Renault Formula1 cheating and FIA debacle…!

In a sport that is known for its speed, it is heart-breaking that the allegations of race-fixing that were raised in 2008 took 1 year to be taken seriously! What is more appalling is – the news of Renault’s race fixing has hardly seen any coverage on the official Formula1.com website! This spells clear bias by the FIA in going  in the favour of money against upholding fairness of the sport!

Going by the way things have progressed in the scandal, I would not be surprised if Renault is fined, but is allowed to compete in the sport even after the team principal Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds were found guilty of pre-arranging a crash in the Singapore GP of 2008. These two ‘gentlemen’ instructed the 2nd driver Nelson Piquet to crash his car just after their 1st car driven by Fernando Alonso had pitted. This was no spur of the moment decision, but it was part of their race strategy! Utterly shameful tactics that brought disgrace to Formula1 in particular and to sports in general! Even before the race went underway, the 2nd driver knew exactly when and where to crash his car – at a part of the circuit where, Renault knew, there wont be a crane to whisk away a crashed car quickly thus ensuring that the safety car is deployed for a long period. This will force every one else to pit while the safety car is deployed thus throwing their race strategy for a toss and Renault taking the trophy for 1st place! Flavio and Pat’s goal was simple – if the car lacks pace, lets cheat! Cold blooded, calculated, timed, pre-determined CHEATING! The only problem was…. they were caught!

Whats more sad? The issue came to light only after their 2nd driver was recently sacked. Nelson Piquet, son of a 3 times F1 world champion was recently replaced by Romain Grosjean after Piquet showed ‘lack of performance’ – is that another term in Renault’s dictionary for not agreeing to another crash?

Piquet Sr. now states that he had brought the incident to the FIA’s notice at the 2008 Singapore GP, but the FIA didn’t take his allegations seriously… Going by the chronology of events, the FIA probably wanted to brush the incident under the carpet, but the Piquets would have decided to go to the press. Is the FIA so lured by the cash generated in F1 that they didnt look into an allegation of cheating by a team? Where’s the Sporting spirit in Formula 1 racing if the governing body can only look after money instead of ensuring fair racing?

Were the FIA so threatened by the consequences (Renault being barred from F1) that they choose to retain 2 cars on the grid and abet cheating instead of being fair to the rest of the teams who were racing fairly and were spending large sums of money to compete in the sport? Did the FIA forget the basic marketing principal – that a good product will sell itself, but a rotten participant will only result in disappointed fans!!!! And disgrace, not to mention lack of faith in the regulatory authority!!

Flavio says – he did it to save the team… but then again, doesn’t every crook cheat for someone/something?

I say Renault should be banned from competing in F1 for a decade! Flavio and Pat should be banned for life! They should not even be allowed to watch a Formula 1 race on their television sets in their homes, let alone be allowed near a race track! These despicable creatures have brought such a disgrace to Formula 1 racing, they should not be allowed to watch donkey racing!

The weekend muse… Aquarium idea

Friday was dull… Wanting to watch the Tim Burton movie ’9′ and the Peter Jackson’s ‘District 9′, I was left waiting for the want of company.

Saturday morning was wasted after being ditched by the IT consultant for whom the morning was kept free. Plans for the evening were already drawn out when a last minute meeting with a close relative sprang up! It had to be attended and suddenly after a spate of free time, I was double booked. Was suddenly glad that friends did not agree to movies as that would have made things even more complicated! The day ended after enjoying Kaminey for the third time and chit-chatting till 4 am.

Sunday was eventful too - A dash from Thane to Chowpatty had me battling unexpected traffic snarls in Dadar as many taxis started coughing up water from an unexpected spell of heavy rains that hit Bombay on Sunday. It was a welcome relief inspite of the ensuing traffic jam! The pav-bhaji and pizza at Sukh-sagar was worth the hassle especially as it was followed up by this Falooda! (pic clicked by me)

A walk at chowpatty beach reminded of college days spent in the company of friends and girlfriends… The sight of the Saifee hospital was something! (pic from internet) It definitely adds another jewel to the glittering Bombay Skyline! The good foo, the architecture and the moisture laden sea-breeze got me thinking as I lay my eyes on the shoddy state of the Taraporewala Aquarium! Instead of building a 300 crore (thats Rs 300,00,00,000 or US $ 60,000,000)  statue (no offence, but Shivaji has nothing to do with Bombay’s development or rise)…. Anyways, Instead of building a Rs 300 Cr Shivaji statue, the Govt should construct an aquarium on the Queen’s necklace promenade! Yep! The place next to the ocean which is a nice place for a walk should be turned into a giant aquarium UPON which the people would walk. It can be made from thick glass to sustain heavy weight and the brunt of nature and man. The aquarium would be the largest open air aquarium in the world and it should be free – a tribute to the people of Bombay and to tourists who come to visit the city! Instead of trying to mimic other countries by making tunnels inside aquariums, why not build an aquarium in a tunnel upon which people can walk???!!! Now that would be original and different and creative!

