Besides being among the world's top automobile producers, BMW, Honda and Toyota all have one other thing in common and that being they pulled out from the glitz of ‘Formula 1' in order to cut excess costs.

As you can see, even companies/corporations with great motoring heritages are turning away from this multi-billion dollar guzzling fanfare, touted as the pinnacle of motoring competition, not to mention the most exorbitant as well.

In a sport where a single set of tires (four pieces for a car that could only last an average of 200 kilometres before the next pit stop) costs US$3,500, why on earth is Malaysia plunging headlong into this high-budget sport during a global economic downturn?

Are we that hard-up for fame? Is this the kind of fame that we are looking for? Does Malaysia, as an entire nation, stand to gain from this adventure? Or will it be another saga similar to the ‘space tourist’?

This begs the question - are we a ‘developed’ or a ‘developing’ country? Is it wise to spend so much but stand to gain so little? If we are indeed as developed as we claim to be, how is it that we ended up behind Vietnam in the recent SEA Games medal tally?

Should we not focus on things and events closer to home and hone our sporting skills before going for the big kill? How about winning the Tiger Cup before taking on the F1 Championship?

We, Malaysians, have to ask ourselves this - would we rather have the administration render much-needed assistance to the rakyat through continuity of the commodity-subsidy programme (subsidi minyak, subsidi gula dan sebagainya) or do we badly want the fame that comes with being in the F1 circus?

Remember folks, being famous in the eyes of the F1 world does not mean that the sugar you buy off the shelf at the supermarket will be any cheaper.