Formula 1 is an egomaniacal circus!
Formula 1 is a circus. The money, the egos, and the spotlight really make the races almost a sidebar from all of the craziness that seems to go on from week to week behind the scenes. Take recent events, for example: Nelson Piquet, Jr, known for his spectacular crashes which number around seventeen, was let go from Renault. No problem, it seemed justified as his performance was far from acceptable.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, though, and he suddenly makes claims that his crash in 2008 at the Singapore GP was ordered by team ego, err I mean principal, Flavio Briatore and engineering head Pat Symonds, in order to bring out the safety car and give teammate Fernando Alonso the win. Ouch. Quite a claim, but quite plausible, particularly in Flava Flav's world.
But that's not all. Renault strikes back, and files criminal charges against Piquet Jr, and his dad Nelson Piquet, Sr (also a former F1 driver), for trumping up these claims against the team. Oh the drama. The consequences, when this all shakes out, could be huge for one side or the other, or maybe both. This makes the "Stepneygate" scandal involving Ferrari secrets being traded to McLaren look a pittance, and that one cost McLaren all results for a season and a hundred million in fines.
On the other front, and I guess the brighter side, billionare Vijay Mallya, owner of the Force India F1 team, may be the nicest guy in Formula 1. At least that's how it looks. While Felipe Massa is out with a serious head injury, Luca Badaoer completely bombed as a replacement in two races,
finishing at the back of the pack. Ferrari put him aside and Mallya offered to let Giancarlo Fisichella out of his contract with Force India to pursue
his dream of driving for Ferrari and sitting in for Massa for the remainder of the season. Impressive. The Italian fans surely are happy, and I'm
sure that Fisi is wearing his new Ferrari attire to bed. But then you dig deeper and find that Force India, who used Ferrari engines, owes Ferrari
more than three million for orders which haven't been paid for. Ah, now it all starts to add up. They deny any financial arrangement, but it sure
looks like something might have transpired to entice Mallya to be so kind to Italy. Monza this weekend will be quite interesting. Circus indeed.
Here are a few articles for your reading pleasure:
Oh, and lest I forget, Bernie gave himself a cool $900,000 raise while all this happens.
