FIA Formula 1 World Championship 1989/90

FIA Formula 1 World Championship 1989/90 edited by Bob Constanduros. 240pp. 121/4″ x 9″. Virgin Books, Sekforde House, 175-79 St john Street, London, EC1V 4LL. £19.95

Where this book scores over Autocourse is its concentration on Formula One. You are not spending good money on other discplines of the sport or on advertising. Where it fails, though, is that it is nothing like as technical and authoritative as the other, longer established, annual. The photographs, though, are superb and are alone worth buying the book for. Page after page is a relevation, which is just as well because the text is unreadable — not because of the writing, but because of the simply terrible typeface and leading. The two pages of this text, broken up by a poorly placed photograph, at the beginning of the book, was enough for this reviewer to reach the conclusion that getting dizzy on the “whip” at a funfair was probably more pleasurable than trying to decipher that confusing body of text. It unquestionably mars a good book and one can only hope the publishers rectify the situation next year. WPK