AUTOCOURSE, the world's leading grand prix annual, celebrates its 70th year of publication in 2020. With Pandemic closing all motorsport activity in the first half of the year, The condensed schedule for the 17-race Formula 1 World Championship season is covered in its usual full depth, with hugely experienced paddock insiders Tony Dodgins and Maurice Hamilton dissecting the drama and intrigue that are intrinsic parts of any F1 season. Their race commentaries are complemented by detailed results spreads, including lap charts and tyre strategies.
Mercedes-Benz again proved the class of the field, with Lewis Hamilton, backed by the experienced Valtteri Bottas, bidding to win his seventh world championship,
Ferrari' found themselves uncompetitive and Charles Leclerc, and Sebastian Vettel struggled to find the speed that made them winners in 2019, and it was left to the ever-resourceful Red Bull Racing, with the exciting talent of Max Verstappen, to rise to the challenge and further justify their decision to switch to Honda power.
Below the top three teams, Renault at last looked like return to past glories while locked in battle with McLaren and Racing Point for fourth place in the constructors' championship.
Highly respected Mark Hughes looks at the technical developments behind all the competitors in his team-by-team review, enhanced by Adrian Dean's beautiful F1 car illustrations.
In addition to Formula 1, the sport's other major categories are all afforded ample coverage. The Formula 2 and Formula 3 championships, key rungs on the professional single-seat ladder, are chronicled, as is the rise of Formula E, which is rapidly gaining considerable support from major manufacturers.
In sports car racing, the all-conquering Toyota, once again, seem set to win the Le Mans 24-hour race. Also covered are the door-banging exploits of the leading touring car series - the World Touring Car Championship, DTM (German Touring Cars) and the British Touring Car Championship.
From the other side of the Atlantic, Gordon Kirby provides his usual insightful analysis of the US racing scene which majors on the compelling action of the ever-growing Indycar series and the gruelling NASCAR series.
AUTOCOURSE provides the most comprehensive record of the year's sporting action, complete with results, published anywhere in a single volume. It is required reading for motor sport fans the world over.
Author Biography:
When the realities of funding a racing career in Lotus Cortinas and Van Diemens became apparent, Tony Dodgins opted for the typewriter. He won the Sir William Lyons award for young motoring journalists in 1979 after interviewing Frank Williams at Silverstone the day before Williams won its first grand prix. Tony joined Autosport in 1985 and became their grand prix editor. He has also been the grand prix editor for Motoring News, F1 Racing magazine (now GP Racing), On Track, and has been a regular columnist for Autosport Japan for more than 20 years. He is the editor of the renowned Autocourse yearbook, which has been published since the World Championship began in 1950. After BBC radio work, Tony became the Channel 4 race analyst working on F1 coverage alongside commentator Ben Edwards and now Alex Jacques.
Maurice Hamilton has been part of the Formula One scene since 1977 and was the Observer's motor racing correspondent for 20 years. He has written more than 20 books as well as commentating on Formula One for BBC Radio. He is now actively involved with the online community on Twitter and writes several blogs whilst continuing to write books about racing.
Mark Hughes is one of the most highly respected and authoritative writers in contemporary motorsport. He combines an acute understanding of present-day Formula One with an intuitive feel for the past. His work appears in a wide variety of magazines, including the UK's Autosport.
Gordon Kirby is one of the world's most widely-read and respected motor racing writers. He was American editor of Autosport for thirty-two years from 1973-2004 and now serves as the US editor of Motor Sport, the world's oldest racing magazine. Kirby also writes the annual American season review for Autocourse, starting in 1973, and is the author of an award-winning biography of Mario Andretti, A Driving Passion. Kirby also has written books about the Unser family, Bobby Rahal and Emerson Fittipaldi, and contributed to a book about Greg Moore.
