Home / Reviews / Non Fiction / Sport / Must Read Formula 1 Books

Must Read Formula 1 Books

Get ready to dive into the high-octane world of Formula One with our must-read list of F1 books. From behind-the-scenes glimpses into a team’s strategy to the journeys of rising stars, these books cover it all. Uncover the story of Max Verstappen’s rise to glory, learn the secrets of winning a grand prix, or explore the history of F1 itself. Embark on a journey through the twisting circuits and thrilling moments that make up the captivating world of Formula One. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or simply curious, these books are sure to leave you revved up and ready for the next race.


Mark Hughes

A definitive and intriguing biography of Max Verstappen, Formula 1’s superstar, Lewis Hamilton’s great rival and the winner of the 2021 and 2022 World Drivers’ Championships.


No Hollywood scriptwriter could possibly have envisioned the breathless, adrenaline pumping climax to the 2021 Formula 1 season. On the very last lap of the final race of an unbelievably arduous and controversial season, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen nervelessly overtook the seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes to clinch the first place that thrust the young prodigy to the narrowest of victories and to his first World Drivers’ title. He followed up by taking the 2022 title as well.


Verstappen may only be 25 years of age, but the Dutch motorsport sensation has an incredible record in F1: 165 race starts, 79 podium finishes and 36 Grand Prix victories barely tell the story – this young man has already left an indelible mark on the sport. The son of F1 driver Jos, Verstappen junior quickly stepped out of his father’s shadow: his youthful charisma, ferocious speed, fearless driving style and refusal to back down mark him out as a true champion. And the phenomenal success of Netflix’s Drive to Survive documentary series has elevated his worldwide popularity still further.


Widely respected motorsport writer and F1 insider Mark Hughes is perfectly placed to write the most authoritative narrative on Verstappen’s incredible rise through the ranks to F1 glory. Hughes’ immaculate credentials and first-rate access enable him to generate fresh and fascinating insights, and to paint a fully rounded and richly-textured portrait of one of the most exciting young sportsmen on the planet.

Bernie Collins

Race-winning team strategist shows how F1 really works.


Welcome to Bernadette ‘Bernie’ Collins’ world. Formula 1 drivers are the public face of Grand Prix racing but behind every driver is a team of several hundred people sharing the same passionate desire to win. On race day it’s the Team Strategist who calls the shots, working under immense pressure to make split-second and crucial decisions…


Through her eyes and experience as a Chief Race Engineer and F1 Team Strategist, Bernie Collins takes the reader behind the scenes of a Formula 1 team – both in the factory and at the races – to uncover what it takes to put two Formula 1 cars on the grid and go racing.


How To Win A Grand Prix gives incredible insight of the entire process from design and construction, through pre-season testing, and how a team prepares for each of the 23 Grands Prix. For race weekend itself, Bernie recreates it hour-by-hour to plunge the reader behind the pit wall and see what it’s actually like to get from grid to podium.

Adrian Newey

The world’s foremost designer in Formula One, Adrian Newey OBE is arguably one of Britain’s greatest engineers and this is his fascinating, powerful memoir.


How to Build a Car explores the story of Adrian’s unrivalled 35 year career in Formula One through the prism of the cars he has designed, the drivers he has worked alongside and the races in which he’s been involved.


A true engineering genius, even in adolescence Adrian’s thoughts naturally emerged in shape and form – he began sketching his own car designs at the age of 12 and took a welding course in his school summer holidays. From his early career in IndyCar racing and on to his unparalleled success in Formula One, we learn in comprehensive, engaging and highly entertaining detail how a car actually works. Adrian has designed for the likes of Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, always with a shark like purity of purpose: to make the car go faster. And while his career has been marked by unbelievable triumphs, there have also been deep tragedies; most notably Ayrton Senna’s death during his time at Williams in 1994.


Beautifully illustrated with never-before-seen drawings, How to Build a Car encapsulates, through Adrian’s remarkable life story, precisely what makes Formula One so thrilling – its potential for the total synchronicity of man and machine, the perfect combination of style, efficiency and speed.

