Having posted a personal story about my passion for motorsport a couple of weeks ago, I am again back onto that theme with this one. It is about something else currently on TV: the drama series ‘Senna’ now streaming on Netflix. I begin by discussing the first three episodes – but I’ve since added a postscript on the rest of the series.
It is no secret that I have been nutty about motorsport all my life. No surprise, then, that I am currently glued to the four-part docuseries ‘Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story’, which is being screened on BBC Two. For me it brings back special personal memories, as someone who was around at the time, albeit with no more than a brief cameo role in what happened.
Celebrity, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. As a lifelong motorsport fan, I have been lucky enough to get to know some of the key figures in F1 over the past twenty years or so and to be at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix most years. Even so, I still get a bit star-struck when I am in the F1 paddock. Part of me still feels like the 13 year old me who was at a Grand Prix for the …
7 of the world’s ten F1 teams are British and Britain’s £9bn motorsport industry is a global success story, employing over 40,000 people. That is why, as well as drivers, the UK needs to always be looking to nurture the next generation of designers, engineers, aerodynamicists and technicians who can keep us ahead.
Last week (Thursday 24 October), I was delighted to lead a cross-party visit of MPs and Lords to the McLaren Technology Centre, as part of an industry visit organised by the Motor All-Party Parliamentary Group and the Industry and Parliament Trust.
Just two weeks ago, the world’s fiercest and fastest racing drivers returned to Silverstone for what turned out to be a thrilling British Grand Prix. While our exceptional British drivers have had mixed fortunes on the track this season, for me the return of Formula One to our shores is always an ideal opportunity to recognise British success in automotive more widely.
I was Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 and a former Shadow Transport Minister. I now chair Healthwatch in Birmingham and Solihull, and the West Midlands Board of Remembering Srebrenica. I also work as a public affairs consultant. I am an effective community advocate and stakeholder alliance builder with a passion for human rights. I am a trustee of the Balfour Project charity and of Citizens Advice Birmingham, and a former Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians.