Its Thursday before race weekend, lots going on so today is bite sized links to the less reported comments with a few wry comments from me.
- Psy – the Korean pop star with one off world wide hit “Gangnum Style” is going to wave the chequered flag on Sunday. Yes I know this was announced yesterday but celebrities waving the chequered flag does not always work too well. Ask Pele about Brazil 2002. (YouTube link). For those of you without video capabilities, When Pele was asked to wave the chequered flag at the Brazilian Grand Prix it seemed a perfect PR opportunity, the country’s, if not the world’s, greatest footballer at one of its biggest sporting events. And, to be fair, it is not exactly a task burdened by onerous or complex rules. But, it seemed the organisers appeared to fail to explain the intricacies of Formula One to the great man, so when Michael Schumacher crossed the line to take the victory, followed home by brother Ralf, Pele was busy chatting with officials and forgot to show them the flag. Alerted to his mistake, he enthusiastically waved the flag at the next driver past, which happened to be Takuma Sato who was some two laps behind the winner, meaning technically he had won the race. “Pele is very little,” noted Schumacher. “I didn’t see the flag though, that’s the only thing I noticed.”
- Talking of Psy, whether he is a one hit wonder or not, he his HOT HOT HOT at the moment. The promoters of the Korean GP had a spoof video made with the “Gangnam style” soundtrack behind track workers dancing and clips of F1 action at the circuit. It was posted on YouTube and the video went viral worldwide. Of course FOM and Bernie’s lawyers spotted it and told YouTube to take it down as it was showing clips of copyright material. This morning my daughter who knows I’m connected to F1 but she shows no other interest in the sport – she asked me out of the blue, “Daddy where can we see the Gangnam video with your racing cars?” Trying to attract the youth to F1 Mr E? – FAIL!!!
