Legends: Estoril 1985
For many of us, Grand Prix racing entered a fallow period after the death in May 1982, of Gilles Villeneuve, and none felt that more keenly than Denis Jenkinson. Even though, with his love of horsepower, he adored the turbo era, he would mutter wistfully that now there was no driver around who could truly do justice to it.
Anyone who knew him well will attest that Jenks had...
GP Masters has saved the stars' careers from extinction. Derek Warwick tells Richard Heseltine why...
Photography by James Mann
"Are you the c**t who woke me up at two in the morning?" "Sorry. Didn't realise you were in Australia." "I'm just messing with you. My fault for leaving my mobile on. Anyway, nice to meet you. And don't call me Mr Warwick as it'll only confuse me. Nobody's called me...
Whatever was wrong with Michael Schumacher's race car, swapping to the spare brought him an unexpected Portuguese triumph
Michael Schumacher didn't look particularly tired, but then he never does. The man Martin Brundle describes as the fittest racing driver he has ever seen was chipper enough on Sunday morning in Estoril, even if he was not desperately sanguine about his chances in the...
Sidney Offord
Former BARC chief executive Sidney Offord died recently, after a short illness. He was 74.
Sid was a familiar figure to British racegoers, and continued to frequent the BARC's Thruxton HQ and other venues even after deteriorating eyesight forced him to step down from his position within the organisation. Indeed, only a few days before he died he was out and about at the BARC's 80th...
In sight of Sintra
The Autodrome of Estoril lies a few miles north of the fashionable Portuguese watering hole and on the way to the town of Sintra. If it hadn't been for an unfortunate accident in a rally earlier this year, I doubt if the racing fraternity would have heard of Sintra. Certainly very few of them penetrate away from the Autodrome and explore the surrounding countryside, but having...
Legends: Jacques Laffite
Not many people have known Formula One from the inside better than John Hogan. For countless years he was 'the man from Philip Morris', the man responsible for Marlboro's involvement in motor racing. He not only did the deals, but along the way became a close friend of many of the sport's major figures. Also one of the sages of the paddock.
We were talking about drivers...
To find the last time McLaren was really beaten fair and square in a Grand Prix — as opposed to losing a Grand Prix, which is another matter altogether — you have to go back to Adelaide 1987. In motor racing, that's an awful long time for anyone to be so dominant.
That explained a lot about the depth of feeling in the paddock at the Hungaroring after Nigel Mansell had scored the best victory of...
Montreal, June 10
It all started off quite well. The big transport planes delivered all the cars and equipment to Canada, the airlines delivered all the personnel safely and by 8 am on Friday morning the nine drivers who had to battle for the four places available in official practice and qualifying were ready to go. The result of this brief hour of competition, with no prior practice, was the...
Ferrari First and Second
Imola, April 25th
The Grand Prix of San Marino, held on the undulating Imola circuit, was a straightforward affair. It was a battle between Ferrari and Renault, with two cars apiece, when the circuit opened for official testing on Friday morning at the scheduled time of 10 a.m. From the time the first lap was turned until late Sunday afternoon there were no problems as...
The weather played a crucial part as Senna scored his 40th triumph - and McLaren's record equalling 103rd - but the real storm came in the paddock afterwards, as he assaulted newcomer Eddie Irvine
I don't know quite what it is about Suzuka, but it has a funny effect on Ayrton Senna. Since his Honda days the Brazilian has always been very popular with the thousands of Japanese spectators, and the...