[Books] Books on F1 drivers

[cjh]

Are there any good books on F1 drivers? I am looking for books that probes more into psyche of drivers, mind, mental state, what drives them, etc.

....also on Senna.

Thanks

[Down F0rce]

This could be what you're looking for. I've only read a few chapters myself, but it seems pretty good.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inside-Mind-...0513366&sr=8-1

[PK Kart]

The above book is a good interesting read with some great anecdotes.

If you want to read about what drives a racing driver, try Perry McCarthys Autobiography, Flat out, Flat Broke. A brilliant book of the completely insane lengths Perry went to to try and get to F1.
I Think Lewis had a slightly less fraught journey to F1.

[Born Racer]

Perry McCarthys Autobiography, Flat out, Flat Broke. A brilliant book of the completely insane lengths Perry went to to try and get to F1.

This is a hilarious story.

[Wrighty05]

I Know it's been out for a few years, but i found 'The life of Senna' a good read.

[WazzuZ28]

"The Art and Science of Grand Prix Driving" by Niki Lauda

Published after his championship season of 1977 it discusses all aspects of Grand Prix driving, definitely worth a read.

[Pete Fenelon]

Niki's books are almost scientifically self-analytical and show just how hard he thought about racing.

"The Racing Driver" by Denis Jenkinson is the Gold Standard for trying to understand drivers.

"Racers" by Richard Williams is an excellent, penetrating look at Hill, Schumacher and Villeneuve against the background of the 1996 season.

Of driver autobiographies the most penetrating are

"The Unfair Advantage" by Mark Donohue
"All Arms and Elbows" by Innes Ireland
"The Mudge Pond Express" by Sam Posey (good luck finding that one!)
"Speed with Style" by Peter Revson
"Life at the Limit" by Graham Hill.

The most recent good autobiography was Perry McCarthy's.

I'm not really all that interested contemporary F1 or in most of the current crop of drivers but I've heard good things about Coulthard's autobiography.

The best driver biographies ever are Chris Nixon's 'Mon Ami Mate' (Hawthorn and Collins) and David Tremayne's 'The Lost Generation' (Pryce, Brise and Williamson). The latter did bring tears to my eyes in several places. Gerry Donaldson's books on Hunt and Villeneuve (G) come close.

Please avoid Tom Rubython's lip-smacking, repetitive, biased, turgid book on Senna. Both Richard Williams ('The Death of Ayrton Senna') and, surprisingly, Christopher Hilton ('The Hard Edge of Genius' and to a lesser extent its sequels) have covered his life and death much better.

[ensign14]

Seconds to Mr Fenelon. The first two autobiogs mentioned would be set texts in any motor racing degree course. And very self-deprecating; you wonder how Mark Donohue ever got a drive, he concentrates so much on his failures, and forget he was on a podium in his first Grand Prix, won Indy, frightened the NASCAR boys regularly and so on.

[Knowlesy]

Gerry Donaldson's books on Hunt and Villeneuve (G) come close.

I love those two books and couldn't recommend them any higher.

The Hunt book was very moving at the end when he died.....still as sad as it was when it actually happened. Just brings home what a waste of a young life...

[Graz]

'Life at the Limit' by Prof Sid Watkins is the best racing book I have read. Even the wife liked it. The first chapter is about Senna and Prof Watkins gives nice insight into the friendship they had.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

I love those two books and couldn't recommend them any higher.

Yes me too. The Villeneuve one is still my favourite tome packed full of Gilles own insights and crazy anectdotes as well as a good account of his racing record and latter day troubles coming to terms with the Pironi situation shortly before his death.

As you say the Hunt book was very moving.

I actually thought the Rubython Senna book was quite comprehensive perhaps with a couple of factual errors. The best one for me though, whilst not rammed with text is Karin Sturm's one from 1995. She covers a lot of ground in fairly simple terms about Senna's psyche and interests.

As also mentioned by others, 'Inside the Mind' and 'Flat Out Flat Broke' are well worth a buy.

