The Hunt for a Formula one Driver in India
April 2011 Vijay Mallya, Team Principal of Force India Formula One team, announced the launch of the Force India F1 Team Academy, sponsored by ExxonMobil.The academy, based in India, is an initiative aimed at identifying racing talent in the country, and probably identifying an Indian F1 driver.
Now you must be wondering why am I bringing this announcement that happened eleven months back to everyone's notice. Great reasons -- Read on
I was coming back from a domestic trip and getting a cab to get to my residence late in the evening , is not easy . Most of the regular travellers would agree with me on this . The regular pre paid private taxi service will have close to 30 passengers waiting to pay and get a bill. Then you go outside and will have to wait further another ten to fifteen minutes to get a cab allocated to you. All this will take time and one would want to reach home quickly rather than wait.
The situation was no different last week. There was a big queue at the line. However one counter had may be two or three passenger … And that was the Black and Yellow Chennai Pre Paid taxi service counter. I decided that I will go for this service rather than wait in the other line to make payment and then again wait outside. My decision to get this service proved right . I was quickly allocated a cab and got in to our Black and Yellow Ambassador. The line in the private taxi counter was pretty big - waiting for the cab to be allocated. Priding myself on a right decision , I settled down for a smooth ride…
As soon as we hit the GST road, there was a traffic pile up due to a truck breaking down and this caused traffic congestion from the Airport till the exit, past where Trident is. While the other cars remained stationary , not mine.. My Cabbie took the extreme left lane and found nooks and corners of space and using his hand signals , got us moving. Just as I would watch and think , we are going to get stuck, the cabbie would find the space that he would skilfully manoeuvre the car and keep moving . I was very impressed but not sure about the guys whom he overtook ( few words were said but who cared ) and if not for his skills , would have remained in the traffic congestion for sometime.
Having got away from the congestion past Hotel Trident , the cabbie switched gears. With one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand outside the window , he went on Cruise mode. As we crossed the Kathipara and entered the Guindy stretch , the road narrows down due to the Metro rail construction. There were cars in front. My guy would not slow down nor would he follow the guys in front. He took the left side of the lane ( again ) and I thought he is going to ride over the pedestrian pavement. But he deftly overtook the car in front , avoided the pavement and was back in to the correct lane. Whew …. All in a flash .
At the SPIC building , he did the same using the right -- I thought he was going to hit the barricades of the construction. No , he swept past them, missing them by inches. I asked him " Are you not taking a risk ? He turned back and looked at me .. His stare was -- What are you talking about ? Risk? That is the way I drive smoothly and you call it risk.. He laughed and said , no risk Sir , I am in control. That was his way of driving .
Then on , there was no more overtaking manoeuvres thankfully and I reached home in one piece.
That was when the announcement at the top caught my attention. If the academy went to all of our airports and identified these guys , and did their assessment ,I am sure our search for Lewis Hamilton from India will end.
Did the cabbie not do what the F1 drivers do ? Overtake skilfully , at the corners of the track , run through the chicanes and always find the space to squeeze their cars past their competitors? And not worry about the risk of crashing .. All good qualities of a F1 driver .. One area that the academy may have to work is on their fitness..
Can some one let the Academyknow about this great talent pool sitting at our Airports .
Now you must be wondering why am I bringing this announcement that happened eleven months back to everyone's notice. Great reasons -- Read on
I was coming back from a domestic trip and getting a cab to get to my residence late in the evening , is not easy . Most of the regular travellers would agree with me on this . The regular pre paid private taxi service will have close to 30 passengers waiting to pay and get a bill. Then you go outside and will have to wait further another ten to fifteen minutes to get a cab allocated to you. All this will take time and one would want to reach home quickly rather than wait.
The situation was no different last week. There was a big queue at the line. However one counter had may be two or three passenger … And that was the Black and Yellow Chennai Pre Paid taxi service counter. I decided that I will go for this service rather than wait in the other line to make payment and then again wait outside. My decision to get this service proved right . I was quickly allocated a cab and got in to our Black and Yellow Ambassador. The line in the private taxi counter was pretty big - waiting for the cab to be allocated. Priding myself on a right decision , I settled down for a smooth ride…
As soon as we hit the GST road, there was a traffic pile up due to a truck breaking down and this caused traffic congestion from the Airport till the exit, past where Trident is. While the other cars remained stationary , not mine.. My Cabbie took the extreme left lane and found nooks and corners of space and using his hand signals , got us moving. Just as I would watch and think , we are going to get stuck, the cabbie would find the space that he would skilfully manoeuvre the car and keep moving . I was very impressed but not sure about the guys whom he overtook ( few words were said but who cared ) and if not for his skills , would have remained in the traffic congestion for sometime.
Having got away from the congestion past Hotel Trident , the cabbie switched gears. With one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand outside the window , he went on Cruise mode. As we crossed the Kathipara and entered the Guindy stretch , the road narrows down due to the Metro rail construction. There were cars in front. My guy would not slow down nor would he follow the guys in front. He took the left side of the lane ( again ) and I thought he is going to ride over the pedestrian pavement. But he deftly overtook the car in front , avoided the pavement and was back in to the correct lane. Whew …. All in a flash .
At the SPIC building , he did the same using the right -- I thought he was going to hit the barricades of the construction. No , he swept past them, missing them by inches. I asked him " Are you not taking a risk ? He turned back and looked at me .. His stare was -- What are you talking about ? Risk? That is the way I drive smoothly and you call it risk.. He laughed and said , no risk Sir , I am in control. That was his way of driving .
Then on , there was no more overtaking manoeuvres thankfully and I reached home in one piece.
That was when the announcement at the top caught my attention. If the academy went to all of our airports and identified these guys , and did their assessment ,I am sure our search for Lewis Hamilton from India will end.
Did the cabbie not do what the F1 drivers do ? Overtake skilfully , at the corners of the track , run through the chicanes and always find the space to squeeze their cars past their competitors? And not worry about the risk of crashing .. All good qualities of a F1 driver .. One area that the academy may have to work is on their fitness..
Can some one let the Academyknow about this great talent pool sitting at our Airports .
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