Instead of erecting statues as a tribute to heroes, this would be something creative that would be enjoyed by the young and the old alike irrespective of their caste, color or creed! Something that unifies us as a people and does not divide us into various groups and factions!

The drive back from Chowpatty saw me have a petty skirmish with another car driver who scrapes my vehicle and does not even bother to apologise. A gentle nudge at his car from the rear while he was waiting at a signal promptly resulted in an apology and an explanation for the incident! Sometimes the civic sense in people needs to be shaken up as it drifts into a slumber from the daily drudgery of the city life…

Sunday evening was Plum cake, followed by a 4th place victory by Force India at the Italian GP. The Brawn GP cars once again showed their might as they drove their way to a 1-2 victory after a brilliant pit strategy at the Italian GP at Monza that saw them taking just a single pitstop! Rubens Barrichello was a delight to watch as he goofed about in delight post race at the podium. “Dead-fish” Raikkonen was 3rd. He did not  bother to congratulate the other winners or take part in celebrations. Even drank more champagne than he showered upon his team. No smile on his face to show joy for the 3rd place finish after Hamilton crashed in the final stages of the race with 2 laps remaining. Q: Do they call Kimi the ‘iceman’ becaue he is as cold as a fish? Perhaps another Pav-bhaji, pizza and a falooda will help me ponder over that one…

PS: It was sweet to see Force India give Ferrari a run for their money on Ferrari’s home race @ Monza, Italy! For the uninitiated, the two teams have a bitter history. Kimi Raikkonen, while driving for Ferrari, has crashed twice into a Force India car driven by Adrian Sutil and prevented the Force India team from scoring points in Formula 1! Every point garnered by a F1 team helps the team earn revenue from the sport and other benefits like free transportation to races, revenue from television rights, etc.  The Force India team also switched from Ferrari Engines in 2008 to Mercedes engines in 2009 when Ferrari refused to give them their current and most latest engine. Now the team, owned by Vijay Mallya, in its 2nd year at Formula 1  has improved from being a back-runner to a front-runner and has been giving the top-runners tough competition since the past few races. Force India has a budget that is about 1/3rd to 1/4th of the big teams in Formula 1. While the big teams have been competing since decades Force India is 2 years old in the sport. Toyota, who is reported to have a budget thats even larger than Ferrari’s budget has failed to show performance in the sport that has seen manufacturers like Honda and BMW who have exited and are planning to exit the sport from next year! This makes Force India’s most recent success even more phenomenal. The team finished 2nd on the Podium in the previous race at the Belgian GP and now has 13 points in the 2009 Formula 1 season.

Belgium GP qualifying

If I tell you a Force India and a Ferrari occupy the first and last place in an Formula 1 qualifying, at what positions will you guess them to be?

Going by past experiences, you will say that the Ferrari qualified 1st and the Force India car qualified Last…. Correct?

Now this time! Giancarlo Fisichella has given Force India Mercedes their maiden F1 pole! Yes!!!!!!!! A Force India car is on pole at the Belgium GP!!! And thanks to the Massa accident, Schumi’s bad neck and Luca’s bad driving, a Ferrari is dead last!

Another shocker – None of the top 3 point contenders are in the top 10!

I hope Kimi does not ruin it again for Force India! Just to play it safe, Force India should put 4 small screens around their car that flashes “Keep safe distance” every time Kimi’s Ferrari comes within 20 meters of the Force India cars!!

The race should be very exciting tomorrow!!! Could it be maiden points for Force India?! What if they are scored on the podium?????!!!!!!

McLaren gets Brawned, Ferrari fumbles as Schumi stalls

The 2009 Formula 1 race in Valencia saw the McLarens qualify 1-2! It was a chance for the silver cars to regain some lost pride. However, current point leaders, Brawn GP had other ideas. Having run the cars heavier, the Brawn GP team was able to run their cars much deeper into the race before pitting. Result? McLaren led the race longer, but it was a Brawn driving Barrichello that crossed the finish line first!

