Raikkonen Rules Albert Park

Kimi has made the perfect start to his Ferrari career with a clean sweep- pole position, fastest lap and race win. But the star of the day was Lewis Hamilton as he raced to P3 on his Grand Prix debut. It looked for a while that he would pull of the impossible- defeating Alonso. But, then it was always felt that Alonso had reserves and was just waiting for him to peel off into the pits.
Poor old Kubica was made to pay for BMW's poor reliability. He was on his was to a well deserved fourth place when his gearbox failed bringing to an end his season opener. Team-mate Hienfeld though drove solidly for a fourth place and BMW must be pleased with their effort.
Trust Giancarlo Fisichella to have a solid undramatic race. He started sixth finished fifth (Kubica retired- so effectively never gained position on track). But he did show a good measure of resiliance to fend off Massa in the closing stages of the race. Had he surrendered the position good old Flavio Briatore, who described his protege Heikki Kovalinen's dubut as rubbish would have had some choice words to say.
Coulthard did provide some excitement- almost killing Alexander Wurz in the process. His move on Wurz was, to put it mildly, too optimistic. Reminded me of one Mr Yuji Ide who tried an optimistic pass on Albers at last years San Marino GP. But for the fight of the Mc Laren team-mates it was essentially a drab affair upfront. At no point was Kimi under pressure and even the most ardent of fans would have found the race boring. Something has to be done to make F1 more exciting upfront- and no- Night Races is not the answer. But anyway, the stage is set for a two way battle all the way upto Interlagos.

Ohhh I almost forgot- Kimi said that his radio stopped working before the start of the race and he had to rely on pitboards. We did hear Chris Dyer congratulating him over the radio and Kimi mumbling something back, didn't we?

Australian GP : Kimi on Pole

The Tifosi rejoice, for it is Kimi on pole for the Australian GP. But it is not all rosy, Massa, who many predicted would outperform Kimi Raikkonen, suffered from mechanical problems and was unable to post a time in Q2 relegating him to 16th on the grid.

The World Champion Fernando Alonso will line up alongside Kimi on the front row and it would be interesting to see who leads into the first corner. Lewis Hamilton's fairy tale continues- it looked for a while that he might actually beat Alonso. His is the most spectacular F1 debut since Jacques Villeneuve burst into the scene 1996. These are still early days, but Hamilton does look like a potential race winner and a worthy team-mate for the world champion.It would be a feast to watch the battle of the team-mates develop over the season.

BMW must be pleased with their form in qualifying, with Nick Hienfeld splitting the two McLarens for third spot on the grid and the young Pole Robert Kubica finishing fifth. What BMW has achieved in the course of a season is phenomenal. They are well and truly the third fastest team on the grid right now.

Sir Frank Williams surely and quite understandably must be livid watching the Super Aguri of Takuma Sato finish tenth while neither of his drivers made it into the final qualifying. Oddly both the Super Aguris outqualified their parent Honda team. Honda bosses surely won't be ammused. Don't expect the customer car row to die down soon.

All in all the Australian GP promises to be a cracker of a season opener with the best two drivers lined up on the front row. But unfortunately, despite all the pre season hype-it looks as though 2007 again will be a two horse race.

PS : Spyker F1 has lodged an official protest against Super Aguri

Formula 1 2007 : Crystal Ball Gazing

With just two weeks before the start of the 2007 F1 season I have decided to stick my neck out.Winter testig has made it rather obvious that Jenson Button will not be fighting for the drivers title and Toyota as always will be saying that this year they plan to consolidate their operations, next year they will be scoring points and the year next they plan to win races.
Based on the winter testing I make the following predictions :

Drivers Championship : Kimi Raikkonen
Massa may be consistantly outperforming Kimi when it comes to winter testing, but I believe when it comes to actual racing it is going to be an all together different story. Kimi has better race craft than Massa and would prevail during the races. Maybe Kimi was never interested in grabbing P1 during testing, choosing instead to understand the car and tyres better.

