Tag Archive for 'f1'

Off The Field Drama

Published on June 14, 2009 in Sports. 0 Comments

Contrary to the expectation, sports these days seems to be more interesting off the field. The on field action has become quite predictable and boring. Off-the-field however, stories evolve as ego clash.

F1 has literally shifted from on-track racing to board room meetings and negotiations. Ferrari is already out of the championship. So they seem to have devoted all their time to countering Max Mosely. Being the head of FOTA, they are pretty much in the drivers seat making all the crucial decisions. Thus we see Ferraris’ decision being backed by FOTA. And when Williams decided to leave the ranks and sign up for next years championship, they were suspended from FOTA.

Ferrari and FIA are aiming blows after blows at each other, refusing to buckle down below the other’s ego. And Bernie finds himself amidst this confusion, knowing pretty well that despite what Mosely says Ferrari’s role in F1 cannot be undermined. If Ferrari decides to pull out, Bernie could lose a lot, unless he manages to recover the loss by filing law suitz against Ferrari.

McLaren have decided to keep mum. Their position is understandable. Just recently they were pardoned for their lie to the stewards and are compelled to remain quite. However, even their participation next year is subject to conditions.

Its so sad for Brawn and Red Bull that all the drama had to unfold this year. Being the two leading teams, any other year they would have been the main target for the journalists and would have made it to the top of the magazine covers every issue. This year though, their achievement has been overshadowed by all the altercations and threats to sue.

But F1 is not the only sport attracting interest. Elsewhere in the world of soccer, Real Madrid has gone back to its big budget spending ways, tempting Kaka and Ronaldo to joing and resurrect a dying team. Playing second fiddle to Barcelona the whole of last year, Real have splashed lots of money to ensure that big names play for it once again. Kaka and Ronaldo should definitely strengthen the mid field. They are also looking to land in David Villa, but the deal has not been confirmed yet.

Chelsea should be the most worried at this time. With Deco declaring his interst to move away from Stamford Bridge and Caravalho also wanting to rejoin with Murinho, theirs is a depleted side. Their bid for Villa was rejected and Chelsea obviously will not be able to meet Manchester United in the pursuit of Frank Ribery. Pato wants to talk to his former manager before confirming his contract at AC Milan, but Milan spokesperson has ensured that Pato stays at Milan. Ageing squad of Chelsea needs more than one fresh pair of legs to challenge ManU or Liverpool.

Sir Alex also has a daunting task on his hands. He now needs to find a winger as good as Ronaldo, which is almost next to impossible. The void left by Ronaldo shall not be easy to fill. Despite what the ManU fans feel, Ronaldo was instrumental in setting up many victories single handedly.

Cricket has become more boring than ever. I shall not even waste another line to talk about it.

The next few weeks shall be quite interesting. F1 sees teams and administration go into a war. And the transfer market couldn’t have been more interesting than it already has become. La Liga shall not be a one sided affair the coming season. I hope more big names transfer this year. And for god’s sake, somebody come to Chelsea.

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Three Race ban For McLaren

Published on April 30, 2009 in Sports. 0 Comments

But guess what ! The ban comes with a string attached. The ban is hereby “SUSPENDED” unless any mor fresh evidence against McLaren is revealed or if McLaren makes a smilar fiasco in the next 12 months. Is this a joke ! FIA should have made this announcement on the 1st of April instead, at least there would have been a few takers.

After all the speculations and debates as to what would be a just penalty for a team that thought lying is a better way to achieve glory, this was a shameful anti-clmax. A general sentiment echoed by most of the fans was of a constructor points deduction or of a single match ban. The earlier option was a better one as it sought to punish the team McLaren for instructing Hamilton to lie and yet allow Hamilton to maintain his stake for the world championship.

