By:Tay Tian Yan

On the "1Malaysia Team," other than "where's the money from?" we still have a cultural issue to address.

How does a country not known for its racing culture like Malaysia take part in the world's most prominent racing event?

This is like getting a Bedouin born and raised in the desert to grab a swimming trophy in the Olympics!

The Bedouins can imagine the desert to be an ocean, flapping their limbs in the desert and learning the tactics of Michael Phelps.

They can even construct several mammoth pools in the middle of desert, and enforce that even camels must pick up the skill of swimming!

They can also handpick a few elite kids to be sent to swimming academies in the US for a 10-year training programme at 12 hours a day.

They will eventually learn how to swim, but not become world-class swimmers.

Because in the Bedouin culture, there isn't anything like a cultural gene for swimming!

Culture is by no means instant noodle. Throw the noodle into hot water; take it out in two minutes and it'll be ready to serve.

Culture needs 200 years, even 2,000 years to inculcate, take shape, and excel.

F1 is no street racing; and Schumacher is no Mat Rempit.

The F1 culture is founded on the time-honoured automobile industry of a country. The world's greatest racing teams are either from Germany, Italy, or Britain.

Only these three countries have truly matured and sophisticated auto industries as well as deep-rooted automobile culture.

The racing game involves massive input of knowhow and technology, along with decades of researches, legacy and a considerable pool of talents.

Racing aces, from the drivers to the technicians, have all been painstakingly groomed over the years, some even inherited from their fathers.

For instance, there are many racing academies in the United Kingdom and Germany, in which the students pick up the skills of racing and automobile knowhow since young, including dynamics, mechanics and electronics, among many other things.

The students join the racing teams only after completing the entire training programmes.

They begin with go-carts, and having passed and excelled in all sorts of tests, they will then proceed to Formula Renault, Formula BMW, F3 and F3000.

Only the cr?me de la cr?me will eventually land on the F1 track!

Of course, the racing infrastructure, population of racing enthusiasts and incessant funds are all integral parts of success.

Only with all the software and infrastructure firmly in place will we be able to meet the most fundamental prerequisites to establish our own racing culture.

Even big car-making countries like Japan and US are only good enough to learn on the F1 fringe. Their teams, like Honda and Toyota of Japan and the erstwhile Ford of US, would all have to set up their bases in UK in order to make waves in F1 races.

Overzealous Malaysia plans to put everything--from the manufacture of race car, racing team to drivers--under one roof at its F1 hub in Sepang!

To them, F1 racing is like peanuts! -Mysinchew/ANN