Formula One Features — March 1989

Mauricio Gugelmin has an annoyingly good sun-tan. It comes from having spent much of the last few weeks lying on beaches in Brazil and playing about with jet ski. This device has tried to kill him on several occasions as Mauricio attempted such optimistic manoeuvres as looping-the-loop!

The French have a marvellous expression: "There is no such thing as a pretty good omelette." It is a similar story of drivers in Formula 1. There is no such thing as a pretty good driver in F1. They are all exceptional but, contrary to the belief of some in the pitlane, Grand Prix racing does not have a monopoly on talent. There is always room for the next new star although in recent years very few new boys have been admitted into this exclusive society of Formula 1.

Julian Bailey had a rough time in 1988. It began well with the opportunity to become a Tyrrell Formula 1 driver. He took it but the car was not very good and by the end of the year Bailey was looking for work. Getting a drive in F1 was going to be tough. And then along came Nissan with an offer for sportscar racing.

Like most Formula 1 drivers, Derek Warwick is a busy man. Catching him, even for a few minutes, is never easy and, as a result, this interview took place in a speeding hire car, diving through the traffic at dusk in Rio de Janeiro from the Autodromo Nelson Piquet to the Sheraton hotel. Dodging the meandering sugar-cane and alcohol-burning Volkswagen Beetles, which make driving in Brazil such an entertaining pastime, Derek was driving at a rate of knots which you had no desire to discover by looking at the speedometer. Questions and answers were interspersed by the torrents of "unusual" language as someone carved their erratic path across our bows.