But as declared, McLaren are free to race with no punishment what so ever. However, if any fresh evidence becomes public showing McLaren scheming to grab the third place by lying, then they will be handed the three race ban. Ridiculous ! How many more reasons does one need to conclude that the pair were lying in the face of the stewards. And what other motive can there be except to gain an advantage. A second criteria for the suspended ban to become active is if McLaren indulges in any wrong doing in the next 12 months. This looks like a mother telling her child not to be mischievious, unless he wants to fofeit his chocolate for a day.

The FIA took a stance that mcLaren had brought the sport into disrepute by lying. Its intentions were always to punish McLaren. A mild pnishment for the constructors would have done. but showing complete leniency in this regard invites other teams to use unfair means too.

What the FIA chose to do was play politics. Yes, nothing but politics. The intended target was always Ron Dennis. He eventually succumbed to the overall pressure and had to throw in his towel. Mosely should now be feeling quite relaxed with Ron out of the way.

I personally did not want the McLaren team to he handed a heavy penalty. Afterall, the diffuser row was enough to distract the atention from the main agenda of the sport, and these court ruling should be kept to bare minimum. But why make all the fuss and then shy away. FIA has got no balls. Ferrari has always ruled the sport. FIA has been afraid of Ferrari breaking away. Now McLaren joins the rank. Welcome to a New World Order wherein the organisation chosen to govern the teams is being governed by the teams themselves.

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Liargate Issue Blown Out Of Proportion

Published on April 23, 2009 in Sports. 0 Comments

No, I am no fan/supporter of McLaren F1 team and neither do I like or have any sympathetic feelings towards anyone working for the Woking based team. Yet the latest events – the Liargate issue – makes me sit up and feel sorry for McLaren.

A season already in torubled waters, thanks to the double-diffuser row, does not need another fiasco. Although three races have been raced already, the most engaging actions have taken place out of the race track. The latest of which is the hearing coming up later next week to decide a punishment for McLaren. And the rumours don’t help either.

Talks about McLaren being banned for the championship or being fined heavily is doing rounds. But taking such stern actions, is it really the need of the hour. A season which was hit by withdrawl of Honda, does not need to see the grid size reduced to 18 cars. Also, taking note of the recession, a heavy fine would cribble McLaren for the season and might perhaps leave them short of sponsorers.

Rules are not meant to be observed in words, but are just general guidelines – is what I believe in. FIA needs someone to stuff some sense into themselves to make such a big issue out of a lie. What should have ended with McLaren being banned from the Australian GP has now moved to courts and requires hearing to settle the matter. All this negative publicity has already a few fans away from the sport.

It’s high time for both Berlie and Mosely to leave their office and take a not-so-well-earned break. That’ll perhaps be the best thing they could do for the sport. It’s time for the focus to shift back to the racing grid where the bulk of action takes place.

Man proposes, God disposes – seems to be so true in this context. With the McLaren issue not out of way, Flavio has stirred up another unrest in FOTA regarding the payment of travel compensation to BrawnGP, More on that later.

Ohh, how I wish things get back to normal.

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The Diffuser Dispute Ends

Published on April 17, 2009 in Sports. 0 Comments

The Diffuser-Three have it their way ! The verdict of the court is out – and they have decided to uphold the steward’s decision. The diffuser used by the BrawnGP, Toyota and Williams have been declared legal. Its now up to the remaining seven teams to spend millions on a new design to catch up these three, else drop any chances of poduim finish.

After months of speculaitons and arguements, the matter was presented to the court on the 14th of April. 8 hours of deliberations followed. The court announed its conclusion the next day ruling in favour of the Diffuser-Three.

The news must have been a relief to Ross Brawn. It is learnt that he had brought to notice of the officials last summer a few rules which, unless clarified, could be used by a few teams to gain advantage. The officials thought otherwise, the outcome of which is the devision in the field 3-to-7.

As the designer of Red Bull said, it is extremely important to spend money designing the new diffuser without which there are no chances of survival.

