What Christmas gift to give to a Formula 1 fan?

Parent, friend, or fiancé(e) of a Formula One enthusiast, you’re looking to delight them this Christmas with a gift related to their passion. However, this world is unfortunately unfamiliar to you, and you don’t know what to choose: the editorial team of casinoenligne.uk.com offers a brief tour of gift ideas that, from Formula One fans’ experience, would make us really happy.

The year 2011 was marked by the celebrations of the twentieth anniversary of the last world championship title won by the great Ayrton Senna, a reference driver for many enthusiasts and even a true idol for some. Several products are available on the market, starting with the DVD—or Blu-Ray—of the documentary dedicated to the Sao Paulo native, simply titled: Senna. Revisiting the highlights of Ayrton Senna’s career—particularly through his rivalry with Alain Prost and his tumultuous relationships with Jean-Marie Balestre, president of the International Automobile Federation—this film, packed with exclusive archive footage, will delight any Formula One enthusiast. Moreover, since the documentary had an extremely limited theatrical release, most of us haven’t been able to see it—or have seen it in an indirect way—which guarantees a warm reception from you when you watch it, fresh out of bed, next Sunday. The film also includes a nearly hour-long bonus, consisting of interviews with various figures from Senna’s career, foremost among them his great rival, Alain Prost: trust us, the gesture will be appreciated.

On the reading side, how can I not recommend the expensive but nonetheless essential tribute book dedicated to Ayrton Senna, entitled: *Immortel*. Rich in photos and facsimiles of documents related to Senna, this book is a true delight and a pure moment of emotion. For more modest budgets, the Michel Vaillant dossier, in its 2010 edition, also makes a great gift as it combines panels signed by Graton and texts by Lionel Froissart. The latter is also the author of a reference book on the Brazilian driver: *Ayrton Senna, croisements d’une vie*, published by Editions Anne Carrière. Lionel Froissart portrays Ayrton Senna through the biographies of over fifty people who marked the career and life of the McLaren driver.

For cinema enthusiasts, it’s worth noting the Blu-Ray re-releases of two benchmark films for many motorsport fans: Grand Prix and Le Mans. Despite their respective flaws, these two films truly immerse viewers in the world of automobile racing, and the Blu-Ray rendering will dazzle recipients both visually and audibly. There are other films about motorsports, such as Driven, Bobby Deerfield or Cars 2, which may, however, lead to more disappointment even if, at times, films of relative quality allow us to appreciate Senna, Grand Prix, and Le Mans even more.

At the end of each season, our booksellers’ shelves are filled with anthologies of the past season, such as the Le livre d’Or de la Formule Un 2011 published by Solar and written by Renaud de Laborderie. Also from the same publisher, he wrote in 2011, an Abécédaire insolite de la Formule Un, rich in biographical notes and anecdotes, which, despite a number of errors, remains a good book for Formula One beginners. In the anthology section, there is a wide choice: it’s a great way for Formula One fans to build, year after year, a rich encyclopedia of F1. It can also be quite interesting, through sites like Amazon, to purchase editions from previous years.

There are also some very beautiful books on motorsports, among which is Gérard Crombac’s posthumously published My 578 Formula One Grand Prix. Despite its potentially prohibitive price of 75 euros, this book of over 380 pages contains 440 illustrations and numerous anecdotes from a privileged witness of life in the paddock, as Gérard Crombac, initially a driver and then a driver manager, was notably close to the great Jim Clark. Slightly more affordable, Les fous du volant, vie et destin des passionnés de l’automobile, published by Arthaud editions, features around fifty portraits of motorsport enthusiasts, from Alain Prost to James Dean, Enzo Ferrari to Albert Uderzo, and Gilles Villeneuve to the criminal Jules Bonnet: an absolutely exceptional and fascinating book to read.

For those on a tight budget, Amazon, once again, can be a real treasure trove. This online sales site offers a rich catalog of second-hand items and contains numerous books, now unavailable in new condition, all for a few euros. It can be interesting to buy two or three, which together will make a rather appreciated gift, even if they are second-hand, and promise any Formula One enthusiast a few good moments of reading. From Lewis Hamilton’s biography by Lionel Froissart to the book dedicated to François Cevert entitled **_La Mort dans mon contrat_**, the choice is wide and eclectic.

In the category of gifts that don’t cost much but can really delight, the Internet is full of images of Formula One – especially in black and white – that, once enlarged and framed, will look stunning in the living room of an F1 enthusiast: take it from the author of this article.

In the video games section, there’s no need to look too far: F1 2011 has been available for sale since September, on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. The game incorporates all the regulatory changes of the 2011 season, which truly enhance the gaming experience and represent a real improvement after F1 2010, which was already considered a benchmark.

But why settle for a video game when you can almost touch the dream of driving a Formula One with your fingertips? This is what the I-WAY complex in Lyon offers, with no less than 18 professional simulators, including six Formula One simulators that give any motorsport enthusiast a glimpse of the real constraints faced by a Formula One driver, with the possibility to race against five other enthusiasts. Open 7 days a week, I-WAY offers special holiday deals starting at €50 to participate in a 7-minute race preceded by a 3-minute qualification on a circuit of your choice. There is also an option for couples where, while the gentleman is doing his simulation, the lady enjoys relaxation with a 30-minute treatment and access to the spa.

If none of the gift ideas in our roundup have convinced you, you can always offer us more Formula One. In France, only the races are broadcast free-to-air. The Friday practice sessions and Saturday qualifications are broadcast on Eurosport, accessible via a pay-per-view TNT subscription—for less than 10 euros a month—or directly on the channel’s website, which offers a streaming subscription for €29.90 during this festive period. This will allow your Formula One enthusiast to watch not only more Formula One but also biathlon, curling, bowling, snooker, and many other exciting sports.

But rest assured, if none of these gifts really interest you, just remember that sometimes all it takes is watching a few F1 races with us, discovering a bit more about our passion, or simply letting us enjoy it every other Sunday from 2 pm to 4 pm, to make us feel as spoiled as children on Christmas morning. In any case, if you’re not a Formula One fan and weren’t looking to give an F1 gift to a loved one, but somehow found yourself reading this article, ask yourself if it was really just a happy coincidence.