Little Shop of Formoola One Musings

2006-11-11T17:16:00.000-08:00

What is the need for this space, now that the greatest is gone and retired after glorious 12 years! It's quiet and silent as a grave for the moment. But now we shall start following the fortunes of one Mr. Massa who I think will take the mantle over from Schumi (sorry Kimi!) and one Mr. Kubica who I think is very promising. Let's see if he goes up stream or become another Heidfeld who too was very exciting to watch when he came! Until later folks!

2006-08-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

Pit-stop over. Exiting a rather long pit-lane!

This post is more a breaking the silence types. Will it ever end? The Schumi saga? All those who wrote him off in the wake of Nano triumphs and other etcs. of the sport claiming pole positions are shut off now! And at last when one looked set to hail the contemporary god of street-fighting F-1 war, when the gap looked set to reduce to 3 points, pop went the thread of the Button. Yeah... at last, after 113 races, someone finally justified his prodigality! Jense won. But that only fed my relish for conspiracy theories. I think F-1 is a huge conspiracy circus taking all the viewers across the world for a huge ride and all F-1 paddocks, pit-bullers, drivers, bosses are in unison, giggling quietly behind the used set of rubbers while we are glued to watching the tv screens at the vehicles on the speedways. But more of it later!

Adios for now!

2006-05-07T07:18:00.000-07:00

And he won again... and how! Schumi... hot off the press... has won the Nurburgring Grand Prix in style after being a phantom behind Nano for the first half of the race... until the Second Pit Stop of Nano... and it was a brilliant Ferrari 1-3 podium. The season has truly started to unfold, shall we hope? Two in a row... and Victory no. 86 for Micha. More detailed report later. I guess in the absence of Aash, it's up to me to hold the fort!

2006-05-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Aguri Suzuki for doing us all a huge favour

----------->

On advice form the FIA, Super Aguri has decided to give (largely more experienced and much faster) Frenchman Frank Montagny the race drive previously held by (largely unpopular and reckless snail) Yuji Ide so that the Japanese driver can perform third-driver duties and gain more F1 mileage. Franck, who's been third driver for Renault for a few years, will be more than happy to go out there and race.

Here's what a few drivers had to say about Ide:

Christian Klien - "Some times he takes really different racing lines from us. Maybe that's because they drive on the other side of the road in Japan."

Kimi Raikkonen - "In Monaco it could have been quite disastrous. He's a nice guy but he was quite slow and then he was spinning quite often so you never knew if he was going to spin in front of you when you were close to him."

2006-04-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

The Tifosi Tea-party
Preview to the San Marino grand Prix

The San Marino grand Prix is held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, named after Enzo Ferrari, the founder of Ferrari, and his son Dino. The track itself is located in Italy, but since Italy already hosts the GP at Monza, the race held at Imola is christened after the nearby lanlocked country of San Marino.

Located 40 km East of Bologna and 80 km East of the Ferrari factory at Maranello, the circuit in quaint little town of Imola is most often seen as the home circuit of Ferrari by its loyal Italian fan following - the Tifosi.

The Track

Counter-clockwise direction: The track itself has an unusual layout. It is only one of the three circuits currently in the F1 calendar to run anti-clockwise - the other two being the circuits at Interlagos (Sao Paolo) in Brazil and at Istanbul, Turkey. The G-forces experienced by the drivers during the race cause strain in the opposite side of the neck as usual, causing many to feel stress and visible fatigue.

Outdated facilities: The circuit, built in the 1950s has received much criticism in recent times for its primitive and outdated facilities, particularly the grandstands and pitwall.

Hard curbs: Drivers on this circuit tend to find themselves caught unawares by the hard, which it takes a real man to drive over. This is especially so on the slow chicanes like the Traguardo (see map), which were introduced after the spate of deaths and injuries in the last decade to lower speeds. At worst, these can caused a spin, but even at best, the brief loss of traction will hamper your ability to get on the throttle as soon as possible exiting the corner.

Narrow line: Like many European racing facilities parts of the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari were previously public roads, and hence are extremely narrow. A lap around the circuit, therefore, has only one 'line' and overtaking opportunities are limited.

A Flying Lap

As you enter the short pit-straight of the Circuit Enzo e Dino Ferrari, you push hard on the throttle and accelerate to 290 kph on 6th gear before slamming hard on the brakes at the last microsecond for the sharp left-hand turn into Tamburello - the first of two chicanes on the Northern side of the track. The pit-straight itself is not entirely straight, but curves noticably toward the left after the grid ends.

Tamburello is a left-right-left chicane complex. Once you drop down to second gear after the left-hander of the Tamburello complex, only just nibbling the curb, the hard bit is over. The smooth right-hander is attacked with a burst of throttle. Do this right and you get a good run into the final left-hander of the Tamburello complex, which opens onto the straight leading to the villeneuve complex. However, too much throttle here and you risk running wide.

The Villeneuve complex is very similar to Tamburello - it's another left-right chicane with a very slow entry after a long straight. You brake hard from 290 kph (6th gear) to around 230 kph (4th gear) to negotiate the chicane. A quick entry is important, because the fast left-hander leads to the much tighter right-hand corner, which has a very early chicane.

A short burst of power takes you down to Tosa, the 2nd gear hairpin at the end of the Northern half of the circuit. At 95 kph, it is the slowest part of the circuit, and the difficulty in manouvering an F1 car through it lies in the fact that the exit from the hairpin goes uphill, transferring much of the car's weight onto the rear suspension. Therefore, drivers usually tackle the apex at Tosa late and square the corner off, so that they've passed the worst of it before throttling up the uphill section toward Piratella.

