The James Hunt book is excellent, and a very deep analysis of James that I wonder if he could have done if James were still alive to criticize it (although I suspect he would have approved). I understand from later analysis that James was manic-depressive, at least in his later years; was that verified, does anyone know?
My favourite James quote of all time was during a race in Monaco when Murray exclaimed that someone was "on fire as he came into the Swimming Pool" and James replied, "Well, that will put him out, then."
I will start reading the autobiography of Nigel "It's All About Me" Mansell next.
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As for whether and whither F1, I think it now suffers (besides from the Ron Dennis School of RoboSpeak) from the same problem that happened in hockey -- and I believe Sir Jackie Stewart pointed it out in F1, actually: that as the cars have become safer and safer, the drivers have become more dangerous. Now that they are virtually assured to walk away from any prang, they don't hesitate to ram other cars or force them into the curb, gravel traps, et al. regardless of consequences. I remember Eddie Irvine in the Jaguar forcing Bernoldi into the tire wall at a very high rate of speed, and then parking and piling out of his car to run and help pull the tire wall off the Prost and rescue the other driver; he was quite shaken up by the result of his action when he thought he had killed a fellow driver, but clearly he hadn't considered the effect of his action until he saw it.
On the other hand we have the delightful spectacle of Jean Alesi chasing Jarno Trulli through the infield in Montreal -- Trulli running backward because he was afraid to stop and turn around -- with Alesi shouting "I WEEL KEEL YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" after Trulli saw him off, which was a delightful echo of the days when drivers could be told apart without consulting the program.
