helmet, in one of his latest Hill GH1s.

Looking back: 1979 - not the march de triomphe for Ligier

OK, I'll admit it. I first had the idea to write something on Ligier's 1979 season sometime after the Brazilian Grand Prix this year, in which Red Bull had refused to 'nominate' one of their drivers for the championship or to impose team orders. It was to be a cautionary tale of a frontline team with two competitive drivers losing out on a championship by allowing them to race each other, to the point that they damaged each other's hopes.

The Red Bulls then inconsiderately won both the drivers' and the constructors' titles. But the story of Ligier in 1979 is sufficiently compelling to be worth recounting nevertheless, and the lack of team orders is but part of it.

To cut a long story short, the Ligiers ran away with the opening two races of 1979, before gradually fading to become also-rans by the season's end with, on the face of it, an unfathomable rate of decline. As is usually the case in F1, the reasons for this decline are not straightforward.

Thoughts on Peter Warr

Like many people, I was very sad to hear of the passing of Peter Warr earlier this week.

Bernie was absolutely right to say that 'When Peter was in Formula One he helped me to build it to what it is today'. Peter Warr's F1 team management career ran from 1969, when he was asked by Colin Chapman to take the team manager role at Team Lotus, all the way through to 1989, taking in spells at Wolf, Fittipaldi and back again to Lotus along the way. His career encompassed the transformation of the sport from something of a gentlemanly pastime to the professional event recognised around the world that we're all so familiar with today.

Further, in this time Warr was not just another team boss, he distinguished himself as one of the most effective team managers in the sport, often in difficult circumstances.

I personally became aware of Peter Warr when I first followed the sport in the mid 1980s. I was an Ayrton Senna fan (and not one of the posthumous converts that seem to be so numerous!), so Warr therefore was a key figure in my F1 initiation, as Senna's team manager at Lotus. While Lotus's decline throughout the 1980s is well documented, it should be recorded that Warr's team did astonishingly well with the resources available to them in this time.