At this point you gently feed the throttle until you're at 280 kph (6th gear). The road bends slightly to the right before you reach Piratella, which can be described as an exact mirror image of the famous Eau-Rouge at Spa Francorchamps, Belgium - Eau-Rouge is a high-speed right hander starting downhill and going up, while Piratella is a high-speed left-hander going downhill. Miss the entry point here, and you're entire lap goes out the window. The key to tackling this corner is a quick entry, followed by hitting the apex early and shifting down to 4th gear (slowing down to about 180 kph). The exit opens out a little, so you can afford to feed the throttle and go a little wide if you've hit the apex early. A short straight leads to the challenging Acque Minerali complex.

Acque Minerali consists of two sharp right-handers, which run swiftly into one another. Such an arrangement is often reffered to as a 'double-apex right hander', the likes of which can be seen at Interlagos and Silverstone. the first right-hander goes downhill, while the second goes steeply upward, giving the drive through the complex a rollercoaster-like feel.

The road from Piratella goes downward, and before you enter the first right turn of Acque Minerali, you're doing 250 kph in 6th gear. On entry, you lose about a 130 kph and downshift to 2nd gear. It's important to stay smooth here, giving only light steering inputs, as any jerky movement on the steering overloads the front end of the car, causing understeer and a quick entry into the gravel-trap on the outside of the turn.

The turn out of Acque Minerali is very steep. therefore, turning quickly and getting on the throttle early is crucial in order to achieve a good lap-time. A short left-hander and you're on top of the hill, on a short straight before the Chicane at Variante Alta.

By the time you reach the Variante Alta Chicane, you're back at your usual speed of 285 kph on 6th gear. Over here, you face the sickeningly slow chicane, flanked by the malignant curbs. Following the road here will simply slow you down to a crawl. Therefore, the widely usued line is a shorcut - a straight line bouncing over the curbs on entry and exit. Make sure your entry speed is slow - sown to 1135 kph on 2nd gear. Getting a fast exit speed is important as the straight that follows is long and goes downhill - is the fastest section of the circuit.

By the time you're at Rivazza, a double left-hander sequence, you're doing 310 kph (6th gear). Rivazza requires a slow 2nd gear entry, at around 100 kph. The enormous braking while going downhill puts pressure on on the brakes, so drivers usually adjust their brake bias toward the front end of the car in order to avoid locking their wheels up.

The second right-hander of Rivazza is taken much like the first. In fact, the whole complex is treated like a sincle left hander with its sharpest point lying exactly between the two right handers - a double apex corner like Acque Minerali.

Due to the its shapr nature and the straight preceding it, Rivazza is one of the few places on the circuit where overtaking is feasible. Breaking late enough and getting the inside line on your opponent will be enough to force him to back off for fear of running wide. Breaking too late, however, swaps the advantage.
It is notable that Rivazza is one of Michael Schumachers 'weak spots', as he has made several mistakes here in the last few years.

Following Rivazza is the a medium-length straight with a shallow right turn - the Variante Bassa. Getting back to speed (285 kph) on this straight is importand for a good entry and overtaking opportunity at Traguardo, the final chicane before the finish-line.

The sharpness of Traguardo catches drivers off guard more often than not. It starts off with a moderately tight left hander followed by an extremely tight right-hander. The line through here, similar to that through Variante Alta, is straight over the curbs. And, since the finish line is very close to Traguardo, feeding the throttle earlyis irresistible. However, the combination of curb-riding and throttle-hogging can cause serious damage by means of collision with the concrete wall on the outside of the exit from Traguardo, which lies very close to the track.

Traguardo is also a good overtaking opportunity. Here, braking late and staying on the outside of the entry is the easier way of making a move, feinting entering the pits at the last minute. This way, you get a straighter line over the curbs than your opponent.

Deaths - The Autodromo's notorious history

Built in the 1950's, Imola was popular with drivers due to its fast, flowing layout.

In 1973 and 1974 two chicanes were added in order to slow the cars. A third chicane was added in 1981. However, the circuit was subject to constant safety concerns, mostly regarding the flat-out Tamburello corner, which was very bumpy and had dangerously little room between the track and a concrete wall which protects a creek that runs behind it. In 1987 Nelson Piquet had an accident there during practice and missed the race due to injury. In the 1989 San Marino Grand Prix Gerhard Berger crashed his Ferrari at Tamburello after a front wing failure. The car caught fire after the heavy impact, which in fact split the monocoque, but thanks to the quick work of the firefighters and medical personnel Berger survived without serious injury.

However, in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, the dangers of the Imola circuit, and of Forumula One in general, became tragically apparent. During Friday practice Rubens Barrichello was launched over a kerb, and into the top of a tyre barrier, flipping the car and knocking the Brazilian unconcious. He was not seriously injured. During Saturday qualifying Austrian Roland Ratzenberger crashed head-on into a wall at the Villeneuve corner after a front wing failure, and was killed instantly. The nightmare continued the next day, when the legendary 3-time World Champion Ayrton Senna mysteriously went straight on at the Tamburello corner on Lap 7. He may not have been badly injured by the impact with the wall itself, but a suspension piece broke off in the accident, pierced Senna's helmet and killed him. In two unrelated incidents, several spectators and mechanics were also injured during the event.