Hamilton made it across in 2nd place and Kimi was 3rd. However, even a podium finish for Ferrari could not save them from the shameful humiliation suffered by the tifosi, thanks to a dismal performance by Luca Badoer, who I feel should be renamed Luca BAD-driver! The guy finished LAST – he ran 2nd from LAST for most of the race – all that in a Ferrari! The same car that took a podium finish in the same race! To say that Luca drove bad is an understatement. The guy seemed totally unprepared, he missed breaking points on the circuits, he skid on a perfectly dry track and made a mess out of the Ferrari drive! It would have been better for the red team to have entered a single car in the race…

Oh Shumi! Why did you have to drive the bike? And if you had to drive it, why did you crash? And if you crashed, why didn’t you save your neck? The biking incident has caused the tifosi to drop their heads in shame and strain their necks today! Come back- Its clear that the team needs you!#

Force India finished at a respectable 10th and 12th position!

# Schumi had a bike accident earlier in the year that caused him neck injuries grave enough to prevent him from racing for Ferrari when their other driver, Felipe Massa was injured in a racing accident. A spring from a Brawn GP car driven by Barrichello flew after Barichello crashed. The flying spring hit Massa on his head causing Massa to blank out and crash at high speed. The spring injury will prevent Massa from driving the Ferrari possibly for the rest of the 2009 F1 season. Schumi was to be his replacement, but the pain in his neck prevented from making a sensational comeback in the Valencia race.

Michael Schumacher’s Comeback 2009

There is no doubt that Michael’s comeback to Formula 1 is the biggest event of the 2009 F1 season. No sooner than the announcement was made, the papers next day were abuzz with pictures and stories about the King of F1. Times of India even had the same title (the king is back or something to that effect) that I had used in my blog a day before. Oh well!

The difference between champions and others is the amount of commitment the former gives to the sport. Within a week of the announcement, Schumi lost 3 kilos of body weight. If you think 3 kilos do not make a difference, think again!
A) In a sport where the time is measured in one thousandth of a second, 3 kilos can make you faster than your competitor.
B) 3 kilos can give you an extra lap worth of fuel, allowing you to pit later than your competitor (and your teammate).
C) 3 kilos less weight can allow your car designers to balance the car better – it can give them the flexibility to re-distribute the weight of the car, allowing it to handle much better!

The last advantage comes with its own little challenge – As the (almost) bankrupt BMW Williams team disallowed Michael Schumacher to test the F-60 (the 2009 Ferrari F1 car) , the car designers will have to entirely rely on calculations and models to “gauge” the cars performance with the new weight distribution and with Schumi in the cockpit. The other part of the challenge is – Schumacher has not driven the F-60 even once! While the competition is close to being half way thru the season, Schumacher will drive the F-60 in Friday practice for the 1st time on a track that he has never driven before (the track was newly made after Schumi retired). While other drivers in F1 (Read Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso) crib and complaint about the lack of their car’s performance openly, Michael has quietly adjusted to the circumstances and started testing in an old 2007 Ferrari with slick tires instead of grooved ones! That’s a champion for you! Perhaps Alonso and Kimi can watch and learn as Schumi shows everyone that “A good craftsman never blames his tools!”.

Not only that, Schumacher has already completed an entire day testing the car and training his injured neck muscles. That’s a champion for you. At the age of 40, Schumacher will be more than twice the age of the youngest F1 competitor (19 yrs 4 months)! It takes sheer guts and Iron-like-will-power to make such a comeback.

Even before he retired in 2006, during the retirement, and post retirement – there were (are) no silly news about Schumacher in the media. The only news you get to see are about Schumi testing! No silly night-club games, no drinking binges, no playing the fool! No sir! Not Schumacher!

Perhaps that’s why he could easily be amongst the fittest F1 drivers, even post retirement!

The comeback could not have been at a better time for Formula 1. A sport that runs on big money, such a comeback means, sold out tickets at the racing venues and big time TV eye-balls! I would not be surprised if there is at least a 30% increase in television viewership for the Valencia race on 23rd August 2009 as the F1 fans, Tifosi and Schumi fans are all eager to watch the king make a comeback! Honestly, for them (and for me), it does not matter if Schumacher performs or not. Just watching him get behind the wheel of the red car will be joy enough for the die-hard F1 fan! There are many F1 fans who stopped watching the sport after Schumi retired. More people did not follow the sport with as much gusto now than when he was racing – Schumi’s comeback will bring these fans back to the sport – Then there will be others who will be watching just to be part of the buzz, while there will be those who will watch the race on Valencia, just to see him fail!

