The Formula

With the 2013 Formula 1 season only weeks away it's maybe a good time to brush up on or,  for some of you perhaps, discover some of the events that led the series to becoming what it is now.

I finally managed to get a hold of Adam Parr's "The Art of War".  Parr was CEO for Williams F1 from 2007 to 2012,  those are the crucial years between the Mclaren spying scandal and the formulation of the next  engine formula in effect in 2014.  In between, FOTA, KERS, phantom budget caps, the Mosley affair, the global recession, Briatore, the new Concorde Agreement, five years in the mother of all shark tanks all laid out in a graphic novel.  It is brilliant and a must read.

The documentary below is from a couple of year earlier,  in the Williams BMW era and explores some of the very same existential questions, the correct formula for the series Parr spent five years arguing.   Cars from the last decade may look ancient but the politics sure sound familiar.

Set aside 50 minutes to have a look, it's a good one.