The latest Stirling Moss book is quite good and there was a series of books by Chris Hilton on most of the leading drivers from the 90's which often covered their mental state and how they coped with inter team rivalries and other peers such as Schumi, JV, Hakkinen (particularly good one) Herbert, Frentzen and Irvine.

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally Posted by Pete Fenelon

Please avoid Tom Rubython's lip-smacking, repetitive, biased, turgid book on Senna. Both Richard Williams ('The Death of Ayrton Senna') and, surprisingly, Christopher Hilton ('The Hard Edge of Genius' and to a lesser extent its sequels) have covered his life and death much better.

I'd recommend 'The Death of Ayrton Senna' by Richard Williams - I read that a few years ago and found it very interesting. I read Graham Hill's autobiography several years ago as well - the final chapter, written by his wife after his death, is incredibly moving.

I'll also add to the recommendations of 'Flat Out, Flat Broke' by Perry McCarthy - I bought it for the boyfriend as a birthday present and he loved it.

I notice nobody has recommended any books about Lewis Hamilton...or anything by James Allen.

[GolddustMini]

i ordered the niki lauda book and the graham hill book on the strength of this thread, the lauda book is so far prooving to be superb, amusingly written but also going into some depth engineering wise, im yet to read the graham hill book.

amazon marketplace is a good resourse for books like this.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

I'd recommend 'The Death of Ayrton Senna' by Richard Williams - I read that a few years ago and found it very interesting. I read Graham Hill's autobiography several years ago as well - the final chapter, written by his wife after his death, is incredibly moving.

I'll also add to the recommendations of 'Flat Out, Flat Broke' by Perry McCarthy - I bought it for the boyfriend as a birthday present and he loved it.

I'd recommend these two as well. Perry's is absolutely marvelous.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

I'll also add to the recommendations of 'Flat Out, Flat Broke' by Perry McCarthy

Great book. The man is a legend.

[Born Racer]

Perry McCarthy certainly has a sense of humour, and boy did he need it in his career.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by chunterer

The latest Stirling Moss book is quite good....

This is a good and easy read, with some interesting background on the great man I was never previously aware of. Read it on holiday last year (or the year before....?).

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

This is a good and easy read, with some interesting background on the great man I was never previously aware of. Read it on holiday last year (or the year before....?).

Is this the grey paperback with black & white shot of him on the cover?

[andy_b]

The DC book isn't bad. It doesnt focus on the racing so much, so none of your we had this set up here and there, but more on the way to the top. I've had some contact with DC in the past, and its captures him and his sense of humour well.

Still need to get the JYS book though

[andy_b]

i thought i'd posted about this, but the Jo Ramirez book is great, and again captures what it was like working at McLaren. Jo is a great guy, full of knowledge and opinion and the book reflects it well. The story of how he worked himself up the ladder, working in Italy and then the UK is great

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Is this the grey paperback with black & white shot of him on the cover?

That's the one - well, the one I'm thinking of, anyway.....

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by andy_b

Still need to get the JYS book though

I've got that - but haven't gotten round to reading it yet - the freebie DVD is very entertaining though.

[chunterer]

It's alright, but jeez there's a lot of name dropping and 'i've been fortunate enough to know so many great and wonderful people in my career' stuff as you'll see!!

[mjstallard]

I'm about to read it - I've been told it's very interesting, but Jackie could've done with a better editor to knock it into a more readable shape. Looking forward to it though

[Pete Fenelon]

Originally Posted by andy_b

i thought i'd posted about this, but the Jo Ramirez book is great, and again captures what it was like working at McLaren. Jo is a great guy, full of knowledge and opinion and the book reflects it well. The story of how he worked himself up the ladder, working in Italy and then the UK is great

It's a favourite of mine - it was apparently a long time in the making, and Jo put a lot of racing memories into it. Some very interesting assessments of various people - Emerson Fittipaldi fans will wince slightly at some of the material about his time at his own team; and Jo's portrait of Ron Dennis fans will be a little surprised by the description of Jo's departure from McLaren...