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The Piranha Club: Power and Influence in Formula One
Now fully updated, The Piranha Club is the first serious study of Formula One's most intriguing and influential figures – the men who wield the real power. It is an entertaining and incisive analysis of the Formula One paddock, explaining how it works, who runs it, how it makes money and what sort of people exist there.
Formula One is the meeting point of sport, commerce, showbusiness, technology, industry and international politics. You are as likely to share a table for lunch in the paddock with Naomi Campbell or Michael Douglas as with a politician, a royal or a pop singer. Those who run it are the most intriguing of Bernie Ecclestone and Max Moseley, Jackie Stewart, Ron Dennis, Frank Williams, Eddie Jordan and the rest. Though from various backgrounds, they share the common interest of Formula One motor racing – and finding a way of making money successfully.
Formula One is the meeting point of sport, commerce, showbusiness, technology, industry and international politics. You are as likely to share a table for lunch in the paddock with Naomi Campbell or Michael Douglas as with a politician, a royal or a pop singer. Those who run it are the most intriguing of Bernie Ecclestone and Max Moseley, Jackie Stewart, Ron Dennis, Frank Williams, Eddie Jordan and the rest. Though from various backgrounds, they share the common interest of Formula One motor racing – and finding a way of making money successfully.
- GenresNonfictionSportsRacing
336 pages, Paperback
First published November 8, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 3, 2021
The inaccuracies in this book are almost as annoying as the copy and paste of other writers work method that Mr Collings has adopted.
I honestly threw the book down in temper when it stated that Frank Williams' car accident happened in 1996, a full decade later from the actual date.
The spelling mistakes, constant repeats of text and overall lack of knowledge for the sport from whoever edited this effort can not be forgiven.
I honestly threw the book down in temper when it stated that Frank Williams' car accident happened in 1996, a full decade later from the actual date.
The spelling mistakes, constant repeats of text and overall lack of knowledge for the sport from whoever edited this effort can not be forgiven.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2021
Right from Rob Walker, Colin Chapman to Jackie Stewart they all shared the same passion for racing but in the end, some succeeded exceptionally and some failed miserably owing a huge debt. One thing that remained certain was that the Darwinian theory was proved every single time.
August 24, 2016
The ever wonderful L got me this as a present a couple of years ago and has been very patient waiting for me to read it.
I almost want to write two reviews, one for F1 fans and one for other readers. Because, despite a few flaws, I would utterly recommend this for anyone with more than a passing interest in F1. If you've not got an interest in F1, you're really not the target audience.
Both reviews would make one similar complaint - what Collings needs, even more than someone to thoroughly proof-read the book (I'd complain less, were this not supposed to be the revised edition), is someone to help him organise his thoughts.
The book follows a mostly chronological path, beginning with Enzo Ferrari and carrying on to the present day (which was 2003). Which makes sense, and it was interesting to get an overview of how the sport developed and changed, through the prism of the teams and team bosses.
Only sometimes the book randomly jumps so Ron Dennis and Frank Williams get introduced before Ken Tyrrell, for no obvious reason, especially as Ken Tyrrell was also a garagiste.
And then we suddenly get a section on the skulduggery of the 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2003. And each individual section is very good (especially the 1997 bit, which, as a Ferrari fan, I remember *differently*), but the whole would have been so much better with an introductory paragraph to the chapter (which is called Tempestuous Times) and and intro to each section. For the price of five extra paragraphs, the chapter could have gone from 'really good' to 'excellent'.
Following that chapter we jump back to 1997 (admittedly to a really excellent chapter on Jackie Stewart, Stewart Racing and how to organise an F1 team).
The jumping also affects the flow of his introductions to team managers, so we get Paul Stoddart doing his thing in the 2003 section of 'Tempestuous Times', before he, Minardi, and why he bought Minardi are introduced a chapter and a half later in '2001 - A Political Odyssey'.
I think the lack of organising principle is why, particularly in the early chapters, you quite often get an anecdote on one page, only to have it be repeated over the page.
All those complaints are utterly unimportant if you're an F1 fan though, because the book has so much interesting stuff, especially about how things work (or don't work) on the business front, and some of the personality background on the team leaders.
And Bernie. Oh the Bernie stuff was interesting. Particularly Stirling Moss saying that Bernie was a half decent driver. There is a man whose opinion I respect in these matters.
Collings also tries to predict the future, and while there's a reason that's a mug's game, he does get some of it right. The imbalance in the prize money has lead to other teams going bust, and is still causing ructions between the remaining teams. He's right that it will probably be the EU Commission that eventually gets it sorted (courtesy of complaints from Sauber, where Peter Sauber has left F1, rejoined, and then sold his team).
