Zoom in to purchase

Zoom: Personal Images and Insights from the Stars of F1, the third official book of the charity auction of photographs taken by the stars of the sport, is now available to purchase.

The book contains images which were taken by all the F1 drivers and team bosses over the course of the 2014 season and were auctioned in January in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSHCC).

This year’s Zoom auction took place at the InterContinental London Park Lane on Friday 16th January. The photographs were auctioned for GOSHCC in front of a star-studded guest list, including famous faces from the world of F1 such as Bernie Ecclestone, Christian Horner and Geri Halliwell, Claire Williams, Eric Boullier, Graeme Lowdon ans Adrian Newey.

These photos give a unique behind-the-scenes insight into the lives of the world’s most famous racing drivers. It meant subjects covered were as diverse as Jenson Button’s view of his ‘office’ to Toto Wolff’s on-the-grid selfie with colleague Paddy Lowe in Bahrain. And members of the Sky Sports F1 team were also asked to get involved, with the likes of Martin Brundle, Damon Hill and David Croft sending in their own snapshot of the season.

In conjunction with Zoom and ahead of the event, Sky Sports F1 ran a competition asking fans to send in their favourite photographs of 2014 via Facebook, Twitter and email for a chance to win a fabulous set of prizes courtesy of Zoom and Nikon. We were inundated with your snaps and Mark Timms was judged as the winner with his photograph of young Ferrari fans.

Zoom charity auction

Mark's winning image was printed and framed alongside all the other pictures for the 2015 Zoom charity auction but that’s not all as the image has also been added to the new Zoom book, immortalised forever for fans and readers alike.

The 124-page book retails at £15 and includes all 52 photographs from Zoom 2015 alongside descriptions of each image in the photographer’s own words.

The book also contains a foreword by Formula One’s chief executive Bernie Ecclestone. “It has all been done for a wonderful cause,” he says. “You are getting a glimpse into a side of F1 that isn’t shown on television and as you will see, it isn’t all about fast cars and champagne.”

Christian Sylt, founder of Zoom, added: “I’d like to thank everyone who has helped make Zoom possible, especially our partners, the teams and drivers, Bernie Ecclestone and everyone else who took a photo. Fans who missed out on a chance to bid for a signed print can still support Zoom by buying this book and it’s an ideal gift for anyone interested in F1.”

F1 Midweek Report - Malaysia 2015

Natalie Pinkham is joined by former F1 driver John Watson and ex-Red Bull engineer Mark Hutcheson to reflect on the Malaysia Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel has his mojo back and Ferrari exploited a chink in Mercedes’ armour, according to F1 Midweek REPORT guests Mark Hutcheson and John Watson.

After being swamped by team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in his final year at Red Bull as he relinquished his world championship crown to Lewis Hamilton, Vettel marked only his second race for new team Ferrari with a faultless drive in Malaysia to beat Hamilton to bring the new season to life.

“It was refreshing,” agreed former F1 driver Watson, a veteran of over 150 races. “Vettel has his mojo back. He lost it in 2014 but now he has it back. He has a car which suits his driving style and he made it work in Malaysia.”

But was it a race won by Ferrari or a grand prix lost by Mercedes?

“I’m not persuaded that, when things are slightly out of jilter, Mercedes are as good at thinking on their feet as other teams,” noted Watson.

“After the Friday running, Mercedes would have known that they wouldn’t have it easy,” argued Hutcheson. “But we need to be careful. Mercedes for sure still have an advantage.”

The show, featuring guest appearances from Sky F1’s Martin Brundle and Ted Kravitz, also discusses cracks in the relationship between Renault and Red Bull, Fernando Alonso’s explanation for his crash in testing and the rate of progress at McLaren following their switch to Honda power.

Sebastian Vettel brings 2015 to life and proves he's the real deal

Vitality. This, by most observers’ perceptions is what Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari breathed back into a sport that had been straining under the weight of unrealistic expectation prior to Malaysia.

After moribund premonitions about the 2015 season a fortnight ago, F1 burst back into life in the searing heat of Malaysia because unexpected victories always inspire human expression.

