[the discussions surrounding the previous post on IT unions was very enriching and interesting. thanks to all]
Iam writing this just few hours ahead of the final Formula One race of the season at Shanghai, China. The
year 2005 has been very exciting filled with wonderful races and good surprises. It also saw some good engines put to test as well as a bunch of rookie drivers who tried to impress this part of the racing world.While the driver championship is already decided in favor of Fernando Alonso, the young Spaniard - who is now the youngest F1 champion of the word, the constructor championships is in for a great showdown in Shanghai tonight. Renault leads the McLaren-Mercedes by just over 2 points. Though Renault made a suprise 1-2
pole at Shanghai, McLaren is at 3-5 and with the powerful Merc engines, it is almost a certainity that the race will be a very very close one. The Ferrari monopoly of wins has been paused and we can look forward to Ferrari to bounce back in 2006 strongly.The year began with Renault dominating the initial races and Mercedes proving unreliable several times. Excellent driving instinct, good luck and unreliable McLaren made Alonso the World Champion, inspite of Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren winning 7 championships as opposed to Alonso's 6. This is the second time Kimi has come too close to clinch the driver's championship.. remember the 2 point close a couple of years back ?! We witnessed the terrific San Marino where Alonso held Schumacher at bay for over 13 laps; and the thrilling Suzuka where Kimi came all the way from the last position at start to win the race.
This year also had the disastrous anti-climax at Indianapolis Speedway where 7 Michelin teams pull
ed out of the race due to unsafe conditions. I had been to watch this 6 car tamasha on the road which showed the only Ferrari win so far. Speaking of Michelin, they have dominated this space by clinching both driver and constructor championships already.With regards to India, they key episode was the induction of Narain Karthikeyan into the Jordan F1 team. Narain did not do phenomenally well, though he managed to pick up free points at Indy. His teammate and fellow rookie Tiago Montiero made a record 16 continious completions, a feat equalled only by Michael Schumacher (though Schumi finished all in podiums!).
2005 also was a let down for Ferrari, with Schumi winning only one free race and Reubens Barichello deciding to switch sides to Honda a year early. Fellippe Massa will b
e the No.2 for Schumi at Ferrari in the next season.This season also had interesting twists in terms of drivers - with Jenson Button finally winning over Frank Williams bid to take him over again. Button will now race alongwith Barichello at Honda. This signals the good bye for Japanese driver Takuma Sato who has had a disastrous season, much to the anger of Japanese fans. Honda has agreed to supply v8 engines to the team that picks Sato to race. We also witnessed the interesting takeover of BMW-Williams, to be called Sauber from now; the selling of BAR shares fully to Honda; the rumor of McLaren giving away their hold fully to Mercedes; the sale of Jordan to Midland. However in my view, the takeover of the season is the purchase of Minardi by Red Bull Racing. RBR is a very successful company in terms of extreme sport investments and it remains to be seen how the 2 team strategy will work out for them in F1.
While Juan Pablo, Fisichella, Klein, Barichello, Massa, Pizzonia had typical seasons, it was a let down by Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli of Panasonic-Toyota Racing who could have done better, atleast in Suzuka, Japan. However Toyota's presence is being felt strongly in any case. Similarly the Williams team had a bad run with Weber finishing over 150 grand prix without a win. Jack Villenvue was as usual unforgiving and had his own tussles with a bunch of racing counterparts, acting almost like a vote-splitter in a election, changing the course of few results.
As I sit biting my nails to see who will hold the constructor-trophy, it feels happy to recount some of the events of the season as 2005 was a terrific year for Formula One. Great drivers, great engines, great races !!! My favorite Alonso, Michelin, Renault had a great season..And as a diehard F1 fan, I couldnt ask for more :)
Congratulations ALONSO, KIMI, RENAULT, McLAREN-MERCEDES and MICHELIN!!
Blog update: Alonso won the Shanghai GP, with Kimi finishing second, thereby giving my favorite Renault the constructor championships. Splendid driving by Alonso and Kimi.
Ciao..
16 comments:
Yeah the race at Indy was a big screw up...I hope they will make it up next year...
I ended up seeing almost all the races on paper. Overall it was a good year with good thrilling races and few sober ones...
I wish all F1 fans including me a wonderful 2006.
Shiva - See you in Indy....
Congrats to Flavio Briatore on his phenominal constructors win.
Bad luck to Narain for his crash in Shanghai. His whole car blew up and caught fire.
Anyways, better luck next season to the ferrari team. And also to the new teams in the circuit.
A word of thanks to the old and outgoing teams too. We would miss you folks starting 2006.
Alonso (and Renault) were on fire in the race! Man, what sorta speed!!
