It's OUR success story, too. Call it vision, perseverance, faith or all of that. After two decades of chasing podiums in F1 circuits around the world. Malaysia's oil corporation Petronas this week attained the ultimate glory of claiming the constructors title - with Mercedes - for the F1 crown. "This is truly a historical milestone for Petronas," says its CEO Shamsul Azhar Abbash e r e.
Indeed. For as long as I remember, Petronas has been whipped left, right and centre for its investment in F1, the world's greatest auto racing circuit. Even this blog had suggested back in 2009 that maybe Petronas should have just pulled out like Honda had just done [Petronas should do a Honda, 7/12/2008]. OK, so I wasn't a big F1 fan but even big names like BMW, which was Petroans's partner at one time, turned their backs on the circuit, citing rising costs. Tony Fernandes tried to weave his magic wand in F1 via Lotus only to burn fingers and hands (not neceessarily his own). Proton, the national car, got tangled up in the same misadventure (plus a lawsuit or two with Fernandes, too!).
Shamsul and the Petronas motorsports division should crow about this achievement and share with fellow Malaysians why this is a historical milestone and a smart partnership for the national oil corporation. Hit back at the crtiics. Inspire the rest of us. For this is not just a Petronas success story, it is ours as well.
p.s. Of course, we couldn't have done it without Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the Petronas advisor. In 1999, when he was Prime Minister, Dr M brought the Formula One to Sepang (and Sepang to the world stage), a move his opponetns deemded as wasteful. Many years later, the sucess of Sepang inspired even our neighbours down south to bid for and stage the first night race ...