End of the Line

I’ve been re-reading a lot of books during lockdown. With libraries and book shops being closed for at least three months, there was little alternative, for an avid reader like myself, but to revisit what was in our own bookcase. I’m not a fan of e-readers so that wasn’t really an option. Once I’d re-read the books I would either put them back on the shelves to be read again, or - more usually - put them in the car boot / charity shop box for someone else to enjoy. Not only satisfied my need to read but also helped with decluttering the house!
Entirely coincidentally, I finished this particular book on the same day that Frank and Claire Williams stepped down from the team that bears their name. During the 60s and 70s (and even a bit later) it was not uncommon for F1 teams to bear the names of their founders - Tyrell, Surtees, Jordan, etc - but these have largely disappeared, having been taken over by major manufacturers (Mercedes took over Brawn) or rich businessmen looking to spend their money (Racing Point, owned by the man behind the Michael Kors brand, took over what, originally was Jordan).
There are only three “name” teams in this years championship, who were also around in the 60s and 70s. Ferrari were one of the founding F1 teams but since Enzo Ferrari’s death in 1988, they are now effectively owned and run by FIAT. McLaren still bears the name of its founder, but it is purely a name as Bruce McLaren was killed over 50 years ago, not many years after starting the team. Which leaves Williams. Until yesterday, the only team in the championship still with the man / family who founded it at the helm. I’m sure there won’t be any immediate wholesale change of personnel by the new owners, and they may retain the name for the foreseeable future, but there will definitely be changes. When you invest that amount of money, you expect to make a return - either commercially or by winning races. Let us hope, for the sake of the sport, they achieve both these aims.
As for this particular book, it is destined for the car boot box. I hadn’t realised until I started reading it that it is nearly 30 years old - it only goes up to the end of the 1991 season. Given that some of Williams best years were yet to come - World Championships for Mansell and Hill - as well as some real low points like Ayrton Senna’s tragic death, this is a book that surely deserves to be rewritten and brought up to date. And when it is, I will definitely be buying it!