Motorsport Subjects that would make Awesome Films: The 2007 F1 Season

 In my most recent blog post I made the suggestion that after years of trying Hollywood had finally been able to get their heads around the concept of the motorsport movie, and part of me would like to think that the blog has played a part in inspiring Hollywood in some way, as just days after I posted the article news spread that the actor Patrick Dempsey, himself a keen petrol head and racer, expressed an interest in adapting the Michael Cannell book The Limit into a potential TV series or film, the book in question focusing on Phil Hill's rise from Californian mechanic to 1961 Formula One Champion. And it got me thinking about many of the other great motorsport moments, personalities or races that too would be perfect adaptations for Hollywood films. This is a purely subjective list and I understand there will be disagreements, but it's more to showcase the great depth of intrigue that this sport that I personally love has in droves.

1) The 2007 Formula One Season
On paper 2007 doesn't seem like a season which is particularly that interesting, certainly I think a lot of casual viewers would struggle to remember many great races during the season, but where the sport maybe lacked in terms of on-track activity it made up for off track, helping to create one of the most controversial and divisive season's in the sport's history in a tale of espionage, paranoia and at it's core a team divided.

It also has at it's heart three ambiguous characters within a hard-fought title campaign, neither of which taking an outright protaganistic role which makes the story all the more intriguing to the viewer. In Fernando Alonso we have arguably the best figure in the sport making a move to at the time the best team in the sport in what on paper appears to be a dream partnership almost certain to guarantee the Spaniard a third straight championship, but the cold corporate attitude of the McLaren is a distinct contrast to Fernando's Latin temperament, and when rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton begins to match and surpass the performances of the Spaniard Alonso begins to grow increasingly paranoid at what he sees as preferencial treatment to Hamilton, very much in the corporate mold McLaren look for, leading Fernando's behaviour on and off the track to grow increasingly desperate to top his rookie rival. Hamilton however is not devoid of blame himself, hired as a blatant number 2 driver to a double champion Lewis takes matters into his own hands seeing himself on an equal footing with his more established rival with a brash and cocky demeanor that leaves him as a divisive figure for the Formula one community, and as the prospect of becoming the sports only true rookie champion beckons the tension soon begins to take it's toll, add to this the season also sees an espionage storyline involving the McLaren team with Alonso instigated in the controversy, further adding to the scandal and paranoia surrounding the team, all I stress whilst the team is trying to earn itself a driver's championship away from Kimi Raikkonen and the Ferrari team. The story for me would work incredibly well in Hollywood largely because of the multiple ways in which the actions of the two teammates can be interpreted, is Fernando in the wrong for calling out behaviour largely out of paranoia, or is Lewis in the wrong for breaking team orders due to his own brashness? It would divide a film audience in the same way it divided the F1 community, and add in the espionage scandal I honestly don't feel it can be topped.