A trained astrophysicist in Oxford with a bicycle or the man who's in pole position to be the first Arab F1 driver. Nitin Nair meets Basil Shaaban.
The salmon fillet is being a bit of a tease for Basil Shaaban. It's already been a long afternoon at the very Parisian Bistro Madeleine at the Hotel InterContinental, and every time Shaaban brings a forkful to his mouth, he's asked to do it all over again by a photographer obsessed with getting that right shot. Jet-lagged and hungry, Shaaban smiles knowingly – it's an all too familiar feeling for a man who knows he's got it, but can't have it yet.
Those who have followed Formula One over the years have seen how the sport has slowly gravitated towards Asia, and the Middle East in particular. Bahrain's Mumtalakat Holding Company owns a 30 per cent stake in McLaren. Abu Dhabi has taken an active interest in the sport, the government-owned Mubadala Development Company and Etihad Airways sponsor Ferrari, the former even owns a five per cent stake in the team, and the UAE capital is now priming up to host its first Grand Prix race on November 15, 2009. Now if all had gone to plan, Shabaan could have been that home-grown Arab driver on the Abu Dhabi starting grid. But as the fiercely ambitious Lebanese-born driver is finding out, a place in an F1 starting grid is easier said than done.
All revved up
In 2006, the Beirut-born Shaaban, who spent his childhood years in Abu Dhabi, launched the audacious Shaaban2F1 programme – a corporate-backed bid that he hopes will propel him to the pinnacle of motorsport in 2009 after going through the feeder championships like Formula 3 (F3) and GP2 series. Two years on, the astrophysics graduate from Berkeley, California, is now competing in his second season of the demanding F3 Euro series for Austrian team HBR Motorsport. And from the looks of it, Shaaban wants to spend another season here before he moves forward.
"F3 is like a surgeon's knife. When we test and develop a car, every fraction of a second saved counts in the end," says the articulate 28-year-old. "F3 is helping me develop as a race driver. If you look back, the greatest drivers in the history of motorsport – Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher – have all been very sensitive drivers. They were able to feel subtle differences in the car's behaviour. This is a great quality that exists in drivers who help develop an F1 car. And this is a quality that I would like to take with me when I do get my chance with an F1 team."
This is where the doubters step in. Those in the know have raised doubts about Shaaban's F1 ambition citing age as a prime concern. Shaaban is 28 and at current pace, it could take him another two years to get to an F1 seat – too late by some standards, but not for Shaaban. "I think I would rather be better prepared at any age when I step up to racing F1, than be under prepared but be at the 'right age'," says Shaaban. "Remember Schumacher raced and fought for the driver's title when he was 37. No one thought he was too old for F1 when he was behind the wheel. So even if we assume now that I'll be 30 when I get into F1, I still have at least seven years left to prove myself there."
Late bloomer
It's not easy being Basil Shaaban. A late bloomer in the world of motorsport (he was 19 when he decided to pursue a career in circuit racing), Shaaban today competes with drivers who first started racing competitively in their early teens or even earlier. After winning karting races on budgets that were half of those of some of the drivers he was beating, he first made the news in 2004 when he became the first Arab driver to win a circuit race in the UK – he won at Oulton Park in the Formula Ford UK championship. "I was sure that I could come back to the UAE and sponsors would be lining up to sponsor me. I realised only later that circuit racing, unlike rallying, was relatively unknown here," laughs Shaaban. Around the same time, his father's road construction business (and his main sponsor) in Abu Dhabi went belly up. "I thought it was all over and even contemplated giving it all up and helping my father out with his business. But my parents have also been supportive – they have always encouraged my brothers and me to follow our dreams."
His career was given a lifeline when Lebanon decided to field a team in the A1GP series in 2004. Shaaban was an obvious choice. It was whilst racing in the A1GP series that Shaaban fleshed out his ambition to become the first Arab driver in F1 with the Shaaban2F1 programme. "An Arab driver will go a long way in changing a lot of perceptions about the region. The Middle East is growing at a tremendous pace, we already have quite an F1 fan following here since Bahrain 2004. It's about time the region produced a driver."
Marketable driver
Articulate and urbane and sufficiently good looking, it is easy to see why Shaaban can be marketable. He is already a UN World Youth Ambassador for road safety and Shell, his premium sponsor in Shaaban2F1, also partners him in road safety awareness campaigns in the region.
"Not only did Basil come to us as one of the leading Arab formula drivers, but his impressive educational background, his dedication to promoting road safety and his persona made him a very good fit," says Ahmad Mokhtar, communications manager (external relations and media) for Shell. It is no surprise then that Shell is now upping its sponsorship stake in Shaaban2F1 and will now come on board as title sponsor up to the end of 2009.
Shaaban knows it's an uphill task. His results in F3Euro have been less than spectacular this far. "I have had some strange luck this season. I know I'm ready to perform but don't have the results yet to show for it. There have been either mechanical gremlins or just sheer bad luck that's been stopping me from achieving the results I want," he explains.
But what is encouraging is that his sponsors are right behind him. Says Mokhtar: "Basil's performances have been promising in light of his relative inexperience to his European competitors. Though from a distance it might appear 'less than spectacular', motorsport is a very complex arena and one must always be comprehensive in the analysis of results. We have been tracking his development closely over the past 15 months. Success at the level Basil is competing at takes a lot of time and work to attain."
Keeping the faith
Shaaban agrees that he's quizzed a lot about his results, especially by people who have little idea about the development process of a circuit driver. "The results are frustrating but it is a reality. But I can't let it tire me, so I explain the situation to them - I owe it to my sponsors and the public. I'm just waiting for my luck to change."
Shaaban now lives in Oxford since it provides easier access to the circuits in Europe. He has no manager, so apart from his racing schedules, he needs to isolate and pitch his case to prospective sponsors, all by himself. So on the rare occasions when he's not racing, Shaaban can spotted savoring the even rarer sunny days riding his Le Mond carbon-fibre/aluminium 20-speed racing bicycle through the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside. "I customised the bike to my specifications, even getting the best endurance racing tyre I could find since as a race driver I know the importance of tires for stability and speed. I love the long training rides I go for on my bike," says Shaaban. "I don't have a car simply because I would rather invest all the money I have into Shaaban2F1. And besides, I'm hardly ever home."
Ideally, Shaaban would like to go through a season of GP2 before appearing as a contender for an F1 drive, but he doesn't mind leapfrogging GP2, like current Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Vettel. But he is also aware of competition from within the region in the race for an F1 seat. Bahrain's talented 21-year-old Hamad al Fardan has already impressed on the British F3 circuit and is being backed by the Kingdom of Bahrain in his pursuit of an F1 seat. "It is good to know that there is competition and someone like Hamad ticks all the boxes, but competition can only be good for me, it will keep me on the edge," says Shaaban.
Does he have a back-up plan? A security net which will break his fall, if such a thing ever happened? "I walked away from the security of a family business when I started off. Now, there is no family business to fall back on," he laughs. "Of course, I can offer my expertise to racing teams that need someone in developing a car, but yes – I haven't really thought about a Plan B."
In the end, this is about a man who's not willing to give up on his dream. Shaaban has been accused, tried and convicted of being a dreamer, but what sets him apart is the fact that while most men would be consumed by self-doubt or the obstacles that lie in the way, Shaaban has marched on.
"I sometimes laugh when I look at what I set out to achieve. But I'm fortunate and extremely lucky to get this far, so I am not going to waste it," he says. "There are moments of weakness, but what gives me strength is the fact that only those who never give up will finally make it."