In response to the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Senna, revisions were made in an attempt to make the circuit safer. The flat out Tamburello corner was reduced to a 4th gear left-right sweeper, and a gravel trap was added to the limited space on the outside of the corner. Villeneuve corner, previously an innocuous 6th gear right hander into Tosa, was made a complementary 4th gear sweeper, also with a gravel trap on the outside of the corner. In attempt to retain some of the quickness and character of the old circuit, the arduous chicane at Acqui Minerali was eliminated, as was the corner at which Barichello crashed.

2006-04-18T22:38:00.000-07:00

We are the champions

After almost a decade without a title, McLaren finally sees light.

2006-04-07T01:09:00.000-07:00

GascoyneGate
'Mutual Agreement' or Sacking?

Ever since last week, rumors had begun to circulate in the F1 paddock that Mike Gascoyne, the highest payed Technical Director (Chassis) in Formula 1 ( allegedly payed $8,000,000 p.a.) and Toyota, the team that he has been working for (read: with) since December 2003, had decided to 'part ways'.
The rumors were officially confirmed on April 6^th , when Toyota issued a statement according to which the two parties had reached "a mutual agreement, which would see both parties terminate their working relationship with immediate effect." Apparently, Gascoyne and Toyota had disagreed on the future working of the Chassis and Engineering departments at the Cologne-based team.
However, there is conflict regarding this as a previous press release had stated that Gascoyne had been 'suspended'.
Mike, however, remains in a precarious position now as although he has 'stopped working' at Toyota, he still remains a fully paid and contracted employee till October 2006...he can resume employment elsewhere only after that. Not that there are vacancies for Technical Director in any of the other teams, at least not such high-paying ones for him after the Ferrari-Toyota scandal, anyway. Perhaps Aguri Suzuki may consider Mike...
It is understood that Pascal Vasselon will take over as temporary Technical Director of Toyota.

Elsewhere

Midland has announced that it's Sporting Director Adrian Burgess has been sacked as part of the team's internal restructuring program

RBR has a new Operations Director - Keith Saunt, who has more than 15 years of experience in F1 (sorry, had to rip that off Pitpass as I couldn't get anything else on him).

2006-04-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

The perfect race

The incident filled Australian Grand Prix made sure everybody had their share of shunts and glitches. As the weather remained unusually chill all weekend, tyre-temperature claimed a major share among the vital elements for survival during the race. Add to that the unusual tyre compound that teams had to use in order to cruise 60 times around the 5.303 kilometres of asphalt of Albert Park and you have the formula for disaster. So how did everyone do it?
The fact is, only twelve of them did...and Jenson Button escaped non-classification only because four cars, who were a lap (or two and three in the case of the Super Aguris) down on him had already crossed the line under the checquered flag before his engine exploded. Here's a look at the race - team by team.

Super Aguri - Honda

An impressive performance from the team that were largely written off, Super Aguri brought both their cars to the line against all odds, albeit two (Sato) and three (Ide) laps down on the lead lap. To think they did this with a four-year-old chassis running on Bridgestone rubber (which takes longer to heat up) - a great achievement for a team running scrap metal. In fact, one wonders if Honda accidentally put the engines meant for Rubens and Jenson in the Aguris and the engines meant for the Yuji Ide into Jenson Button's car.
Takuma Sato especially impressed, holding twelfth place for a considerable part of the mid-race, holding off a long train of cars - Barrichello, Coulthard and Fisichella. Apparently, Sato had a point to prove to the man who replaced him at Honda.

Ide became fairly unpopular after parking his car accross the straight between turns 15 and 16 during qualifying, causing the session to be red-flagged for some time. His embarressment was further increased by his race-engineer's frantic shouts on his radio instructing him to 'try reverse gear' while he struggled to extricate himself from his precarious position - a conversation that was broadcasted to millions of F1 fans around the world. Nevertheless, he drove his usual race, resigned to taking the last classified position a few laps down, but did a good job keeping out of the way of drivers on the lead lap, especially those involved in their various battles with Jenson Button...an experienced back-marker in the making.

Midland F1 - Toyota

One would think Midland would achieve better results after having an absolute army of sponsors cash in on them in recent months. The Russian team, however seem to have the reliability - their only non-accidental retirement has been caused by Tiago Monteiro's differential failure in the Austrailian GP - but are struggling quite visibly with their speed. Their qualifying runs aren't extremely scintillating either.
Furthermore, the two red-white-and-black cars got into quite a soup after the final safety-car period as they simulated a moving double chicane ahead of a mega battle a lap up on them. Pit-wall politics came into play as a furious Mike Gascoyne (Toyota) had a word with (read: gave an order to) Johnie Herbert on the MF1 pit-wall (as Toyota supplies engines to MF1) to instruct his car to move out of the way of Ralf Schumacher's Toyota, which was fighting hard to defend third place.
All in all, the MF1 team had a disappointing race, bringing only one car home to the finish line, and becoming quite unpopular among the other teams.

