The 2010 season is rapidly hurtling its way towards a promisingly nail-biting championship finish … and Podium or Pits is back with all you need to know about the news in F1 this week!
PITS. Michael Schumacher –
We all know Michael as a driver: historically dominant, record-breaking, cheating etc etc. But do we know the real Michael Schumacher? Who is he? What does he like? Well wonder no more! In a recent interview with f1.com Michael, somewhat unwisely, revealed all. Here’s some of POP’s best bits…
Q: What was the last book you read?
MS: Something from Samuel Beckett. I am very bad at remembering the titles of books and movies and stuff like that.
Sorry Michael, Beckett is predominantly a playwright who specialises in end-of-the-world/life is so goddamn futile/what’s the point of carrying on? sort of material. Telling. Very telling.
Q: What is your favourite way to relax?
MS: A glass of red wine and a cigar.
Schumacher: Bond villain in the making.
Q: Which film has made you cry?
MS: Lately it was Slumdog Millionaire. Well, at least a little.
There you have it: Schumacher does have a soft side!
PODIUM. Lewis Hamilton –
Hamilton is currently 4th in this season’s drivers’ world championship, but the even better news is that he is also the 5th most powerful celebrity in the UK (according to a recent survey by advertising agency Millward Brown). What an accolade. An imaginary round-of-applause for Hamilton indeed. But what to do with all this power?
With the championship now looking increasingly unlikely, Lewis will have to use his new-found “powers” to throw one hell of a ‘Commiserations-on-not-winning’ Party at the end of the season.
PODIUM. The Korean grand prix –
POP reported 2 weeks that the Korean grand prix circuit was 98-99% complete. Well POP is now happy to announce that the missing 1-2% has now been finished, and the circuit is now being given a few “cosmetic touches”, whatever that means. Do circuits need dolling up? Do you think it’d add to the spectacle if Silverstone, for example, had jazzy multi-coloured flashing lights around the perimeter everytime a driver set a new fastest lap? Or different coloured tarmac for the different sectors? POP awaits Korea’s attempts with great anticipation.
PITS. Vitaly Petrov –
After the embarassment of the last race where Petrov crashed at the very start, the Russian Renault driver is feeling upbeat about his chances at the Korean grand prix: “Because it’s a new circuit, I think this makes life a little bit easier for me because everybody will be in the same situation and will have to learn the track.”
This, in reality, translates roughly to: “well, nobody has driven the track, so fingers crossed everyone will be as rubbish as me this time, and that way Renault won’t fire me, hopefully, otherwise I’m really buggered, hmm.”
PODIUM. Bernie OAP Ecclestone –
‘Retirement’ isn’t a word in F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone’s dictionary. The notion of giving up on his world domination plans is, to him, ridiculous: “What else would I do? People retire to die” said Bernie recently. By this logic Bernie is hoping to simply continue and continue so that he will simply … live forever?
That’s not a world POP wants to live in really, thank-you very much. And with Max Mosley threatening to return to front-line F1 it’s practically turning into ‘F1: Attack of the OAPs’.
