How good are the show runners at F1? They know viewers are in a dark spot what with paying $2 a litre for petrol, $2k a year for electricity, an extra $700 a week on house payments and $10 a schooner. So, the Drive to Survive and F1 reality drama have changed the format to reality comedy. And what better place to start the fun than at last weekend's Clogland GP. (What about the Dutch painter that dropped a V12 into his Chrysler Voyager? Everyone in Amsterdam said: "Look at Vincent's van go!") Red Bull runs two teams. Red Bull and Alpha Tauri. AT pilot Yuki Tsunoda went in for a pit stop and four new tyres. When he was back out on the track he said his tyres weren't fitted and by the way his seatbelt had come off and Yuki pulled over. Of course, it took a while for the AT pit crew to realise Yuki the jokester was pulling their leg. The tyres were all good and off Yuki went again. Yuki comes in again, gets new tyres, gets a few metres down pit lane and yells: "Something wrong, something strange at the rear. Diff is broken I think." Well, by now, everyone except Merc boss Toto Wolff was hissing themselves with laughter. Toto more or less said it was a conspiracy, hinting it had ruined the Merc team's one-stop strategy. And, of course, the Hamster had this to say about Mercedes strategy: "It was monumental bullshit. That was the biggest f..k-up. I can't believe you guys f..king screwed me. I can't tell you how pissed I am." And didn't the Ferrari team ham it up. Carlos Sainz pitted for a Peroni and got the chance to drink it all because his pit crew lost one of his new tyres and had to go looking in the stockroom for it. Here's another funny factoid. Lewis is the first black driver in F1 in 76 years. F1 owner, Liberty Media Group (one woman director), has set an aspirational target of having a woman F1 driver by 2098. OK, talking of legends, down at Steve Shelley's Pheasant Wood Circuit this week I ran into one of the greatest temporary Australians. Troy Corser was a two-time world superbike champion, holds the record for most World Superbike Championship race starts and, I can exclusively reveal, will start a Troy Corser Racing School Australia very soon.
John Connolly Cars — johnconnollycars.com
Originally published in The Weekend Australian
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