I think that in their own way today's crop of drivers are probably as much of 'characters' as in the past but the world has changed so much.

What the drivers are allowed to say is strictly controlled by the teams and sponsors. I remember Keke Rosberg saying "I am not allowed to tell you what I think of the car, but if I was I would say it is sh*t!" or words to that effect.

The drivers have to come over as 'nice guys' - just look at the criticism that Hakkinen got for replying with one word answers. So they are schooled in PR-speak.

We live in an age of 'instant' information - a race on TV, the televised 'drivers' press conference' immediately afterwards, the reports on the internet on Sunday evening and in the daily newpaper the next day. Pre-internet and pre-TV we relied on what the magazines said. Writers today don't have the time to compose elegant descriptions and we don't have the time to read them as we are too busy watching Big Brother or The Weakest Link on TV.

Magazine writers and editors were out-and-out motor racing enthusiastsenthusiasts - Gregor Grant, Denis Jenkinson, Henry Manney, Jabby Combrac, Alan Henry, Nigel Roebuck etc. Nowadays they are 'trained journalists' who have been through the college of knowledge and are doing their spell as correspondent on Auto*** or F1 *** before progressing to senior correspondent on the Pig Breeders' Quarterly or deputy editor of Needlepoint and Embroidery or other such worthy publicationse. They don't know the sport. They don't get a chance to know the drivers. They are pushed to tell the public what the editors think they want to hear. Just look at the way the British press ignore Jenson Button now they have Lewis Hamilton to eulogise.

I forget which correspondent it was who drove out of Brescia to a small village to file his Mille Miglia report just so he could give it the byline - Gorgonzola. With characters like that writing the reports its inevitable that the drivers were reported as having more personality.

Having said all that, I'll leave my choice of characters from the past for a later posting.