And adding a new diffuser isn’t simple either. A lot of aero chances have to be made to incorporate the new design. It will need to be tested too. Needless to say, the teams will have to spare a lot of resources to get the new design. Realistically speaking, the teams might not be able to come up with the new design fitted into their cars before the Monaco GP.

McLaren though have got a head start. They are already racing the Chinese GP with an intermediate-diffuser design. And it seems to be working. Atleast Hamilton managed to stay at P1 for the first free practise. Though the afternoon wasn’t good enough, he could manage only 12 in the second free practise.

We have already seen how quick the BrawnGP is. It is foolish to race against these cars with the present diffuser. All the teams will have to switch to the new diffuser as soon as possible. Until then, Button will continue dominnating the field. We might be able to watch proper races only when the grid moves to Europe. Until then, all the Ferrari fans – hang on.

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Trulli Reinstated – Hamilton Thrown Out

Published on April 2, 2009 in Sports. 0 Comments

These days the focus seems to have shifted from racing to actually winning law suits and appeals in Formula 1. The outcome of the race is many a times decided by a ruling of the stewards or judges. And this is happening more and more often recently. What used to be one-off differences which needed to be settled off the race track, has now become a regular feature. You can hardly be surprised if you wake up the next day to find out that the guy who was happily spraying champagne from the podium on sunday has been demoted to the 12th position, and everybody else has moved up one place.

As if the start hadn’t been turbulent enough, what with the approaching 14th April date to debate the validity of the design of diffuser by the three teams, we had another row in the opening race of the season. Yeah, Melbourne GP was not spared by anyone. First the official complaint by Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault over the legality of the diffuser design, and then that of Hamilton-Trulli incident.

The incidence was this. With just three laps to the completion of the race, Safety Car had to be deployed courtsey the collision of Kubica’s and Vettel’s cars. Apparently, Trulli spun and Hamilton passed him while the safety car was present on the track. But according to the rules book, this action was certainly legal. However, what transpired next is that Trulli overtook Hamilton and reclaimed his position. Thus at the end of the day, Trulli finished third, ahead of Hamilton in the fourth place.

The stewards immediately summoned the duo to clear the matter. A decision was taken to impose a penalty of 25 secs on Trulli for overtaking another car while the safety car was there. Hamilton got promoted to the third place. There were talks of Toyota appealing against the penalty. Trulli explained that he overtook the McLaren only because he believed the latter to be slowing down, which could mean a retirement from the race. In such circumstances, Trulli’s move would be valid.

However, that was soon ruled out. Recently, the FIA has been very stern when it comes to appealing for a 25 secs penalty, which is equivalent to a drive through penalty. A drive through penalty can be issued only when the race is going on. If the race is completed, a 25 secs penalty is imposed to determine the standings. Now since drive through penalty cannot be challenged by teams, it is almost impossible to get your say in a 25 secs penalty too.

So, as things stood, till yesterday, Trulli was out of luck and Hamilton collected 6 from a race where he barely was quick enough. It was time to move on to the next race, Sepang Grand Prix.

But a well known journalist from autosport.com composed an article which revealed that Hamilton might have perhaps given differing statements to press and the stewards. Apparently, Hamilton did let it known that he had been asked by the McLaren team to slow down and let Trulli pass, thereby confirming that Trulli passed him only because he saw Hamilton deliberately slowing down. The drivers were once agained asked to meet the stewards in Malaysia on the thursday.

The outcome of the meeting is that Trulli has been reinstated to his 3rd position and McLaren have been removed from the results for providing contradictory evidence to the stewards the first time. Hamilton, as iot now turns out, wasn’t so lucky after all. Trulli gets 6 points and Hamilton goes back empty handed.

The start of the season couldn’t have been more un-typical. Neither of McLaren and Ferrari scored any point from the opening race. Both are trying to get even with the BrawnGP’s pace. Exciting season, with lots of drama yet to follow. And I suggest you, if you do not already follow F1, then start doing so. If you need help selecting one driver as your favourite, might I suggest the brilliant young lad from Germany – Sebastian Vettel. He is awesome. I am sure he’ll one day race for the Ferrari and do wonders just as Michael Schumacher did. Watch out for this kid.

