What if F1 really 'rocked' ?

- Published on Oct 7th, 2010 by Matt Briggstone

With music now part and parcel of the Formula One weekend thanks to the F1 Rocks events it's hard not to wonder what would happen if the worlds of music and motorsport collided. Which drivers both past and present would make it into the ultimate F1 rock band? Below are my suggestions but feel free to tell me how wrong I am and throw your own ideas into the fray.

 

Drummer - Taki Inoue
Rock n’ Roll law dictates that all drummers need to be a bit mental, so who better than Mr Banzai himself? Keith Moon may have driven his car into a swimming pool but Taki drove his into the safety car…at the swimming pool. He doesn’t seem the type to demand his wife have his breakfast on the table in the morning before overdosing on prescription sedatives but then he didn’t seem the type to describe himself to the press as a “lazy bastard” who “smokes too much and drinks too much.” Considering they’re essential criteria for any wannabe drummer I think Inoue fits the role perfectly.

Bass - Alain Prost
Okay, maybe the Professor is a bit more Jean Michel Jarre than Les Claypool but there’s something about Alain’s methodical approach which means you wouldn’t be entirely surprised to see him slapping his way through Level 42’s back catalogue. The glue that holds the band together, you can bet your bottom dollar Prost will be the one stepping in when the guitarist and lead singer almost inevitably come to blows.

Guitar - James Hunt
Hunt’s recreational drug use and painfully middle class British eccentricity meant he was always going to look more like a grubby guitarist in the David Gilmour mould than a Formula One world champion. He did have a musical streak, although he was much more suited to the piano than anything with six strings and banging out the occasional tune wasn’t particularly near the top of his to do list. Getting him out of the bar and on the stage could be a bit of an issue.

Lead singer - Fernando Alonso
He’s the ego, he’s the looks, he’s everything a lead singer needs to be. The man from Oviedo has even got the obligatory pop star wife. One question remains - can he sing? Who knows and quite frankly who cares? If Johnny Rotten can get away with having little discernible talent I’m sure ‘Nando will find a way to cope.

Manager - Bernie Ecclestone
Every band needs a Peter Grant, someone to bang heads together and get things done. If there’s one man in the sport who can give concert promoters a dig in the ribs its Bernard. The man who has held almost every circuit to ransom at sometime over his tenure as commercial rights holder would have no problem agreeing that killer record deal or getting his boys on the front cover of the NME. Fair enough, our diminutive overlord isn’t liable to start waving a cricket bat about ala Spinal Tap’s Ian Faith, a cutting word and low level emotional blackmail is much more his style, but don’t doubt his ability to get things done and get rich while doing it.

Also see - What if F1 was a School Playground (2009)

Here at Badger HQ, we've got a few more ideas for Grand Prix supergroups and you must have some too - let us know in the comments below who out of F1, you would have in a band and why...