Ben Hunt

From established sports journalist Ben Hunt, the very first biography of the up-and-coming British driver Lando Norris, published on the brink of the British Grand Prix.


As the youngest ever British Formula 1 driver, Lando Norris is trailblazing his way through the world of motor racing. After signing as a junior driver for McLaren in 2017, he has since asserted himself as the team’s brightest talent and an aspiring world champion.


Born to British and Belgian parents and raised in the idylls of south-west of England, Lando’s childhood reflects how even the calmest of upbringings can create an adrenaline junkie. As one of a new cohort of young drivers seeking to assert their dominance in the sport, Lando is a uniquely modern sportsman, who celebrates learning and personal development, but who nonetheless has the killer instinct required to take him to the very pinnacle of F1.


In Lando Norris, motor sport aficionado and journalist Ben Hunt draws on his extensive driver and paddock access to seek to understand what makes Lando tick and examines how this young British driver has been well and truly raised in the mould of a champion.

Thanks in part to the Netflix phenomenon Drive to Survive, F1’s
popularity has exploded in recent years. More viewers than ever now enjoy the high-octane, wheel-to-wheel battling of this global championship – and this little guide is the perfect companion.


The Little Guide to Formula One features quotes from some of the greatest racing drivers of all time, including Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, and many others. Also included are numerous facts and trivia about the sport which has captivated billions around the globe for more than seven decades.


Perfect for seasoned F1 lovers or new fans learning the sport, this pocket-sized guide to the world’s most popular form of motorsport captures the history, the people, the thrills, and – most importantly – the need to win.

Giles Richards

An access-all-areas look inside the thrilling world of Formula One.


Formula One is one of the most intense, complex and secretive sports on the planet. Recent documentaries such as Netflix’s Drive to Survive series have given a glimpse of life inside the paddock, but there are so many more stories from this high-stakes, globetrotting world that remain untold.


In F1 Confidential, Guardian journalist Giles Richards speaks to the men and women inside Formula One to reveal the inner workings of the world’s most glamorous motorsport. Featuring exclusive interviews with experts at every level – from drivers and team principals to engineers and pit mechanics – and from teams including Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and more, this is an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look inside a modern Formula One team.


With a foreword by former F1 world champion Damon Hill and contributions from dozens of insiders – including Lando Norris, Christian Horner and Toto Wolff – each with their own fascinating stories, insights and revelations, F1 Confidential takes you inside Formula One like never before.

Joshua Robinson & Jonathan Clegg

F1 is now the fastest growing sport in the world; the full story of its unbelievable, unstoppable rise is a riveting saga only glimpsed at in the likes of Drive to Survive. In this book – the first, definitive account of how F1 came to achieve total global fandom – Wall Street Journal reporters Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg take us inside a world full of racing obsessives, glamorous settings, gearheads, engineering geniuses, dashing racers and bitter rivalries.


The story of F1’s world dominance is one of a near-constant state of transformation and experimentation. This is a sport where the only way to win championships is to land a series of technical moon shots – and then do it all over again. With fast cars, big money, glamorous international locations from Monaco to Melbourne, and beautiful people, The Formula tells the full, epic story of the sport. Starting in 1950s Britain, where six years of wartime engineering laid the foundations for a new type of motorcar racing; to the first global star partnership, Senna and Ecclestone; Spygate; Crashgate and its transition into entertainment juggernaut. Bringing unique insight and access to F1’s most storied teams and personalities – from Ferrari to Lewis Hamilton to Christian Horner and Daniel Ricciardo –The Formula offers a riveting portrait of the drivers, corporations, cars, rivalries, and audacious gambles that have shaped the sport for half a century.


