Formula One Features

Ah, Brazil. With its tropical climate, gorgeous women and beguiling music, this is far and away the most exotic destination on the F1 circuit. Unfortunately, it's impossible to overlook the third-world features of the place, like the ever-present poverty and violence on the streets.

If you've been fanatically interested in motor racing for more than a couple of years, as I have, then I'm sure that some of your most vivid memories of great races will involve the Japanese GP.

Surely the most intriguing question hovering over this year's Chinese GP is whether or not Michael Schumacher will be able to come to terms with the Shanghai circuit at his third attempt. If any venue in the world can be described as Michael's bogey track, this is surely it.

No circuit in Europe has the combination of history, atmosphere and sheer speed which you will find at Monza. It has been the home of Italian motor racing since the early Twenties, and, in the 38 years that I have been attending it, the Italian GP race has been held, with one exception, at the ochre-coloured autodromo in the magnificent Parco Reale (Royal Park) north of Milan.

I managed to miss last year's Turkish GP, following which I heard nothing but praise for the splendid circuit - and complaints from colleagues who had got caught in the traffic on the way to the track.

What with the heat and dust, not to mention a tendency towards processional racing around the endlessly twisty Hungaroring, you might imagine that a trip to Hungary in mid-August is not something to be recommended.

It's Hockenheim this weekend, on a circuit which for 40 years was synonymous with pine forests, long straights and heatwaves. Bernie's friend Hermann "Hitman" Tilke vandalised the straights down to the length of a couple of cricket pitches three years ago.

Most Formula 1 technical directors are fairly high profile people. They are in the news - and that is where they like to be. The funniest thing, however, is that the technical director who is enjoying the most success at the moment, is among the least known of his breed - despite the fact that he has been in Formula 1 since 1982.

I guess there aren't many F1 reporters still around who can claim, as I can, to have seen a Grand Prix that was won at the wheel of a front-engined car. The race was the French GP of 1959, at Rheims, and the winner was Tony Brooks in a 2.5-litre Ferrari Dino V6.

David Lapworth is not a wellknown name in Formula 1 circles - at least not yet - but is a man who is well-connected in the F1 world.

At Indianapolis Kangaroo TV launched an exciting new product which the company said "truly enhances the at-race experience". That may be a long-winded expression but there is no doubt that it is true as the service allows fans to enjoy F1 with an interactive handheld video, audio and data device that gives the user a much better understanding of what is going on.

Most of us who live in the first world now take international travel for granted. Millions can afford to fly regularly, and those who are involved in the business of F1 racing do so several times each month.

I have a 12-year-old son and so going to see Pixar's new animated movie Cars was never really an option. And, if the truth be told, I went with some trepidation that I would be America-ed to death with the usual gooey schmaltz that one finds in Disney movies of all kinds.

Lewis Hamilton's dominance in the GP2 series continued at Silverstone and took him ever closer to the tantalizing prospect of the young British driver jumping straight into a McLaren F1 seat next year.

Since the very first Canadian GP, at Quebec's gorgeous Circuit Mont Tremblant in 1967, the race has only taken place at three venues: Mont Tremblant, Mosport and Montreal. The first two may have been dodgy in terms of safety, but when it comes to visual appeal, no other country can challenge Canada's claim to have had the prettiest F1 race tracks in the world.

Kazuo Okamoto is a big cheese in the Toyota Motor Corporation. At 62 he is the head of the company's Research and Development and an executive vice-president and member of the board.

Tom Sebastian relates his adventures driving Formula 1. We left our hero sitting in a Formula 3 car ready to go with his engine running when fog rolled in across the circuit.

Johnny Herbert is MF1 Racing's Sporting Relations Manager. That sounds an unusual title so the best thing to do is to ask the man himself. What is your job?

At Imola last weekend, Christijan Albers earned MF1 Racing its best chunk of TV coverage of the year. Unfortunately, it was for all the wrong reasons. And since the team hadn't thought of selling sponsorship space of the floor of the car, it wasn't fully able to take advantage of the unusual position Christijan found himself in.

Tom Sebastian relates his adventures driving Formula 1 cars, in the hope that some movie producer will be impressed and agree to finance production of his over-the-top racing script, Miracle at Monaco.

Tom Sebastian is a part-time government agent, part-time car collector, racer, writer and actor who would gladly go full-time with the acting if only some producer would finance his over-the-top racing script, Miracle at Monaco which, he insists, would make a better movie than Grand Prix and Le Mans put together.

It has been an interesting couple of days in the Formula 1 world with a variety of interlinked bits of news. Honda has taken on a PR guru to convince the kids of today that they want to be the Formula 1 stars of tomorrow.

Sir Jackie Stewart may be retiring from his role as president of the British Racing Drivers' Club but retiring is not a word one associates with the former World Champion and F1 team owner.

In 1971 50,000 people turned out on the streets of Fribourg in Switzerland to mourn Jo "Seppi" Siffert. He was killed in a BRM at Brands Hatch in the Race of Champions. This is his story, told by his friends.