So last week, for some reason, I was looking through the abysmal mess that is my cupboard. Looking through, not searching through, because it was the previous searchings through that made the cupboard so messy in the first place. Anyway, I was looking through it when I came across this book I never got myself to finish reading; “Formula 1 Fanatic”. Not that it was bad or anything, the timing just wasn’t right. The “A” Level exams, then Army, and by the time that was over, I’d forgotten about books already.
So I found the book, and started to read it. “Formula 1 Fanatic”, authored by Koen Vergeer. It was first published in dutch, but since I didn’t understand dutch (and I still don‘t), I bought the English version, translated from the dutch version by David Colmer, who did a brilliant job with the translation, by the way. Ok, I know what you’re thinking; “how apt”, right? Me reading a book about myself…
But no, it wasn’t about myself. But if I were born 20 years earlier than my actual birthdate, it could have been. The book is essentially the history of Formula 1 through the eyes of a fan – Koen Vergeer himself. From the blood sport that it was in the 1950s, to 2002, where it had transformed into a commercialised industry, Vergeer summarises the history, passion and intrigue of Formula 1, add his own thoughts, and puts them all into a neat 300-page paperback. But I wouldn’t call it a summary, because, as short as the book may be, it is filled with so much detail and emotion. Whether he’s describing the events of Imola 1994, that incredible battle between Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux in 1979, or all those times when a Williams racing car was fitted with faulty wheel nuts, every F1 fan will be able to relate to everything that’s written in that book.
Which doesn’t mean that everybody else would, because if you don’t know who Juan Manuel Fangio, Gilles Villeneuve, Ayrton Senna, or Michael Schumacher are, you probably won’t understand what you’re reading. Then again, if you don’t know who Michael Schumacher is, you’ve probably died 20 years ago.
To sum it up, it’s a great book for any Formula 1 fan. And there’s one line in the book which I found rather interesting. In one of the chapters, titled “The Point of Formula One”, he writes;
“The point of Formula One? Formula One is completely pointless, just like art. Formula One is art.”
