Book review - The Complete Encyclopedia of Formula One - Driver, team and circuit profiles from the entire history of F1
Published by Christine
This article was originally written for BellaOnline, but is republished here for posterity.
ITV are very good at writing books that help you get to know the sport better. Every year, they produce a small guide to Formula 1, that I have reviewed before. It lists the drivers and the tracks for that year and tells you what you need to know. I buy it every year, and I love it.
This book is the next step up. It's hardcover and it's huge but that's because it is absolutely packed full of information.
Firstly, it has a history of F1, year by year from the very beginning. With information about the championship winners, and all the important events from that year, there is nothing missing for each decade.
Then it has a small biography of all the important drivers. Some of them get more page space than others, but if you can think of a driver, then he is probably within the pages somewhere.
After the drivers comes the teams, starting with the obvious ones like Ferrari and McLaren, to lesser known ones such as Wolf and Simtek. I found this section really interesting, having only been a fan for a few years, there were many teams that I had never even heard of.
The last section of the book is about the countries that Formula 1 visits, from the current calendar through tracks that haven't hosted the event for years.
The thing about all that information is that it's not digestible. It's not really a book you can put on your knee and have a good read of. It's definitely not a page turner, and to be honest, it's not really one you can dip in and out of either. It really is an encyclopedia, that you use to look up a certain question you have about the sport. And in that respect it suits it's purpose perfectly.
The book is updated quite often, because obviously there is more and more information to be included every single year. It's full of pictures and statistics and would make a good present for someone who is new to the sport (that's how I got my hands on it), or for someone who thinks they know all there is to it. They're bound to find something that they've not seen before.