McLaren finally seem to got it right-they have the pace, the reliability and indeed the driver to do it for them. But at the moment it appears that Ferrari are ahead of them. Kimi would be looking to build an early lead on Alonso whilst they have this pace advantage because by mid season or maybe earlier McLaren would have closed the gap.

Constructors Championship : Ferrari
No doubt in my mind about this one. The constructors championships are often decided by the quality of the second driver and thats wher Ferrari are ahead of the competition. Lewis Hamilton and Heikki are rookies and are surely gonna make mistakes and cost their teams valuable points. Massa on the other hand has improved vastly over the course of 2006 and he would be scoring podiums consistantly. Ferrari have one hand on the constructors title.

Surprise of the Year : Kubica winning his first race. BMW have proved in testing that they have a real pacy car and if they are able to sort out their reliability issues, it wont be long before we wake up to the headline "Pole on pole".

Flavio Briatore maybe suggesting that Fernando's departure hasn't undermined the Renault's chances but they now left with a proven SLOW driver and an untested talent. I just hope that they don't fade in to oblivion as was the case following Schumacher's departure from Benetton.

Let's all wait and see how things span out, and, hope for a cracking season.

Comments, praises and rants are welcome.

Michael Magic: Schumacher's Best Drives

So after 16 years and 7 world titles,the greatest F1 racer finally parked his car one final time.Michael Schumacher's last act as an F1 driver was a fitting testimonial to a career that was built on sheer dedication and ruthlesness.
Here are a few of his amazing performances :

1992 Belgium :A wet race,it was Schumacher's first win.After being overtaken by his team-mate Martin Brundle he noticed that the Briton's tyres were worn out.Assesing that he would have the same condition soon,he immediately pitted.A perfectly timed tyre change saw him finish ahead of the Williams.A Tactical Masterpiece.

1994 Spain :This has to be right up there with the best drives in the history of the sport.Schumacher managed a second place despite having just the 5th gear available for over 40 laps of the race.This period also included 2 pit stops.

1995 Belgium :Starting from the 16 place on the grid he stormed into the race lead by lap 15.But soon he had Damon Hill chasing him on wets as rain began to fall.Michael on dry tyres displyed great defensive tactics to cling on to the lead.hill managed to finally pass him,but Michael still took the win.

1995 Europe :In yet another wet race Michael Schumacher came from his final pit-stop 24 seconds behind Jean Alesi's ferrai with 16 laps to go.Schumacher pushed to the limit and passed Alesi on the penultimate lap to take the win.

1996 Spain :In a car that was off the pace of the leaders Schumacher won his first race for Ferrari in torrential rain.After dropping 6 places at the start,Michael stormed into the race lead on lap 12 going past Jaques Villeneuve.Three laps later his lead was 15 seconds and finally won the race by about 45 seconds.His fastest lap was 2.2 seconds quicker than anyone else.

1998 Hungary :A race were Ross Brawn famously told Michael to build up a 25 second lead in 19 laps before his final pit stop.Schumacher obliged,making a 3 stop strategy work and taking a famous victory.Ron Dennis later said "If you make just the slightest mistake, he'll get you. Mercilessly."

2003 Austria :Leading the race on lap 23 he pitted.During refuelling his Ferrari was engulfed in flames.Schumacher sat calmly in his car as the mechanics put out the flames,but he had lost 20 seconds and the race lead.Schumacher still roared back to famous victory at a circuit which had seen him take an embarassing victory in 2002.

2004 France :Running behind Fernando Alonso,Ferrari decide to switch to an audacious 4 stop strategy to leapfrog Alonso.Michael came in as early as lap 11 and resumed the race down at the 8th place.Thanks to 2 blistering laps he took the race lead on lap 32 after the Spaniard had made his second stop.He ups his pace and retains the lead after his third stop on lap 4.But he still had to stop once more for fuel and with Alonso just 3 seconds behind it was time for yet another display of Michael Magic.In just about 12 laps he builds a 22 second lead,just about enough for yet another splash and dash pit-stop.Michael thus became the frst and only driver to win after making 4 stops.

