F1 Arcade, Birmingham

“It’s only F1 Arcade” says Mike as I tell him that I’ve had enough of the flatbread whilst removing another nugget of sinew from my mouth. And to a certain extent he is right; the arcades mantra of ‘Race Drink Eat Repeat’ puts the eating towards the bottom of the pile with only the food repeating on you afterwards any lower. In truth, the people come here because they love F1. They have managed to turn watching other people drive very fast cars into a form of tribal warfare usually reserved for medieval religion. They don’t merely support a driver; they identify with him. A man from Shirley who has never driven anything more dangerous than a Ford Focus will spend Sunday afternoon explaining the strategic incompetence of Ferrari, the aerodynamic deficiencies of Red Bull and the moral shortcomings of the FIA as though he were Toto Wolff’s deputy. Food to these people is fuel, and they refuel between two and four times a day depending on race conditions. F1 Arcade understands the…