Whatever be the race viewer’s category – the weekend of 21, 22, 23 August, Valencia Spain will see F1 fanatics have eyes only for one car and one driver. That car will be a red Ferrari and the driver will be Michael Schumacher! Period!

Michael makes a comeback! … and an overdue award!

Its a done deal! The king of F1 is scheduled to make a comeback to replace an injured Filipe Massa. I cannot wait for Aug 23 to see the racing legend’s comeback in the European GP!

A lot of Questions will be answered there…. A few on my mind are – Will he be the same Schumi after the break? How good will he be in the new car? Will he be fit @ 40? By how much margin will he beat Raikkonen? Suddenly August 23 is so far away when all these questions will be answered…

The circumstances are sad as Massa is badly injured, but I’m glad Ferrari roped in the king to fill the void! Anything to see the legend behind a Ferrari yet again!

Welcome back Michael Schumacher! You were missed!

———-x————x———–

The PROXIMITY award was given to me by Vee and Smita in Dec 2008. I did not pass it on to anyone because at that time, I did not know 8 people who didn’t have this award!

Off I go to find 8 blogs worthy of this awards.

This award is given to a blog that invests and believes in PROXIMITY – nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award. (Note added by Eye-in-sty-in: At their own time and convenience)

I pass it on to -

Sujata – http://sujatasengupta.blogspot.com/

FE – http://udtahaathi.wordpress.com/

Ripples – http://verbalfiend.wordpress.com//

Lynn – http://trippinwithrip.wordpress.com/

Aparna – http://aparnadasgupta.blogspot.com/

Ekta – http://ektakhetan.blogspot.com/

Andaa Curry – http://grey-orgasms.blogspot.com/

Shanu – http://fullonbakwaas.blogspot.com/

ForeignDesi – http://foreigndesi.wordpress.com/

Wits n Nuts – http://witsnnuts.wordpress.com/

Americanising Desi – http://2short2sweet.blogspot.com/

Kamana – http://musings-ephemerallyeternal.blogspot.com/

Shayari – http://bukkichowta.blogspot.com/

Purpleheart – http://marshmallow–cream.blogspot.com/

Anamika – http://theselfspace.blogspot.com/

The award has been given based on the comments left by these bloggers on my blog. If u want such awards, the trick is to visit my blog more often and also leave intelligent comments.

PS: Their writing ability n wit may also have played a little part in the selection.

For those who have not yet received this award, it does not make you less worthy by any means. So please dont go about slashing ur wrists yet! Your time will come soon

2009 Spanish GP qualifying, T4 and some funny clips

Did anyone else watch the qualifying for the Spanish GP? For the first time this season I felt that red car found its groove! As the Ferrari aggressively turned the corners on the Spanish track, one could tell the car was a serious contender this time! I did not know at that time who was the driver – it could either be Filipe Massa who found his “mad-streak” yet again or it could be Kimi Raikkonen who had to undergo yet another bowel movement and thus was driving fast to get to the loo! To my delight, it was Massa who was able to break into the top 4 slots in qualifying that were almost sealed by the Brawn GP and Red Bull cars.

The best part was the red car was not running light either! Does it mean that my favourite team is back in contention? Has the season officially begun at Ferrari then? Perhaps the wake up call came when they were seen battling a Force India car for position in the previous race in Bahrain! What remains to be seen is if this is a fluke or a reality? The car weight suggests its could be a reality as Massa is the heaviest of all the top 6 qualifiers! I cant wait to find out in the next 10.5 hours as the Spanish GP begins!

Pos., Driver, team, Qualifying weight of car
1. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 646kg
2. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 651.5
3. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 649.5
4. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 655
5. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 651.5
6. Timo Glock, Toyota, 646.5

The Brawn GP team is sporting the Terminator Salvation livery on their cars to promote the 4Th movie in the franchise! Have you watched the previews? Aren’t they just awesome? I cannot wait for T4 to be released on May 21!

Raikkonen’s bowel movement moment !

This clip has a better, cleaner and funnier foot-in-mouth situation !

Lewis Hamilton Disqualified from Australian GP!!

You know the season is off to a bizarre start when you are closer to the 2nd race, but the results of the 1st race are still being decided!

