Derek Warwick: Raw Racing

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A fascinating video interview from a series by Mario Muth of Shakefree Films in London.     This episode features a no holds barred interview with Derek Warwick, who drove over ten years on the F1 circuit in the first Turbo era of the 1980s.  

Warwick is one of those drivers that never quite had the right brake at the right time in F1 and the interview is a lesson on how luck is just as much a part of the equation as talent and determination.

If you like racing history, the hour long interview will fly by and you'll want to have a look at the other episodes shot by Muth.   I will post them here over the next few weeks.  Among those interviewed, F1 photographer Darren Heath, Former F1 doc Gary Hartstein and David Coulthard.

(thanks to Mario Muth and to Andrew Rapp)

Evolving Formula

The key to understanding the point Mario Muth is making in his latest video is that, save perhaps for the noise, everything described happening with the old cars happens with the current F1 cars, just exponentially faster.    
I remember my grandfather complaining how with cars of the generation in this clip, racing was just not as exciting anymore because, with full face helmets and closed in cockpits, you could not see the driver like in "the old days".

One of the reasons this year's Hungarian GP was so much fun was because the mix of the damp, the relatively slow, winding track with low levels of grip allowed you to see cars moving and drivers really fighting for grip.

A former F1 doctor speaks.

Gary Hartstein, the badass, cigar smoking doctor who was Formula One's Medical Delegate from 2005 to 2012,  has been very much  in the public eye in the first half of this year because of his frank, sometimes brutal, comments about Michael Schumacher's medical outlook after his skiing accident.

His articles on the subject were a respite from the tidal wave of non scientific drivel and misinformation printed about Schumacher and head injuries in both the mainstream media and in the tabloids.

Hartstein eventually got a quite a bit of flack for it, very unfairly in our opinion, mostly from those for whom the grim reality of scientific data did not fit a wish of a happy ending scenario for the German champion.

The Doc finally became fed up of being misquoted and stopped discussing it.  But all that needed to be said, was.

This interview, part of the same ShakeFree series as the Derek Warwick clip you saw recently, was shot before that all happened.

Along with remembrances of Professor Watkins and speculations about what led to his dismissal by Jean Todt,  there is a section where Hartstein talks about how F1, thanks to the application of scientific method has, since 1994, become very low on the list of dangerous sports.
No small irony ironic that one of its greatest champions, after twenty years in the sport,  was so injured in a mundane activity.

Hartstein also makes the point that safety is never perfect and that while top tear single seater racing in now very safe, the greatest dangers lie in the minor formulas,  semi pro, amateur and club racing.    

We wonder if the doctor might be interested in the work of the Motorsport Safety Foundation,  there is much more room for safety improvements and big returns on investments at the bottom end of the sport.

So light up a stogie and listen to this  Former F1 Doc

(thanks to Mario Muth and ShakeFree)