Formula One Features

One would think that coming from the Amazon jungle is not really an advantage for a racing driver in Brazil - but it is. The logic is simple. The local region wants to attract business to the city of Manaus and so offers incentives for firms to settle there. As a result a lot of big companies are there.

Gordon Murray, one of the great innovators of modern F1, who built cars which took World Championships with Nelson Piquet in Brabham-Ford and Brabham-BMWs, and later with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in McLaren-Hondas, reckons that Ferrari made one mistake this year.

You may not know the story of Thanksgiving. This great American tradition - held on the last Thursday in November each year - is when families and friends gather to celebrate the good things in life. They eat turkey and cranberry sauce and follow it up with pumpkin pie.

When Max Mosley declared to the world that Formula 1 was "at a crossroads" he didn't need the dictionary to explain to people what he meant. A crossroads is more than just an intersection, it is a critical moment, a metaphor for a time of change and decision making.

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the death of one of the most popular Formula 1 drivers of the modern era: Denny Hulme, the 1967 World Champion. Denny died on October 4, 1992 at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, from a heart attack while at the wheel of a BMW M3 touring car. He was just 56.

It has been about five years since I read a book all the way through. It's not that I don't enjoy reading, I just haven't had the time. A few weeks ago I decided that it was about time I started reading again and, with high expectations, took myself down to the local bookshop. After about an hour of searching I came to the unhappy conclusion that I hadn't been missing much. To be honest John Grisham just doesn't do it for me and no matter how much my deluded Mother insists I read Harry Potter, I can never seem to get past the second page. Then something caught my eye?

Who was the best fighter pilot of all time? Was it Manfred von Richtofen with his 80 "kills" in World War I or was it the virtually-unknown Erich Hartmann, who shot down 352 planes in World War II? And how do these men compared to Colonel Yevgeny Peplyaev who shot down 23 planes in Korea, when aerial warfare had moved on to jet fighters?

The summer recess in Formula 1 has led to a certain amount of boredom amongst Formula 1 fans, used to the daily comings-and goings of the Grand Prix circus. But today is nonetheless a significant one if one looks back in history because on Saturday, August 7, 1926 Grand Prix racing arrived in Britain for the very first time, a little over 20 years after the first Grand Prix was held at Le Mans in France.

"Formula 1 racing, once European, now worldwide, is less boring to watch that the rival American versions: its circuits do actually have corners to go round, not just an eternal oval," wrote The Economist recently. "But to non-addicts it is still - crashes apart - a non-event, like watching paint dry, and this year's procession of Ferrari victories has made it duller still. Why watch, when you already know the winner? Yet hundreds of millions of televiewers do."

In the pressroom in Brazil in 1991 a senior Formula 1 journalist looked up from his computer, peered at a television screen for a few moments as Mike Hakkinen's Lotus was passing through the picture and declared with a certain nonchalance that "That boy is going to be a World Champion one day".

There was once a time when Britannia ruled the waves. Her Empire covered every continent and every language. Her industry was groundbreaking, her expansion unhindered, her power unquestioned. Britons made the rules and the rest of the world just sort of went along with them. Just over a century ago however, it all started to crumble somewhat. Today there is no great Empire, just a Commonwealth to behold. Her industry ruined, her expansion turned inwards, her power unnoticeable. Britannia has no more waves to rule.

Guessing who will be the stars of the future in Formula 1 is not an easy business, particularly in an age when Formula Renault drivers can leap straight in the top echelon. However there are a number of drivers who are making a good impression in the junior formulae and could become big names in the sport in the years ahead.

Plenty of young rising stars have been tipped for formula one stardom in the past but all too frequently their careers have foundered after they lost their foothold on the ladder leading to the sport's upper reaches.

One of the most important elements in Formula 1 in recent years has been the performance of the tires and for the last 18 months there has been a gradually escalating battle for supremacy between Bridgestone and Michelin. The aim of both companies is to sell more tires around the world and with market research suggesting that 35% of customers are influenced by success in Grand Prix racing, the battle is on.

Ninety-five years ago - on June 18th 1907 - the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit was opened in England. Brooklands, in Surrey, was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the modern age. Today the track is in pieces; the ruins acting as a shattered window to a bygone age. The once majestic banking has been dissected by busy roads, supermarkets and a business park. The people of Brooklands town go about their lives almost entirely unaware of the significance held by the moss-covered monuments, which surround their every waking moment.

People in Formula 1 are always talking about working at 110% in order to be successful. This, as we all know, is impossible but the point they are making is that they are trying to do better than the best and so catch up with the people who are doing the perfect job.

On June 26, the FIA must - or rather, should - take a decision vital to the future of Formula 1 as world-wide entertainment: What to do about team orders.

Sixty-Five years ago the British journalist George Monkhouse travelled around Europe, reporting on the adventures of Dick Seaman, the English driver in the factory Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix team. That summer Seaman was injured and rather than sit around while Seaman recovered from his injuries Monkhouse decided to go to Monaco for the 1937 Grand Prix.

Pescara is a city on the Adriatic coast of Italy, about 120 miles to the east of Rome, but separated from it by the Apennine Mountains, rising to over 7000 ft, with the lowest passes being at 3000ft. As a result of this progress in the region always lagged behind the northern cities and those on Italy's Mediterranean coast.

Team orders have existed in motor racing as long as there have been teams involved. Originally they were based on the very simple principle that he who pays the piper calls the tune. The men who owned the cars were rich. Sometimes they loaned out cars to others but they did not want to be beaten and so the men in the other cars accepted that they would give way if the boss wanted to come through.

My friends tell me I talk too much. They reckon I never shut up, especially on a Grand Prix weekend. I'll come out with a random fact about the sport which, quite frankly, they didn't really want to know before and are none the wiser for having discovered.

Peter Sauber was trained as electrician but he was always fascinated by automobiles. He came from a wealthy family which owned a successful engineering business. In 1967 Sauber encountered a local racing driver called Arthur Blank and eventually bought a souped-up Volkswagen Beetle from his new pal and started competing in local club events.

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun? Give or take a few percentage points, Imola marked the one-quarter distance point in the battle for the 2002 FIA Formula One World Championship and already there must be some team principals who must be approaching the point of despair. Their only consolation can be to take refuge in the obvious point that nothing lasts for ever and Ferrari's run of domination is probably not going to endure for more than another five years. So they seek succor from that. Just my little joke, you understand.

Jean Todt is the son of a Polish Jew, who escaped to France at the age of 17. He became a doctor and like many refugees did everything to ensure that his children had all the advantages possible. Jean was born in 1946 and was educated in Paris. He then went on to a commercial school in the chic Parisian suburb of Neuilly where he encountered a fellow pupil who was doing well in kart racing.