Aged seven in 1953, I sent the F1 driver a letter. Not only did he write back, he invited me to the paddock at SilverstoneMy relationship with Stirling Moss started in 1953. I was seven. I lived in Coventry, then the heartland of Britain’s, indeed Europe’s, motor industry. The Jaguar car factory, then makers of sports cars that regularly won at the Le Mans 24 hour race, the most famous race on the calendar in the 1950s, was a couple of miles away. I was car crazy. To the chagrin of my parents, I wasn’t interested in reading. Until, that is, I discovered motor racing magazines and, in the blink of an eye, I learned to read. My idol was...
In the weeks since sport came to an abrupt ending, its only significant story has been its own cancellationThe best way to annoy a group of scholarly historians, if you ever have an urgent need to annoy scholarly historians – perhaps in some kind of emergency situation – is to propose a counterfactual analysis of events.You know the kind of thing. What if Winston Churchill had died of a heart attack in 1941? What if skiffle, rather than the music of the Beatles, had seized the imagination of the world in 1963? Related: Gus Poyet: 'At Chelsea we were beautiful but champions have to win ugly' Related: Southampton defer wages and West Ham hope players will take 30% drop Continue...
Max Verstappen looks the closest rival as the British driver claims to be ‘ready for the challenge’ of the new seasonFormula One fires up in anger for the first time this year in Melbourne on Friday but there will still be few givens for the forthcoming season. Yet of one central player in the forthcoming drama there can be absolute certitude. Lewis Hamilton enters his 14th year in F1 motivated, focused and in the form of his career.Extraordinary records are within Hamilton’s grasp and his determination to prove himself the best is beyond doubt. Yet what he and every fan wants is a real fight. F1 needs it and, if the British driver is to match Michael Schumacher’s achievements, how...
Lewis Hamilton versus the young guns Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc should be a fascinating generational tussle, but paywalls are getting in the way of inspiring a new generationAs the new season draws closer, Formula One’s hip young gunslingers are ready to step up and challenge the sport’s undisputed champion. The prospect is tantalising, offering the possibility of a defining period of F1 in a spectacular generational tussle. Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc are two of the most exciting talents in the sport and six-time champion Lewis Hamilton is their target. F1 will want to make hay from a potentially gripping battle but just how they do so is a vital question as pay TV continues to dominate its dissemination.Beating...
Increasing costs mean Britain may never produce a driver from an underprivileged background such as Lewis Hamilton againTalent now, more than ever, will take you only so far in motor racing. The ability to combine split-second decision making with almost ethereal reactions and sensitivity to an enormously complex piece of machinery has long set racers apart. But where once skill would be major the differentiator within their ranks, now it is money that seems to talk the loudest.This week the former driver Derek Warwick, the vice-president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, warned that the increasing costs of racing meant that Britain may never produce a driver from an underprivileged background such as Lewis Hamilton again. Warwick fears many exceptional...