Why The 1Malaysia F1 Team Is Never Gonna Work

Thoughts & Musings 245 Comments

So apparently, we are gonna have our very own F1 Team.

The prime minister recently announced that 1Malaysia F1 Team will be formed. The car will be made in Malaysia, the driver will be Malaysian, even the pitstop would be manned by Malaysians. The team would be lead by AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes. And it’ll be a joint venture between the Malaysian government, Proton, AirAsia, among others.

I guess when they made the announcement, they probably expected Malaysians all over the country to react with pride – “Wow, we have our very own F1 team! Competing with the big boys like BMW, Ferrari and McLaren on the world stage! COOL!”

Unfortunately, the ugly truth is that most Malaysians do not share the same joy and enthusiasm as those involved. Even when no taxpayer’s money is involved, a majority of people simply have no confidence in this project.

And I guess they have good reasons why. I mean, come on, this a Malaysian Government + Proton + AirAsia project.

Off the top of my head, here are five reasons why the 1Malaysia F1 Team is never gonna work.

#1 Every time our competitor’s car crash and bang into the wall, instead of racing to the finishing line, our 1Malaysia F1 car suddenly slow down to a crawl.

Why?

Must take a closer look at the car accident mah.

1mf1-1

 

#2 Halfway driving, our 1Malaysia F1 car suddenly drives to the nearest petrol station.

Why?

Government just announced, “tomorrow petrol price increase by 0.01 cent.” Wah lan eh, better fill up tank first!

limsimi

 

#3 Halfway driving, suddenly our 1Malaysia F1 car swerves left and right and bang into other people for no reason.

Why?

Our 1Malaysia F1 driver’s wife just called. The idiot one hand on steering wheel, the other hand holding his handphone talking to his wife!

crash

 

#4 Other F1 cars have one driver. Our 1Malaysia F1 car has THREE drivers.

Why?

1mf1-2

Because “1Malaysia” mah. Must have one Chinese, one Malay and one Indian driving. Otherwise other people might get jealous and protest!

 

#5 As soon as the gun went off, all the other cars zoomed out from the starting line, but then our 1Malaysia F1 car was still stuck there.

Why?

1mf1-3

How to make it lah like that?

I got double passes to Hot magazine 5th anniversary party this Friday 8:30pm at MOS Euphoria, Sunway to give away.

First 15 100 people to e-mail im@kennysia.com and tell me they’ve voted for kennysia.com in Nuffnang Blog Awards gets to be on my guest list. (Yes, it’s kinda like a bribe.)

245 Replies to “Why The 1Malaysia F1 Team Is Never Gonna Work”

  7. hahaha this is a good one….everything hit the spot..and proton might supply cheap stuff to save costs too…
    btw, is it just me or the color of the car looks very wrong…by changing blue to green, we will have a moving traffic light

    Reply

  10. cool post
    its no wonder that you rock the malaysian scene
    at first i wasnt excited with the F1 idea but afte dr M gave his support
    i have begun to change my mind.
    sounds cool dont u think ?
    now the sports bring us more stars and tourism revenue and maps us in the global world.
    that’s is like so awesome
    i’m like so proud to be malaysian

    Reply

  12. “And it’ll be a joint venture between the Malaysian government, Proton, AirAsia, among others.”
    “Even when no taxpayer’s money is involved”
    I would think government = tax payers money .. hence the bitterness. Still, this post was worth any future investment on 1M F1 Team 😀

    Reply

  17. lol nice la, ask najib to go attend F1 competition, ask them to “give face” to najib, don let malaysia lose~
    this is a waste of resources anyway.

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  20. Another way to spend rakyat money. Another project will be wash to the drain. Better spend it on how to fight crime & helping those poor rural people. No point putting Malaysia on the map if the rakyat is still surviving in such a sorry state of living. What are the GOV thinking..?
    Think Tony dun have any choice but to join venture..(even if he realized it’s a doomed project)

    Reply

  21. 1. I think I heard this kind of joke before by Harith Iskandar. So I guess you kinda “ciplak” his without giving him any credits.