2006 China :With the World Tile up for grabs China was the site of yet another wet race.It was soon clear that Bridgestone wets were not a match to their Michelin counterparts.It took a herioic performance from Michael to qualify sixth on the grid.His was the only Bridgestone shod car in the top 12,with team-mate Massa qualifying 13th.During the race Michael drove conservatively for most part as Alonso build up a 25 second advantage,but a bad tyre choice by the Spaniard saw Michael and Fisichella catch up with him soon.After passing Alonso for second and building a confortable 20 second advantage over him,Michael produced fast in and out laps to cut down Fisichella's lead before passing him into turn 1 to take his 91st and last win.

About me: " I am a simple kind of person,fun loving...blah blah blah".....Ohhh Orkut hallowed be thy name.

Since I have decided to eulogize Michael Schumacher after the chequered flag falls at the Brazilian Grand Priz.And since I have been using way less than my fair share of blogosphere bytes I decided to force myself into writing this.
Anyone of us who spends a few hours a week on Orkut (In my case a few days a week) is bound to have come across one of these cliched responses.Here's my little compilation,based on the 25319 profiles I viewed over the past year and a half (most of them of people I don't know,and unlikely to ever know).

About Me
I am a very simple kind of person/girl/boy/gal/guy.
I am emotional and sentimental.
I am very friendly.
I am a fun loving person/girl/boy/gal/guy.
I love my friends/Friends mean the world to me/I love spending time with my friends.
I like to live life to the fullest.
It feels strange to write about myself,so why not ask me and I'll tell you.
I like to read (showing off intellectual depth, I am sure).
....and many more.

Five Things I can't live without
Apparently most orkutters can't live without food,water,air(some prefer to write carbohydrates,protiens,H2O,O2 etc).Love,parents and a cell phone are enough for the rest of them.

Well,that's all I can think of on this lazy Saturday morning,comments and praises welcome.

PS: Assertiveness turns on most women.So the next time you are on a date,say "we are having the cheese pizza with biscuit toppings", you just might get lucky.

Back After a Long Vacation

It's been three months since I last posted and a lot has happened in the meantime. I screwed up my examinations, Argentina broke my heart in Germany, I wasted six weeks of my summer as an intern, Bombay was hit by terrorists yet again, Formula1 World Championship suddenly looks alive and an American stooge is levelling village after village as a pusillanimous world watches on in silence.
Though there is awfull lot to talk on, I think I'll rather stick to the more pleasant realm of sports, atleast for now.

Renault and Alonso : Starting from where they left

Fernando Alonso and Renault have begun their title defece in style. Helped by a demon strategy Alonso won the Bahrain GP outwitting Ferrari's Michael Schumacher. It was indeed a champoin performance from Renault. Michael looking for his first "real victory" since the 2004 season had to settle for second.
Starting from pole Michael settled into an early lead but it was his team-mate Massa who had a teriible start to his race. He lost his second position to Alonso on the second corner. Jenson Button in his Honda had a bad start too dropping down to 6th place.
Like most races these days this race too was decided in the pits. Renault clearly had the better overall package and that gave them the room to go for a win from the pits. Alonso was able to lap faster than michael on a regular basis, who himself was driving his Ferrari on the limit. Michael managed to keep his lead after the first round of pit stops but Alonso was eating into his lead. After Schumi stopped for a second time Alonso was able to use the clear track to produce what his race engineer described as "the winning laps". The highlight of the race was Michael breaking really really late in an attempt to emerge ahead of Alonso who was coming out of the pits. Alonso on his part was in a better position and was able to squeeze out Michael and took the race lead. From then on it was easy, some tyre conservation, some solid cool headed driving to P1.
Spare a thought for Kimi Raikonnen. It took a brave and radical strategy from the Mc Laren to enable him fifsh third. We have often seen teams trying a one stop strategy but more often than not it fails. But some agressive and solid driving saw Kimi pull off a...well "Michael".
One man who will be disappointed is Jenson Button. He had a great chance to challenge for a win but thanks to a scratchy start ended up 4th. None the less he has staked his claim to the title. It will be an exciting season ahead and lets hope Alonso will find his title defence hard.