shinji wrote:This is a Great Day.
giraurd wrote:this is THE DAY of celebration for F1 Rejects!!
I want to congratulate the Rejects on a hard-fought qualifying performance in Spa-Francorchamps today.
A few weeks ago, no one imagined that they'd have accomplished what they did here today.
For most of this season, they were far behind, and they always knew their climb would be steep.
But in record speeds, they came out and spoke up for change. And with their chassis and their engines, they made it clear that at this moment, in this GP weekend, there is something happening in Belgium.
There is something happening when Reject drivers in Marussia and Caterham come out in Q1 to wait in the lines that stretch the Spa paddock, because they believe in what this weekend can be.
There is something happening when Rejects who are young in age and in spirit, who have never before participated in Q2 (except for GvdG) or the front running positions - turn out in numbers we've never seen, because they know in their hearts that this time must be different.
There is something happening when Reject drivers race, not just for making up the numbers, but they actually belong to the hopes they hold in common - that whether they are rich or poor, black or white, Latino or Asian, whether they hail from The Netherlands or France, U.K. or whereever, they are ready to take their teams in a fundamentally new direction. That is what's happening in F1 right now. Change is what's happening in F1.
They can be the new majority who can lead this series out of a long underdog darkness - Reject drivers, engineers and designers who are tired of the division and distraction that has clouded the grid, who know that they can disagree without being disagreeable, who understand that if they mobilize their voices to challenge the money and influence that's stood in their way, and challenge themselves to reach for something better, there's no problem they can't solve - no destiny they cannot fulfill.
Our new Reject majority lining up in the middle of the starting grid for tomorrow, can end the outrage of unaffordable, unavailable road cars in our time. They can bring WDC's and WCC's; workers and businesses, FOCA and the FIA together; and they can tell Bernie Ecclestone that while he'll get a seat at the table, he won't get to buy every chair. Not this time. Not now.
The new Reject majority can end the tax breaks for corporations that ship F1 jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of the working F1 Teams staff who deserve it.
They can stop sending our children to schools with corridors of shame and start putting them on a pathway to success by debuting earlier in gokarts and single-seaters. They can stop talking about how great gokarting teachers are and start rewarding them for their greatness. They can do this with the new Reject majority.
They can harness the ingenuity of designers and engineers; other staff and entrepreneurs to free this series from the tyranny of Ecclestone and save their F1 series from a point of no return.
They will restore their moral standing in the paddock; and they will never use Lie-Gate or Crash-Gate or any other Gates as a way to scare up fans, because it is not a tactic to win a championship, it is a challenge that should unite Formula 1 and the motorsporting world against the common threats of the twenty-first century: terrorism, nuclear weapons, climate change and poverty, genocide and disease. And Bernie Ecclestone.
All of the Rejects in this race tomorrow share these goals. All have good ideas. And all are patriots who serve their teams and the F1 series honorably.
But the reason their campaign has always been different is because it's not just about what they can do as Rejects, it's also about what you, the people who love them, can do to help them and give them support. 'Round the clock support.
That's why tonight, this Saturday belongs to them. It belongs to the organizers and the volunteers and the staff at Marussia and Caterham who believed in their improbable journey and rallied so many others to join.
They know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in their way, nothing can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.
They have been told they cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come before the season is over. They've been asked to pause for a reality check. They've been warned against offering the people of this forum false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is F1 Rejects, there has never been anything false about hope. For when the Rejects have faced down impossible odds, when they've been told that they're not ready, or that they shouldn't try, or that they can't, tens and tens of F1 Rejects forumites have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit:
Yes they can.
It was a creed carved into the asphalt at the infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway post-2000 race by Gaston Mazzacane:
'Yes we can.'
It was whispered by Lavaggi and Deletraz as they blazed a trail toward WC points for future Rejects, through the darkests of F1 seasons:
'Yes we can.'
It was sung by Americans on the 20th of june 2004 in the stands at Indianapolis as they celebrated the point scored by Zso....HWNSNBM.
'Yes they can.'
It was the call of workers at Arrows in 2002, nearing the folding of the team:
'Yes we can.'
'Yes they can', to leaving the back of the grid and scoring points. Yes they can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes they can heal the F1 series.
Yes they can repair the corrupt paddock. Yes they can.
And so tomorrow, as they take to the circuit at Spa-Francorchamps.
As we learn that the struggles of Max Chilton in his MR02, is not so different than the plight of Yuji Ide in his SA05,
that the hopes of Tarso Marques in his PS01 are the same as the dreams of Ricardo Rosset in his 026.
We here in the forum must remember that there is something happening in F1 at the moment, that the Rejects are not as divided as the grid normally would suggest. That we are one people, we are one forum. Just like the Rejects on the grid tomorrow.
And together, we will begin the next great chapter in Formula 1's story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea, from race track to race track and paddock to paddock:
Yes. We. Can.
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