    Reply

  39. tat’s y tony fernandes is leaving as principal b4 the team starts to race, save his grace before the big fall…hahaha
    but today i heard in the news, there might be no Malaysian drivers..
    okma…u see force india got indian drivers meh…

    Reply

  44. Very true =D yet I’m still very proud to be a Malaysian!!! Working in an airline consists of 120 nationalities, I’m proud everytime I introduce myself “I’m from Malaysia, truly Asia!!”

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  46. Hey Dude, it’s not going to work out as planned because engineers who are capable of designing high performance race cars have left the brain drained country.

    Reply

  53. Is that really the design they’ll be using?
    The colours are ok…redbull also has red/blue/yellow. But the design for this is just wrong! Looks like it got vandalised by spray paint.

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  57. Initially when I look at the title, I thought Kenny is going to exercise his political bias sarcasm again (like how he did in MLTR). But it turns the other way round. It happen to be a funny “Malaysian” joke without actually undermining the effort of the government.
    I know many people may not support the current government, but to openly undermine the project of the government does not show good sense of patriotism, especially for public figure like Kenny. So congrat to you Kenny.

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  60. Hey kenny.
    Congratulations on being the top finalists. C u in Singapore ok! And don’t forget to vote me for best travel blog award — akademi fantasia ..
    Malaysia Boleh! errr..

    Reply

  64. Anything involving our useless and hopeless government will never b succeed! I think the whole nation will agree with me, haha…

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  77. Funny, yeah. = ) But, y’know. These jokes about Malaysian road habits are getting kinda old.
    Was sorta hoping for more solid arguments against the 1Malaysia team instead of rehashed Malaysian driver jokes.
    Then again, people looking for serious F1 commentary won’t show up here, anyway.
    Cheers. = )

    Reply

  79. epic.
    2 thumbs down to the announcement,if i had 3 hands,i would give it 3 thumbs down.haha
    btw Lets better hope they don’t adopt that paint scheme.It’s beyond fugly!

    Reply

  85. I must say, this is one of the lamest posts on Kennysia. I didn’t laugh once. Come on Kenny, you can do better than this. Your old posts were freaking funny.

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  86. this laugh from harith iskandar laa, why u r luv to ciplak other people? n for joker, plz shut up, u should proud our malaysia f1 project.

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  98. i would say its good for malaysians. start out small and learn from the big guns. the ppl involved will learn in the process.
    why the negativity? support ur govt. dont belittle an idea even before it is started.
    its alright to lose in the beginning..

    Reply

  99. Kenny i don’t kow how well you know F1 but malaysia more or less was already the laughinh stock of F1 racing…”Alex Yoong” made sure of that 🙂

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  102. almost everyone is jumping to kenny’s bandwagon thinking this project will fail. Firstly its not a goverment project, its a joint-venture between few giant malaysia companies.
    Most of you show no patriotism at all to fellow Malaysians but im pretty sure if this project turn out to be a success, you’ll be singing different tune then.
    p/s: last time lots of ppl think airasia is not going to work too but…

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  105. eh hello… is our proton a success when they keep seeking bailout fund from the taxpayers when they fail? we wouldn’t have to pay 90k for a vios if there is no proton.

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  106. i don’t think this project is going to work out..the only thing that is going to work is letting the world know about malaysia and thats it.this is y = 1st proton can’t even produce quality cars, 2nd the govt have a history of wasting tax payers money lastly i think the pit crew should not be all malaysian but anyone who is qualify to get the job done.

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  109. 4 thumbs up(borrow 2 from my bf)
    beh tahan the first reason
    ‘Must take a closer look at the car accident mah.’ Malaysia culture lol

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  112. i suppose u still not sure how our government “operate” from top to bottom! or perhaps, u r one of those “money sucker”?

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  113. I am not sure where u coming from. But I can guarantee that it will not succeed! Can’t u see and realise that our government keep launching “unfeasible” projects just to “drain out” the money to those U*NO ppl?

    Reply

  115. it is a very good post Kenny! this is what u do best! i always knew that u got lots to comment on our current government! Keep it up Kenny!

