Known for Acting
Juan Manuel Fangio was the Formula One king, winning five world championships in the early 1950s — before protective gear or safety features were used.
1976 saw reigning Champion Niki Lauda start as the favourite in his Ferrari, as nearest rival Emerson Fittipaldi made the patriotic switch from McLaren to the Brazilian-funded Copersucar team. This left a hole at McLaren, filled by the ambitious, British hopeful, James Hunt, to set the scene for a dramatic season of racing. 1976 will probably be best remembered for Lauda's horrific accident at the Nurburgring that nearly ended his life and saw him rushed to hospital with major burns. His resilience and dedication to racing saw him make a remarkable recovery, returning six weeks later to ensure a thrilling climax to a season that ended with only one point separating 1st and 2nd place in the championship. Again it was the last eventful race in Japan that decided the title.
The new decade brought a record number of entries for the start of the season. Expectations were high that the champions of 1979, Ferrari and Jody Scheckter, could be beaten. Enter Team Williams and Alan Jones - the new force in a bright new era for Formula One racing. But it took the entire 1980 season before the victory was in the bag. Jones took the opening race, but then faltered. Brabham’s Nelson Piquet took advantage in the interim, completing a spectacular double in the Dutch and US GPs to lead the championship with two races remaining. It was up to Williams and Jones to pull out all the stops to seize the title.
1977 saw Niki Lauda start the season, scarred but fit. And determined to put his horrific accident in '76 behind him. Despite Lauda's poor start and total of only 3 wins for the season, he picked up points at all but three GPs, and was rewarded for his consistency with his second championship victory. Lauda chose not to complete the season, and instead, Ferrari gave the drive to a young and ambitious Gilles Villeneuve.
This fascinating record of one season of Grand Prix racing is the first ever FOCA review programme and sets the high standard for which these programmes have since been renowned. From the first green light at West Long Beach the season is charged with controversy. The aerodynamic "skirts" have gone and new hydraulic devices are in place. Carbon fibre bodies appear as the F1 cars get re-invented during the winter months.
Interspersed with interviews that the actress Sydne Rome gives to some of the most famous "Formula 1" champions - from Lauda to Regazzoni, from Andretti to Fittipaldi, from Villeneuve to Reutemann - the film shows some moments of the races on the most famous tracks of the world, and above all, the accidents that have caused it.
Formula One 1973 Review - Reign of Stewart is the DVD review of the 1973 Formula 1 season. This was the year when the legendary Jackie Stewart was crowned as F1 champion for the third and final time. Jackie Stewart had won the Formula One championship in 1971 but Emerson Fittipaldi was the reigning champion. At the start of the 1973 F1 season there was no question regarding his intention, Jackie Stewart wanted his title back. It was Fittipaldi who laid down the gauntlet, winning three out of the first four races. However, Stewart refused to buckle under pressure, and consistent displays of driving genius with the Tyrrell wondercar brought him right back into contention. By the halfway point of the season, Stewart led the Championship by a single point.
1972. All eyes were on the defending champion Jackie Stewart and expectations were high that he would repeat the total domination of the previous year. He made his intentions clear with an emphatic win in the 1st GP – cruising home half a minute ahead of the chasing pack. However, there was another driver intent on stealing his crown: Emerson Fittipaldi, a whirlwind of talent and youthful arrogance in his iconic black and gold Lotus 72. And it turned out to be a thrilling season of on-the-limit action that climaxed at Monza – Fittipaldi’s spiritual home. Stewart’s broken clutch put him out of the race, ensuring Fittipaldi’s place in the record books: at just 25 years of age, ‘Emmo’ became the youngest-ever World Champion.
