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Given the calibre of drivers, this could be the greatest of weeks in motor sport from the Archive.
Former McLaren team-mates with seven Formula 1 world titles between them, Niki Lauda and Alain Prost, turned 67 and 61 this week. Adam Cooper spoke to both, and John Barnard, for the October 2014 issue to recount the 1984 world championship title race, still and quite possibly forever the closest in history. It also triggered the change of mentality for Prost, who won seven races to champion Lauda’s five, laying the foundations of The Professor.
Fellow Hall of Fame member Mario Andretti turns 76 on February 28, taking this week’s F1 titles to eight. The four-time IndyCar champion joined Simon Taylor for lunch in 2007, ‘reliving the long road from penniless immigrant to super-stardom.’ Sebastien Bourdais, also four-time champion in US open-wheel racing, turns 37 on the same day.
From America’s greatest to rallying’s; Sébastien Loeb has turned 42. No less versatile than Mario, arguably more so, the Hall of Fame nominee allowed Andrew Frankel to take the reigns of his WRC Citroen C4 in 2009.
Continuing on the versatile theme, Hans Herrmann turned 88. He was a works driver for both Porsche and Mercedes during his career, which culminated in him winning the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Richard Attwood, Porsche’s maiden victory. Peter Revson, another who mixed Formula 1 with sports cars, would have been 77.
Francois Cevert, the ‘debonair model pupil to Jackie Stewart’, would have been 72. He’s graced the cover numerous times, including in 1993 when we remembered the ‘laughing cavalier‘.
Tony Brooks celebrated his 84th birthday, the day before British Formula Three and Formula 1 champion Rupert Keegan turned 61. Satoru Nakajima turned 63, as Ingo Hoffmann does on February 28. South African Formula 1 driver Dave Charlton died three years ago.
Sergio Mantovani, something of a Maserati specialist, died 15 years ago at the age of 71.
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