    Reply

  116. its hard to be a blogger liao hor?
    write ads, ppl complain,
    write sarcastic joke of (1 of the) ad supplier, ppl (kinda of) complain…
    kesianz..
    btw, i like ur posts with sarcasms eh, each n every of em’

    Reply

  120. I love F1 very much but that was during Schumi era only and very seldom look back @ F1 race these days; since then he has hung up his helmet for good. Point of ponder, when they are gonna revive up other famous pinnacle sports like rally, hockey and of course…football(Semi Pro League) ?
    Good job, Kenny.

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  121. Honestly, this type of Kennysia post, is the ones I miss most… Welcome back, Kenny… i enjoy such posts from you… it is because of such post, that draws me to your blog continuously since 2005..
    🙂
    On the other note… F1 ah? Waste of time , waste of project lah… should emphasize on our Public transport instead. Laughing stock ler…

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  123. another 1 is:
    when the emergency car came out, all F1 drivers will follow behind. Malaysia as usual at the bottom three far at the back.
    Sensing opportunity, the Malaysian F1 driver turns to the emergency lane and speed off and reach the finish line first! A true Malaysian.
    messilegend 🙂

    Reply

  124. Haha, great job Kenny! Such a witty post. Honestly, when will the goverment realise that these stupid projects are a sheer waste of money. Cough*cough*Angkasawan*cough*cough. Seriously, don’t they have a better way in spending our taxes? Sheesh, use the money to upgrade the freaking education system!!!! Oh yeah… it looks like they paid a drug addict to do the paintjob.

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  127. I agree that the team would never work too. IF they win, they get the honour.
    IF they LOSE…
    they are gambling the pride of the country!!! How shame will we be???

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  128. This is yet another frivilous aspiration of Najib’s cronies.
    I doubt Najib has thought it through before granting his blessing. He’s got the priority wrong! There are plenty of areas that govt needs to tackle after making all the promises in last election i.e. infrastructure in particularly East M’sia, welfare for the poors, education system (which still sucks!).
    They can claim govt is not involved or holding any stakes in this venture but God forbid what if the venture failed? Who are they gonna turn to? Of course the govt since Najib endorsed it. And whose money they gonna use to bail it out? Of course taxpayers’!
    I give this dumb project 2 thumbs and 2 toes down!!!!!!

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  131. nice1 kenny!!
    Btw i’m proud to be a Malaysian and fully support the lotus team. I know there are lots of alternative to spend those money on, but it still a good spending. A lot benefits are simply too difficult to foreseen by Malaysian…why ?? because Malaysian laaaa~

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  132. I guess people don’t see it as a huge team work. Just a few cars running around the track very very fast. Few people relate to it.
    They should improve football.

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  133. Nice~~~ 1Malaysia team is just SILLY! when we go oversea and tell them that we are “Malaysians”, will go like “ohh.. the team that stays at the bottom in F1”. It’s just part of their “kiashu” project lah….

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  134. stupid govt making a fool of us malaysian..another project which is going to waste tax payers hard earn money.Is the govt too rich they wana get rid of some of it give it as scholarship or for economic development.malaysia is lagging behind and they are going to use our money like tat?upgrade lah jalan, public transport, education, rural area. ini govt sot.i wana be the PM.Proton manufacturing rubbish cars and still wana join F1 what a joke!!

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  136. Exactly! It’s just a “kiashu” project man. If they really have that much money, distribute to the rakyat lah. Why spend money on such crazy thing? Our goal is just to earn at least 1 point anyway. It’s just a crazy ambition.
    Anyway, I have a feeling that SG might soon create a team as well. 😛 (no offense to all my singaporean fellows)