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2009 F1 Melbourne Grand Prix

Published on March 30, 2009 in Sports. 0 Comments

Melbourne GP 2009

Melbourne GP 2009

A day most awaited ! With all the speculations and rumours flying around, McLaren disappointing in the winter testing, BrawnGP blowing away the field with spectacularly unbelievable performances and the diffuser row threatening to divide the teams. There were talks of Brawn using illegal car to impress a few sponsorers, and people claiming that McLaren failing because they did not have Ferrari’s plans to copy this time.

Nonetheless, the qualifying day arrived. The result was not unexpected. McLaren failed to make the cut into the Q3, in fact Hamilton retired after Q1 citing gearbox problems. Hekki managed only 14. Alonso was knocked out too. Only the Diffuser-Three, Vettel, Kubica and Ferrari saw themselves set for the shoot out in Q3. And finally Button claimed the pole position.

The D-Day ! Toyota were penalised for having an illegal movable component in their car, and Hamilton was to start 18th after changing the gearbox in his car. Massa and Kimi saw themselves promoted to the 6th and the 7th position. A hope or so I thought.

The five red lights lit one by one. The droning sound of cars, eager to explode away. And as soon as the red lights went off, the Australian GP was GO. Ferrari made an awesome start. Rubens was slow to take off and was immediately overtaken by Massa. Through the sequence of corners, Massa managed to squeeze himself into the third position. Kimi though could manage to promote himself only one rank to the sixth. Button was leading the pack of cars.

The drama was to begin quite soon. Ferrari were running on the softer option tyres. This did indeed give them extra speed, but the wear out was quick to happen. By the lap 10, the performance was deteriorating already. The Ferrari were beginning to fall back now. Cars from behind were now threatening to overtake the struggling champions. As a result, Massa and Kimi had to pit in the 11th and the 12th laps.

The game changed drastically after that. The Ferrari were no match for the front runners now. They were falling behind. The hope was fading fast. The Brawn were now threatening to destroy the competition. Indeed the pace of Button’s car was such that he was ahead of Vettel by more than 4 minutes. Oh, and Vettel I suppose was the surprise performance. He was quick. He was too quick. The german driver who has risen to stardom with his win in the Italian GP, and is being compared to Michael Schumacher himself, had a great chance to finish on the podium. Second was not so likely as the third.

However, the wonderful performance came to an end when his car touched that of Kubica’s in the latter’s attempt to overtake. Immediately the safety car came out. Only three laps were left to the end of the race. Both the Ferrari had retired by then. Rubens had managed to slip into the second position by then. There was this small matter of Truli spinning and handing the third position to Hamilton just before the safety car, and then reclaiming the position for himself. This saw him penalised 25 seconds and drop to the 12th position. Hamilton automatically got promoted to the third position and grabs lucky 6 points from a race where McLaren had no hopes. However, the penalty was doled out after the presentation ceremony, so Truli got to celebrate with the champagne at the podium.

Ferrari had a forgettable day at office.  Once again plagued by technical breakdown. Coming into the race they were certainly expected to put in a race winning fight, but instead they went home nursing their cars. A bad start to the new campaign. They can take heart from the fact that Massa had failed to score in the first two races the last year too, and yet came within 1 point of winning the championship.

It is too early to say who will remain at the top after a few races. BrawnGP definitely had the better pace, but their performance was not as great as was expected. There were predictions of their cars being more than 1 minute per lap faster than the rest of the grid. In the end, they managed only about half a minute per lap gap.

