F1 Book Review: 'The Grand Prix Year' Is Formula 1 Behind the Curtains

Yahoo

26-02-2025

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If you happen to be looking for a little speed reading ahead of the 2025 Formula 1 racing season, you should check out The Grand Prix Year: An Insider's Guide to Formula 1 Racing.
The recently released 272-page book, put out by London-based Bloomsbury Publishing, is the first from Autoweek contributor and F1 beat writer Phillip Horton.
The book takes readers on a yearlong journey along with the F1 circus through the eyes of a writer who knows the ins and outs of the paddock. It includes a chapter on each stop on the F1 calendar and can best be described as part diary, part Formula 1: Drive to Survive—the popular Netflix docuseries that has helped fuel fan interest in F1 here in the United States.$22.58 at amazon.com
Horton said the idea for the book came to him during the 2022 season, when F1 returned to its own crazy form of normal following the pandemic.
"It was in Mexico in 2022 where I'd realized that in the past four or five weeks our schedule had taken us to Singapore, Japan—where we hadn't been since 2019—then very briefly back home to the U.K., then to Austin (Texas), and to Mexico City," Horton says. "It was the first time they'd been properly 'normal' in three years.
"It's such a whirlwind of different places and experiences in such a short spell of time, and yet sometimes we normalize it—but it really isn't, and I'm not sure that comes across in much coverage or on TV.
"Formula 1 had also evolved quite a bit pre- and post-pandemic, and again Austin was a prime example given how Formula 1 grew in the United States, and I began having the idea of a book on the entire season, but specifically a journey through the entire season with each Grand Prix as a chapter, while also looking at everything that gets the sport motoring around the world."
Horton has been covering F1 full time since 2014 and has attended about 130 races. And that, racing fans, is a lot of frequent-flier miles and sometimes questionable meals in media centers all over the planet.
As a credentialed journalist, Horton is able to take readers behind the curtain and into areas of the paddock normally reserved for the top tiers of race-weekend pass holders.
"Fortunately, being part of the traveling circus, there's a level of access, as well as just firsthand experience of going to these places and exploring aspects beyond the racetrack," Horton says. "That's always interested me—the people, the culture (and the food!), and the history of a city or a country.
"I think when you're lucky enough to experience so many different places, you can't afford to miss out on what they have to offer—even though plenty of people who work in and who cover the sport will just be in a routine of airport-hotel-track.
"For example, Suzuka and Austin are both fantastic places and events, but they're so different. Each have a different fan base, vibe, and traditions, and yet they can be part of the same world championship."
Here are some other motorsports books worth a look:$61.66 at amazon.com$29.99 at amazon.com$9.99 at amazon.com$36.21 at amazon.com