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Review

A star rating of 3 out of 5.

Paul Crowder's disconcerting motor-racing documentary revisits the technical shortcomings and bureaucratic intransigence exposed by Richard Heap in 2011 TV film Grand Prix: the Killer Years, and examines the gradual realisation that the gladiatorial ethos that made Formula 1 such a glamorous sport had to be tempered by a common-sense approach to safety. In all, 41 drivers perished in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, among them legends like Scottish double world champ Jim Clark and Austrian Jochen Rindt, who remains the only posthumous champion in F1 history. But, as narrator Michael Fassbender and a Who's Who of ex-drivers reveal, it was only when motor racing became a television staple that emerging players Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley decided the constant threat of death was no longer a selling point. Crowder might have done a slicker job of merging archive footage with talking-head testimony, while he lingers over the rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt. But petrolheads won't care a jot.

How to watch

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Credits

Crew

rolename
DirectorPaul Crowder

Details

Theatrical distributor
Studio Canal
Released on
2014-01-10
Languages
English
Guidance
Violence, some swearing.
Available on
DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Colour
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