7 Reasons That We Should Run F1

Posted on April 22, 2010 in Posts | 4 comments

Formula One motor racing is great.  Sometimes though, it’s not quite as good as it could be.  We, the 7 Reasons team, have thought of a few improvements.  Here are 7 Reasons that we should run F1.

1.  Schumacher. The comeback isn’t going well and we know why.  Ask yourself this:  What looks like Michael Schumacher, sounds like Michael Schumacher and drives like Michael Winner?  That’s right, Ralf Schumacher.  There’s no way he’s good enough to get into F1 by himself; we think he’s pretending to be Michael.  After all, he’s routinely being blown away by his team-mate, Nico Rosberg (who isn’t the best driver in his own family either), so it can only be Ralf.  We would ban him.

2.  The Godfather. At 7 Reasons, we’re film fans too.  So when Luca Di Grassi’s name is mentioned, we always suffix it with the phrase, “…sleeps with the fishes.”  We would make this compulsory for commentators.

3.  Red Button. The red button is underutilised during F1 races.  We have decided that the technology should be improved so that it can be used to filter out the incessant babbling and bleating of people in the same room as you that aren’t watching the Grand Prix.  This will mean that you won’t have to hear “This is boring,” “…but Columbo’s on” or “Darling…Darling…Darling…Darling…Darling…Darling…Darling…Darling…Darling…Darling…Darling…you’re not listening.”  You will, however, still hear anything relevant or important that they have to say, such as “Would you like anything from the shops?” “We’ve won the lottery,” or “The cat’s on fire.”  There will also be a setting on the filter that will enable you to record and share anything particularly memorable such as, (during commentary on Timo Glock’s pit-stop) “O’Glock!  What sort of a stupid name is that for a team?”

4.  Illusion. The trompe-l’oeil advertising hoardings that are painted on the grass by the circuit are terrifying.   On many occasions a car has left the track and we’ve braced ourselves for a horrendous crash – perhaps even gasped and covered our eyes – only to watch the car drive serenely over the painted surface and rejoin the track.  They make us look like idiots.  They are banned.

5.  Court. During the most recent (the Chinese) Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton came out of their pit boxes very close together and proceeded to bang wheels trying to gain an advantage in the pit lane; this was highly dangerous for the pit crews working there.  Unbelievably, the incident wasn’t even investigated during the race – it was discussed in private later on.  This is not acceptable.  In the spirit of openness and fairness, we would introduce the Formula One Court (press the red button to see it) in which all racing incidents are thoroughly investigated and all punishments decided before the end of the race.  A bewigged judge, with vast motor racing experience and age-imbued-wisdom – Sir Stirling Moss would be our choice – would preside over it.  The teams would also have their own barristers:

“I put it to you M’lud, that Mr Vettel did knowingly and wilfully strike the side of Mr Hamilton’s car, recklessly endangering the safety of both drivers and several pit-lane-workers.”

“The Red Bull team refute that, M’lud.  We contend that our driver was unaware of Mr Hamilton’s presence, and was proceeding along the pit lane in an orderly manner.  If Mr Hamilton had been behind our client there would have been no problem.  Look at exhibit B, M’lud:  This telemetry data from the McLaren team confirms that their driver’s foot was fully on the throttle.  The incident was caused because Mr Hamilton didn’t lift…”

“Lift!  Lift!!  Lift, you say?  I find the defendant guilty.  10 years hard labour.”

6.  Something we don’t understand. There’s a phalanx of identically dressed women that turn up to applaud the podium-placed finishers as they walk along a corridor or up the stairs.  There is no earthly reason for this.  It is weird.  We would ban them.

7.  Buemi. We all saw the incident in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix where both of Sébastien Buemi’s front wheels flew off simultaneously.  This was unexpected, spectacular and generated huge amounts of pre-race publicity.  We would make this a feature of every qualifying session by introducing Clown Car Lotto.  From now on, during qualifying sessions, something that you might expect to happen to a clown’s car will happen to a randomly chosen F1 car.  This could be one of a number of things: both of the wheels on one side of the car falling off, a custard pie fired from the steering wheel, balloons inflating from the air intake or marbles spewing from the exhausts.  This new feature, though it will be familiar to both clowns and Toyota owners, should enliven qualifying sessions for the rest of the global audience.