    Reply

  140. KENNY,
    This is a funny post and I hope people can take it in jest. BUT, i don’t think there is anything funny about the F1 effort.
    First the holding company is called F1 Malaysia Sdn Bhd. The racing team, the one competing in the circuit will be called Lotus F1 Team, which is a resurgence of the famous Team Lotus of yore before they disbanded in early 90s.
    SO far the announcement as I read it is that the 1Malaysia F1 Sdn Bhd will be jointly owned by Malaysian companies. There was no definite confirmation about all drivers, engineers and technical team(including pit stop crew being totally Malaysians.
    Already, there is already talk that Mike Gascyone, famous technical director of several F1 teams may join the new Lotus F1 Team. And I personally think that the Lotus F1 team should not ignore foreign talents to be successful. Local talents, I am sure there are some, could play supportive roles and be trained in the high tech race environment. The holding company, 1Malaysia Sdn Bhd can be in the hands of the local Malaysian companies as their financiers.
    My take on your funny entry is as a jab at the way we Malaysians have been driving but not a direct attack or to ridicule the effort of the Malaysian F1 team. I think we should support this effort and ensure at the same time that as the usual the money poured is not blatantly wasted but is a serious investment to a very good, productive and lucrative venture.
    I stand corrected though. Thanks Kenny. You are still my no1 naughty boy… keep it up…

    Reply

  143. Tony Fernandes will not be leading the F1 team, he is just there to lead the startup… This anger me after I read from the paper the government is going to spend the Rakyat money unnecessarily… This is as bad as sending our very own monkey to space as space tourist.
    ‘Rakyat didahulukan, Pencapaian diutamakan’ – The question is which one first? Citizen or Achievement?

    Reply

  145. yeah..pity u never heard bout it…i also heard this joke by harith…ure such a lame and of course, if you never heard that joke from harith, then your joke is out of date..meaning sudah lapuk maaa….
    i was expecting a more matured opinion from you and u just gave rubbish. sorry bro. I rate u -1 star.

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  146. to thos who are angry about the 1m’sia project, this prove you still don’t understand how m’sia system work.. for something or some project to work in m’sia, there’s one (and only one) factor to be full fill, and that is “how much money can i turn from the rakyat tax money to become my own pocket money” question. no not all of us can ask this question. only the fil who can bend the rules and ways to get this thing done, gets to troubled by this question. 1m’sia f1 team is the outcome of m’sia gov see ruling the country like making money. only the capital is the rakyat, and the profif.. is “personal”.

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  149. wow kennysia’s back! this is the kind of post that Im familiar of you with…exactly what I’ve been waiting for, I thought you were kidnapped or died or something hahahaa
    Welcome Back Kenny!!

    Reply

  155. haha…so damn funny. btw, malaysia gov dunno how to design better colour izzit? why there’s always jalur gemilang in gov project?

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  159. Have been reading your blog and this is my first virgin comment here!
    You hit all the right spots. Those are what we are making fun of nowadays and probably you should add one – the F1 car broke down because we use all the cheap parts!

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  164. eh hello…did i ever mentioned proton here? if u read again i actually put airasia as example and i didnt say its a goverment project

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  168. that jalur gemilang color is kenny’s design.. and kenny, it looks nice… maybe you should design jerseys for Malaysian soccer team…

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  169. Company Name: 1Malaysia F1 Team Sdn Bhd
    Team Name: Lotus F1 Team
    Country: Malaysia
    Team Principal: Tony Fernandes
    A partnership between the Malaysian Government and a consortium of Malaysian entrepreneurs, 1Malaysia F1 Team returns the Lotus name as a constructor to Formula One for the first time since 1994. The team will initially be based at the RTN facility in Norfolk, UK, some 10 miles from the Lotus Cars factory. A 50,000 square foot fully equipped facility, RTN was built by Toyota for its initial Formula One programme and then used by Bentley for its successful Le Mans programme.
    The team’s future design, R&D, manufacturing and technical centre will be purpose built at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit.
    Team Principal Tony Fernandes is the founder and CEO of the Malaysian-based Tune Group, owner of the Air Asia airline. The team’s Technical Director Mike Gascoyne has over 20 years of experience in Formula One having previously performed the same role for the Force India, Toyota, Renault and Jordan Formula One teams.
    As part of its application to compete in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, the team has agreed an engine supply deal with Cosworth and a wide variety of technical partnerships including Xtrac and FondTech.
    The team is understood to already have a shortlist of six drivers, including both Malaysian and international names, and an announcement confirming their line-up is expected in late October

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  170. Cosworth will return to Formula One in 2010 as an engine supplier to four new teams, Team US F1, Campos Grand Prix, Lotus F1 Team and Manor Grand Prix. Cosworth is one of the most successful engine manufacturer ever to race in F1, second only to Ferrari in grand prix victories.

