As the holidays approach we begin to think about getting together and travelling to see family over the Christmas break. Fun times on the whole, except if you get stuck sitting with that one crazy relative.
We all have one – be it an aunt or uncle, cousin or sibling. In some unfortunate situations he is also very rich and the most of the family have to put up with him because of it.
Formula One has such a relative now, too.
Crazy Uncle Bernie.
You know how it goes…
Lives in the past: “Everything was better in The Good Old Days.”
Makes sexist comments about somebody’s girlfriend: “You see the gazongas on that one?”
Makes racist comments about somebody’s boyfriend: “Do they have shoes where you come from?”
Refuses to embrace change: “Nobody understands this technology crap.”
Constantly reminisces: “They don’t make stuff like they used to.”
He’s grumpy and no-one wants to piss him off during Christmas dinner, or they’ll get a stream of unsolicited “advice”.
Today, Crazy Uncle Bernie told his pet F1 journalist that he intends to propose to the F1 Strategy Group that they revert back to normally aspirated V10 engines for 2016. He even made a not so veiled threat that he had bought the right to do so from the FIA (who’s current plans are making the Maginot Line look like brilliant strategy).
2014 was dominated by Mercedes but also offered some of the most exciting races in years and it was the culmination of a huge investment by the German marque to prepare the new power units. Honda is ramping up for a similar level of investment as it returns to the sport with McLaren and now the technology finally starts to be attractive to companies like Audi.
Why? Because it has real world, mass production applications. Hybrids are no longer for hippies – they go fast!
Does Crazy Uncle Bernie really think they are going to toss away years of development and millions of dollars just to make the engines louder? Maybe Crazy Uncle Bernie just needs to turn up his hearing aid…
– MCZF1
