The Formula One season is about to hit the tracks. It will, as usual, begin with promises of more exciting racing and a wide-open challenge for the drivers’ title. It will also, no doubt, be accompanied by a host of publications such as this one. Alan Henry knows a thing or two about F1, having spent more than 30 years as a journalist covering the sport. He is in a position to provide a unique insight into the sport and to provide some glorious anecdotes, together with a hint of what it isthat makes a racing driver tick. And he does. Frustratingly,however, he doesn’t quite follow it through. Henry’s efforts lack structure. The Grand Prix Companion is a hotchpotch of ideas that seem to have been thrown together in an entirely haphazard way. With a little more thought, this could have been a must-read for anybody whose juices flow at the prospect of F1.

Infuriatingly, he chooses to relive certain situations by reproducing verbatim reports of articles he wrote for the Red Bulletin (!), Autocar and F1 Racing. It smacks of laziness.

There are some terrific yarns, such as Jackie and Helen Stewart travelling to the Monaco Grand Prix in an MGB during the 1960s and discovering when they got to Dover that their ferry tickets and traveller’s cheques had blown off the roof of the car; and of being pitched out of bed by James Hunt so that he could have his wicked way with the latest in a long line of beautiful women. Henry established close friendships with Hunt, Ronnie Peterson and Niki Lauda, but seems unable to decide whether he wants to take advantage of this or whether it is sufficient to indulge in a bit of name-dropping throughout the book. Worst of all, though, is the lists — how points have been scored over the years, the number of races that have counted for final classification in drivers’ world championships, years when the champion did not win the most number of races, where individual grands prix have been staged, number of races it took to record a maiden victory (impressively enough, that one occupies nine pages).

It’s a brave try, and Henry almost pulls it off, but he just fails to make it to the finishing line

To buy this book at the Books First price of £9.49 including p&p, telephone 0870 165 8585

Explore More Sport

• Athletics

• Boxing

• Cycling

• Sailing

• US Sport