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Some Quotes and bits I liked from the book
It’s usually taken several iterations to get to that point; my consumption of erasers is only just behind my consumption of pencil lead.
So I did. And although I never really caught up with the maths – to this day, it’s my Achilles’ heel – I did manage to overcome the problem by memorising mathematical derivations parrot fashion. Put simply, I never understood them, but I knew how to fake them. It hasn’t held me back in the long term and, in a perverse way, it instilled in me a determination that when the going gets tough you need to get your head down and find a way through it. I also formed the ability to really and truly concentrate when studying, which has certainly helped me in my career, though I have to admit, not socially. Particularly at race weekends I tend to suffer from tunnel vision, not seeing left or right, only what is right in front of me.
And who knows: maybe his propensity for exuberant driving was partially to blame because the problem is that this style puts an enormous amount of energy into the tyres, which are prone to overheating, as well as reducing the effectiveness of the aerodynamics and hence downforce. Or put another way, when you’re going sideways you’re not going forwards. Compare Gilles to Niki Lauda who never let the car get ragged. It was always moving forward. His results speak for themselves.
We started running and there were two immediate problems. The first was that we hadn’t left enough room in the cockpit for Ivan to change gear. In those days, of course, it was a stick shift, not the paddles on the steering wheel we have now, and it was mounted on the right just by the steering wheel. Bit of an oversight.
That night a party was held on Akagi’s boat. A typical Formula One affair; things soon got out of control. Because of the difficulty in getting around in Monaco we had rented some small scooters off a local hire company. They were pretty old and worn out, but that evening, having had way too much to drink, I took up a dare from the mechanics and rode it into the harbour.