S&S to publish 'revealing' insight into motorsport

Simon & Schuster is to publish Total Competition, a "unique and revealing insight" into motorsport by Ross Brawn and Adam Parr, in November.

Ian Marshall, editorial director non-fiction at Simon & Schuster, acquired world rights to Total Competition from David Godwin of David Godwin Associates.

In the book, Brawn, the "most successful technical director and team principal in Formula One history", and Parr, the former chief executive and chairman of the Williams F1 team, unveil the strategies Brawn employed to deliver 24 world championship titles for his cars and drivers while working with Williams, Jaguar, Benetton, Ferrari, Honda, Brawn and Mercedes.

Marshall said: "We are absolutely thrilled to be publishing this book. Ross Brawn and Adam Parr have combined to give readers an unprecedented and totally fascinating account of Formula One. As with Alex Ferguson’s Leading (Hodder) or Alastair Campbell’s Winners and How They Succeed (Arrow), there are lessons here for anyone who wants to learn from someone who has achieved at the highest level."

Brawn said: "I have been lucky enough to work with some great people and teams during 36 years in Formula One. Together we achieved a lot. We also had some serious setbacks. In this book, Adam and I discuss what happened and what made the difference between success and failure. It was at times a difficult experience, but it has helped me to see how I worked, what worked well and what I might have done differently. I hope that it will be of interest to anyone who is fascinated by the intensely competitive world of Formula One."

Parr added: "During my time in Formula One, I encountered no one like Ross Brawn: a fearsome competitor but also someone you could not help admiring and liking. I watched with fascination as Ross returned to the sport in 2008, bought out the Honda team, won the double world championship with Jenson Button in 2009 – and then turned round and sold the team to Mercedes, building it into the dominant competitor it is today. And these were just the last of 24 world titles achieved over nearly four decades in Formula One, Le Mans and beyond. I wanted to explore how Ross had achieved so much, so we sat down and analysed it. Ross was brutally honest. From our discussion, we draw some conclusions that, I think, will interest people way beyond Formula One."

The book will be published on 3rd November 2016 to coincide with the climax of this year’s Formula One season.