The big stories from the past week in motor sport from the Archive. The Embassy Hill plane crash claimed the lives of six, 40 years ago last weekend. Among them was Monaco specialist and double world champion Graham Hill, the team’s owner. In 2012 we published a special encounter for Alan Benton in 1962, as he sat down with Graham Hill and Jim Clark to discuss the year ahead.
Another of the six killed in the Embassy Hill crash was the team’s talented young hotshoe, Tony Brise. In the December issue of 2000, David Tremayne remembered the rising driver and pondered what might have been, labelling him ‘the Michael Schumacher of his day.’
Also this week farmer-turned-privateer racer David Piper, immortalised in the scores of green Ferraris, turned 85. Andy Rouse, who while winning Britain Saloon Car Championships still found time to set up Andy Rouse Engineering, celebrated his 68th birthday.
Rick Mears, a four-time Indy 500 winner and ‘one of the most modest men in racing’, turned 64. The equally modest Keke Rosberg was born almost exactly three years earlier. Rosberg’s fellow Finn Mika Salo neared 50, celebrating his 49th birthday.
This week saw F1 remain in Abu Dhabi for the 12-hour Pirelli test, in which Jordan King turned his first laps in a Formula 1 car. McLaren junior and spotlight subject earlier this year Stoffel Vandoorne also took on testing duties.
A double Le Mans victor was also born this week as Manuel Reuter, winner in 1989 and 1996 turned 54.
Max Verstappen has earned the licence that will allow him to race at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, and could compete in the 2026 running of the historic race
Poised with a commanding points lead, McLaren is on the brink of securing the 2025 title in Baku
Formula 1 history shows that success and failure alike can rupture partnerships. Could Ferrari and Leclerc be next? Mark Hughes wonders
Only a few modern F1 drivers have raced outside the championship mid-season. As Max Verstappen prepares to race at the Nürburgring, here's how his predecessors did