Nigel Roebuck’s newsletter

As one who has loved both Formula 1 and the USA all his waking life, I’m delighted to see the two reunited in 2012. And the more I learn about the forthcoming US Grand Prix in Austin, the more enthusiastic I become. For one thing, Tavo Hellmund, the man behind… Read more

When it was announced, in September 2009, that Ferrari had decided to terminate Kimi Räikkönen’s contract a year ahead of time, and to put Fernando Alonso in with Felipe Massa, there was no surprise in Formula 1 circles. His first season with the team (2007, when he won the World… Read more

An aspect of Grand Prix racing which has never failed to fascinate me is the ‘instant’ appraisal of a driver’s worth. There really is some truth in the old cliché that, ‘You’re only as good as your last race…’
Psychology, as we know, plays a very considerable role in motor… Read more

“The Formula 1 car,” said Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali recently, “is too efficient…”

For most, if not all, of the designers in F1, Domenicali’s words will be heresy, for their constant quest is to achieve as close to perfection as possible, and quite right too – that’s what they’re paid for.… Read more

It’s a fact that many of us left Bahrain in a downbeat frame of mind, for this 2010 Grand Prix season had been anticipated – for a variety of sound reasons – with a great deal of relish. Yet the opening race of the season had been one of the… Read more

As the 2010 Grand Prix season beckons, most of my acquaintance are agreed that it’s been a very long time since we anticipated a year with such relish. Schumacher back… Alonso at Ferrari… Button with Hamilton at McLaren… four World Champions in the pack… the prospect of four highly competitive… Read more

Renault – in more ways than one – has had a poor time of it in Formula 1 over the last couple of years. True, Fernando Alonso returned to the team, after a single season with McLaren, but even the world’s best driver can do little with a fundamentally uncompetitive… Read more

Much has been written about Nelson Piquet Jr’s deliberate accident at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, which, lest anyone has forgotten, precipitated a safety car period, which in turn created a situation that handed the race on a plate to Piquet’s Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso.

It was, by general consent,… Read more

It was no surprise to learn that Flavio Briatore was to sue the FIA. The former Renault team principal alleges that the World Council, chaired by then-president of the FIA Max Mosley, was ‘clearly blinded by an excessive desire for personal revenge’ when it banned him from motor sport for… Read more

On October 23 we have election day for the FIA presidency, and as I write both camps – Todt and Vatanen – reckon they are ahead.

We shouldn’t, probably, be any longer surprised by the actions of the outgoing president, but still there has been shock at Max Mosley’s behaviour… Read more