Formula One The Circuits: Then and Now
by Frank Hopkinson
I’ve been to a lot of race venues in my day, and started long enough ago to have been to places that are all but forgotten today, which is of course why the title of this book caught my eye. Of the 34 circuits that Hopkinson profiles I have attended events at about half of them.
I will have to give Frank Hopkinson some credit. The idea for such a book—looking back into the ancient times of the sport and featuring vintage photos—is either inspired or mistaken optimism that there could possibly be sufficiently wide-spread interest in such a book. Either way, the marketing guys played ball.
The first sentence of the introduction is, “The first Formula 1 World Championship began in 1950 at the former bomber training base RAF Silverstone.” You read that just about everywhere because it has become Received Wisdom. But it is still wrong: contrary to Big Brother at the FIA, the first event of the “Formula 1 World Championship” was held at Long Beach, California, in March 1981. Prior to that, the first event in the Championnat du Monde des Automobiles was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 1925, whereas the Silverstone event in May 1950 was the inaugural event of the Championnat du Monde des Conducteurs, which lasted from 1950 until the FIA/FISA terminated it at the end of the 1980 season. How this persistent muddying of the waters ever gained traction to become the sanctioned and dominating story line is worth a book in itself.
The simple explanation is that once upon a time the FIA hired one Winston Smith to “correct” the history of Formula 1 and bury the actual history in the “memory hole.” The result is akin to insisting that 2 + 2 = 5, which may sound plausible enough to impressionable souls. To an F1 Historian this is simply anarchy.
Ok, where are we here? Give me an “E”. Give me an “R”. If I say “Eau Rouge” you say __?
As Hopkinson makes clear, not all race venues are equal, some being given what might be politely considered a rush job while others get many, many pages which, in the case of, say, Monte Carlo (20 pages) is rather undeserved (relatively speaking). That is certainly the author’s prerogative: his book, his choices. As I leafed through Formula One The Circuits for a second time, something started to nag at me. Seeing Goodwood, the Norisring, and Pau included did not bother me in the least, even if none of them had been venues for World Championship events. It was in fact quite a pleasant surprise to see them here. But, there was just something just slightly off. The Table of Contents had no entries for Australia–—Adelaide and Albert Park in Melbourne. They had World Championship events. And where are Detroit and Phoenix? Ain Diab in Morocco? I cannot think of a reason, nor does Hopkinson offer one, why these venues were not included. I actually wondered if I was looking at a copy with misprints but the page numbers tallied.
On the upside, the large number of vintage photographs on display here is splendid. By and large, they are well-chosen, showing corners from, say the 1950s compared to how they look today. While one might be able to pick some nits (a few serious) with some of the narrative provided, there is a good reason that there are some 350 photographs in the book. More than a few of the photos are really interesting and some quite fascinating.
Upon reflection, if this book gets someone who is new to the topic started in wanting to learn more, then it does that job. Hopkinson might not have had this adage in mind, but “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” (L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between, 1953).
Copyright 2025, Don Capps (speedreaders.info).
Formula One The Circuits: Then and Now
by Frank Hopkinson
Ivy Press/Quarto Publishing, 2025
240 pages, 250 photographs, hardcover
List Price: $40
ISBN 13: 978711298484
Give me an “E”. Give me an “R”. If I say “Eau Rouge” you say __?
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