 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(December 2020) |
Matt Bishop | |
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| Born | 25 December 1962 |
| Nationality |  British |
Matt Bishop (born 25 December 1962) is an English journalist, author, novelist and public relations executive.
After leaving the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, Holland Park, in 1981, he failed to qualify as a London bus driver and then worked as a bookmaker, a betting-shop manager, and a minicab driver until the 1990s, when he began to freelance as a writer for Sporting Life and applied to university to study psychology. [1] Dropping out after a year, he began his full-time writing career at Car magazine in 1993, becoming features editor, then in September 1995 moved to Focus magazine as deputy editor then acting editor, before joining F1 Racing (now renamed GP Racing) magazine as editor in December 1996, remaining until September 2007. [2] F1 Racing sold 1.25 million copies a month worldwide during Bishop's tenure. [2] [3]
In the wake of the 2007 Formula 1 espionage controversy, which resulted in the McLaren Formula 1 team being fined an unprecedented $100 million, [4] Bishop was recruited by McLaren chairman Ron Dennis to become the company's communications director, starting work at McLaren in January 2008. [5] He left McLaren in July 2017. [6] He wrote his first novel, The Boy Made the Difference (published in 2020), [7] before returning to motorsport public relations work in 2018 as a member of the senior leadership team of W Series, the world’s first single-seater motor racing championship for female drivers only.[ citation needed ]
On 10 December 2020 it was announced that Bishop had been recruited by the Aston Martin Formula 1 team to be its chief communications officer, starting in 2021. [8] [ better source needed ]
 | This section may be written from a fan's point of view, rather than a neutral point of view .(December 2020) |
| This section reads like a press release or a news article and may be largely based on routine coverage .(December 2020) |
Bishop was born in London to Bernardine Bishop (1939-2013), an English novelist, teacher and psychotherapist, and the American classical concert pianist Stephen Kovacevich. [1] A critically acclaimed author of five novels, one of them, Unexpected Lessons in Love, short-listed for the 2013 Costa Novel Award, Bernardine Bishop died of colon cancer in July 2013. [9]
Matt Bishop’s grandmother was Barbara Lucas (née Wall, 1911-2009), an English journalist, author, novelist and peace campaigner. His great-great aunt was Viola Meynell (1885-1956), an English author, novelist and poet, and his great-great grandmother was Alice Meynell (1847-1922), an English author, poet and suffragist, whose husband was Wilfrid Meynell (1852-1948), an English author and editor. [7]
Matt Bishop has worked as a voluntary fundraiser for the children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent for many years, having been introduced to the charity in 2007 by ex-Formula 1 team principal Eddie Jordan. All proceeds from sales of The Boy Made the Difference, Bishop’s first novel, will go to CLIC Sargent. [1] [7]
Early in Bishop's tenure as editor of F1 Racing, the magazine achieved a notable scoop by exposing the 'brake-steer' system on the McLaren MP4/12, an innovation by which drivers could brake the rear wheels independently of the front, altering the car's handling characteristics to improve laptime. It was subsequently banned after protests from Ferrari. [10] Bishop and photographer Darren Heath had observed in photographs that the McLarens' rear brake discs were glowing in the middle of corners, and arranged to surreptitiously photograph the inside of the cockpit via a plan in which Bishop tipped off Heath via phone if either of the cars broke down mid-race. [11]
While editor-in-chief of F1 Racing, Bishop also wrote columns for Autosport and Autosport.com, entitled ‘Praise Be!’ And ‘From the Pulpit’. [12]
The Boy Made the Difference, Bishop’s debut novel, takes as its subject matter the HIV/AIDS crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. A fictional tale about a family living in north-west London, it draws on Bishop’s experiences of working as a home support volunteer, or ‘buddy’, for London Lighthouse, at that time the world’s largest HIV/AIDS centre. [7]
Bishop is openly gay, has been a forthright speaker on LGBTQ+ issues for many years, and is a founder ambassador of Racing Pride, a movement developed with Stonewall and launched in June 2019, its aim to promote LGBTQ+ inclusivity in the motorsport industry. [13] Bishop lives in London with his husband Angel Bautista, a chef and makeup artist. [14]
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One chassis constructor, the second oldest active team and the second most successful Formula One team after Ferrari, having won 183 races, 12 Drivers' Championships and 8 Constructors' Championships. McLaren also has a history of competing in American open wheel racing, as both an entrant and a chassis constructor, and has won the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) sports car racing championship. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team.