Squadra Toro Rosso - Cosworth

It was looking to be a good race for the 'STRs' - as they have come to be known. 'Tonio' Liuzzi overtook Michael Schumacher in the early stages of the race (apparently he fourth time in his carreer), and was running quite strong, with some quick pitstops adding to his advantage. The Italian driver was later forced into the grass by Jacques Villeneuve - a huge accident, which caused the safety-car to be deployed.
His team-mate Scott Speed did not have as good a race, after just failing to make it to the second session in qualifying. However, the final laps found him holding off David Coulthard for the final championship point (eighth place). The American rookie finished in eighth. However, protests by Coulthard led to an investigation by Race Marshalls, who concluded that Speed had overtaken Coulthard under Yellow Flags. Consequently, he was given a 25 second penalty, putting him in eleventh place. The American's run of bad luck continued as he was further fined $ 5000 for using abusive language with Coulthard during the Stewards' hearing. Even thought the Scott's speed wasn't 'up there', it looks like he's had the last laugh for now.

Red Bull Racing - Ferrari

The images say it all. For the second time in two races, Christian 'Clean' Klien has managed to successfully get his nose dirty on the first lap, and for the second time in two races, the Austrian has payed for it dearly. Raikkonen in Malaysia and Rosberg and Massa in Austrailia - when will Klien stop causing casualties at the start of the race?
Red Bull will surely be disappointed with the single point that they have salvaged a la Coulthard, especially as the circumstances under which it was scored were, to say the least, controversial.

BMW - Sauber

After engine failures in Bahrain and Malaysia, BMW have finally gotten lucky with their healthy points-scoring finishes in Austrailia - Heidfeld finishing fourth and Villeneuve sixth, a total of eight championship points.
The Jacques-Attack raged from down the grid in 19th place (after a ten-place penalty in qualifying) to sixth position with a close-to-perfect one-stop strategy, despite being involved in the aforementioned incident with Vitantonio Liuzzi.
Quick-Nick finished fourth, and could have quite easily finished on the podium if the tyre-temperature poltergeist hadn't chosen his Michelins to reside in.

WilliamsF1 - Cosworth
The race started off badly for WilliamsF1, to say the least, as Nico Rosberg turned victim to Christian Klien's road rage on turn two. The Finnish rookie drove into the pitlane minus a rear wing and was subsequently pushed into the WilliamsF1 garage, his race clearly over.

Despite this, Webber looked set for a strong points finish - even a podium. While leading the race after the 'top-guns', namely, Raikkonen, Alonso, etc had pitted, Mark Webber's dreams were dashed as his car slowed down and trundled to a halt - apparently a transmission problem. Nevertheless, the Austrailian did a good job of keepingthe car off the racing line and hence avoiding a safety-car deployment.

However, the hopes of Austrailia and WilliamsF1 were thrown out the window with these double-retirements that Sunday witnessed.

Toyota

The race was one of mixed feelings for Toyota, to say the least. An unipressive pace throughout the weekend looked to throw the Japanese team out of serious contention in the race. However, the two pink-and-white cars qualified sixth and tenth on the grid (Trulli was promoted to ninth by Villeneuve's penalty after not running a single lap in the final 20 minute qualifying session due to transmission problems) and look set for finishes in the points.
However, Jarno Trulli was forced to retire in the first-corner-melee after being hit by David Coulthard's Red Bull and Ralf Schumacher was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in th pit-lane during one of his pitstops. Chances for Toyota seemed bleak. Suddenly, however, after the final safety-car period, things turned around dramatically and Ralf discovered himself in third place ahead of Button, Montoya, Fisichella and the rest.
He will have hoped to have ended Toyota's string of bad luck with his third place finish.

Ferrari
Ferrari and Bridgestone were struggling massively for grip all weekend after becoming yet another team to be possessed by the tyre-temperature devil. Those 'men in red' had a bad qualifying round, to put it mildly, Felipe Massa crashing out and Michael Schumacher unable to make the cut to the final session.

Massa's short but dramatic race finished on turn two, after he became a casualty of the Klien-sweep. Schumacher battled understeer all race, battled through the mid-field and was overtaken by the likes of Liuzzi. His second stint saw him fight back, posting some quick times - the seven-time world champion clearly trying to salvage something from a race long lost.

He apparently pushed too hard, taking a few off-track excursions while pursuing a slowing Button, and his luck finally ran out on the last corner, when, after overshooting the curb, he hit a bump in the grass, which forced him into the barriers.

Ferrari most definitely didn't have a party on Sunday night.

Honda

Dear, oh dear. Whatever happened to the old advantage sitting on pole gave drivers? If not anything, the Austrailian GP has shown us not to read much into qualifying times...even though Jenson Button explained his surprise at making it to pole-position in the post-qualifying press conference.

In actuality, the Brackley-based outfit were, like Ferrari struggling for grip all weekend. Barrichello, after starting all the way down in sixteenth, remained in the midfield scrapping it out with the RBRs and the STRs for most of the race, and later on complained of being unable to brake as his brake-pedal was sinking to the floor of the cockpit unaided. On the radio to his team, he said that the car was 'horrible to drive'.

Jenson Button, however, after 'stunning' everyone by qualifying on pole, drove a dismal race, going backwards most of the time and losing out most noticably at the end of safety-car periods. Race restarts are something that he must work on. It is now quite clear that his advantage in qualifying stems from his feather-light fuel load for the race - everything comes at a price. Despite his lack of pace, he was going strong for fifth place (and hence four championship points), when his engine gave way on the last corner (see images above), a failure reminiscent of Hakkinen's Spain 2001 and Raikkonen's Nurburgring 2005 retirements. Giancarlo Fisichella, despite the large amounts of oil that would have collected on his visor, drove past easily.

