New book review: Formula 1 Drive to Survive by Stuart Codling

It’s been a while since I’ve read a F1 book that turned out to be a welcome surprise or exceeded initial expectations. Stuart Codling’s latest book, “Formula 1 Drive to Survive: The Unofficial Companion” is a look at aspects of F1 (and its past history) with the same main focus as Netflix’s mega popular Drive to Survive (DTS) streaming series on the sport’s personalities – drivers, team principals, engineers, globe trotting circuits, regulations and controversy.

The sections of the book are split into 7 chapters covering the human element (drivers and personnel), the cars (20 famous F1 race cars), F1 technology (aero, engines, fuel, etc), circuits (famous trackside landmarks and accidents), rules (2022 reg change and 2021 Abu Dhabi), business of F1 (Bernie Ecclestone and Liberty Media) and race strategy (tyres, pitstops, data).

Stuart Codling has previously published a great book dedicated to iconic F1 cars “The Art of the Formula 1 race car“, so the book’s chapter 2 is no surprise and includes mention of the beautifully curved Ferrari SF-75.

Photo wise, I love that this book is packed with superb colour images on almost every page. The collection of photos is a clear strong point. The book’s layout is also my preferred style too – small font text narration coupled with colour photos and indents for special commentary (which Stuart Codling uses to good effect in various chapters – for example explaining more F1 hard core topics that a casual DTS viewer won’t immediately be aware of like double diffusers, aero drag, Horner v Wolff, etc.

The author also makes reference to various episodes of DTS and provides a bit more insight into some of those events on camera. For example, Mercedes disastrous 2019 German GP (Season 2, Episode 4) and Esteban Ocon’s struggles at Alpine in Season 4, Episode 7 until he gets his new race engineer.

I’d probably rate this book up there with Stuart Codling’s other excellent F1 car book – ‘The Art of the Formula 1 Race car“. Although it has an unofficial Drive to Survive tagline, this book isn’t 100% dedicated to the 2019-2022 F1 seasons. Unlike the Netflix series there is actually a lot of F1 history content included but its packaged in a compact way that’s easy to appreciate for a newbie F1 fan.

If you’re only interested in the drivers and team personnel on the current 2023 F1 grid, then you probably need to go for a yearbook instead. If you’re already a reasonably knowledgeable F1 fan, then this book might not offer major insights but the photography alone should keep you interested.

Wow factor/money shot: Lots of nice historic and modern F1 photos. I quite like the pic of Honda’s 2018  V6 hybrid (Fernando’s infamous “GP2” engine) on page 90.

Suitable for: DTS fans (and modern era F1 fans too)