Memories of Imola 1994, by Ibrar Malik

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of that horrific race weekend and the passing of two Formula 1 drivers there will be three separate blogs over the coming days. The next blog pays tribute to Roland Ratzenberger and how his accident helped spark an important safety legacy within F1. The third blog will remember Ayrton Senna's final 24 hours.

However, today's blog gives a more personal recollection. Mike Fairholme is well known and respected among F1 circles having provided the finest bespoke helmets to over 60 Formula One drivers since the 1980s.

Mike with his other love, Toffee. In March 2018 Motor Sport Magazine wrote an article about him entitled "Racing's artist in residence"…it is well worth a read for his wonderful stories

The Flying Dutchman After 1994, by Ibrar Malik

Jos Verstappen, the father of current F1 star Max, arrived in the sport with a BANG. On his debut, the 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix, he arguably caused one of the most horrific looking multi-car pileups ever. This had followed massive hype surrounding the 22-year-old that he was F1's next big thing.

Verstappen failed to deliver on his initial promise, instead he crashed out of 50% of races during 1994. It earned him the nickname "Vercrashen". 

Some believed the pressure of debuting for one of F1's top teams - Benetton - alongside the 1994 world champion got to him. Whereas others, including Jos himself, felt Benetton secretly gave Schumacher a car laden with hidden electronic aids which explained the Dutchman's lack of performance. The new book investigates this in detail however, what can be learned from Jos's career outside of Benetton?

Take a Time Warp Back to the Mid-1990s, by Ibrar Malik

This is the first of what will be several guest blog posts on Talking about F1 by Ibrar Malik, about his forthcoming book 1994 – The Untold Story of a Tragic and Controversial F1 Season. This book will aim to offer much additional insight into this turbulent season and much else besides. You can find much more detail on this on his website at: www.1994f1.com. 

Want to know what the internet looked like back then? There is one website that hasn't been modified since 1 October 1995…that of the Pacific Grand Prix team.

They weren't the greatest F1 team but Pacific's website certainly is memorable.

1994 was the Pacific and Simtek teams' debut F1 season. It proved a baptism of fire because it was one of the sport’s most turbulent years - as the upcoming book explains. After the Imola tragedies extensive, and some might say rushed, car modifications were imposed upon teams in the name of safety. Keith Wiggins, the Pacific team boss, summed up his thoughts at the time; "If my engines don’t bankrupt me, this stands a pretty good chance." Pedro Lamy suffered a massive testing accident which many claimed was a direct result of the FIA’s safety initiative. "That is self-evidently nonsense," retorted FIA president Max Mosley, meanwhile the Portuguese driver was lucky to have survive the crash, albeit with extensive injuries.