But then, there can be Brawn’s shrewd brain working behind this smaller amrgin. In what I have read from a few sources, Brawn could have advised Button to narrow down the gap, otherwise the whole of the grid would have stood up in union and protested against the diffuser. As of now only Red Bull, Ferrari and Renault are appealing against the double decker diffuser. McLaren’s silence hints at a possibility of theirs already being in the process of getting one ready. Do not be surprised if they roll out a modified diffuser after a couple of races. Ferrari with their fat budget will also be working hard to develop their version of a new diffuser. Only Red Bull with a meagre budget might have some difficulty, and could perhaps be forced to see out the whole season with the same diffuser that they have now.

Either way, I suspect the dominance of BrawnGP will continue for long. The McLarens and the Ferraris will be on top  of them pretty soon. BMW will not be left behind either. Though the curtain has been raised and we have had the first look into the season, I refuse to read much into the result of the first grand prix of the 2009 season. The picture will become clearer only after a few races are done.

And I really hope Ferrari come out as the better car. Please, please, please. But I also say -

Kick out Massa and Kimi, I want Vettel in a Ferrari.

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Oh The Wait !

Published on March 23, 2009 in Sports. 0 Comments

Oh the wait ! Why does the time always have to play tricks with you. Why does a wait seem infinitely longer than it scientifically should be.Why does a Friday seem so distant from a Monday.

Come this weekend, and Melbourne shall see hoard of crazy, car loving, Formula 1 fans line up outside the Albert Park in Melbourne. Ear plugs in place, they shall all come to cheer and enjoy one of the fastest, most dangerous, high budget sport.Yes, with budgets per team averaging around the 200 million mark, this is no joke. Come this weekend, the Melborne GP is GO !!

Not a single day has passed since the thrilling last turn defeat of Massa, that I have not scanned the internet media for news reports. I have fed my brain every article  there was on rule changes, staggering aerodynamic alterations, huge slash in budgets, the fallout of Honda. I have watched in awe the Jenson Button – Rubens Barrichello show, putting in stellar laps to steal away the P1 in practise of the final week from the favourites Ferrari. I have chuckled  watching the McLaren struggle for pace. The resurgence of Massa (who still heeds Schumachers advice) and a resurrected Kimi fill me up with hopes. The confident Alonso surely does his best to raise the bar for the title contenders. And the BMW are always there at your heels, to take advantage of the slightest error.

I just want the wait to end now. I just want to hear the rumble of the engines, feel the thrill of over taking, experience the joy of winning, and above all, feel alive once again in the world of Formula 1. Oh the wait !

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Back To The Old Scoring System Again

Published on March 21, 2009 in Sports. 0 Comments

Just a few days ago FIA had unanimously taken a decision to alter the way a champion is chosen at the end of the F1 season. They voted in favour of adopting a slightly modified version of Bernie’s medal proposal. However after being slammed by all the F1 personalities and the fans alike, they have decided to revert back to the old system for now. The declaration states that in case FIA and FOTA are unable to come to a mutual understanding regarding the point system, previous years system shall be used while a new system being devised to be adopted in the subsequent season.

Prior to the recently concluded FIA meeting, the FOTA had met and unanimously agreed upon an alternative scoring system wherein the first three places were divided by a margin of 3 each as compared to the 2 earlier. This gave greater value to the driver finishing on top, scoring 12 points. The FIA though had different plans. They rejected the proposed system and instead adopted the one suggested by Bernie. This did not go down well with the F1 teams. Almost everyone spoke their minds against it.

Consistency was a trait not being rewarded by this system. A consistent driver who always manages to come second or third has no chance of winning the championship. And when the fans voiced their dismay over the change, catalysed by fears of a split in the F1 grid, the FIA had no chance but to go back.

Thus we have the same old scoring system of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for the 2009 system as well.

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Go For The Broke, A Victory Is Everything

Published on March 18, 2009 in Sports. 0 Comments

The Formula One racing’s governing body has taken the decision to overhaul the current system of choosing the champion to replace it with the medal system as earlier proposed by Bernie. Not many F1 personalities were in favour of the medal system, but apparently a general survey of F1 fans helped take up the decision.

