LIFE IN THE FAST LANE:
THE STORY OF THE BENETTON
GRAND PRIX YEAR

By Steve Matchett.
Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

This book has been around for a few years now, (covering as it does the 1994 season), so perhaps this is not so much a review as a long look in the rear-view mirror. I don't know how many books have been written from the perspective of Grand Prix mechanics in the past, but there certainly haven't been many. (The only one I can think of was written many years ago by Alf Francis, who worked with Stirling Moss and Jack Brabham).

So straight away, Matchett's book has something going for it. It's different. And happily for him, and for the readers, the fun doesn't stop there. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

For the uninitiated, Matchett spent several years working as a mechanic with the Benetton team. At the end of 1993, he decided to keep a record of the following season with the aim of turning it into a book – a plan that led to the volume that now sits next to my computer as I write.

By sheer chance, the year that Matchett chose to write about would prove to be one of the most dramatic in recent history. The result is an account of the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger, the refuelling fire during Jos Verstappen's pitstop at Hockenheim, and the various controversies that the Benetton team found themselves embroiled in, all from the perspective of somebody who was as close to it all as one could possibly be. (In the case of the Hockenheim fire, this is literally the truth – as the rear jack man on the pit crew, Matchett was one of those caught in the fireball). And to cap it all off, his team also won the championship. Someone up there must like Steve Matchett a lot.

It has been said that 'the tale is in the telling'. Or in comedian's terms, it's all in the delivery. Matchett is not necessarily a brilliant writer from a technical perspective, but he has a great gift for communicating his story. Indeed, a lot of the book's appeal comes from the easygoing, natural way that Matchett relates his experiences. (This reminds me of a joke from my days as a bedroom musician – Rock guitarist: "Hey dude, do you know much music theory?" Blues guitarist: "Not enough to hurt my playing."). He comes across as a regular bloke – an impression he helps reinforce with occasional domestic interludes, such as reports on the progress of his bathroom renovations. This, perhaps even unintentionally, puts the rest of his story into perspective, and to an extent 'demystifies' the world of Formula One a little.

While there was no part of the book that I didn't enjoy, I was most interested in Matchett's opinion of certain controversies that cropped up in connection with Benetton during 1994. I'm not going to go over old ground by relating them here in any detail, but some examples include Schumacher's black flag at Silverstone, the Hockenheim fire, and the old standby, traction control. As would be expected, Matchett's opinion of each incident never sways far from the official stance of the team, but that is not necessarily important. The really fascinating part about these sections is that they privilege the reader with an amazing insight into how such issues affect the usually faceless members of the team concerned.

This excerpt gives some idea of what I mean. It doesn't actually relates to any controversy, but to the Hungarian Grand Prix, where, after a dry season, the crew that looked after Benetton's second car seemed to finally be on target to score points.

"...what was even more impressive to me was that by Lap 52 Jos had managed to get up to sixth. Not only that, but he was gaining on Alesi's Ferrari, in fifth place. Jos had been pounding round the circuit in a very determined drive. This could be it, fingers crossed and we could actually score some points.

"I looked over at Bobby, he gave me a very nervous and concerned look back. Dave walked over. 'If he dares go into a gravel-trap now...' Jakey sat on the ground, deep in thought. He seemed to be trying to make mental contact with Jos, willing him on. Take it steady. Take it steady. Wayne was glued to the monitor, watching the times flash up lap by lap. Lap 53, 54, 55 keep going Jos. Then, on Lap 59, car number 27 disappeared off the screen. Alesi had retired with gearbox trouble. Jos was fifth. 'he'd better not go off!' Dave warned. Jos kept on pushing, there were only four cars ahead of him now…then on the next lap we found ourselves elevated to fourth. Coulthard had been under too much pressure from the McLaren, and car number 2 had spun off. I didn't want to think how the Ferrari and Williams mechanics must have felt, we might be sharing the same emotion soon enough…." (p128-129).