The journalist in me loves when what appears to be a chance encounter can turn into a story or two.
That sure seems to be what happened this weekend in Macau to the guys at Autosport, who have spun out to stories featuring Dr. Mario (Tiffany Amber) Theissen.
The first is that Theissen is tipping Sebastian Vettel* to win plenty more world championships, given he’s just 23 and have 15 odd years left in him in Formula 1:
“He did a fantastic job – especially in the final four races when the pressure was mounting,” Theissen told AUTOSPORT when asked about his feelings on Vettel.
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“When it didn’t go his way, he kept his cool. Among the four or five title contenders, the youngest one was the one who didn’t make any mistakes anymore. That was really, really good.
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“He is a top driver, one of the top drivers in Formula 1 already at 23. If it all goes well, he has another 15 years in Formula 1, so there are quite some championships he can win if the car is right.”
But that’s not all. Autosport reporters’ brains were firing on all cylinders, and they managed to ask Mario whether BMW would be back in F1, especially given there are changes coming to the rules. Short answer: No.
“No. It’s not on our cards,” he told AUTOSPORT. “There was a clear decision by the board to focus on production car racing in the future, and to put together a strong production car programme.
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“This is what we did with the DTM programme and future series overseas. We are fully focused on this and it keeps us busy.”
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When asked if there was anything that F1 could do to make itself attractive to BMW, Theissen said: “I don’t see that in the near future, no.”
As if a trip to Macau on its own wouldn’t be rewarding enough. There’s two quick stories from one two-minute conversation. Well done.
BMW really should be in F1, though. Although given F1’s low recognition in the U.S., maybe it does work for them.
* I like to think of Vettel as the guy who killed the BMW F1 program, but when I think of it, really, it’s Nick Heidfeld’s fault. Yeah, Nick’s. If Nick hadn’t been a truly solid driver, BMW would have kicked him to the curb in favor of Vettel and the team would still be around with a Vettel and Robert Kubica line-up. (I can’t blame Kubica because he was young and up-and-coming at the time.)
