I was so honored to early review this book and thoroughly enjoyed it! I love learning not so common stories around the sport of F1 and how it connects to people in all walks of life. This was a wonderful book that I’m so glad I read!

Thanks to NetGalley for this one! This was just a great look into modern F1 & the present challenges. I enjoyed the look into the different facets and components of F1, and the stories told. Would recommend to anyone interested in F1 or those who already love it.

3.5 stars rounded up for me! As someone who is a fairly new F1 fan (thanks to my kids), I was excited to be given the chance to read an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the opportunity.
While I am a pretty avid reader of non-fiction, On The Grid is written in a fairly unique style where Luke Smith tends to blend facts with interviews and conversations so it reads more of a story then simply a book full of F1 facts.

There is so much more to F1 than the cars and drivers, the pit crews and even the lavish lifestyles, exclusive wild parties and mega yachts. It is a rather intimate machine of many individuals who are the best of what they offer and there are many more individuals who have their hand in making F1 so fascinating than you could ever imagine.

As mentioned in the synopsis, there is a legendary bakery in Melbourne whose croissants exist only because of F1 technology but I also learned that mechanical engineers from Mercedes helped suffering hospitals with a lack of ventilators and CPAP machines during the COVID pandemic using the F1 mentality of "this is good, but how do we make it better?"

Every single individual outside of the principals and drivers plays a huge part of the team, even if their part seems to be miniscule. Not only do the drivers obviously need to be precise but the team needs to work in perfect unison and Luke Smith gives us a behind the scene view into the extraordinary sport of F1 racing.