McLaren - Mercedes
If anything, Juan Pablo Montoya proved during the first two sessions of qualifying that pigs could fly (and all this is said in good spirit, of course). However, as lap times dropped with lightening fuel loads in the last session, the Columbian and his Finnish teammate could only manage to qualify fifth and fourth respectively.

Montoya sparked off the drama dynamite even before the race began, spinning on the warm up lap while trying to get heat into his Michelins. He was all lined up at the back of the grid, preparing to start last and drive a gruelling race on a multiple-stop strategy when Fisichella's stall and the subsequent second warm-up lap allowed him to regain track position.

From then on it seemed to be a competitive race for the silver-black-and-now-red-too cars - Kimi was up to third place and Juan Pablo to fourth. Subsequently, the 'Iceman' overtook Jenson Button at the end of a safety-car period to take second and set the lap-record on the final lap of the race.

However, Team McLaren had their own share of problems. Kimi Raikkonen flat-spotted his tyres, which generated huge vibrations and understeer and even fractured the endplate of his front wing. This was replaced during his pitstop on lap 34 under the safety-car (deployed as a result of the Villeneuve-Liuzzi incident).

All this time, Montoya waited impatiently behind Kimi's car, his strategy and hard work to maintain track position all thrown out the window. The Columbian subsequently pushed (way too) hard to make up for the lost time and made the same mistake as Michael Shumacher did earlier on in the race, overshooting the curb on the outside of turn 16. Montoya, however, did a much better job of keeping the car on track. For a moment, it almost looked like he could continue, but the emergency-lights on the back of his car illuminated, and he pulled off the racing line and jumped out of the car.

Back on the pit-wall, he apparently told his race engineer that the car 'switched itself off'.

Renault
A close-to-perfect qualifying saw the two blue-and-yellow speed-machines start the race second and third. Known for their lightning starts, the Renaults were tipped off for yet another one-two finish. But their problems, too, started early on when Fisichella stalled on the grid and had to start from the pitlane.

The 'man from Rome' then spent most of his Sunday afternoon like Barrichello did - picking his way through the midfield. He suffered more as his car-to-pit telemetry failed, so he had to actually dictate every change in his car to his race engineer on the radio while trying to defend his track position during the opening stages of the race. His Lucifer's luck didn't leave him right there - after his final stop, 'Fisico', as he is called of track, had a clutch failure, a problem that his teammate did not have. Memories of last season come back to me as I think of his predicament - was Alonso lucky, Fisichella unlucky, or was Fisichella just being given inferior machinery? Much like Barrichello, Giancarlo also suffered understeer and was bombarded on the radio by complaints from his perplexed race engineer about his mysterious lack of pace as compared to Alonso when the two cars were running on the same fuel-load. This conversation was one of those that were broadcasted to the millions of fans viewing the race on TV and would have surely caused Fisico some amount of embarressment. It would suffice to say that Giancarlo might have finished on the podium, or even won like last year if he'd brought his good-luck-fairy with him to Melbourne.

And finally, we come to the only man who drove a perfect race...the thick-eyebrowed World Champion from Spain who is surrounded by an air of contagious confidence. I'm quite sure that I didn't notice Fernando struggle for grip, for position, or for anything for that matter.

His only challenge was overtaking Button for the lead, which he did with the showmanship with which he overtook Michael Schumacher at the 130R during the Japanese GP of 2005. A true champion's drive - as spotless as the trophy he was handed on the podium.

What a race, what a win and what an exciting Championship season we have ahead of us! To think that we have fifteen such unpredictable races left leaves my head spinning, speaking for myself, of course.

That said, although Renault have won all three races so far, the season is far from fin(n)ished.

2006-03-27T00:50:00.000-08:00

It's hotting up down under!
The preview to the Australian GP

A street circuit is undoubtedly the toughest to race on. Even if it's got world class roads. Even if it's Albert Park, Melbourne. Firstly, the track is used for racing only for three days a year. this means that it is 'dirty' by any standards. Large amounts of dust collect on the track, making grip in the corners(and therefore aerodynamics of the car, which produce downforce) a race-winning element. Secondly, the track surface is made of a completely different material from that on a complete racing circuit, meaning that the tyre compound used by the teams is completely different.
Now, for dummies, downforce is the downward aerodynamic thrust produced by the front and rear wings and also by the diffuser at the back of the car. This increases grip in the corners. However, increasing the downforce also means increasing drag, which is a retarding (slowing down) force. Since the wings of an F1 car are not permitted by the rules to flex like in an airplane, you can get only one of downforce or speed at a time, making car set-up critical.

