Essential & cheap summer reads for F1 fans

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The three-week summer break follows the next Grand Prix in Hungary. If you’re heading off on holiday a stack of summer paperbacks is essential for those long days at the beach.

Here’s a selection of five of my favourites from biographies to general topics.

Plus you can pick them up at bargain prices from F1Fanatic’s affiliate partner. At the time of writing Richard Williams’ excellent biography of Enzo Ferrari is a staggeringly cheap 97p – and another on Stirling Moss is less than half that!

“Villeneuve: The Life of the Legendary Racing Driver”

This year marked the 25th anniversary of Gilles Villeneuve’s death at Zolder.

The legendary driver was the darling of the Ferrari-mad tifosi for his courageous racing. This excellent biography by Gerald Donaldson captures all the great memorable moments of Villeneuve’s career.

Read the full review of “Villeneuve: The Life of the Legendary Racing Driver”.

“Stirling Moss: The Authorised Biography”

An excellent book on one of Britain’s very best racing drivers – who was surely the greatest ever F1 racer who never won the championship.

Robert Edwards’ biography leaves you in little doubt of Moss’s skill and covers the vast range of races outside of Formula 1 that he regularly dominated. Including that truly great victory in the 1955 Mille Miglia.

Read the full review of “Stirling Moss: The Authorised Biography”.

“The Grand Prix Saboteurs”

GrandPrix.com editor Joe Saward’s magnificent reconstruction of the history of two Grand Prix drivers who worked as spies during World War II.

A remarkable and intriguing story told with flair and passion.

Read the full review of “The Grand Prix Saboteurs”.

“Enzo Ferrari: A Life”

This brilliant biography kept me sane through a never-ending journey from Thessaloniki (Greece) to Istanbul (Turkey) en route to last year’s Turkish Grand Prix.

I read it cover to cover twice in succession, and never once found it dull or repetitive. A rigorous and detailed study of a complicated character.

Read the full review of “Enzo Ferrari: A Life”.

“Formula One Fanatic”

No prizes for guessing which book had a role to play in the creation of this website.

Dutchman Koen Vergeer’s “Formula One Fanatic” tells several decades of F1 history from the point of view of a fan: The frustration of seeing your favourite driver lose, the excitement of going to a race. And, often in this book, the gut-wrenching despair of seeing drivers hurt and worse.

It’s a refreshingly different and interesting book.

Read the full review of “Formula One Fanatic”.

Find more recommended reads here: More essential & cheap summer reads for F1 fans

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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5 comments on “Essential & cheap summer reads for F1 fans”

  1. With the exception of Formula 1 Fanatic, I’ve read them all.

    I’d happily recommend any of them, but if you get just one, make it the Villeneuve book.

  2. With the exception of the Enzo one I own them all. Haven’t read the Moss one yet – currently working my way through Mon Ami Mate.

  3. I’ve read the Villnueve, Moss and F1 Fanatic books, and particularly enjoyed the latter. A totally different take on F1, it is very absorbing.

  4. I buy most of my books either at the airports or from Amazon. However, for me living in Asia in terms of price and delivery and general convenience shopping from amazon.com is usually better than amazon.co.uk. Just a suggestion for you – as your audience is growing beyond UK and Europe, you may consider signing up at amazon.com too and give your readers a choice of purchase depending on where they are from.

  5. Thanks for the tip Milos, I’ll keep that in mind.

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