adventurous challenging informative medium-paced
megshonahw's profile picture

megshonahw's review

4.0
informative inspiring reflective fast-paced
adventurous informative medium-paced
kaitlynokeefe's profile picture

kaitlynokeefe's review

4.25
challenging funny informative fast-paced

saanjhgupta's review

5.0
adventurous informative tense fast-paced
thesetpiece's profile picture

thesetpiece's review

3.5
informative lighthearted fast-paced
maicoffee's profile picture

maicoffee's review

4.0

absolutely amazing especially the final chapters of the book. i couldn't say it better myself

maxschuman's review

3.0
informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

This book has its merits - I tore through it and learned a lot of facts, and it happened to meet me exactly at my level of prerequisite knowledge (guy who knows about modern F1 but basically doesn’t know any history before current ownership).

However, I think the book isn’t as intellectually strong as it could be. I was expecting a book that was more about the soul of modern F1. The last couple chapters + epilogue basically cover this but only starts dealing with the empty-calories nature of the whole sport right at the very end. I think that probably could’ve been the point of the whole book and would’ve been a really interesting contribution. Instead the majority of the book is about telling the full sweep of history in a narrative that paints events as happening solely because of the preferences of a few key individuals. Very pop-history in that way.

I can imagine a book that weaves the history into chapters answering key questions - why is F1 uniquely compelling among motorsports? Why did it come up in Europe and always work really well in other countries but not in the US? How do modern teams and modern drivers differ from what they did before because of the new business landscape? I can piece together the facts the writers left to try to answer those questions myself. But a deep dive into the specifics of these things would’ve been really appreciated. And I would’ve loved the author’s take on whether F1 is a bubble that will burst or if there are other levels to go to.
funny informative fast-paced
dizzy_izzy's profile picture

dizzy_izzy's review

5.0
informative fast-paced