Foolish 1

I love cars. I’m a car lover. I have to admit my interest in F1 sort of waned after Schumacher’s retirement but I still do keep up with the developments in the sport. I find it refreshing to see a new team, (albeit ran by old hands) heading the championship. It is also exciting to see teams like Red-Bull and Force India making the right headlines.

No matter how much I love motor sports, I have to disagree with the proposed 1 Malaysia F1 Team, even if it is financed by the private sector, even if it is managed by Tony Fernandez. It is reported that even small teams like Toro Rosso spends USD 75 million (RM 261 million) a year, the big teams like Ferrari and McLaren spends more than USD 400 million (RM 1.39 billion) a year. Toyota has spent billions of dollars but have yet to win a race. Honda and BMW are exiting the F1 scene. If Proton thinks it can make it in F1, they are probably thinking too highly of themselves.

So, to sum it up, F1 is a rich man’s toy and let’s face the facts, Malaysia is not a rich man, it’s not even a rich man’s son. I think we’ll be better off if the billions intended for the F1 team are spent on education, medical facilities and to help the poor bring up their standards of living. Let’s eradicate poverty, increase our literacy rates and reduce infant mortality before we think of F1.