Faces of Formula 1: The Sixties book review

Dr Benno Müller, a country doctor in Germany’s Black Forest region, wasn’t really interested in watching motor sport. But racing drivers inspired him from his first moment of contact when a friend – who happened to be editor-in-chief of Auto Motor Und Sport – took him to the 1957 Nürburgring 1000Kms. That’s why this book, brought to you by the publisher of the Autocourse annuals, only features a single racing car on the last of its 180 pages – and even then it’s not the focus of the picture.

As the title suggests, this is a book of portraits, each in charismatic black and white run over a full page, captured by Dr Müller during subsequent visits to Formula 1 races. The good doctor clearly knew his way around a Leica, Hasselblad and Rolleiflex. The images are striking, closely cropped to capture each craggy facial crease, slimline moustache and glint in the eye.

“Müller was blown away by what he saw,” we’re told. “He was fascinated by the facial characteristics of the drivers. To his mind, they were landscapes depicting their souls, not unlike the faces of his patients in which he read both diagnoses and therapies.” Crikey.

The pen portraits by seasoned racing journalist Hartmut Lehbrink that accompany each image are curt and idiosyncratic, translated from his native language. Some sections might well qualify for Private Eye’s Pseuds Corner. From the profile of Dr Müller himself, we particularly enjoyed: “The racing cosmos of the ’60s was a man’s world, a historical gauntlet, as it were, flung down before the agitated feminists, 60 years later.”

Dr Müller’s photos have previously appeared in magazines and four books published during his lifetime (he died in 1997), but this is a definitive collection. Images of the Galacticos of 1960s F1 stand comparison with the best of the era, but it’s the bit-part players and lesser-captured cult heroes that really draw the eye. Some of the subjects look hauntingly straight down the lens, others are caught mid-laughter or in a moment of serious reflection. What’s most chilling, as one scans Lehbrink’s purple prose, is the realisation of just how many lost their lives to the sport they were obsessed by.

Forewords are added by Bernie Ecclestone and Richard Attwood – pictured later in natty titfer. Dr Müller captured that monochrome time before chunky sideburns sprouted and hairlines dropped below the collar. Racing drivers had style back then, whether they meant it or otherwise. DS

Faces of Formula 1: The Sixties
Dr Benno Müller, Hartmut Lehbrink & Jörg-Thomas Födisch
Icon Publishing, £70 (available with discount at autocourse.com)
ISBN 9781910584606