Will Buxton on his F1 book, Drive to Survive, and being a meme

It’s the last race of the Formula 1 season before a much-needed summer break, with much of the paddock running on fumes—and yet Will Buxton is his usual animated and energetic self, launching into conversation even before I tap the “record” button. It’s the same energy that’s carried the 43-year-old Brit through a winding career as a journalist, on-air presenter, talking head (and meme fodder) on “Drive to Survive”—and author. Buxton’s back to his first love, writing, with the release of his second book “Grand Prix: An Illustrated History of Formula 1,” a richly detailed and visually stunning tribute to the sport’s illustrious past and vibrant present.

“It was born out of a statistic that Stefano Domenicali [the president and CEO of F1] spoke of last season, which is that one in three viewers of Formula 1 have been watching the sport for five years or less,” says Buxton. “The sport has 1.5 billion viewers in 180 territories, [so] there are 500 million people who’ve been watching for less than five years. Which means they never saw Sebastian Vettel in a competitive car, they never saw Michael Schumacher race… let alone have a real understanding of who was Ayrton Senna, who was Alain Prost, let alone Jim Clark and Juan Manuel Fangio.”

The book then, is meant as a guide to the sport that will help newcomers get their bearings, and catch up on a past that still very much impacts the sport’s present. 

“This sport has so many specifics, so many fine details, that when you’re in this bubble, you almost can lose sight of the fact that not everybody knows all these things,” says Buxton. “We live in an era of quite a toxic social media environment. Where you can be a new fan and say: ‘Hey, I’m new to the sport. I love Max Verstappen.’ And people will go: ‘Ah, you’re just a new fan.’ But how do you learn if no one opens their arms and welcomes you?”

“Because we all had our first race. Even Roger Benoit—who’s done 800 plus races; the most experienced, most knowledgeable journalist in the paddock—had a day where he knew nothing. And that’s the purpose of the book. It’s to introduce everything that’s happened in a way that isn’t too scary.”

Over a trackside conversation during a hectic weekend at Spa, Buxton tells me about what he learned while researching “Grand Prix: An Illustrated History of Formula 1”, his pick for the best F1 driver ever, and life as a meme.

The…