He's also right in predicting the rise of manufacturer teams such as Renault, and teams that are part of larger organisations, where they're basically extended marketing departments (looking at you so much Red Bull), at the expense of truly privateer teams.
Where he's wrong is the effect that that's had on who the team bosses are. Contrary to what Collings predicts, they are still mostly ex-racers and mad petrolheads, for example Christian Horner and Toto Wolff. The bosses of big companies don't have the time to devote to just one part of their brand that it would need for them to truly run a Formula 1 team, so they're going to try to hire the best they can and those people are going to come from the same motorsports-enthusiastic places they've always done, they're just not doing it under their own names now. And I don't think you could. Gene Haas apart, and time will tell if he stays, you need a pre-existing business empire to enter F1 nowadays.
And Bernie still prevails. As I suspect he always shall until he's bored of it. The book was written before the present Concord agreement was signed and therefore ends on a note of 'how will the teams ever agree to a new one, and how will Bernie cling on to power?' Sound familiar? The book also has a fantastic anecdote that explains why Bernie remains,
"At various times, he has left a room, during a meeting, after suggesting that the team principals present decide among themselves who the new leader should be, only to return and find they had spent so long arguing about the air-conditioning levels, or something similar, that no-one had even proposed a replacement leader." (pg 137)
Now, yes, it's one of those anecdotes that's probably far too good to be true, but it sounds infinitely plausible and I suspect the same thing would happen now. He is what keeps F1 moving, and I actually do worry about what happens post-Bernie, and I think the 'Bernie out' people should consider that before they get too vociferous.
But yes, in short, definitely read it if you're an F1 fan. Not so much if you're not.
I almost want to write two reviews, one for F1 fans and one for other readers. Because, despite a few flaws, I would utterly recommend this for anyone with more than a passing interest in F1. If you've not got an interest in F1, you're really not the target audience.
Both reviews would make one similar complaint - what Collings needs, even more than someone to thoroughly proof-read the book (I'd complain less, were this not supposed to be the revised edition), is someone to help him organise his thoughts.
The book follows a mostly chronological path, beginning with Enzo Ferrari and carrying on to the present day (which was 2003). Which makes sense, and it was interesting to get an overview of how the sport developed and changed, through the prism of the teams and team bosses.
Only sometimes the book randomly jumps so Ron Dennis and Frank Williams get introduced before Ken Tyrrell, for no obvious reason, especially as Ken Tyrrell was also a garagiste.
And then we suddenly get a section on the skulduggery of the 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2003. And each individual section is very good (especially the 1997 bit, which, as a Ferrari fan, I remember *differently*), but the whole would have been so much better with an introductory paragraph to the chapter (which is called Tempestuous Times) and and intro to each section. For the price of five extra paragraphs, the chapter could have gone from 'really good' to 'excellent'.
Following that chapter we jump back to 1997 (admittedly to a really excellent chapter on Jackie Stewart, Stewart Racing and how to organise an F1 team).
The jumping also affects the flow of his introductions to team managers, so we get Paul Stoddart doing his thing in the 2003 section of 'Tempestuous Times', before he, Minardi, and why he bought Minardi are introduced a chapter and a half later in '2001 - A Political Odyssey'.
I think the lack of organising principle is why, particularly in the early chapters, you quite often get an anecdote on one page, only to have it be repeated over the page.
All those complaints are utterly unimportant if you're an F1 fan though, because the book has so much interesting stuff, especially about how things work (or don't work) on the business front, and some of the personality background on the team leaders.
And Bernie. Oh the Bernie stuff was interesting. Particularly Stirling Moss saying that Bernie was a half decent driver. There is a man whose opinion I respect in these matters.
Collings also tries to predict the future, and while there's a reason that's a mug's game, he does get some of it right. The imbalance in the prize money has lead to other teams going bust, and is still causing ructions between the remaining teams. He's right that it will probably be the EU Commission that eventually gets it sorted (courtesy of complaints from Sauber, where Peter Sauber has left F1, rejoined, and then sold his team).
He's also right in predicting the rise of manufacturer teams such as Renault, and teams that are part of larger organisations, where they're basically extended marketing departments (looking at you so much Red Bull), at the expense of truly privateer teams.
Where he's wrong is the effect that that's had on who the team bosses are. Contrary to what Collings predicts, they are still mostly ex-racers and mad petrolheads, for example Christian Horner and Toto Wolff. The bosses of big companies don't have the time to devote to just one part of their brand that it would need for them to truly run a Formula 1 team, so they're going to try to hire the best they can and those people are going to come from the same motorsports-enthusiastic places they've always done, they're just not doing it under their own names now. And I don't think you could. Gene Haas apart, and time will tell if he stays, you need a pre-existing business empire to enter F1 nowadays.