Earlier we had the scoring syste wherein the driver taking the chequered flag is awarded 10 points, 8 to the next, 6 to the third and one less for each position thereafter. At the end of the season, the driver with the maximum points would be crowned the champion.

The basic flaw in this system is that sometimes the drivers are contend settling for 8 points instead of pushing hard for the 10 points. The reasoning always was that 2 points less is still better than no points at all. Also, in the final race of the previous season, where Massa needed to win the race and Lewis to finish 6th or lower for Massa to be crowned champion, McLaren played it safe by having Lewis drive a riskfree race to just finish fifth. That was so not like a champions drive and in my opinion Lewis should be ashamed of himself. Yet, what was done was done.

This incidence prompted Bernie to propose the medal system. In this system, the only criteria for choosing a champion is the number of races he has won, instead of the points he has accrued throughtout the season. In case of a tie, the points shall be taken into consideration. Had this system been in effect the last year, it would have been Massa with 6 race wins as the champion instead of Lewis, who managed to win just 5 of the races.

The advantage of this system is that the drivers now have to go for a race victory. You cannot sit back and let your adversary win while you could have pushed him. The races should now become more interesting, particularly the overtakes amongst the top drivers should increase.

Though I was never in for a lot of rule changes, but all these changes add a new dimension to the technical sport. Everyone starts equally, and all the established rules have been tempered with. Definitely more the reason to watch season. How I await the Melbourne GP.

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The BrawnGP Stint

Published on March 14, 2009 in Sports. 0 Comments
BrawnGP

BrawnGP

The recently concluded testing at Barcelona sent shockwaves throughout the F1 paddock regading the high competitiveness of the BrawnGP challenger. With the least amount of testing done, they have already managed to top the speed charts. And not only that, they have managed to put in those quick times quite consistently. This begs a question – Are the BrawnGP really this quick ?

Not a lot should be read into the testing times. A lot of factors come into play, not uncommon among which is the sandbagging that the teams use to not reveal their actual performance pace. This allows them to have an element of surprise going into the first race. Also the fuel loads are not the same for everyone during the testing. Some run longer testing durability and reliability for a race condition, few others test short burst to see if the pace is upto the mark or not and also few, like McLaren says, do not use the complete package that will be used in the race.

However, what BrawnGP has managed to do has amazed even Massa himself, who admitted that Ferrari cannot match the pace of the BrawnGP. Ferrari have been quick, and prior to the Barcelona test they were the ones featuring on the top of the charts. But recent events has thrown things into disarray. McLaren seems to be suffering performance issues. Renault are once again finding themselves lower than what they would have liked to be. Ferrari though quick are not as quick as the BrawnGP.

F60

F60

Also quite a lot can change in a few days once again. Ferrari, BMW and four others have concluded their testing season, but McLaren has another 3 days of testing at Jerez this weekend. Things could turn out in their favour still, with Ron Dennis telling everybody that the aerodynamic package to be used for the Melbourne GP was not used upto now, and will be tested this weekend. If this is indeed true, then they have taken a gamble allowing themselves just 3 days to test their final aerodynamic package.

An interesting rumours that I read regarding the BrawnGP was that they could be running illegal car to top the time sheets and get some sponsorship. With Honda having pulled the plug on its team and Ross Brawn buying out the team, they will be looking for sponsors now. A good performance during the testing season can ensure them just that. I am not trying to accuse Brawn, but its just that he’s a shrewd businessman. If this is not the case, then they have simply managed to produce something magnificient and remarkable into this years championship, and will definitely be one of the main contenders.It could happen that Rubens and Jenson end up chasing each other for the first place in Melbourne, provided the car lasts the distance.

The time is almost up. Within a fortnight it will all be clear who is what. We shall discover the real reason behind BrawnGP pretty soon.

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