The Circuit
The albert Park Circuit is characterised by a nuber of close left-right sequences separated by short straights.
The start/finish straight leads to the turn1/2 sequence - a slow ninety degree corner leading into a longish left, which accelerates onto the straight. Large gravel traps line this sequence as 'incidents' on the first lap are inevitable.
No sooner have you worked your wayup the gears have you reached the really sharp and slow turn 3. Turn 4 is a little way off, and the area between turns 3 and 4 appears straight. However, the drivers cruise through this in an 's' shape to conserve momentum. In actuality, this complex is a car park, and turn 4 doesn't exist, but is created only for the race. An area to finish off back-markers, this is.
Another pinch of throttle before the longer turn five. This corner leads into a really narrow straight lined by walls - exit out of turn 5 must be really clean, else race over, mate. The straight itself is difficult. Dark and dusty because of the tree cover, unlucky drivers must watch out for falling leaves and twigs hitting their visors while on this straight (I might've said kaaka pi, but I believe the noise made by the cars and fans drives the local wildlife well outside the vicinity during race weekends).
The turn 6/7 and turn 9/10 complexes are fairly similar - a sharp right leading to an opening left. These two complexes seem to catch drivers out more often than not. A long escape area saves drivers who slip on turn 6, but screw turn 9 up, and you're in the gravel, mate. This half of the race-track is called 'Lakeside Drive', as it follows the Albert Park Lake. Turns 7 and 8 pass through the Albert Park Golf Course, which, I hear, is closed on GP weekend for fear of the safety of a certain reckless japanese driver.
Now the fastest section of the circuit. A long, sweeping arc, two fast corners (11 and 12) and the longest straight on the circuit lead to turn 13, another great overtaking spot after the late-breaking area under the overpass. Another gravel trap here.
This section is followed by the finishing-off section of the lap. A very sharp right hander (breaking is important here) opens into the pit entry. A little to the left and you pass the pit entry on the right, the Schumacher and Prost Grandstands on the left and re-enter the main straight cheered on the by the thousands of fans who appear a blur through your visor.

The guys who have it
Here's my list of seven guys who've got it to win here this Sunday (and you'll see that I'm being quite fair and unbiased).

1. Michael Schumacher (P2 - 11 points)
This guy undoubtedly has the best chance of winning here this week. He's got nothing more to prove to anyone, nothing higher to achieve. He's doing this for the love of doing it and just wants another championship or two before he retires.
Ferrari have historically been quite strong at Albert Park, and if the rain is anything like it was last year, expect to see those red cars on their Japanese tyres on the front row of the grid again.

2. Giancarlo Fisichella (P4 - 10 points)
He's not let an entire bad season affect his performance. Coming out of a race-winning weekend into the race that he won last year, here's what good ole 'Fisico' had to say after his mysterious engine problem put him through all sorts of problems during the Bahrain Grand Prix:
"Last year I won the first race then had a difficult season. This year, I hope it will be the other way round - a bad race then a lot of good results!"
And he sure has shown his determination to impress with that no-mistakes pole-to-victory drive two weeks ago at malaysia!

3. Fernando Alonso (P1 - 18 points)
He's the defending champion. He's leading the championship points table. He's already won the first race of the season and completed a one-two for Renault in the second. The young man from Spain needs no excuse to book a place on the top step of the podium. 'Nano' is my third best man.

4. Kimi Raikkonen (P6 - 6 points)
He's got only one chance left to stop this season from being a repeat of 2005. An accident in qualifying (caused by a faulty part in the back of the car) at Bahrain and a quick exit (courtesy the clean Klien) from the Malaysian GP have left Kimi way behind the competition. If there's one place where he can, and has to, do it, it's here.
The tide of bad luck has already started, but it's not affecting his performance, that's for sure. After all, this is the same guy who gave one hundred percent all year last year despite the numerous 10 place grid penalties imposed on him and his unfortunate suspension failure at Nurburgring.

5. Jenson Button (P3 - 11 points)
More than a hundred starts and not a single win! The pressure really is high on Jense. He needs to show his team that two consecutive years of haggling with Frank Williams to retain his drive haven't gone to waste. And besides, the changed management (after the Honda buyout of BAR) may not take the trouble of paying Frank (or any other team boss) in millions to save their 'star' driver.
Button seems to have absolutely no problem with reaching the podium. The only problem he's got is his inability to reach the top, besides his annual defection to Williams.

6. Mark Webber (P8 - 3 points)
Those WilliamsF1s seem to be quite strong with a new engine at the back, don't they? No, Webber's never won a race. But he has reached the podium, and that too at Monaco (for dummies: another street race). And he's racing in front of his home crowd for the first time in a close to decent car. I think Mark could just pull off a surprise this time around.

7. Nico Rosberg (P9 - 2 points)
Young. Very fast. Raw-talented. Flying Finn IV. In a good car, this guy's got everything it takes. Full marks to Nico for entering the championship standings in his first ever race. The last person ever to have scored points in his first race was (guess who?) his very own team mate Mark Webber (!!!) in (guess where?) the Australian GP (!!!) 2002, which was, incidentally (guess what?) also the first race of the season. He, too scored (guess how many?) TWO points. Just like Nico. Full of coincidences, Formula 1 is.
To drift away from Nico for a second, Webber achieved that in a Minardi! Imagine doing that in front of your home crowd!
The previous person to score points on his debut GP was Jacques Villeneuve exactly ten years ago, also in a WilliamsF1 (!!!). That was incidentally the first time the Australian GP was held at Albert Park (it had been held at the Adelaide Street Race Track for ten years before that). Jacques took Pole Position (yes, in his first race) and led lap after lap, until an oil leak made him forfeit first place to his team mate Damon Hill. Jacques, nevertheless finished second, an impressive performance. This sunday will sure be one nostalgic race for the Canadian, for he stands almost no chance of even a podium finish in his BMW this time with more than four teams vying for that already. He'll probably be content with points like in Malaysia.
Back to Nico: yes he's another flying Finn, son of the flying Finn (for dummies: Keke Rosberg) number one. Yes, with a bit of luck, he can do it this weekend.

2006-03-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

The Proof REALLY is in the Pudding!

