Best features of 2012: F1's talent logjam

By:

Marcus Simmons

Dec 24, 2012, 7:21 PM

As 2012 draws to a close, AUTOSPORT revisits some of the year's top features... Marcus Simmons wonders whether modern Formula 1 drivers' longer careers are healthy for the sport as young drivers queue up on the sidelines

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Best features of 2012: In this column from January, Marcus Simmons looked back at the turnover of Formula 1 talent in the 1970s compared to the present day...

YouTube is a horrendous timewaster; a couple of weeks ago I found myself watching footage, on a whim, of the 1975 British Grand Prix - the first Silverstone round of the world championship I attended as a young lad.

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Marcus Simmons

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Marcus Simmons is the Deputy Editor of Autosport magazine. As a child he was a regular on the chalk banks of Thruxton – hence his unhealthy obsession with 1970s Formula 2 and F3 – before he became an MSA timekeeper at the age of 17. At 19, his reporting debut for Motoring News arguably overshadowed Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal as the sporting moment of June 1986, and he joined the staff in 1990 after graduating from his degree course in Plymouth. A parallel Formula First career – which was as incident-packed as his childhood exploits in show-jumping and hunter trials – finished when he wrote off his car and put himself in hospital in 1991.

Marcus moved to Autosport in the summer of 1996. Since then he has had two stints as a freelancer and a brief spell as editor of Motor Sport magazine, during which the revered green cover was revived, before he rejoined Autosport in 2008. He lives in Teddington with his wife (who, gratifyingly, grew up within earshot of Castle Combe), daughter, stepson, dog, cat and guitars, and additionally has an adult daughter and stepson.