Motor Sport Magazine Specials

The authoritative voice of motor racing since 1924 covers the entire motor racing scene. In these Special Editions, the team digs into the archives to give exclusive insight, rare photographic footage, detailed race reports, and a unique take on the subject matter; from world-class drivers through to iconic car marques, and also how some of these real-life stories have been adapted for the big screen.

The Grand Prix motor races we can never forget…

Motor Sport Magazine Specials

1988 ITALIAN GP SEPTEMBER 11, MONZA • It was an archetypal Monza day: mist lifting to reveal a hazy sun as the tifosi to begin with seeped and then flooded over, around and through the perimeter fence. Only one thing was missing.

1935 TRIPOLI GP MAY 12, MELLAHA • North African heat and dust would play havoc with tyres on this flowing 135mph circuit. So Continental brought 50 covers apiece for its three Mercedes-Benz and two Auto Unions. That was only just sufficient.

1939 BELGRADE GP SEPTEMBER 3, KALEMEGDAN PARK • The German teams’ domination during the 1930s – an overwhelming display of technical expertise dispatched with military efficiency – had long seemed a precursor to something more sinister. The clouds had bubbled. Now the storm broke.

2005 SAN MARINO GP APRIL 24, IMOLA • It was staring us in the face, yet we couldn’t quite believe our eyes: such had been the lulling effect of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari’s five consecutive seasons of supremacy.

1973 BRITISH GP JULY 14, SILVERSTONE • The monumental pile-up at the conclusion of the first lap overshadowed all else. True, it was a humdinger, eliminating in one fell swoop and a loop eight of the original 29 starters.

1982 AUSTRIAN GP AUGUST 15, ÖSTERREICHRING • This swooping circuit in Styria was turbo country – as Kyalami, Rio, Imola, Montréal, Zandvoort, Paul Ricard and Hockenheim had all proved to be in their turn as the Grand Prix season had unrolled.

1966 BELGIAN GP JUNE 12, SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS • Friday and Saturday had been hot and sunny. Indeed, the latter’s practice session was delayed for 45 minutes by a forest fire above Burnenville. Sunday, however, dawned overcast and threatening.

1975 DUTCH GP JUNE 22, ZANDVOORT • With a peer of the realm for a boss, a team manager called ‘Bubbles’ and a public school-educated driver, hard-partying Hesketh Racing was a round peg in an increasingly square sport.

1973 ITALIAN GP SEPTEMBER 9, MONZA • Few drivers have made winning appear easier than Jackie Stewart. And at times it was easy for him, so fastidiously had he worked to bolt advantages on to his natural talent.

2006 BRAZILIAN GP OCTOBER 22, INTERLAGOS • Felipe Massa, his Ferrari future secure, became the first Brazilian since Ayrton Senna in 1993 to win his home GP. He controlled the race from pole position, eking out a sufficient gap to retain the lead throughout his second planned pitstop.

1963 GERMAN GP AUGUST 4, NÜRBURGRING • Nine tenths apart around the Nordschleife? Nothing in the overall scheme of things – and symbolic of the parity John Surtees felt existed between himself and Jim Clark.

1990 MEXICAN GP JUNE 24, MEXICO CITY • A race of several distinct phases, this one, although its signature moment was a late passing manoeuvre that continues to tickle neck hairs more than 20 years on.

1938 PAU GP APRIL 10, PAU • It’s an elegant sculpture, the Delahaye 145, and unmistakably a sports car. This wasn’t quite like tackling a Lotus 49 with an MGB, but you wouldn’t have given it much hope against the might of mid-Thirties Germany. Except, perhaps, in Pau…

1977 BRITISH GP JULY 16, SILVERSTONE • “Patrick Depailler better win, or there will be some bruised heads around here…” I never established the precise source, but during my first night on a Grand Prix campsite this...