Chequered Conflict: The Inside Story on Two Explosive F1 World Championships

The 2007 Formula One Championship was the first since the legendary 1986 season in which three drivers went into the final race with the possibility of being crowned champion. Not since that fateful year—when Mansell, Piquet, and Prost went head-to-head—has a season so captured the world's attention and drawn so many new spectators to the sport. When Fernando Alonso joined McLaren for 2007, the unspoken assumption was that the double world champion would steadily proceed to his third title in a row. Bu out of nowhere, Carl Lewis Hamilton—a relative unknown and just 22-years old—climbed into the other McLaren-Mercedes and captivated the world with consistently brilliant performances. Even as it welcomed this new prodigy, however, the world of Formula One was rocked by accusations of spying between McLaren and their bitter rivals at Ferrari. These accusations resulted in millions of pounds in fines and an ill feeling between the teams, their drivers, and the governing body that now threatens the future of the sport. Revisiting the 1986 season to contrast it with the world of F1 today, and applying his extensive experience as an award-winning motor-sport journalist, Maurice Hamilton provides a review of a season that will be remembered as one of the most important and unique in the sport's history. Analyzing the individual races in expert detail as well as looking at the drivers themselves, this is a look at how radically the sport has changed in 20 years.