James Allen (3)

I was never a huge fan of Mansell, but I did respect him, and it was good to see a British driver doing well.

Written in conjunction with James Allen, it covers his entire career from karts at nine, to the final attempt at formula 1 in the 1995 McLaren. He was a bold and courageous driver, not just in terms of racing, but also taking financial risks to pursue his dream of becoming a F1 driver. He had a lot of talent, and was picked up by Lotus, before going to Williams. He had a brief spell at Ferrari, and then went back to Williams again his first and only championship.

He was a fast and sometime unforgiving driver, and in this book he makes very sure that you are aware of his point of view for all the events that happened, controversial or otherwise. And because of that it did grate a little reading this, hence two stars.… (mais)

A good story, although written in a very strange way. Mansell comes across as a very direct, literal man, and perhaps as a product of this, not shy of telling you just how amazing he is, but also surprisingly defensive and sensitive to criticism that has been leveled at him. Incredible commitment and self belief. Formula 1 also seems like a very parochial, political, back stabbing environment. Mansell clearly feels that some of the major talents like Prost and Senna were very manipulative characters.… (mais)