Lost in translation

English has become the lingua franca of the world, something probably related to the spread of the British Empire, then with the American move to hegemony in a polarised postwar world. In racing there is no escaping English, as the sport’s official language, too.

Even the FIA, a French-heavy ruling body, bowed to this in writing the technical and sporting regulations for racing in English – those used for final arbitration – due to the number of British F1 teams, who brought all their lobbying efforts to bear to ensure this was the case.

Up until then I had