I met Dom in Fan Formula is a kind of project which connect F1 Fans around the World… funny guy by the way.
Here’s my interview with Dom
Editorial Note: YOU MUST read the interview you gotta love his answers!
Well Dom, first to all thanks for accept this interview for “from the other side of Racing”.
Let’s go with the questions.
1) Why you are an F1 Fan?
“Because it has an engine. Because Motor Sport in all its guises is exciting to watch, all the way from racing around your local go-kart track at weekends to Formula 1 And I think that’s why, F1 is the pinnacle of what every young boy (and girl) who likes MotorSport wants to do at a weekend”.
2) How started your love to F1?
“I honestly have no idea. Everyone seems to know exactly when; ‘I got into F1 in Australia in 1995’ even though they would have still been in the womb. Not me, I can’t pinpoint a time. Maybe the late 90s with Schumacher/Häkkinen. I think in a big way was when I went to my first F1 race in Hungary in 2005. The whole thing was incredible, the sights, sounds, smells. And the heat! You have to seriously like hot weather if you want to do Hungary in August!”
3) Your favorite F1 memory as a fan?
“I have so many! Definitely my first race as it was amazing. Also Jenson Button winning in Hungary in 2006 because I cried. And I don’t cry. I was fishing on a river in Scotland at the time and I could take you back to the exact spot. I remember the next day trying to find a newspaper to buy and there was a tiny article about it about three pages from the back! When Brawn were formed in 2009 after Honda pulled out and how after so many years Jenson won the world title. That was an amazing day! Maybe 2010 as I combined my love of China and F1 and went to the Grand Prix for my 21st birthday. Jenson won, so I was so happy, celebrating my birthday there and then the Iceland volcano happened so I got stuck for three weeks in Shanghai! That was a crazy adventure!
Ok maybe the 2011 race in Canada because it was an incredible race and had everything in it; and the right result!
¡fine! Lastly I’d say being half-naked with Jenson Button, but that’s another story……”

4) Why Jenson Button is your favorite F1 driver?
“Goodness! How did you guess? Because he was the first driver I knew; because you want to support a driver from your own country. Because he’s ‘smoothy-smooth’ and has an excellent race craft as well, he is an excellent on track racer and also a thinker .However, I think what appeals to me most is him off the track. When Lewis Hamilton came onto the scene, a lot of Button ‘fans’ who had been with him jumped ship to the Hamilton camp because Lewis was winning and Jenson, ummm, well was. Once. Anyway, I’d met Jenson a couple of times by the time I bumped into Lewis, so I had a chat with him to see what the fuss was about. Lewis struck me as a PR driven robot whereas Jenson was the sort of bloke you’d have a pint with. And I like people who I can have pints with! The times Jenson and I have spoken to each other since have only reinforced what I think. And then there’s his dad……”