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  171. Michael “Mike” Gascoyne (born April 2, 1963 in Norwich, England) is a designer of Formula One cars. He is the Chief Technical Officer of the new Lotus F1 Team.
    Gascoyne has worked for several grand prix teams including McLaren, Sauber and Tyrrell. Most recently Gascoyne worked as technical director at Jordan and Renault, and joined the Toyota F1 team in December 2003. A salary reputed to be as high as $8 million per year (source F1 Racing magazine, February 2005)[citation needed] made Gascoyne the highest paid engineer in Formula One, eclipsing far more successful Technical Directors such as Adrian Newey and Ross Brawn.

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  173. come on, this is classic kenny la.. can not be ciplak ma… just read all his funny entries before… shessh, some people!

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  174. come on, this is classic kenny la.. can not be ciplak ma… just read all his funny entries before… shessh, some people!

    Reply

  176. Couldn’t stop laughing. Another great post from you Kenny.
    However, on a more serious note, I can’t help but note that Malaysians are so pessimistic. Just compare with the Indians who fully supported their Force India F1 Team from day one despite everyone laughing at them. Look at where they are now.

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  178. It’s funny still, certain individuals still think 1malaysia works. It does work, but not on the the F1 tracks!

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  179. Fukoff dude, just bcos 1 or 2 of kenny’s jokes similiar to harith’s, doesn’t mean kenny copied him you low life.

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  180. ya…thanks for da re-support for tis 1malaysia brand. Did they really know how many local people will get tech-exposures, experiences,international f1 automobil management from this effort? Talking like shit about their tax payment to country,, did they really pay for it? My chinese friends said to me,
    “duit kecil kena keluar dulu baru byk duit besar boleh masuk”= investment la dey…learn from others

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  181. Malaysia is the 1st country that take part in F1 race in the name of our country name. So the whole world is gonna c how sucky we r, achieving last every race. Government will start making excuses like weather, humidity,temperature,etc,etc… Excuses – now that’s 1Malaysia style.

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  185. then when come election
    “only BN can support 1Malaysia F1, other party cannot, if we change government, we have to cancel our 1Malaysia racing team,
    kita tdk boleh menjejaskan nama negara dlm dunia f1 yg berprestij, majulah sukan demi negara !!”
    it surprises me how BN come out with stupid reasons for years, and most people still supporting them, i guess it cannot be helped when our country is filled with more idiots than thinkers.

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  186. Okay so my predictions for the standings will be as follows
    1. Ferrari
    2. McLaren
    3. Renault
    4. BMW
    5. Honda
    and by the time we get near the bottom we might be able to see 1Malaysia.
    Lets face it, Malaysia is never going to be able to compete with the likes of Ferrari and McLaren..Not only do they have the best drivers in the world, they have decades of racing experience. Even Honda which has been around the F1 scene for sometime now has never gotten into the top 3 spots. Good luck to the Malaysian F1 team but Malaysia would have been better off investing in something that would be more profitable like an english premier league team. This F1 team idea did not even get my patriotic spirit up one bit…in fact the minute i saw that they had this planned out, i chuckled to myself at the stupidity of the idea

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  189. I truly hope our useless BN government get to see this post and stop their F1 project immediately and do something more meaningful for the people! Otherwise I guarantee that they will definitely suffer great defeat in the next general election!

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  191. ya ya bla bla najib.. 1MALAYSIA (which is actualy 1peninsularMALAYSIA) and now F1MALAYSIA. n those penan people deep in sarawak forest gets raped n thier land taken away as we speak now.