And Bernie still prevails. As I suspect he always shall until he's bored of it. The book was written before the present Concord agreement was signed and therefore ends on a note of 'how will the teams ever agree to a new one, and how will Bernie cling on to power?' Sound familiar? The book also has a fantastic anecdote that explains why Bernie remains,
"At various times, he has left a room, during a meeting, after suggesting that the team principals present decide among themselves who the new leader should be, only to return and find they had spent so long arguing about the air-conditioning levels, or something similar, that no-one had even proposed a replacement leader." (pg 137)
Now, yes, it's one of those anecdotes that's probably far too good to be true, but it sounds infinitely plausible and I suspect the same thing would happen now. He is what keeps F1 moving, and I actually do worry about what happens post-Bernie, and I think the 'Bernie out' people should consider that before they get too vociferous.
But yes, in short, definitely read it if you're an F1 fan. Not so much if you're not.
July 13, 2009
There is more than one edition of this book. I read the updated edition released in 2004 which included extra chapters on events in 2002 and 2003. Probably Timothy Collings best book on the shark infested waters that is Formula 1. Many of the chapters relate to certain events or certain people that make up the paddock and the history of others. Some events that are covered include the Schumacher contract Jordan and Benetton each had for his services in 1991, the bankruptcy of teams in the 21 century and the infamous Ron Dennis/Paul Stoddart press conference in 2003. On the subject of the Stoddart/Dennis tiff, its a shame Collings doesn't include a transcript of the incident because the chapter he devotes to it is some what confusing in what actually happened. He explains the circumstances leading up to the event and what happens after but the actual drama itself is explained in a remarkable lack of details... leaving the reader somewhat confused. Another thing that brings this book down is the ridiculous amount of sympathy Collings directs toward Alain Prost when his team went under, like he was an innocent victim of the whole affair. That couldn't have been further from the truth. Prost opened his big mouth everytime something went wrong, blaming everyone but himself for his team's misfortune. He bagged both Mugen and Peugeot and his drivers when none were responsible for a crap car, and eventually drove off ALL his sponsors from 2000 with an almost bare car in 2001. When he had the opportunity to sell his team completely to the Diniz family, thereby saving it and 200 jobs, he refused unless he was still the director, which smacks of a ridiculous amount of arrogance. Collings clearly loves the guy and instead of going with the facts promotes his own fanaticism. Anyway, overall the book is okay but its not as great as it could have been.
June 19, 2012
'Welcome to the Piranha Club!' Ron Dennis (head of McLaren) to Eddie Jordan on the inception of the Jordan team. Talk about a good opening. This charts the rise of the team principals and their respective heads into the current format of F1. It deals with the start of FOCA (the Formula 1 Consturctors Association) and the subsequent development of the current format of F1 that we have come to know.
December 21, 2015
formula 1'le alakası olanlar için bayağı önemli kitap. ki dilimizde pek de f1 kitabı olmadığını düşünürsek...
alkım, amme hizmeti yapmış. hem bir yandan f1 tarihi özeti okumuş oluyorsunuz, hem f1 tarihindeki önemli kişiliklerin hikayelerini (ki çoğu, inanılmaz yükseliş serüvenleri) öğreniyoruz, hem de formula 1'in gelişim sürecinde olan bitenler, güç savaşları ve rant muhabbetlerinden haberdar oluyoruz.
alkım, amme hizmeti yapmış. hem bir yandan f1 tarihi özeti okumuş oluyorsunuz, hem f1 tarihindeki önemli kişiliklerin hikayelerini (ki çoğu, inanılmaz yükseliş serüvenleri) öğreniyoruz, hem de formula 1'in gelişim sürecinde olan bitenler, güç savaşları ve rant muhabbetlerinden haberdar oluyoruz.
January 14, 2016
"A history of modern day Formula 1". This book looks at individuals who have helped to shape Formula 1 as we know it today. It gives you the background of teams such as Ferrari, McLaren and Williams. If you want to learn about the workings of F1 behind the pitwall, this is the book to read.
It doesn't just examine the history of the Piranha Club though. The author looks at the sport at the turn of the century and considers the future of F1 - 'after Bernie'.
It doesn't just examine the history of the Piranha Club though. The author looks at the sport at the turn of the century and considers the future of F1 - 'after Bernie'.
January 25, 2016
Love F1?? then you will love this book. great insight into how the game evolved and its curators :-) Very well compiled giving insights from the start to the current setup of F1. Good read if you are F1 Fanatic.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews