Probably the most reliable website for Grand Prix racing reportage and photography is grandprixplus.com.
It was founded by Joe Saward, who has covered Grand Prix racing for decades, was Editor of the Formula 1 magazine backed by Bernie Ecclestone, and has a greater command of the inner workings of the organisations, teams and individuals than the majority of writers on Formula 1.
His subscriber-based web site Grand Prix + ( Grand Prix Plus) is quite original for Joe along with his co-founders David Tremayne and Formula1 photographer Peter Nygaard, have their full and detailed reports of each Formula 1 and 2 grand prix available to download around six hours after the finish of the event which is a formidable journalistic performance..
Not only is this the quickest way of reading about an event, but the analysis and supporting articles are probably the most accurate and best available anywhere.
Immediately following the recent Italian Grand Prix, their issue contained an interesting article about our own Grand Prix Drivers Club Affiliate member Agnes Callier.
Character Reference: Agnes Carlier
Formula 1 is often criticised for not being very inclusive, but if one knows the sport well, it becomes clear that F1 is ready to accept anyone who is good at what they do. Agnes Carlier is a good example
Agnes Carlier is a freelance journalist in Formula 1 living these days in Malaysia and reporting mainly for Japan’s Kyodo News, which has employed her since 1998. Originally from Paris, she studied English at university with the goal of becoming a translator. Early in her student career, she got to know some of the most famous student radicals during the 1968 upheavals, which started an interest in politics.
After a graduate exchange programme to the University of Portland in Oregon, she began working as a translator, being able to converse in French, English, Italian, Spanish and German, but she was not inspired by translation work and so decided to go back to university and study law.
Armed with two degrees, she landed a job in 1973 on the staff of France’s Secretary of State for Universities, Jean-Paul Soisson, a rising star of the Republican movement at the time under Prime Minister Jacques Chirac.
He would become Minister of Youth and Sports in 1978 in a government led by Raymond Barre. In that era, Agnès was approached by a French sports journalist called Renaud de Laborderie, who was keen to interview the minister. The end result was that Agnes and Renaud became an item and later married.
Carlier started to visit Grand Prix races with her husband, and once she had become a regular presence, she was asked by Marlboro if she could work as the brand’s press officer in F1. This meant living in Lausanne, Switzerland, while Renaud remained in Paris, but the pair found a house near Dole, which made it easier to meet on free weekends.
Agnes worked with many of the McLaren drivers of the 1980s, including Niki Lauda, Keke Rosberg, John Watson, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger. As Marlboro increased its commitment to Ferrari, she also worked with Michele Alboreto, Nigel Mansell and Jean Alesi. Her role at Marlboro remained much the same until 1997, when she was lured away to work for the Edelman public relations agency, which had a deal to do public relations for the new British American Racing team.
She went on to set up her own PR agency, working with Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and that was followed by a period as press officer for Sauber, while always working to promote the Malaysian Grand Prix and the General Motors Cadillac Le Mans programme, and supplying news to Kyodo. Renaud died at the age of 91 in 2012, but Agnes has continued to be part of the Formula 1 scene ever since.