If I really want to upset Guy, I call him a ‘little French boy’. ‘I am not French, I’m English’, he pouts in that indignant way of his. ‘But you were born in Biot just down the road’, I tease. ‘It doesn’t matter – I’m English. I’ve got an English passport’, he reiterates without really thinking it through.
‘But you could play football for France’, I say. ‘Nope – I’m English and that’s that’. And off he stomps quite appalled at the thought of being French. In an effort to convince himself he is English he has the St George’s Cross draped in his bedroom. Sweet isn't it?
So what’s all this nationality stuff about? Well it’s all to do with a Formula 1 racing driver called Nico Rosberg and the recently bought-out Brawn motor racing team.
Brawn, who have just won the F1 Constructor’s championship along with their driver, Jenson Button, winning the F1 driver’s title, have been bought by Mercedes. Word is rife that being a German manufacturer, they want a truly German driver to front their team and amazingly Nico Rosberg’s name is apparently at the top of the list.
Any F1 enthusiasts out there will wonder at Nico being branded German when his, father, Keke Rosberg, a former F1 Champion, is most definitely Finnish.
Now I know Nico’s family, well extended family. His aunt, Yatta is Keke’s sister and it’s quite obvious that they are a Finnish family. I met Nico briefly a few years back when Yatta hosted their traditional pre-Christmas BBQ and most of the food was decidedly Finnish including a whole side of salmon being smoked on a sort of Scandinavian BBQ.
Of course, some fishy food at a BBQ hosted by Nico’s family doesn’t make him Finnish but you have to wonder at Mercedes’ PR stunt in wanting a ‘truly German’ driver heading their team, when everybody knows it was a bit of an accident that he was born in Germany. Like quite a few drivers, Keke, his father, lived in Monaco but ended up doing some work in Germany when Nico was born and had to get a passport for his new son. Under F1 rules, the passport determines the national flag under which a driver races. And this despite the fact that Nico holds joint nationality, but of course, you can’t keep a blue-eyed, blonde-haired 'German' down. Having been in France for over 10 years now, I could apply for a French passport – would that make me French – non Monsieur!
Nico seems like quite a nice guy when he’s interviewed on the TV but have a look at his website – egotistical or what? I’m sure this is one of the first things Mercedes will sort out.
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