This week Saint Ross (Brawn) is doing good F1 deeds everywhere, POP looks at Martin Brundle’s competition from over the pond, an IndyCar driver called Will Power uses “sign” language to convey his frustration, and Bernie Ecclestone Sprog Watch is back with a vengeance…
Ross Brawn – the Mercedes GP boss is just, well, an all-round decent chap. He’s practically the Mother Theresa of the F1 world for all his good deeds! This week it was revealed that Brawn and the Mercedes team had enabled a young Formula 1 fan to get an expensive new bionic hand from Touch Bionics. The company and the team agreed to share technology as a way of allowing the 14 year-old to get his “hands” on the technology. F1 isn’t always a bed of roses, so Brawn & Co should be applauded for their efforts.
Martin Brundle – with the Yanks (aka Sky) taking over lots of F1 coverage in the UK from 2012, Martin Brundle is going to have some competition. The BBC commentator is famed for his grid walk elbowing tactics, but for NASCAR in the US they have ‘prayers’ before races. And before you yawn and imagine a dull sermon, just take a look at the video below for a taster of the hilarious NASCAR prayers, including the line, “we wanna thank you for these mighty machines”. Yeah! Woo! Go F1! Yee-haw!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E8EYTyACQk&feature=youtube_gdata_player
IndyCar’s Will Power – tee hee, yes ‘Will Power’ is his real name. Anyway, he’s quite a character, Mr Power, naturally. Here’s a picture of him telling it like it is towards IndyCar officials – where’s Rob Smedley (Felipe Massa’s calm-inducing engineer) when you need him, eh?
India – whilst Ross Brawn is busy making the world better using his F1 clout, on the other side of the globe Formula 1 is doing untold damage to the lives of Indian people (POP is being serious for a moment or two!)
The first ever Indian grand prix is being held this season, but the effects of the rapid construction of the circuit have not all been good. The slums overlooking the Interlagos circuit in Brazil are a powerful reminder of the stark contrast between the glamour of F1 and the poverty of many countries which host the races. In India, some locals were paid large sums for their land to build the circuit, “A lot of people have already spent all their money, basically on cars or drinking,” said village head Lajja Ram, 68. In future, Bernie should be careful before granting grand prix to any country with merely enough wheel-barrows of cash to host a race. Let the Bahrain debacle be a lesson!
Ferrari – POP loves entering competitions! This recent Ferrari competition is particularly entertaining to enter … “How well do you know Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso?” is the key to success – click here to enter – POP has, so fingers crossed for that signed shirt of Alonso’s! Cast-off Competition of the year! If you love Alonso, you’ll also love this “vintage” Badger Alonso tribute….
Bernie Ecclestone Sprog Watch – Tamara Ecclestone has only 6,636 followers on Twitter (Badger has nearly 5000!), but it’s a fairly entertaining stream of consciousness from the party-girl daughter of Bernie Ecclestone. Here are just some of Tamara’s best Twitter snippets…
“My hair and make up artists are the best yet very drunk!”
“Shot shot shot!”
“Best choc mousse ever!”
“Oops we re drunk again!”
“Starting the evening with a porn star martini!”
and POP’s personal favourite: “Think we should start the evening with a shot!”
