It’s not a new rumour, but it is still out there. In the notebook there is a scrawl about Vietnam wanting a race in Hanoi. It was a smart move because Malaysia has only 36 million people, which is nothing compared to Vietnam’s 100 million, Indonesia’s 260 million or China’s 1.4 billion. The country’s money was ploughed into infrastructure, technology and education. The race was his idea because he wanted the world to know that Malaysia was developing from its sleepy past and accelerating towards industrialisation. In comparison to many leaders in the world, Dr M believed that the job of a politician was to do what was best for his country, rather than doing whatever he could to fill his own pockets. Back in the day, Malaysia was the regional trendsetter, trying to overcome innate disadvantages, notably it’s small population, thanks to the remarkable vision of Dr Mahathir Mohamad. They might have said that Malaysia is no longer the kind of place that F1 wants to be seen, but that would have been a bit rude. A lot of people in Formula 1 are a little sad, Malaysians being generally likeable folk, but the truth is that while the government blowhards might blame Formula 1 for asking too much money, the F1 folk at least had the good grace to say nothing. There is no future for F1 in Malaysia, no matter what the Prime Minister says. The Malaysian GP pages in my green notebook begin with: “No Sean, no Ross, no surprise”, which tells me that neither Sean Bratches nor Ross Brawn attended the race and that I was not surprised to see that happening.
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