First off there was joy. By simply swapping teams and becoming the underdog, in victory Sebastian Vettel was celebrated rather than booed as he leaped onto the top step in Sepang. 6000 miles away in Maranello, the centre of Ferrari’s beating heart, church bells were pealing. Down in the pitlane below Vettel, amongst the throng, we saw grown men crying. No doubt this was the case all over Italy.

Thirty-four races is a long time for the Scuderia to wait between wins and next to us James Allison was visibly moved whilst hanging on the every word of the man who drove his creation to the chequered flag. By all accounts Maurizio Arrivabene’s racing team have had an extra 100 million Euros added to their yearly budget by Ferrari. What does that tell you about their hopes for the months ahead?

There was also frustration. Lewis Hamilton’s annoyance with his race engineer Pete Bonnington talking to him while cornering encapsulated the emotion of an afternoon that even had Paddy Lowe flustered. The champions were beaten in the words of Vettel “fair and square” so much so that Hamilton, realising this, was able to put aside his dissatisfaction and enjoy the winner’s moment with him, sat together atop the podium.

Indeed the nature of the result raised pulse rates throughout the paddock and has perhaps shifted the paradigm for this season. Prior to the race it seemed Red Bull had simply come to terms with the Sisyphean task of overhauling Mercedes this year. They grumbled that it might force them to rethink their involvement due to the necessity of sporting success to the parallel business of marketing.

But Ferrari’s victory has already encouraged Renault to take a more positive approach in the media concluding that: “Mercedes can be caught if all the ingredients are there.” You would think that if the team and its engine manufacturer, with a budget their size, can put aside their public bickering and direct their energies in a more positive manner then they too could be a challenger sooner rather than later - especially as they have more engine tokens left to spend than any of the others.

McLaren, to their credit have spun the world a magnificent tale akin to an asthmatic giant struggling to find his inhaler. They have put a brave face on their woes and through gritted teeth and a wry smile ‘Big Ron’ exclaimed that their partner Honda will relish the engineering challenge of catching up. They’re not whinging.

So just how long will it take the others to catch Mercedes with the regulations set out and stretching in front of them towards the end of the decade? That is the overriding question but what this weekend taught us is that the sport doesn’t require gimmicks to demonstrate that it’s in good health. It doesn’t need artificial ways to peg the best back. F1’s mantra is to push the technology boundaries further. It requires the dedication and belief of an engineering team that, with good ideas and solid execution can build a car that can challenge anyone.

That’s what happened in Malaysia. Hope was born out of hard work. Just as Vettel was being criticised by Bernie Ecclestone for not doing enough to promote the sport when he was world champion, he rose again. He’s not on Twitter and has preferred not to wallow in the trappings of fame. So what? Isn’t that all besides the point anyway? All he’s interested in doing is winning races.

Quietly and behind closed doors he’s helped precipitate change at Maranello, breathed new life into Ferrari and in doing so, into the sport. There’s nothing artificial about that. That is why he’s a great champion and that’s why, contrary to the doom mongers predictions, F1 2015 isn’t ready to flatline just yet.

SL

'Female F1 would be step backwards for women's motorsport'

In this exclusive F1 Midweek Report clip, John Watson and Mark Hutcheson debate the idea of a Women's driver championship

The creation of a separate world championship for women would be a retrograde step, according to the guests on this week’s F1 Midweek Report.

Bernie Ecclestone sparked debate this week by revealing that he had floated the idea of an all-female F1 series to run in run during grands prix weekends to team bosses.

While two teams, Williams and Lotus, currently have female test drivers on their books, only two women have ever raced in F1, with the most recent, Italy’s Lella Lombardi, starting the last of her 12 grands prix in 1976.

Debating the issue, F1 Midweek Report guests John Watson and Mark Hutcheson agreed that if a female driver was deemed good enough then she should be able to compete against the men.

“At the end of the day if you’re good enough it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female,” Hutcheson, who has worked for both Red Bull and Marussia as a race engineer, said.

