Assouline’s lavish new illustrated book Formula 1: The Impossible Collection illustrates the world’s fastest and most luxurious motorsport with 100 handpicked moments selected by experienced F1 reporter Brad Spurgeon. Now Spurgeon Maxim opens up about his 10 favorite F1 moments, including a Hungarian track surrounded by Soviet tanks, a historic Michael Schumacher win for Ferrari and a lightning-fast pit stop for Lewis Hamilton. Hold on to your Alcantara seat as Spurgeon speeds into the rich and fast-paced history of Formula 1:
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Jean Todt leaves Ferrari to lead the FIA
© Bernard Asset
“Probably nobody in Formula 1 has the all-encompassing career of Jean Todt behind them, who as a co-driver or team boss won all major forms of motoring: rallies, hill climbs, rally raids, endurance and Formula 1. Moment No. 92 in The list was in 2009 when the Frenchman left the Ferrari team, which he had made the most successful and dominant team of all time when he joined the company in 1993 as a loser, and then president of the governing body of world motorsport: the International Automobile Federation. “
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“Todt is still FIA President today and not only oversees racing – including Formula 1, but also leads an aggressive international road safety campaign at the FIA and since 2015 as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety.”
First Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtain
© Bernard Asset
“Moment 55, August 10, 1986: At this moment of the first Hungarian Grand Prix, also the first race behind the Iron Curtain, so much comes together for me. It wasn’t just the beginning of the series’ efforts to get around the world expand, but there’s a fabulous story behind it. “
“A Hungarian associate of Bernie Ecclestone, the series leader, suggests flying over Hungary while returning from a failed attempt to get a race in Russia. The photo is an exceptional piece of time, but it’s” exceptional too for what we don’t see: the Soviet tanks that surrounded the hills around the track to make sure nothing gets out of hand! “
Grand Prix trio in the USA
© Bernard Asset
“There are hardly any bigger sporting success stories than American football, baseball or hockey. Formula 1 has been trying to crack this US market for decades, but if it’s one of the most popular sports series in the world, massive American popularity has always eluded it. “
“So I had to add this unique moment to the list, moment 47, for 1982: the only time Formula 1 has held three races in the same country in a single season was in… the United States with races in Long Beach, Detroit and Las Vegas! (Until last year when the coronavirus pandemic messed up the planned season and ran three races in Italy to make up for those lost.) “
Lewis Hamilton’s remarkable rookie season
© Darren Heide
“While I have of course found some ‘impossible’ moments in Lewis Hamilton’s long career, nothing seemed as impossible as the string of results he put together in his 2007 rookie season driving for the team that made him cared for since childhood was a sensation when driving karting as a child.
“He finished third in his first race, second in his second race – which was where this photo was taken – then second in the following three races before winning the Canadian Grand Prix and the US Grand Prix in Indianapolis a week later! No surprise that he has now broken Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world championship titles and broken his record of victory as he achieved almost 100 career victories. “
In an F1 cockpit
© L. Villaron
“This X-ray image of the Toyota Formula 1 car with the driver sitting in it wasn’t one of the 100 moments, but it was an image I really wanted to convey what Formula 1 drivers are as part of the ethos of an Assouline book exceptional performance. I will never forget when I got the chance to find out what it is like to sit in a Formula 1 car and feel how the driver practically has his back to the road and has practically no view of the kind that we associate with driving a street car. “
“His body position is designed to favor a low center of gravity for aerodynamics and weight distribution, with his knees at head height and only the tightest areas to see the road ahead.”
Michael Schumacher’s first Ferrari victory
© ARC press agency / Mario Luini
“I still remember the cheers and respect I had when I saw Michael Schumacher win his first race for Ferrari at the 1996 Spanish Grand Prix. It was a confirmation of my own thoughts – and those of most of the fans, I think. “- that if you gave the then two-time world champion a winning car, he would win the championship. Ferrari hadn’t won a driver’s title with Jody Scheckter since 1979 and was in disarray, but here was Schumacher, who only won in the championship his seventh race for the team in a car that wasn’t yet victorious. ”
“That was what really fitted into the Assouline ‘Impossible’ moment for me – it’s moment 72 in the book – that Schumacher was a master of racing in wet conditions, so even with a car that wasn’t is as good as the others, the driver made up for everything and took victory under treacherous conditions. “
McLaren’s Bond-worthy HQ
© McLaren F1
“I will never forget my tour of the McLaren factory when it opened in 2004 and my feeling of being invited to a James Bond complex in the countryside in England. Every room was high-tech and immaculate, be it “for meetings, car building or just for a break.”
“It was a wonderful place that also seems to fit perfectly with the Assouline ‘Impossible’ theme. With its” Technology Center “designed by Lord Norman Foster (Foster also designed the new Apple headquarters in Cupertino), McLaren set a standard that no other team had ever met. “
Bruce McLaren’s revolutionary record
© Grand Prix photo
“Since Formula 1 is all about records and successes, I had to include moment 15 when Bruce McLaren became the youngest race winner of all time at the US Grand Prix in Sebring on December 12, 1959. His record could have been his “beaten several times since, but nothing could ever match the record of McLaren’s victory at the age of 22 years and 104 days, which lasted more than 40 years!”
“It was not beaten until Fernando Alonso won the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2003 at the age of 22 years and 26 days. Max Verstappen now holds the record after winning the Spanish Grand Prix at 18 years and 228 days in 2019 – but his The “impossible” moment in the book is when he became the youngest F1 driver at 17. “
The most successful female driver in Formula 1
Photo by Kenneth Stevens / Fairfax Media / Getty Images
“Moment 34, April 27, 1975: Impossible, Great, Iconic … however a list of moments in an Assouline” Impossible Collection “may be defined, I felt the list was something about the greatest female competitors in There were only a handful of female Formula 1 drivers, but my challenge was to choose between the best two: Since Maria Grazia “Lella” Lombardi was the only woman in the series to score points the moment her moment. ”
“Still, I can’t mention her without also mentioning Maria Teresa de Filippis, who took part in several Grands Prix in the 1950s and finished tenth at the 1958 Belgian Grand Prix. Lombardi’s moment was even more” impossible “to make that she only got half a point – because the race was shortened – and thus was the only driver in her entire career to only get half a point! “
Moncao immortalized
© Archives Automobile Club de Monaco
“The Monaco Grand Prix is not just the crown jewel of the Formula 1 series, the one race that every driver wants to win, it is also one of the most iconic races in the world, Le Mans, alongside the Indianapolis 500 and the 24-hour race. It’s also my favorite race because of its mix of spectacular track action, a city that means luxury and excess, great weather and the sea. “
“It also usually coincides with the Cannes Film Festival and is invariably attended by stars – Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Cameron Diaz come to mind – which also makes it the most glamorous race. Although the Monaco Grand Prix was in the book in Some Moments, that poster of the 1957 race wasn’t linked to a moment, but for an Assouline book – representing extraordinary art and design – I liked the idea of a retro poster like this one too to have.”
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Formula 1: The Impossible Collection is available now for an F1-worthy $ 995.
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