Racing History

Roy Salvadori knew his limitations. He’d come close enough to death – (eventually) flung from a somersaulting Frazer Nash Le Mans Rep at Silverstone in 1951 – to realise that…

Most exciting news of the week? Webber might go to Ferrari? Vettel might leave Red Bull? Hamilton offered £95 million to stay with McLaren? (Yes, really). No, the best of…

Blimey, that was cagey. Monte Carlo is restrictive at the freest of times, but with the most talented Formula 1 grid since the 1960s resigned to playing the long game…

As with its first win, so with its 114th: Pastor Maldonado’s surprise ending of Williams’ long drought elicited the same reaction as Clay Regazzoni’s surprise opening of the floodgates all…

Jean-Pierre Beltoise, having harried the victorious Lotus 72D of Emerson Fittipaldi in the closing stages of April 1972’s International Trophy at Silverstone, climbed wistfully from his BRM P160: had he…

Of course we should listen whenever a seven-time world champion speaks, but I think we can turn a deaf ear to Michael Schumacher’s volley of verbal bullets at Pirelli. Why?…

Fed up with Formula 1 and its boringly repetitive ability to show itself totally insensitive to, and out of touch with, global opinion? Depressed by the sport’s leaders turning a…

It’s been more than 56 years – plus 111 starts for Nico – and yet it was as if it had never been away. Rosberg’s über-composed maiden Grand Prix win…

I’m looking forward to Long Beach next weekend, America’s greatest street race. Founded by Chris Pook in 1975 as a Formula 5000 race, Long Beach was the scene of the…

Here is a happy story to start a new month. In fact, this is happy speculation, but it does involve Bernie Ecclestone, the Prime Minister of France, and many millions…

The handbagging afters between Sebastian Vettel and Narain Karthikeyan in Malaysia were pure sanitised Formula 1: nothing more savage than a sound bite or two. Idiot. Crybaby. Hardly bare-knuckle. Neither…

They have made the right PC noises since, reaffirmed their commitment to each other, Ferrari, Felipe and Fernando – Alonso would say that, wouldn’t he? – but Massa must know…

I saw Gilles Villeneuve race. Just the once, and not for long. But as time has passed, it’s a brief blurry memory I’ve come to cherish. Why? Because for me,…

Eighty-five years ago today, March 29, 1927, Major Henry Segrave became the first man to exceed 200mph on land. Aboard his 1000bhp Sunbeam ‘Mystery S’, Segrave roared through the measured…

‘Beat your team-mate’ is as old as the sport. As racing motifs go, it’s up there with: ‘To finish first, first you must finish’ and ‘When the flag drops, the…

Each season we await the opening round of the Formula 1 World Championship with baited breath. Some of us – despite the sport’s ever-improving reliability and spiraling exclusive budgets –…

Who is the most influential designer to have worked in Grand Prix motor racing: Vittorio Jano, Colin Chapman, Adrian Newey? It’s a trick question. And my answer is: the man…