Looking for a gift for an F1 fan? Want to treat yourself to an F1 book or video but don’t know where to start?
These are the very best F1 books and videos we’ve found in years of following Formula 1. Check out the reviews below and buy them from out affiliate partner Amazon to help support F1 Fanatic.
F1 Fanatic’s most recommended F1 videos
2003 F1 season review, “Michael & co. the dream team”
The best season in recent years saw a fascinating three-way struggle for the title between Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) and Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams).
This excellent DVD captures all the crucial moments, from Montoya’s controversial pass on Schumacher at the Nürburgring, to the massive crashes at the wet Brazilian Grand Prix, to the championship climax in Suzuka, Japan.
Raikkonen, Giancarlo Fisichella and Fernando Alonso scored their first Grand Prix victories, and the British Grand Prix witnessed one of the most exciting F1 races ever seen at Silverstone.
If you think modern F1 racing can never be as exciting as classic seasons, think again. This 2hr 25min DVD is packed with action from start to finish and is an essential purchase.
Read the full review of “Michael & co. the dream team”
1986 F1 season review, “All over down under”
One of the all-time classic F1 seasons saw Nigel Mansell (Williams), Ayrton Senna (Lotus), Alain Prost (McLaren) and Nelson Piquet (Williams) fight for the title with three of them still in contention at the final round.
In the heyday of turbo power in F1 cars the cars were spectacular, brutally fast flame-spitting monsters.
Mansell and Piquet battled furiously at Williams – most famously at the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch where Mansell defeated Piquet despite having switched to the Brazilian’s car.
The Spanish Grand Prix saw one of the closest race finishes ever in F1 as Senna held Mansell back by 0.014s.
But while his title rivals made mistakes and suffered unreliability, Alain Prost quietly racked up the points that gave the calculating Frenchman a second consecutive championship.
It all came down to one amazing race on the streets of Adelaide and the most exciting and unpredictable championship conclusion ever seen. Every F1 fan should own this video.
Read the full review of “All over down under”
1982 F1 season review
The 1982 season was fraught, tragic, controversial and totally unpredictable.
Above all it is remembered for the crashes that killed Gilles Villeneuve and Ricardo Paletti, that forced the governing body and teams to adopt radical changes to the cars and tracks to make them safer.
The year began in a bizarre fashion as the drivers went on strike at Kyalami, unhappy with proposed changes to the terms of their contracts. Another political row saw most of the leading teams boycott the San Marino Grand Prix.
The 16 races were won by 11 different drivers and eventual champion Keke Rosberg only scored the first win of his career late in the year.
F1 made its first visit to the streets of Detroit where McLaren’s John Watson thrillingly won from 17th on the grid.
This video tells the story of an important (and, at times, harrowing) year with honesty and sensitivity. Any F1 fan wanting to understand the sport better and comprehend why there is such a persistent demand for better safety standards must see the excellent video.
Read the full review of the official 1982 season video
2006 F1 season review, “Once again”
Last year saw one of the closest and most bitterly fought title battles between reigning champion Fernando Alonso and seven-time champion Michael Schumacher – in his final F1 campaign.
Alonso stretched ahead early in the season but in the second have of the year Ferrari came on strong and propelled Schumacher to the front.
It was an often controversial season. Schumacher was thrown to the back of the grid in Monaco after shockingly trying to block the track during qualifying.
But championship contenders got in trouble at the Hungaroring and in the wet race Jenson Button thrillingly took his maiden Grand Prix victory.
Felipe Massa broke his victory duck as well, in Turkey, before going on to take an emotional victory in his home Grand Prix.
Schumacher won his final race in China in a magnificent performance utterly typical of the man – triumphing in pouring rain. His last Grand Prix at Interlagos in Brazil was another sight to behold, as he raced hard through the field despite having lost all hope of winning a final championship.
With nearly four hours of footage packed on to the DVD you get a lot of racing action for your money.
Read the full review of “Once again”
1970-79 F1 season reviews box set
It’s not a cheap buy, but if you want to see some excellent full colour footage of F1 racing in the 1970s there’s no better way to find it.
Before F1 was regularly filmed for television the Brunswick film crews documented the sport for over a decade. Their season reviews are a glimpse back to the years when F1 was transforming from a gentleman’s pursuit into a competitive professional sport.
The 1970s saw Emerson Fittipaldi become the youngest ever F1 champion, and Jochen Rindt tragically killed before he could lift the crown he would win.
A raft of innovations transformed the sport including slick tyres, ground effects, six wheeled cars and new construction methods.
In 1976 reigning champion Niki Lauda was almost killed at the Nürburgring – but he returned to race James Hunt for the championship down to the final round.
A selection of the ten discs are reviewed below:
Formula One 1970: Uncrowned Champion
Formula One 1971: Great Scot
Formula One 1972: Fittipaldi’s year
Formula One 1973: Reign of Stewart
F1 Fanatic’s most recommended F1 books
The best Ayrton Senna biography
“The Death of Ayrton Senna” by Richard Williams
There is no shortage of books on the enigmatic three-times champion who was killed during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
But a lot of them are cheap cash-ins thin on detail and thick on eulogising waffle.
Many of them are also appallingly over-long – something you definitely can’t accuse the book of at only 200 pages or so.
Despite the title, “The Death of Ayrton Senna” was not rushed out to satisfy the appetite of a Senna-hungry audience. This is a concise yet comprehensive account of who Senna was and what made him special.
It isn’t patronising or hagiographic – it’s honest, detailed and direct.
For every last little tiny detail about everything Senna did, look elsewhere. For informative insight about the most famous F1 driver that ever lived, read this.
Read the full review of “The Death of Ayrton Senna”
The best Michael Schumacher biography
“Team Schumacer” by Timothy Collings
Like Senna, finding a decent biography of the seven times champion Michael Schumacher is extremely difficult.
Schumacher only left the sport as a racing driver comparatively recently and is just as reticent before the media as he ever was. There have been a couple of officially sanctioned biographies but none of them offer any more penetrating insight than the kind of inoffensive quotes he gave to press conferences as a driver.
It might be some time before a truly great biography of Schumacher comes along – but in the meantime Timothy Collings excellent feature on Schumacher and the Ferrari years is probably the best.
It is heavily skewed towards Schumacher’s time at Ferrari, of course, but it does a far better job of explaining Schumacher’s centrality to the Scuderia than anything else.
It’s also unafraid to suggest that perhaps one or two thing Schumacher did were not entirely fair or good for the sport’s wellbeing – a vital and controversial area into which few of his biographers bother to stray.
Read the full review of “Team Schumacher”
The best Enzo Ferrari biography
“Enzo Ferrari: A life” by Richard Williams
The fascination with the enigmatic and mysterious Enzo Ferrari extends far beyond the realm of Formula 1: from humble backgrounds he created the most famous and enduring car brand of all.
Richard Williams’ comprehensive biography pieces together the complete Ferrari story, and explores some of the biggest mysteries surrounding the man.
Such as, why did he abruptly quit his own racing career?
And what moved him to sell Ferrari to Fiat, having spent so long courting Ford?
Williams sifts the myths and legends from the hard truths, and if the portrait he paints of Ferrari isn’t always flattering, it’s hard to discredit its accuracy.