...and I know a lot of people who would not like this pudding because it is not only Teutonic but also Tectonic! Ha, all those who hate the Red Army, the Tifosi and the Scuderia... I hate to say, you're losers. And Raï... don't even count on the grid these days. His back of the grid start has become so regular that it looks like he prefers to start from his fishing pond than be comfortable at the crowd. Some people are lonely at the top and some people are lonely at the back.

The new rules don't really seem to look that bad. It helps separate the big boys and the men. And the MAN really came out tops last night. But how did Felipe do that? Well, as much as the BOSS's dominance seems set to get back to where it was 2004, the Brazilian connexion seems to click too for Jean and his Luca di's . Let's see what happens tonight at Sakhir. Go Schumi go! Beat 'em Mild Sevens red redder reddest!

Aash Vik and Shit-ij... you guys hearing?

2006-02-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

And now... QUALIFICATION FOR DUMMIES!

Read on... http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_print_article.php?fes_art_id=27210

I still miss the Saturday 1 hour qualifying where they just drove around for an hour. At least we got to watch them all. And there were some thrills. Because Ferrari started dominating and they thought the sport was getting boring and they had to infuse lifeblood... they went out and messed the whole thing. C'mon guys... the F-1 world was never going to be a life-long Ferrari lease, to say the least. So the Bosses went paranoid and now... Who's gonna ride those wild horses as U2 sang? Keine Ahnung.

2006-01-25T03:58:00.000-08:00

Rubens Gets His...
Honda unveiled their challenger for the 2006 season in Spain on Wednesday morning, along with their new driver line-up of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. Following the Japanese company’s takeover of BAR, the RA106 is the first Formula One car launched by a Honda works team since 1968.
The new car and its RA806E V8 engine are the result of unified development effort, combining resources from the team’s Bracknell base in the UK and Honda’s R&D department in Tochigi, Japan.With its livery of Honda Racing White - harking back to the team’s original Formula One debut in 1964 - two RA106 chassis have been brought to Barcelona to allow Barrichello and Button to begin testing simultaneously. Anthony Davidson is to join them at Barcelona this week.

...And so does Michael

The new Ferrari 248 was launched at Mugello on Tuesday, where Michael Schumacher commenced a test programme, putting in 44 laps in low temperatures to clock a best time of 1m 21.904s.Ferrari had planned to continue at the Tuscan circuit, but based on forecasts of worsening weather conditions in the area, they will know switch to Barcelona, venue for this week’s multi-team test.

We'll finally get to see how the new cars compare, especially with the much awaited Ferraris. Both Honda and Ferrari had a dismal season last year, neither having won a race.* The new nomenclature seems slightly strange for both teams, probably indicating a change in times.

Elsewhere

MF1 has announced a partnership with Zimm Integrated Shipping Services, a world leader in shipping cargo. the Zimm seven star logo will feature prominently on the Midland Toyota M16 this year. The Russian team seams to be loading itself with sponsors this year. MF1 has also signed on 25 year old Markus Winkelhock as one of its test drivers for 2006.

Ferrari has recently signed a three year deal with Martini Racing, whose logo is to feature on the 248.

*Note: The 2005 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis has not been taken into account while writing this post as the Jordans and Minardis could hardly have been called 'competition' or expected to win.

2006-01-23T05:27:00.000-08:00

Presenting - the potential 2006 World Championship Winner

McLaren has chosen to shake down the Mp4-21 today at the Circuit de Catalunya at Barcelona, spain. Pedro de la Rosa was on duty and Juan Pablo will take over from him tomorrow. The car is visually very similar to the Mp4-20, which won 10 out of 19 Grands Prix in 2005, including its characteristic 'horns'. But, if one looks closely, one should be able to notice the lowered rear end and Mp4-19-like nose cone. The sidepods are less rounded, too, in accordance to the 2006 aero regs. The invisible changes in the car are:

->V-angle of the cylinders set at 90 degrees
->Use of a maximum of two inlet and exhaust valves each, previously restrictions have only covered the number of cylinders and a limit of five valves
->Minimum engine weight of 95 kilograms
->Maximum cylinder bore of 98 millimetres
->The position of the engine's centre of gravity
->Precisely defined alloys for the manufacturing of engine components

One of the other changes in the regulations that is likely to affect teams is that 5% of the fuel used to run the car must compose of organic materials. By this the FIA means cow dung and agricultural combustibles. This has been initiated in an effort to increase the 'environment-friendliness' of F1. As if there wasn't enough bullshit in F1 already.

2006-01-21T07:47:00.000-08:00

Of Contracts
Two teams have signed on new partners this week. While Ferrari seems to have hooked a big one with Acer (a three year contract), the Ranstad Group has concluded a contract to partner the WilliamsF1 team this year in providing and developing 'Human capital', which, according to them, is 'the lifeblood of anysuccessful organisation'.

Of Testing
On Friday, MF1 completed its four-day long test at Silverstone, where its new Toyota V8 powerplant, gearbox, electronics package and suspension were tested on the team's interim EJ15b. It's interesting to note that MotoGP Star Max Biaggi drove nine laps in the car in wet conditions on Thursday.
Elsewhere in Europe, at Ferrari's very own Fiorano track, Massa shook down the new Ferrari, christened the '248'.
Williams and Honda were the only teams active at the so-far busy Jerez today, with McLaren and Toyota packing up on Friday. Nico Rosberg posted thefastest time (1:18.321s*), followed by Barrichello and Button of Honda, with Wurz on duty for the Grove outfit bringing up the rear at
1:18.833s*. The Wiliams challenger for 2006 is set to be unveiled next week.

