James Allen (3)

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 show more characters. show less

Covering the 1998 and 1999 seasons, this remains a classic tale of intrigue and derring-do, with as much action and controversy as F1 can provide.

I'm no Schumacher fan, but this was an excellent book, both in getting behind the scenes of the sport and in giving a real insight into Schumacher's incredibly talented but highly flawed personality.

James Allen had superb access to all the key figures in the Schumacher story, and it shows.

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 show more 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. show less

It gives an outsider a good view of the man. I'm not much into racing sports but I enjoyed reading the book. The author leaves you with a positive feeling about the sports. It seems the author truly loves the sports and adores the guy. I came to know about some facts and how competitive the racing world is really. Would never have imagined.