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  194. alo bro…y u look down 2 yr own coun3? u think u so good ma? ppl like u better send 2 afghanistan, pakistan Not Paul Tan

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  196. i dont think they say they CAN compete with the like of Mclaren or ferrari. If you follow the sport, newly established teams eg jordan, minardi, will take time in fact years before they can have a steady team that finish every race. look at toyota. over time the team will learn and improve. it’s that aspect that is interesting.. how they improve and manage their resources. nobody is dreaming of a first entry championship… thats just utopian dream…

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  199. Dear Kenny
    It’s possible that Harith Iskandar made a similar joke before you did. I heard some of his stuff before, he might have quipped it first, pp like him, Patrick Teoh etc, although that doesn’t make you, a copycat. Just to let you know that hazwanhalim might actually be right after all.

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  202. exactly! malaysia’s young when it comes to the automotive industry. theres so much space to grow and learn. so what if we come by last like how everyone’s concerned about? theres definitely a last in every race, and who knows there might be some really good talent out there in malaysians. never doubt malaysia’s talents when it comes to sports.

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  206. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAHHAAHAHAHAH! spend so much time and resources on this nonsense, might as well spend those on more practical stuff.
    1malaysia or 1malay-sia?

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  207. what a waste of time, money & energy…
    as if we have tonnes of unused resources that they think “hey, what bout joining the F1 race? ” will make every 1 happy

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  209. Hahahahaha… That was brilliant!
    This is my 1st visit here to yr blog, after hearing a lil bout u fr quite some time.. Must I say how funny this post is.. I was blown away just by reading 1 of yr post.. Guess I’ll be a regular here..

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  210. Hi dude, u missed a point.
    1Malaysia team will win the Malaysia stop. The NFP (New F1Nalaysia Policy) requires that all other non-Malaysia team to start from the pit, and after 1Malaysia team has completed the 1st 5 laps.

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  221. Hi Kenny,
    Now this, this is a great entry!! I enjoyed reading it very much!
    I was waiting to see if you’ll make fun of proton! 🙂
    Ju Ann

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  222. I love the 5th reason as i wonder base on M’sia product quality can the car really join other as F1 team?? Well, i suggest the F1 Driver to have FULLY Cover insurance before the race:)

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  224. #4 ftw yo. HAHA! chinaman here checkin in on my fav funny man! btw ur blog loads normally from china. no kena-block-by-firewall shit haha.

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  231. Surprising insightful in regards to Malaysians all over the country. Except for No. 5. To be fair, I have had good experiences with Air Asia. New Airbus beats Boeing 737.
    My misadventures with Malaysia Airlines can be found here.

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  234. i think the colour of 1Malaysia F1 so funny meh..need change..hope will bring good technology for our malaysian company especially Proton ( will not make car so easy to broken and more safety plz )

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  235. i just read the comment and i dun noe y malaysia still have this stupid people that always condemn goverment.. wat r u doing for the country that can make u say like that? how much r u spend ur money to help mlaysian people? dont talk like stupid pembangkang. but do nothing. see selangor meh.. promise will reduce tol but where? see a lot of road are berlubang for so long no action. dont just talk like anwar. wat jasa him to malaysia u tell me meh..open ur eyes plz malaysian..singaporean sure laugh went they see us fight..

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  236. I know how to avoid no4.
    Let me be the driver!!!
    My mother is chinese and my father is mix malay indian! :p
    Walao, how to join this f1 team ma, if only I already have the experience… got qualification already

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  237. no worry anymore Kenny…
    our lotus F1 driver would b Italian.. wat a shame… i guess they did consider what u concern about.. Malaysian driver would 3rd driver thou…XD

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  238. hey guys come on..
    you can’t just expect the project 2 b an instant success..
    i think this project would trigger a phenomenal tech transfer which local engineers can benefit from in terms of well, making proton cars faster and better..

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  240. This comment may come a little bit late but in recent Tony Fernandes blog he really has a good point. I think you represent the community, which are too pessimistic with everything which is going on in this country. And by writing this blog entry, you are not helping at all..

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  241. dam dam funny la….
    but tat is the beauty part of malaysia culture , only m’sia have it and you can’t find it from other country oooo
    wakakkaaaa….

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  243. another ball carrier..get a life..malaysia is too poor & debt ridden to satisfy one bullshit maker’s ego, let’s hope tony will notice ur fullname.bitch

    Reply

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