The end result is a high-octane history of how modern F1 racing came to be-the first book to tell the story of the outrageous successes and spectacular crashes that led F1 to this extraordinary yet precarious moment. More than just a sports story, it is the tale of a commercial empire, one built in the 20th century, almost obsolete in the early 21st, and today, world-dominant; a disrupter that claimed its place in the crowded sports marketplace through cash, personality, and a new understanding of what a sport needs to be in the age of wall-to-wall entertainment.

Bruce Jones

Fully updated for the 2024 season, and with more than a thousand sets of complete Grand Prix results, this is the ultimate reference book for Formula One fans.


The Formula One Record Book 2024 is the essential resource for any motorsport fan. This massive stats and records bible includes the full results of every Grand Prix in F1 history and much more. Featuring detailed driver and constructor statistics (sourced from industry-leading data providers Motorsport Stats), championship standings and season reviews, it offers a comprehensive overview of Formula One history in a single, strikingly designed package.


Alongside the facts and statistics you’ll also find fascinating commentary from leading F1 writer Bruce Jones. Add in all-time records for drivers and constructors, and you have have a complete Formula One chronicle spanning more than 70 years of incredible racing.

Yuta Takahashi

Experience the legendary history of Formula 1 in this definitive illustrated book.


Formula 1: The Official History is an electrifying account of the F1 phenomenon, telling the complete story of one of the world’s most popular, thrilling, and glamorous sports. Bringing together a superbly written account of the history of the sport by acclaimed author Maurice Hamilton, and an exceptional selection of stunning images from across seven decades of F1 racing, the book charts the FIA Formula One World Championship, decade by decade, from its first race at Silverstone in May 1950 right through to the present day.


Each chapter tells the fascinating stories behind the greatest drivers and teams, important personnel, famous and infamous incidents, as well as key changes to the rules on design, safety and competitiveness. These tales are accompanied by more than 250 exceptional photographs featuring icons past and present, including Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. Accessible and entertaining for any F1 fan, and with a foreword by Ross Brawn, Managing Director of the FIA Formula One World Championship, this is the definitive visual history of the sport.


Updated edition coming in October 2024

Coming Soon:

Carlo Cavicchi

Thirty years after Ayrton Senna’s death, a tribute to the beloved and unforgettable champion Ayrton Senna was one of the greatest Formula 1 champions of all time, considered by many even the best of them all. In 2024 it will be thirty years since his death, an anniversary that will be remembered around the world because few sportsmen have entered and remained in legend as much as he did.


Published in collaboration with the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile on the occasion of the major exhibition to celebrate the 30-year anniversary since the unforgettable champion’s death, the book retraces the emotional spirit of the exhibition and presents a great variety of materials (cars, memorabilia, documents, publications, photographs and films), focusing on two aspects: the sporting history of the Brazilian champion and the “man”, both documented through people, events, behind-the-scenes facts and thoughts that marked his life and career.


The book traces the career of the great champion, from go-kart, which saw him growing as an absolute talent, to the Formula 1 cars with which he entered the hearts of fans. And again, the secret Senna, the one less known to the general public, with materials and testimonies that reveal a less obvious aspect of the champion, up to the final part dedicated to the post Senna era, with the process to reconstruct the truth about his tragic death.

Bruce Jones

Explore dozens of F1 race tracks – from legendary circuits to brand-new destinations – in high-definition satellite photography.


From the glamour of Monaco and the brand-new Las Vegas strip, to the heritage of Silverstone and Monza, Formula One Circuits from Above showcases 27 legendary F1 race tracks as you’ve never seen them before. Powered by unique Google™ Earth photography, this stunning illustrated book highlights the signature properties of iconic circuits around the world in incredible detail, providing an unparalleled insight into the unique strengths and challenges of each.


This revealing commentary is accompanied by fascinating text by bestselling F1 writer Bruce Jones on the history of each circuit, as well as the outstanding drivers and unforgettable moments that have defined them. Whether you’re a seasoned F1 fan or a newcomer to the sport, Formula One Circuits from Above captures all the colour, drama, history and excitement of Formula One.

Share This Article

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest

Related Reviews