New Book Review: Life in the Pitlane by Calum Nicholas
Positives
Negatives
Some media sites have recently quoted ex-Red Bull Racing mechanic Calum Nicholas saying Max Verstappen will secure the 2025 championship and then retire! I guess you can never discount Max and Red Bull (although Lando and Oscar fans will be hoping it will be just an intra-McLaren fight for this year’s title).
Calum recently released his own biography of his career in F1 “Life in the Pitlane” following the path of other former F1 mechanics like Mark Priestley (ex-McLaren with his 2017 book “The Mechanic”) and Steve Matchett (Benetton F1 in 90’s – ironically, his 1995 book was also called “Life in the Pit Lane”).
Life in the Pitlane charts Calum’s career as a mechanic in F1 from National College for Motorsport, Status GP3 team, getting into F1 with Marussia (including dealing with the tragic accident of Jules Bianchi), then joining and working his way up the Red Bull pit crew team during the tough post-2014 hybrid Renault engine to the mega successful Honda engine works- Max Verstappen dominant championship years of 2021-2024.
There a neat mix of content in this book: technical F1 (preparing cars during race weekend, fast pitstops, mechanics of wheel guns), career breaks & interviewing stories, behind the scenes dramas during race weekends in the Oracle Red Bull Racing garage and his own personal podcasting side projects and personal challenges of the gruelling F1 calendar. There is a chapter dedicated to the issue of diversity (or lack of) in F1 which seems to be a topic close to Calum Nicholas’ heart.
The last chapter which discusses some of the problem issues with the current cost cap regulations from a team mechanic’s perspective makes interesting reading.
This book is an entertaining read, particularly if you’re a Red Bull supporter.
Wow factor/Money shot: Learning about Leica lens scanning technology; Renault engineers vs Honda engineers
Suitable for: young aspiring race mechanics, Red Bull F1 and circa 2012-2024 F1 fans.
