Description
By: Maurice Hamilton .
The 2007 formula One Championship was e first since the legendary 1986 season in which three drivers went into the final race with the possibility of being crowned champion. And 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 — for reasons both on and off the track.
It wasn't meant to be that way. 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. He would have done exactly that, but for evelopment no-one could have reseen. Lewis Carl Hamilton, a relative unknown and just twenty-two-years old, would climb into the other McLarenMercedes and captivate the world with performances that went far beyond anything ever achieved by a novice in such a difficult and technically demanding sport. 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 Ferrari; accusations that 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 Fl today, and applying his extensive experience as a motor-sport journalist for over 30 years, 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. Analysing the individual races in expert detail as well as looking at the drivers themselves — including the phenomenon that is Lewis Hamilton; the first black man to reach the pinnacle of a predominately white sport and a motor racing prodigy who has already invited comparisons with Senna and Schumacher — Chequered Conflict, in its look at how radically the sport has changed in those twenty years, will become a classic of its genre.