"If you’re good enough and able to compete in the highest level, and you have the budget, then why should you not do it? Why should you need a separate championship?"

Five-time race winner Watson raced against Lombardi in F1 and said she was regarded by her peers as simply another driver on the grid. However, he doesn’t currently believe any female racers are good enough to make the cut.

“She didn’t have the most competitive car but she was a competitor and nobody looked upon her as being a woman or she was competing against men – you’re a racing driver," Watson said of Lombardi.

Lotus's development driver Carmen Jorda drove in GP3 for three seasons

“If there’s a good enough woman to be a Formula 1 racing driver they would be in Formula 1 right now. We have had a woman Prime Minister, is it so difficult to get a woman who is good enough to be a current Formula 1 driver? Presently, it is [the case].”

While Danica Patrick has been a high-profile female racing in top level racing in America for the past decade, youngsters Louise Richardson, Alice Powell and former Red Bull junior Beitske Visser are among those to currently be competing in Europe’s junior categories.

Hutcheson reckons it’s only a matter of time before another female driver takes to the F1 grid.

“In the junior formula now, compared to 10 or 15 years ago, there are more woman taking part. So I think it will happen,” he said.

“As they come up through the ranks some will make it, some won’t, and some will get to a reasonable standard in terms of being competitive or in terms of the championship. It will happen, it just hasn’t happened yet.”

In any case, while Ecclestone’s suggestion of a parallel all-female series has divided opinion, Watson reckons the idea represents one of the F1 supremo’s ruses.

“Bernie is the son of a trawler man – he knows a red herring when he sees it. It’s just typical Bernie,” the ex-McLaren driver added.

You can hear more from John and Mark when they join Natalie Pinkham to debate all the big talking points from the Malaysia GP weekend on this week's edition of F1 Midweek Report. The show's first airing is at 8.30pm on Wednesday, with the programme then repeated later in the evening and again on Friday at 7.30pm. 

Natalie Pinkham is joined by John Watson and Mark Hutcheson to look back at the Malaysia GP.

Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes were right with first stop at Sepang

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel

Lewis Hamilton doesn't believe that Mercedes made a mistake in pitting under the early safety car in the Malaysia Grand Prix and says he has "full confidence" in their decision making.

Mercedes' strategy calls in Sunday’s dramatic Sepang race have been called into question after Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were beaten by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, the world champions’ first race-day defeat since last August.

Hamilton had led the first four laps of the race from pole but lost the lead to Vettel when Mercedes pitted both of their cars when the safety car was called for Marcus Ericsson’s spin into the gravel. While the early stop effectively pushed Mercedes towards a three-stop strategy - Vettel, who stayed out, only stopped twice as Ferrari showed impressive tyre management - but Hamilton has backed the pitwall’s decisions.

"I don’t know if it was a mistake," he told Sky Sports News HQ when quizzed about the timing of Mercedes' first pitstop.

"We had planned it before so I'll find out whether we should have done something different, but I have full confidence in the decisions that are made."

During the heat of battle, Hamilton's conversations with Mercedes' pitwall had appeared to grow increasingly agitated as the race slipped away from him. After being switched back to the hard tyres following his final pitstop, the 30-year-old told his race engineer "this is the wrong tyre, man" before later adding "I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing".

A round up of the best rants, instructions and celebrations heard over the team radio during the Malaysia Grand Prix.

However, speaking after the race, Hamilton confirmed he hadn't any new sets of the quicker medium tyres left after Mercedes used them in Q1 on Saturday.  

"If I'd had a new set, I probably would have used it, but I didn’t have any new," he added.

Vettel’s first victory for Ferrari followed on from the German’s third-place finish at the season-opener and means he is just three points behind Hamilton in the nascent 2015 Drivers’ Championship.

But, despite the renewed threat from Ferrari, Hamilton has welcomed the challenge and is targeting a return to winning ways in China next week, a race he has won more times than anyone else.

"It’s great to be fighting. It’s fantastic for Ferrari and we’re going to be pushing hard to try and beat them next race," Hamilton said.

Hamilton led away from pole, but was eventually overhauled by the Ferrari