It’s a bit of a Pits-dominated week, mostly because POP is suffering from serious Formula 1 withdrawal symptoms which include: depression, anxiety, and Sunday-related panic attacks. If anyone else is suffering, POP recommends a good dose of BadgerGP, with ‘The Chain’ be Fleetwood Mac on repeat at full volume!
Jenson Button – Is Button intending to become a ‘stay-at-home’ Dad? How very modern of him! This week Button has said, somewhat outrageously, that there is “no point” in continuing to race when you have babies. “I don’t want to have kids while I am racing. It’s not worth the risk … If you start feeling fearful of pushing the car to the limit, you have got to stop”, Button said. So bad news for Button fans everywhere, as he’s already 31 years-old, so kids, babies, nappies, crying, screaming etc can’t be far away! POP is highly sceptical that having babies changes a driver’s ability to win (see Michael Schumacher as a case in point), but POP does applaud Button for his 21st century attitude to parenting. Anyway, POP doubts the integrity of Button’s statement – no driver with the hunger to win can give that up (again, see Schumacher, and his return to F1, as a case in point!)
Ross ‘Moneybags’ Brawn – Minted! Loaded! Lots o’ dosh! Moneybags! Rich beyond your wildest dreams!!! Ross Brawn made £100m last week, you know, as you do. Totally normal amount of money for a week’s work. Well, Brawn made that amount through the sale of his share of the Mercedes team to Daimler and Aabar Investments. What’s more hilarious, however, is that Brawn paid £1 (yes, one pound) for the, then, Honda team back in 2009. POP thinks Ross should give up the day job and become a venture capitalist, because with returns of 100,000,000X, he’d be the toast of the industry!
- Yes, we’d look happy too Ross
Croatia – POP is a big fan of Croatia. It may not be in the EU, but it’d be a superb addition to the ‘European’ leg of the Formula 1 race calendar. Having spent 3 weeks in the beautiful Adriatic coastal country last summer, POP can say with 100% certainty that F1 should be there. Unfortunately they want to build a circuit near Zagreb, the capital, which is the most uninteresting part of Croatia. Dubrovnik, in the south, is stunning – and would rival Monaco for scenery and huge yachts in the harbour. Fans could combine a summer holiday and watch a grand prix! Perfect. The earliest it’d be ready is 2014, so watch this space…
The Ferrari ‘F150’ – until this week that’s what this season’s Ferrari was going to be called. However, it apparently infringes copyright? Gotta love lawyers. 150 was chosen to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification. McLaren: take note of that fervour of patriotism! The new name? The Ferrari 150° Italia. Err, right. That’s really no better. In case you’re wondering, the English translation is the Ferrari 150th Italia. A name which needs translation: good work, Ferrari.
Fernando Alonso – or should we call him, ‘Billy No-Mates’? Alonso doesn’t exactly make friends easily most of the time. But this week Alonso has truly secured his status as F1-pariah, “I’m not racing to make friends but to achieve many titles”. Fair enough, but you’re going to need to get those engineers and Ferrari bosses on-side if you want to actually succeed: a driver is nothing without his car, and his team, after all!
McLaren – spare a thought for McLaren fans everywhere. POP is issuing this warning NOW in order to prepare McLaren fans for the prospect of a ‘Black Season’ in 2011.
You thought the 2009 car was a ‘dog’? This one is looking to be a no better than a limp, lifeless fish. BBC pundits, Martin Brundle, David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan have called the car “a mess”, with a “fundamental issue”. “Lewis looked absolutely at sea in the thing” said Brundle. See, a fish of a car.
