Alvin's Formula One Blog

It seems that the old playhouse rules still apply. You know the one where I appoint you and you appoint me so that we both control everything, so we can have it our way, have our cake and eat it too. Even if we both have no idea what we're doing. Not only is Tony Fernandes the team principal at a F1 team, he is a team principal with no prior training or experience in F1. And now, to add icing to the cake, he has appointed his 2 partners in the venture to the position of deputy team principals. This is highly unusual having deputy team principal, what more 2. Having a team principal with no F1 experience is mad enough, appointing 2 deputies with no F1 experience also is just dumb. I thought before that Mike Gascoyne would be advising Tony on the pitlane during races but now Mike is even further removed. I wonder how Tony will make split second decisions during races when the message is being passed from Mike to Nasaruddin to Kamarudin and then to Tony and vice-versa. Lotus, oh Lotu...

Re-published from The Sun I AM not going to be a wet blanket, in prematurely criticising the government’s plan to enter Formula One. The timing – in the midst of the global financial crisis – is probably questionable as this will cost us at least RM1 billion. The bulk of this money comes from national carmaker Proton, which in effect means the people are funding it. There is a theory that the Finance Ministry will approve more special draws to help fund this venture. However, in the long run, this may be one of our best investments; one of the best things Malaysia could have done in putting itself on the map. In terms of branding we are exposed 18 times a year – the number of races – to a global television audience of around 600 million. Let’s not forget the potential tie-ups, endorsements and sponsorship deals which are a usual spin-off of a massive agreement such as this. It also creates jobs and other opportunities through massive R&D invest...

What rubbish is this? Just announced the setting up of the team with his name as Team Principal then now saying he'll be TP for a few races. Just to taste the glamour of being TP is it? Able to hang around with Vijay and Martin on the pitwall for a few races. My advice is don't even bother. Let somebody like Gascoyne run the show from the start and get things moving. Also, they announced the car will be ready by January and testing in February. 1 month of testing with last years' car is bad enough as we've seen before but this is suicide. I'm sorry to berate the team so much but I can just see their downfall. I just can't stand the wastefull lifestyle that these people lead. If they waste their money it's ok but this is our money. What the hell?