How writing an F1 book helped reporter Jennie Gow recover from stroke

In December 2022 Formula 1 reporter Jennie Gow’s life was turned upside down. Out of nowhere, the BBC 5 Live radio journalist suffered a stroke that left her unable to read, write or speak, with fears over whether she would ever be able to live a normal life again, never mind being her energetic and loquacious self on the BBC’s popular radio broadcasts and podcasts.

“It’s quite surreal going through a stroke,” Gow told Autosport. “It’s not high up on the list of things you think you’re going to have to deal with in your 40s.

“When you’ve spent most of your life reading, writing, speaking, and taking all of that kind of for granted – because we all do… When you lose that ability to do what I do as a job, to communicate, it’s a very abrupt, sudden change of your life. One minute you’re in control, and the next minute you have no control of anything.

“There were certainly moments when I doubted that I’d ever be able to speak again, or speak again well enough to be a broadcaster, and I was like: ‘What am I going to do?’ There’s nothing that you can really fall back on, because I always jokingly said: ‘Oh well, if I lose my job, that’s fine. I’ll just do something else.’ But what can you do if you can’t communicate, it’s really hard, and it gave me a real appreciation for another side of life.

“That day, I was very fortunate that the right things happened at the right time to enable me the best chance of a good recovery. We’re now 22 months down the line, and whilst I don’t feel 100% I do at least feel better than I did. Life is more normal now.”

Fast forward 22 months and Gow has made a huge amount of progress during a tough recovery process and has used her profile in the UK to work with stroke-related charities and raise awareness. In the UK, 100,000 people have strokes each year. In the United States that figure stands at around 795,000.

But Gow has now also written a book about F1, which seemed inconceivable at the start. Titled ‘How to Read F1’, the book is a witty and light-hearted guide of often-used F1 terms, infused with anecdotes from Gow’s broadcasting career. But the title can also be read as a reflection on Gow’s recovery, who has had to learn how to read again.

How to Read F1 Book Cover, Jennie Gow

Photo by: Penguin Random House

“Nine months after my stroke one of my bosses at the BBC called me and asked how I felt about writing a book, and I said: ‘You do know I had a stroke, right?’,” 47-year-old Gow said. “I thought they were maybe joking at first, but then I had a lovely conversation with the publisher. We discussed the concept of an A to Z guide and immediately that felt slightly more manageable.

“I sent the first portions of the book back, and I thought there’s no way they’re going to want me to do this. I’m just not in a state where I’m ready. But then they came back to me and said: ‘Okay, let’s do it.'”

Gow hasn’t just attempted to teach fans about how F1 works. Writing the book has also taught her a lot about herself too, and alongside untold hours of therapy, it became a valuable tool to speed up her recovery. Still suffering from dyslexia as a result of her stroke, she considered calling in the help of a ghostwriter but decided to carry on herself by writing the book in painstakingly small steps.

“It kept me motivated,” she explained. “I used it as a working therapy because it gave me a purpose and something to work towards. Some days I’d really struggle and couldn’t make any sense of what I was doing, but I just got more and more fluid and fluent. It helped me massively.”

Coming in at 224 pages, the book is an inviting collection of bite-sized facts about F1’s drivers past and present, and an explanation of some of the most important concepts and jargon from the F1 paddock. And while it is clearly catered more to the casual fan, there are also some interesting and revealing nuggets about some of F1’s most prominent drivers that die-hard fans may not know, which we won’t spoil for you here.

“The book reflects a lot on me,” Gow said. “I miss the travelling F1 family and the paddock is a special place to work. This was a way of being able to have that connection, but this was also my platform to share my experiences with the listeners or readers at home; those anecdotes, those stories, facts about F1.

Jennie Gow, BBC Radio 5 Live reporter

Photo by: Jennie Gow

“You do doubt yourself, and there are so many amazing journalists and people in that paddock who might have been better placed to write this book,” she added. “But I feel like I’m in a position where I can straddle the fans who have been there for decades and the newer fans who may be approaching the sport with a bit of nerves of how they’ll be received. Being able to bridge that gap is, I hope, what I can bring to that mix.”

Gow doesn’t need to worry, because ‘How to Read F1’ is a fine and warmly written book, good to have within arm’s reach while following the grand prix action or to gift to newer fans to bring them up to speed.

But just the fact the book exists is to be celebrated in itself. For any budding author, seeing your first book published is a milestone. For Gow, who covered her first flyaway since her stroke in Austin last month, it is another major marker as she works on her fully-fledged return to the F1 paddock.