My lunatic plan for the Mercedes Second Seat

Or musical Formula 1 chairs

While I am completely in favour of whoever Mercedes pick, as long as it's Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hulkenberg or Pascal Wehrlein, this is my plan on what to do with the second Mercedes seat.

I came up with this when I realised that there were 20 races per season and 20 other non-Hamilton drivers.

You might have guessed where this is going.

The other drivers draw a number from a hat, from 1 to 20. Each race is numbered 1 to 20. The driver with that number gets the second Mercedes seat for that race.

While I am aware of all kind of problems with that, not least of all practise time and getting race seats fitted, think of all the fun arguments it would settle. For instance, Hamilton vs Vettel in the same car. Think also of the fun arguments it would start. For instance "no fair, driver X only had the seat at race Y which gave him no chance," or "just typical, Z was in the Mercedes the time it failed." It would mean we could actually compare say Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen, or argue that the two races they were in were too different to compare.

So, what's in it for the other teams?

Well, as well as driver two's points counting for Mercedes, they count for their home team too. Which means that the fight between the teams at the back might get a bit closer, and a bit more interesting (sorry to the Manor fans I know).

The smaller teams might be able to wring more money out of their pay drivers which should help their development for 2018.

What's in it for Mercedes?

Very little, other than my eternal gratitude. But they'd also be able to show how good their car was if they won the constructor's title despite this nonsense.

I know it's never going to happen, but wouldn't it be fun.

Book Reviews

While my Mum did get a Horrible Histories boxset for Christmas, these are ones I already owned. It turns out that when I'm coughing and spluttering due to a Christmas cold, Horrible Histories are my comfort reads.

Horrible Histories: Angry Aztecs

Which could (and probably should) be called Angry Aztecs and Malicious Maya since it covers both cultures. A good primer and definitely worth reading.

( Librarything Suggestions )

I have read, if not the exact recommendations, then certainly other works in the same series.

Horrible Histories: The Cut-Throat Celts

This is actually my least favourite of the Horrible History books (you'll notice that it's still 3 stars despite that, there are no bad Horrible History books). I think that's because some of the stories are repeated, more than once, within the book. I'm not sure if that's because the Celts left so little record of themselves. It does have some fantastic illustrations though.

( Librarything Suggestions )

Read two, and read others in the same series for several of the others.