Autosport is a global motorsport publishing brand headquartered based in Richmond, London, England. It was established in 1950 at the same time as the origins of the Formula One World Championship.
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Jenson Alexander Lyons Button is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super GT Series alongside Naoki Yamamoto, with whom he shared a Honda racing car at Team Kunimitsu. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 15 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing with support from Stewart-Haas Racing and sponsorship from Mobil 1.
GP Racing, formerly F1 Racing, is a monthly magazine focused on Formula One racing that launched in March 1996.
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Neil Martin is an English Formula One strategist who was the former head of strategy at Scuderia Ferrari.
Haas Formula LLC, competing as MoneyGram Haas F1 Team, is an American-licensed Formula One racing team established by NASCAR Cup Series team co-owner Gene Haas in April 2014. The team originally intended to make its debut at the start of the 2015 season but later elected to postpone their entry until the 2016 season. The team principal is Ayao Komatsu, who replaced Guenther Steiner who served in the role from the team's inception until January 2024.
The 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 71st season of Formula One motor racing. It featured the 68th Formula One World Championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars which is recognised by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Teams and drivers competed in twenty Grands Prix—starting in Australia on 26 March and ending in Abu Dhabi on 26 November—for the World Drivers' and World Constructors' championships.
Lando Norris is a British and Belgian racing driver currently competing in Formula One with McLaren, racing under the British flag.
Jost Capito is a German former motorsport manager. Capito has been employed in various roles during his career, with his most successful role being Director of Motorsport at Volkswagen.
The McLaren MCL33 is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by McLaren to compete in the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship. The car was driven by two-time World Drivers' Champion Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, with additional testing and development work carried out by reigning European Formula 3 champion Lando Norris and McLaren's regular test driver Oliver Turvey. The MCL33 is the first car built by McLaren to use a customer Renault engine after the team terminated its engine supply deal with Honda after three years and also first McLaren car to utilize a French-licensed engine manufacturer since the Peugeot-powered McLaren MP4/9 in 1994. It made its competitive debut at the 2018 Australian Grand Prix. The car was launched with an orange and blue livery designed as a tribute to some of the team's earliest cars. Currently Fernando Alonso’s MCL33 is on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
The Renault R.S.19 is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by the Renault F1 Team to compete during the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship. The chassis was designed by Nick Chester, Chris Cooney, Martin Tolliday, Simon Virrill and Pete Machin with Marcin Budkowski overseeing the design and production of the car as executive technical director and Rémi Taffin leading the powertrain design. The car was driven by Nico Hülkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo. The car made its competitive debut at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix.
The McLaren MCL35 is a Formula One car that was designed under the direction of James Key and constructed by McLaren to compete in the Formula One World Championship. The car was originally intended to compete in the 2020 season only, but as the championship was heavily disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the lifespan of all 2020 cars was extended into 2021. McLaren produced an upgraded version of the car, the McLaren MCL35M, for the 2021 championship as the team returned to using Mercedes engines. Both variants of the car were considered competitive and the team's results improved considerably during the two seasons it was used in, with McLaren regularly the third-fastest team and significantly closer to the leading teams than had been the case since the turbo-hybrid era began in 2014.
The McLaren MCL36 is a Formula One car that was designed under the lead of James Key and manufactured by McLaren to compete in the 2022 Formula One World Championship. The MCL36 was built to the new 2022 generation of Formula One technical regulations, which were originally intended for introduction in 2021. The car was widely considered to exhibit conventional and unambitious engine packaging. However, it stood out for a unique suspension layout not seen on any Formula One car for nearly ten years, and was noted for its lack of porpoising and good mechanical reliability.
Tom Gamble is a British racing driver who currently races for United Autosports in European Le Mans Series. He is a Ginetta Junior champion, a BRDC British Formula 3 race winner, and has previously competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He won the Autosport BRDC Award in 2018, for which he received a prize Formula One test with McLaren. Five years later, in 2023, Gamble joined McLaren as a factory driver.
The McLaren MCL60 is a Formula One car designed and constructed by McLaren, initially under the direction of James Key, to compete in the 2023 Formula One World Championship.
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