5) Your thoughts about social media with F1?
“It is now a critical tool in F1. It’s the closest fans have ever been able to get to drivers and teams. Now, hear me out on this one. Yes, I know if you stand in the pouring rain in an autograph session at a race track amongst thousands of other psychotic people who maintain that they, not you (oh good heavens not you) are in fact that specific driver’s biggest ever fan and that you own all the jumpers, hats, scarves, USB key rings, posters, books etc that you have every entitlement to punch anyone else square in the face in this rugby scrum of madness just to get a picture/squiggle on a piece of paper. But that’s mad.
Social media in F1 now enables fans to do all that crazy f1bieber-esque behaviour from the comfort of their own computers, or social media devices. In fact you could be sitting on a bus in Croydon and be metaphorically punching someone in Canberra in the face just to bombard Marussia with enough tweets to tell them that you on said bus, and not, as they may have thought, this infidel in Australia is their biggest fan. Also twitter is massively dangerous for fangirling. The ‘OMG Jenson Button tweeted me at 02.02am and 36 seconds on the 27th of November 2012’ thing really annoys me. I think the word ‘proud’ should be removed from twitter F1. You’re ‘proud’ of a team, ‘proud’ of a driver. Like they give a monkeys!
Blogs. Hmmmm blogs. They are very dangerous. Many people write blogs on Formula 1 and I like many of them. They write about their enjoyment of the sport, their opinion, their love for motor racing. Or maybe even their love for a certain racing driver’s dad. They’re brilliant, they bring out the fun and enjoyment of Formula 1. What is less brilliant is the now growing idea that if you write a blog, you’re therefore better, more informed, more of a fan, than the people sitting on the sofa with a beer (other drinks are available). That whatever you write will be broadcast on Sky Sports and everyone will love you forever. Some blogs even just re-hash what media outlets (BBC, Sky etc) put out and then pitch it to the world. I have no idea what it is meant to achieve. But this is the world we now live in; what we have to adapt to, or just hide under the table under the storm blows over.
But now I’ve destroyed social media. Let’s put it back together.
It’s a great way for teams and drivers to interact with people. It’s like you’re sitting next to them, that you’re there, in the action. It’s also a great way to get involved with people. Who knew that when I joined twitter, many moons ago now, that I would be interviewed for my views on F1 by a nice chap in Chile? Not me! It speeds up time; it brings people together quicker than life would have done in the past. And for the most part, that is quite a beautiful thing!”
5) Describe in one word, the 2012 F1 Season?
“Unpredictable”
6) What thing you want to change in F1?
“I don’t think anything at the moment. Maybe looking to evolve more F1 technology into everyday cars? Although I think mostly the monetisation (and no, not the addition of more french impressionism) the fact that if you want to hold a Formula 1 race now, you just have to have space and money. No history, no fan base, nothing, just money. And that concerns me for the future”.
7) Do you follow other types of racing and why?
“Everything. Well no. I’m not one of those people who says, ‘I’m watching the BTCC!’ Some people, probably bloggers, will say that doesn’t make me a true fan; so be it. I like Motor Sport going laterally. At one end I like Formula 1 and at the other I love a good track day, going to race go-karts and sitting on my PlayStation But then I like WRC, Colin McRae is an idol of mine. I also adore endurance racing and the Le Mans circus. Having been to several 24hr races, it is the most extreme, yet to me, the most beautiful form of Motor Sport In one race they do the distance of an entire F1 season. And truck racing. Now that’s just cool! Yes it has global warming people having apoplexy purely because of the sheer volume of fuel that’s burnt, but it’s brilliant. Go and see a truck race. Do it”.

8) Greatest F1 Driver of all time and why?
“Can’t comment really. Schumacher, cheat. Senna, cheat. Fangio, but I never really saw him. Maybe Jenson Button, because that’s who I like”.
9) Greatest F1 Car in F1 History?
“Not sure. Early 70s Lotus? Cigar Maserati? The 6 wheeled crazy thing? The car with the fan at the bottom to suck it the road? The 2009 Brawn GP car?”

Some stats about this Car:
Designer: Collin Chapman, Tony Rudd and Maurice Phillippe
Wins: 20 ( from 1970-1975)
Pole Positions: 17
Fastest laps: 10


Some stats about this peculiar Car:
Designer: Derek Gardner
Wins: 1 (Jody Schekter Sweden 1976)
Pole Postions: 1
Fastest laps: 3

Some stats about this master piece.
Designer: Jorg Zander and Loic Bigois
Wins: 8 (between Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello)
Pole Positions: 5 (between Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello)
Fastest laps: 4 (between Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello)
10) Who could be the successor of Bernie Ecclestone?

“My heart says someone in F1 who has been there: but not an arse. But my head says someone who just has lots of money because that, disappointingly, is how everything works in the world, and in F1 now and in the future. All money, not necessarily any talent. Just look how far Petrov and Maldonado have come….”
You can follow Dom on Twitter as @domcovkid