Customer Reviews

Ferrari: The Inside Story of the Battle for the Championship

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Jane Nottage secured unparalleled access to Ferrari and its team members to write this book, but that same high level access obviously placed huge constraints on what could be put to paper. Unfortunately, this has reduced "The Passion and the Pain" to nothing more than a mere fluff piece for Ferrari, a rather askew view of the Ferrari Formula One team, from their own perspective.

Despite this, "Passion and the Pain", the "authorized" story of Ferrari's 1997 season, is still a fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of one of Grand Prix racing's most famous and glamourous teams. Even if diplomatic reasons dictate that, for example, Jerez 1997 is pretty much glossed over as a simple racing accident (the whole of the Jerez weekend only rates 1 and a half pages).

The story begins with a foreword by Niki Lauda (briefly a consultant to the team), then a brief introduction to the racing history of Ferrari, before going on to relate the foundations of the modern Schumacher era. Chapters 3 to 6 go over the fortunes of the 1996 season, Chapter 7 covers the winter break, before proceeding to the 1997 season from Chapter 8 to 15.

Scattered throughout the chapters are sidebars of interesting tidbits relating to such things as catering to the Ferrari team, the logistics of getting team personnell to the races, and the manufacture of the race cars back at Fiorano. There is quite a bit of content devoted to the mechanics (Nigel Stepney and "the boys" get a credit in the acknowledgements), and of course to the glory boys, Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine.

Despite the constraints of being an "authorized" story, Nottage does do a very good job of relating the day to day details of the workings of the team. However, it must be kept in mind that the book is very uncritical of the team, with the focus being to deliver the story of the 1996 and 1997 season from the viewpoint of the race team. "The Passion and the Pain" is still a worthwhile look, particularly if you are a Ferrari fan or you are interested in the inner workings of a top flight Formula One team.

This was a faboulus book I`ve read.Anyone interested with F-1 should have to read it.While I was reading this book I`ve felt as If I was at the pit crew of Ferrari

only when you see a FERRARI you will se so much power,beuty,and elegance