The small world of Formula 1

Today I attended the BlackBook Motorsport Forum in London, a full day program of presentations and panel discussions with executives from several F1 teams; F1 sponsors e.g. Heinekin, Lego and Revolut; plus, representatives from other motor sports like NASCAR and Formula E, and much more.

The first interview of the day was with Willem Dinger, Chief Partnerships Officer at CadillacF1. When he walked onto the stage, I had an aha moment. Eleven years ago, Mark Jenkins and I were at the Belgian Grand Prix to conduct interviews for the third edition of ‘Performance at the Limit.’ We stayed at a small guest house a short drive from the Spa race circuit. 

On the first day we parked our rental car in a muddy field and trekked a good distance to the track. The next morning, at breakfast in the guest house, we shared our adventure with the four other people at the table. One of the guests was responsible for Unilever's Rexona sponsorship with WilliamsF1 and generously offered us an extra VIP parking pass that enabled is to park right next to the race venue for the rest of the weekend. As he walked onto the London stage, I realized that person had been Willem Dinger. I took the opportunity to thank him once again and get a selfie. The small world of F1.

And check out the magic of AI and my racing driver alter ego that was demo’d by Snapmatic.