When my Autosport colleague Mark Hughes let slip that he was working on the definitive history of Formula 1, it was obvious that the work would be amongst the best books ever written on the subject. And, having been blessed with a review copy, there is no other word to describe Mark's latest work other than simply 'Excellent'.

Running to 320 pages, with at least one carefully selected photo per page, Speed Addicts traces the history of Formula 1 from its rather basic beginnings in 1950 with a world championship consisting of just six rounds - excluding the strange concession of points for the first six in the Indianapolis 500, which was run then as now for cars of totally different specification.

Chapter titles like 'Bloody Heroes', 'Get The Drift', 'How Do I Get Out Of This Alive?' amply describe the sport's earliest days, whilst 'Something In The Air', 'Mr Big', 'Spiritual Thuggery' and 'Schuey vs Newey' tell respectively of the development of wings, the arrival of Bernie Ecclestone, of Ayrton Senna's approach, and of a certain Michael's driving genius challenging McLaren's technical might.

All in there are 19 chapters, of which five are 'Timelines'. These summarise the most important developments of the five decades through to 2000. The balance of chapters include some wonderfully related stories from each decade, mostly via interviews with those who survived the sport's early dangers.