Why loyalty is racing's most undervalued attribute

Commitment to a team or a manufacturer is often abandoned in the search for individual success, but it still has a valid place in motorsport

James Newbold Feb 9, 2018, 10:55 AM

Performance

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It is often held that the mark of a truly great driver lies in their ability to win with different teams, but knowing when to stick and when to twist is an art in itself.

Over 60 years on from his fifth Formula 1 world title, Juan Manuel Fangio's record of winning with four different constructors is unlikely ever to be beaten, as huge advances in engineering have made it significantly harder for a driver to have an instant impact at a new team; only three times in the past 30 years - Ayrton Senna (McLaren, 1988), Alain Prost (Williams, 1993) and Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari, 2007) - has a driver managed to win the world championship in his first season with a team.

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Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.