The Formula

How Rogues, Geniuses, and Speed Freaks Reengineered F1 into the World's Fastest Growing Sport

By: Joshua Robinson, Jonathan Clegg

Narrated by: Qarie Marshall

Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Wall Street Journal reporters and authors of The Club, Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg tell the riveting saga of how Formula 1 broke through in America, detailing the eclectic culture of racing obsessives, glamorous settings, gearheads, engineering geniuses, dashing racers, and bitter rivalries that have made F1 the world’s fastest growing sport.

For decades in America, car racing meant NASCAR, and to a lesser extent IndyCar, with Formula 1—the wealthiest racing league in the world—a distant third. Fast forward to 2023, and F1 has emerged at the front of the pack powered by a passionate yet nascent American fanbase. The F1 juggernaut has arrived, but this checkered flag was far from inevitable.

In The Formula, Wall Street Journal reporters Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg tell the epic story of how F1 saved itself from collapse and finally conquered America through guile, fearlessness, and above all, reinvention. With fast cars, big money, glamorous locales, and beautiful people as the backdrop, The Formula reveals how F1’s sudden arrival in the US was actually decades in the making, a product of the sport’s near-constant state of transformation and experimentation. Bringing unique insight and access to F1’s most storied teams and personalities—from Ferrari to Bernie Ecclestone to Christian Horner to Lewis Hamilton—The Formula offers a riveting portrait of the drivers, corporations, cars, rivalries, and audacious gambles that have shaped the sport for half a century.

The end result is a high-octane history of how modern F1 racing came to be—the first book to tell the story of the outrageous successes and spectacular crashes that led F1 to this extraordinary yet precarious moment. More than just a sports story, The Formula is the tale of a disrupter that broke into the crowded American sports marketplace and claimed its place through cash, personality, and a new understanding of what a sport needs to be in the age of wall-to-wall entertainment.

©2024 Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

The real inside story!

This book gives the real inside story that netflix hides away! And the narrator is PERFECT!

broad picture of the sport & it's history

clear spoking naratuon. a multi decade history of the teams, F1 managment,team peincipals and drivers.

Pretty solid job

I liked this book. I thought the author did a great job of summarizing F1 history. My only minor complaint is that he over-emphasizes the importance of things in the last 5 years.

Great Deep Dive Into Formula 1

This was a great history of F1 but some of the pronunciations of the driver names were really… off putting

Great for the Old or New F1 Fan

Well told history of F1, concentrating on the modern evolution of the sport thru the 2022 season. Behind the scenes and the domination by various teams and drivers along the way, Includes a chapter dedicated to the last race of the ‘21 season and the infamous yellow flag finish, denying Hamilton his 8th championship and Red Bulls recent rise to dominance. Recommend to anyone one with an interest in F1.

Excellent story telling

Pulled me even further into F1 than just Drive To Survive. I loved the series on Netflix but really got more into the sport listening to the book. Highly recommend.

An F1 Love Story Narrated by A Speed Freak!

This is an F1 love story that captures the good, the bad and ugly from monomaniacs like Enzo Ferrari to F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone. I am still in awe of the depth and the rich insight that this book has to offer. I have acquired so much knowledge from Qarie Marshall's lively narration of what went down all those years. I was on the very edge of my sit learning about how rogues, engineering geniuses and speed addicts advanced the sport to heights only the sport itself could bring down. I could not stop listening. I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has interest in knowing more about the prestigious red car, redbull's energetic style, mclaren's philosophy and the silver arrow's commitment to perfection. You will also learn more about how Formula's One's overall business works. I am now a huge fan of Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg.

Entertaining Listen for F1 Fans

The book is an interesting listen even if you think you know everything there is to know about modern F1. The book gets docked a star for two reasons. First, there are some glaring errors in the manuscript. Valtteri Bottas will be shocked to discover that he is Estonian and not Finnish (seriously, did anyone fact check the book at all?). Second, the narrator absolutely butchers the names of a number of individuals and locations (e.g., adding an extra "o" to Nico Rosberg's last name"). If you are going to accept the job as narrator of a book or producer of an audiobook the least you can do is make sure you bother to learn correct pronunciations of words used in the work (unfortunately, a far too common occurrence in somewhat specialized works like this audiobook from my perspective that affects not just this recording).

Well Laid Out!

So well written! Combines facts and various opinions to give content to the Formula 1 of today. The book follows a fairly chronological arch but doesn't get bogged down in history. A great read for new or old fans. I especially recommend if you're interested in the business of F1, or even just sports entertainment. Excellent narration too.