Of poor old Spa
While an important Belgian Politician has confirmed the cancellation of the Belgian Grand Prix of 2006 at Spa-Francorchamps due to lack of funds, it is widely known that this man is something of a loose cannon and as far as the official records maintained by the FIA go, there has been no change made by the authorities at Spa.

*Note: All times are unofficial.

2006-01-19T07:19:00.000-08:00

Its Super Mario, Frankly speaking...
Just after nine o'clock on tuesday morning in Valencia, the BMW Sauber F1.06 was unveiled before more than 500 journalists and guests in the futuristic Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias.
In his function as BMW Motorsport Director, Professor Mario Theissen, who also directs the BMW Sauber F1 Team, said: "We are not under any illusions: we have a long road ahead of us. 2006 is a year of transition, and so would be premature to declare any sporting objectives. The main thing is that everything is pointing in the right direction."
More.

2006-01-01T20:10:00.000-08:00

Canadian GP F1 Third Largest TV Draw Globally in 2005

2006-01-01T19:08:00.000-08:00

Super Aguri Team set for Joining the Formula One Grid

2006-01-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

Fernando Alonso:

I remember this bloke about 4 years ago. His debut was with Minardi. There was this race where it was a do or die for David "the undying" Coulthard. What the heck! He was in the Championship race. And the Scot was getting frustrated. Try as he might, he could not overtake the minnow in front of him. And he was furious, shaking his helmet-ed head and his bunched up fist... getting furious at the marshals for not blue-flagging the car in front of him... radioing expletives to his team at the pits... Imagine what you would do if this happens for like 18 laps... and the guy in front of you wasn't even a top-10 runner... the guy was a debutant in a Minardi! Well, the young turk in front of him had other ideas. He was in the clear. Coulthard may be fighting for the championship, but as long as the former was not a backmarker to Coulthard, he had a right to defend his position. Well drubbed the gravel on the grass, upstart! That was Fernando Alonso. The year, I guess, was 2001. And 2 years later, he won his first Grand Prix at Hungaroring! and almost earned a hard-fought duel with Schumi at the Spanish Barcelona Grand Prix. The home-fans squealed in manic delight that day. And 2 more years later, this guy has shaken up the entire paddock area 2 further years in advance. Well, the news - for those not following F-1 world when there is no race - is Alonso has already signed up to move over to McLaren for 2007. And the 2006 season has not started. Would not start until another month or two! A lot of questions are being raised over this Paddock Poaching for Driver Line-up 2007 by Ron Dennis when there is no apparent need to. At least, Alonso-Dennis combo need not have announced it now. So if Fernando doesn't due to some reason win as many races in 2006 as he did in 2005 or cannot retain his Championship (there's already breaking news that Schumi has set early season testing times ablaze at Fiorano circuit), question marks are going to be raised. And what of Montoya or Raikkonen at McLaren. Is this Ron's way of shaking Kimi for not winning the Driver's Championship? Or is this a way of rattling Montoya who until the other day, before the emergence of Alonso out of Renault testing service, was the fieriest and angry young driver of F-1? So who goes out? Who stays in? A lot of commitments are going to be put to test in what seems a difficult year for F-1 : 2006!

* * * * *

Breaking News on the F-1 front:

Hockenheim in recent financial trouble is already the only true-blood German Grand Prix. Nurburgring, although technically is in Germany and even closer to Schumis' home-town of Kerpen than Hockenheim, is considered a European Grand Prix hosted by Luxemborg Racing Authorities and the State of Luxemborg. And those folks are adding salt to the already wounded pride of Hockenheimers by offering to sharing the financial burden. Internal German take-over? What with BMW stepping in directly into the ring! On that count, we have a new team for 2006. A Japanese team that is not Honda, not Toyota... Of course, Taku Sato is in the driver line-up with another newbie. All Jap line-up. Sony took over Hollywood. Will Japan take over F-1 too? Max! Bernie!! d'ye both hear? Or will, when he retires, Schumi be the hier-apparent to Max and Bernie's stranglehold on the business part of F-1? Already we hear this week that Luca di Montezemolo - the honcho at Fiorano (Ferrari Headquarters) - announcing that Schumi is Ferrari's eternal future, hinting that even after quitting competitive racing, Michael would be active either as Manager or as Technical Chief or whatever Michael desires. Good thing that Rubens has decided to move over at the long last! But sad thing, everyone who moves into Ferrari talks rose before taking the tack Eddie Irvine took 5 years back. Losers grumblers, eh? That's it from F-1 paddock this week.

2005-12-31T19:08:00.000-08:00

My Formula-1 Inaugural Post:

Well... I have been holding back the temptation all these years to start blogging exclusively on Formula One - that Numero Uno of Motor Sport, and all its intrigues on and off track. Having literally grown up on the tracks of the haloed Sholavaram - courtesy MMSC - and later walked the agricultural areas of Irungaatukkottai as a Marshall, not to mention my forays into marshalling South India Rally at odd times of the night in the jungles and junglee-tarmacs of Tamilnadu and Andhra border as well as the mountains of Kodai, I am only too aware of the admin, management, technical as well as racing side of Motor Sport. And I have been following F-1 since the days of Gilles Villeneuve - I must have been a little scrawny gawky-eyed kid then!

But then, seeing a host of improperly maintained, irregularly updated F-1 fan sites and blog pages, I decided to take the plunge. Here is my first offering.

May we strive to post more!