Don’t let that ‘Captain Nice’ nickname fool you – ‘Dark Monohue’, as he came to be known, was one tough cookie, relentless in seeking any advantage, ‘unfair’ or otherwise. An…
It had been a learning year for Henri Toivonen. Another one. His abundant promise had been there for all to see since his fifth place on the 1977 Rally of…
Jeez, who’d be the other guy? Neither basking in reflected glory nor withering in the shade is a good look/outlook for an ambitious Formula 1 driver. Imagine spending another long,…
Mick Schumacher’s presenting of one of his father’s crash helmets in touching tribute to Lewis Hamilton at the Nürburgring on Sunday was also a reminder that eras come and go,…
It is apposite that Jean Alesi never raced a V10 Ferrari. The French-Sicilian was a throwback whose heart ruled his head. Michael Schumacher, in contrast, was sent from the future:…
See, I told you that Peter Whitehead was a significant figure in Grand Prix history. But for this English privateer, Ferrari would this weekend in Mugello be celebrating ‘only’ its…
Alberto Ascari drove racing cars as though born to it – which, of course, he had been. Father Antonio – much admired by the formative Enzo Ferrari – had until…
Jochen Rindt was super-cool and mega-quick. With the stylish, willowy Nina on his arm and stopwatches, this German-born Austrian epitomised motor racing in the second half of the 1960s. Even…
When crazy-keen American historic racer Jonathan Holtzman’s attempts to buy a Tyrrell P34 were thwarted, he posed the six-wheeled question: ‘Why can’t we just build one?’ That was in July/August…
The schoolboy stood shyly by the flung-open workshop doors. It was the first day of his summer holiday of 1963 and he had cycled the short distance from his Byfleet…
Enzo Ferrari could be mulish: who on Earth would think it logical to place a prancing horse behind its cart? So surmised a man basking (from July 1960) in the…
I liked him even before he revealed – 30 years after the fact – that not only had he owned a Fiat 131 Mirafiori Sport but also that he considered…