In a new twist to the already twisted tale of the Australian GP, Hamilton has been Disqualified! Yep!! Disqualified! The saga started when, post race, McLaren raised a complaint about the Toyota of Trulli overtaking under safety car conditions. The race stewards had a meeting and Trulli was found guilty. The result was a 3rd place finish for Hamilton and a 12th place for Trulli and Toyota.

A second inquiry revealed that McLaren and Hamilton had Lied in the 1st inquiry! The radio chatter between the team and driver revealed that McLaren had instructed Lewis to let Trulli pass!

FIA’s statement on the same and the much interesting transcript of the radio chatter can be read here.

The result us a DSQ for Hamilton and a reinstated 3rd place podium for Trulli!

This leaves the winners of 2008 drivers and constructor’s champions without any points in the beginning race of 2009!

At this time, the Brawn GP team deserve all the accolades that are being showered at them. The reason I use the words “At this time” is because a hearing is scheduled for the 14th of April 2009 concerning the interpretation of rules for the “diffuser” by various teams – Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams. With the recent performance by the Brawn and the Toyota team, coupled with the non-performance by McLaren and Ferrari teams, the latter will use this opportunity to try and throw a wrench in the works for the other teams! Because for them, winning seems to be more important than the sport and when a debutant team wins in such a grand fashion, it only rubs salt into the injured egos of the big guns at McLaren and Ferrari. the question remains – In case of an indefinite answer to the rule interpretation, will the FIA uphold the results in the interest of the sport? or will it be money and power swinging the results?

The good thing for now is that the controversial diffuser broke on Barrichello’s car in a 1st corner incident! This proves beyond doubt that the Brawn cars have genuine pace!

A conversation with a friend also brought up an interesting point – According to him, both Button and Barrichello are known to carry bad luck. The fact that the Brawn GP team won inspite of their bad luck, speaks volumes about them! (For me, the biggest carrier of bad luck is Kimi! I personally believe that the only reason he won the 2007 season is because of Luca Di Motezemolllo throwing his weight behind him! Ferrari will be a much better team the moment they chuck Kimi out!!)

The last time a team making its debut had a one-two finish was at the 1954 French Grand Prix led by Juan Manuel Fangio for Mercedes. The Brawn GP team did it while running with a Mercedes engine too. That should be some consolation for McLaren, huh!

After the dramatic start to the season, I cannot wait to see what surprises Malaysia will spring!

Bizzaro begining – 2009 F1 GP season!

The day finally dawned or should I say “Brawn”(ed)!

As is traditional with season openers, the race sprung a lot of surprises! The most delightful came in terms of Brawn GP. This is the Honda team of last year that was taken over by Ex- Ferrari Technical Director Ross Brawn and sponsored by Virgin!

This team came out of the blue and ended up winning the GP in its debut! The impressive thing is that they beat the stalwarts of racing like Ferrari, McLaren and Renault! So much for their legacy!

The biggest disappointment of the race was none other than the prancing horse! Both their cars retired from the race – a rare happening in the illustrious Ferrari legacy that is known (now just a “has been known”) for their bulletproof cars! Wonder if after this result, does Luca de Motezemollo still thinks that all the choices he made in 2007 were good!

The most pitiful event of the race was the collision between BMW’s Robert Kubica and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel (running 3rd n 4th at that time). Both had a good chance of scoring high points, but greed for the podium prevailed and all was lost!

The biggest beneficiary of the race was McLaren’s Hamilton. Having started the race from the 18th position following a dismal qualifying session and a gear box penalty, he would have finished the race 6th, but thanks to the crash b/w Vettel and Kubica and an error by Trulli, he finished the race in 3rd! A winning driver needs more than skills in F1 and hamilton is once again proving that luck is on his side along with skills! I think he is the best driver to fill the huge void left by the exodus of Michael Schumacher.

With the next race in Malaysia – on the coming weekend, Ferrari had better pull themselves out from this deep hole that they are stuck in – and they better do it fast! Running the cars light on fuel is not a good way to capture grid positions and certainly no way to win races and championships! If they have forgotten how to do it, here is a reminder – it is thru hard work, determination and team spirit! (remember 2006?) Sulking and spinning the car in frustration is not the way to do it either! (R u reading this Kimi?) Show some class or did you wanna take another dump!

For now, its Brawn GP’s exciting debut that has me pepped up for the 2009 F1 season! Well deserved victory, I’ll say!