The Official Formula 1TM Season Review 2008 Foreword by Bernie Ecclestone

Publication: Out Now, RRP: £25.00, Format: Hardback, ISBN: 978 1 84425 566 5

The 2008 F1 season was simply sensational. It had everything - enthralling racing, off-track drama, and an astonishing last-lap finale in Brazil, which saw Lewis Hamilton crowned as the sport's youngest-ever World Champion. The racing was close and unpredictable throughout the year, helped by an unusually large number of rain-struck events and the increased competitiveness of all the teams.

McLaren and Ferrari generally led the way, but the rest of the field was so close that any slip-up would often drop one of the title challengers right out of the points. Five of the 11 teams won grands prix in 2008, and four others earned podium finishes. The season saw the introduction of two new grands prix venues at Valencia and Singapore, both of which were great successes. Singapore in particular, showed just how exciting Formula 1 can be under lights.

The fight for the Drivers' World Championship was extremely close all through the year, and although Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa stole the headlines towards the end of the season, both Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel burst onto the scene with memorable first victories. F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is a fan of both, and says in his Foreword; "I was the one who pushed BMW to take Kubica, so I'm a big supporter of him. If he was in a consistently competitive car you might well have seen him World Champion this year.  Vettel is a superstar. When you think of the car he was in, he's done a magic job. He's going to be World Champion. He's very open, and I hope he stays that way. I hope he doesn't get too corporate!"

Here is the full, in-depth story of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship, from Lewis Hamilton's victory in the opening race in Australia through to the breathtaking season climax at the Brazilian Grand Prix, where Hamilton beat Felipe Massa to the World Championship in dramatic fashion. The story is told by many of the drivers and team personnel involved, including Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, David Coulthard, Martin Whitmarsh, Pat Symonds and Ross Brawn.

Every race is chronicled with the aid of stunning colour photography, and the absorbing text allows the drivers, team principals and technical directors to throw new light on many of the season's headlines and incidents, presenting an exclusive insight into the on-track action and the race strategy for each round.

Superb feature content, supported by fabulous photographs and technical illustrations, looks behind the scenes at the development of each of the 11 teams' cars over the year, while every driver who drove in a Grand Prix during2008 gives an appraisal of his own season.  The Official Formula 1TM Season Review 2008 is the ultimate record of a remarkable season, capturing the excitement and atmosphere of each Grand Prix weekend, and providing rare behind- the-scenes insight into the Formula One world.