The king makes a comeback!

Its official, Michael Schumacher is back… A lot of tifosi will be converted overnight to Mercedes fans! Mercedes and Brawn made a killing by buying instant fame and fan support for 7 million euros!

The 2010 season just became 7 times more exciting as the strategic brains of Ross Brawn and the skills of Michael Schumacher combine once again. This is where it started and there could not be a better place to reunite or make a comeback.

I call it a nice slap on Motezemollo’s face for unceremoniously ousting Schumacher in 2006 for an idiot like Kimi! Now Ferrari is left with cry baby Alonso as Kimi runs away from F1. Its Ferrari’s loss and Brawn’s gain (Mercedes) Love it, Love it, Love it!

Thank you Schumi for making a comeback! Formula 1 was never the same without you!

With Tiger Woods out of reckoning, it should not be too difficult for Schumi to be the highest paid sports personality once again in 2010!

It will be interesting to see Schumi duke it out with Hamilton, Massa, Rosberg, Vettel and Willi Webber’s latest find – Nico Hulkenberg. A battle of skills, stamina, age and tactics! may the best driver win!!!!! Its already a victory for Formula 1 and its fans.

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.

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.

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!