The Formula One Bible

Over the winter of 1988 / 89 I discovered more knowledge about Formula One; in part through discovering Autosport magazine and in part through the purchase of the BBC's Grand Prix 89 magazine. In these pre-internet days the written word was almost everyone's main source of information and I was no different!

Autosport, a weekly publication, was a weekly read for me from early February 1989 until sometime in the late 2000's.....possibly over 1000 copies bought and devoured over this period of time, but it was the BBC magazine, the guide to the forthcoming season, that proved to be my Formula One bible.

It gave me my first early understanding of the career threatening injuries that Johnny Herbert had sustained in his Formula 3000 accident at Brands Hatch in August 1988, following contact with Gregor Foitek , shattering both feet and ankles, all happening a month after being signed by Benetton for the 1989 season. Some sort of connection must of occurred , because Johnny very quickly became the driver I was going to follow and support in Formula One, and with a small amount of understanding that he was coming back from major injuries I was keen to see him race.

Roll on the first Formula One race of the season in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, and whilst all the headlines were about the debut win for Nigel Mansell in his semi-automatic Ferrari , the real star of the race was Johnny Herbert. For anyone making a debut in Formula One finishing fourth is an achievement to be celebrated, and it could well have been third place; Johnny was third earlier in the race, and was only 1.1 seconds behind Mauricio Gugelmin at the chequered flag.

However this debut was made whilst Johnny was still using a crutch to walk; had I really just witnessed the 24 year old Johnny make Formula One look easy ? As I later discovered the injuries Johnny was recovering from had a major impact to the strength in his left foot, used primarily for braking, and the Rio circuit was nowhere near as punishing as other circuits the grid would visit.

In the history of grand prix racing the only driver to have a better debut than Johnny (at least in terms of a result) was Giancarlo Baghetti who won on his F1 championship debut at the French Grand Prix of 1961. Even since 1989 only Jacques Villeneuve and Lewis Hamilton have had better debuts. It appeared that my decision to support Johnny Herbert was an inspired one, but the recovery that Johnny was making or the impact of the injuries he had suffered proved that the initial impact was a season highlight.

Several races later a 5th place finish at the US Grand Prix was followed by not qualifying at the next race in Canada, and Benetton officially stated that they were resting Johnny for three months to allow him to continue his recovery, and quite literally the story had gone from being hero to zero in the space of a few races.

Johnny reappeared on the grid deputising for another star rookie, Jean Alesi, at the rain sodden Belgium Grand Prix for the Tyrrell team, a race I recently re-watched on Youtube. Senna might of proved once again that he truly was a rain master in that race, but I was only looking for Johnny who had qualified his Tyrrell-Ford 018 in 16th place (several places ahead of his established team mate Jonathan Palmer) but spun off whilst following the Onyx of Stefan Johansson on the fourth lap.

Whilst I am keen to write about the journey Johnny took next, the BBC magazine allowed me to get a fuller understanding of all the other underdogs, drivers and teams, who made up the rest of the F1 grid. I'm keen to write about a selection of these drivers and teams as well, but for the moment in the autumn of 1989 the incredible start to Johnny Herbert's grand prix career had become a driver without a drive and clearly in need of more time to recover.