McLaren looked like a fool in front of Renault. And finally (in the press conference) Alonso revealed that Renault didn't add on the improvements they had in the bag except for the last 2 races (since there weren't any need to risk a stable package). He even went ahead and said he's pissed off for not using them (had he used the improvements he'd have won more than 7 races!).
I love to see Renault on top rather than Ron Dennis' outfit :) So, I'm happy. I'm more happy for the fact that McLaren didn't see this performance coming outta Renault. They were caught with their pants down ;-)
Did you guys notice what Michael was doing? He was making a fool outta himself. Exactly the same as he did last year! Kinda funny.
The good thing is Juan didn't finish and so is not third in the driver's championship!! I like it cos he talks more than what he's asked for! This is what he said couple of races before "We'll blow Renault away".
Finally, Alonso has all the traits of a champion. It'll be a debate on whose better when it comes to raw speed. But we are not talking about splash and dash! We are talking about racing. You need to be fast, adept in adapting to the car/conditions, adept in handling traffic/overtaking and "consistent". He seems to be the only young fellow to have it all.
rags - ciao at Indy 2006 man !!!
eshwar - bad luck to Narain. Lets see how Ferrari fares, now that their favorite tyre change rules are back in again.
anand - 100% on Alonso.. the kid shows driving brilliance and not just ruthless dash.
dinesh - finally the fact that Kimi had more wins than Alonso point is mooted - sealing the well deserved championship for Alonso an Renault.
2005 was a fabulous season. We saw Ferrari losing their dominance, Youngest F1 Champion, first indian to race in F1 & many more.
There was some great moments & some lighter ones as well.
Coming to 2006 :
Will we see the re-emergence of Ferrari. Will we see Narain driving a F1 car in the Australian GP. Can Renault continue their awesome form of 2005.
And Lastly, will siva make it to Indy F1 along with his wife :-)
I wonder, Flavio with Fernando will be moving to Ferrari by end of 2007 (inspite of all rumours about Kimi's dealings with Ferrari).
Rationale:
1. Fernando looks like Michael in the making. Fernando's work with car development activities is far superior to Kimi's (my guess). And Ferrari should replace Michael with this aspect in mind too (not just racing). Michael is an indispensable part of development activities in Ferrari (in the words of Chris Goodwin "Michael's inputs are worth 100 times the combined inputs of all the rest of the drivers.").
2. Todt and co. will be planning to retire and hence Flavio would be possible right choice (as non-techie head).
3. Flavio's contract with Renault is also coming to an end.
4. Flavio is a handy man of Bernie and Bernie is a *friend* of Ferrari.
5. From Ferrari perspective, Flavio is very much a known item as most of the current Ferrari folks are from Benetton and Flavio.
6. Flavio is a Business Man - not a racing/business man.
What are your thoughts?
On Saturday I had dinner at Ganesh's place and Robbie was also there. He told me the difference between Formula racing and NASCAR and it was a revelation to me. I also saw Dr. Gupta (resident doctor of CNN) recount his experiences behind the wheel and what it does to the driver from a doctor's viewpoint. It was interesting :-)
Desi..one thing is for sure. Our Narain is going to sit it out as a test driver. Bad luck but thats how the cookie crumbles !
Thalaiva!
I read this on eshwars blog! I completely agree with you! nethiadi ma subbbbbbbbbbbbbber rebuttal!
Anand
If I indulge in the same kind of mudslinging exercise with you about RSS or others, I would be putting myself to shame and I would prove no better. So let me refrain myself from doing that. For as much you have not understood communism, you dont seem to have understood your favorite hinduism either.
Your inquisitive brain and abundant energy are heavily wasted on negative thoughts and nothing constructive can come out of it. Just like you, most of the people who comment/write in these spaces are Hindus. Most of them are devout, staunch and religious hindus. And many of us believe in doing good for everyone. I, for one, do not subscribe to your highly negative crusade attitude as that is not what my religion has taught me and that is not what I believe in.
If RSS helped during tsunami I welcome that. If they kill Gandhi, I oppose that. If Christian missionaries build schools to educate masses I welcome that and support that. If they organize a military campaign to kill a faith,I oppose that. Similarly if communists bring labor welfare - I vouch for that. If they do mass exterminations - I oppose that... - for Iam a Hindu- and my religion has taught me to live, love and cooperate. As it is repeatedly said - Hinduism is not (just) a religion. It is a way of life. Iam extremely proud of it and I will not keep finding causes to shun, badmouth or create a hatred towards people of other faiths. I will believe in symbiosis to survive.
As a rebuttal, I would just like to reiterate what I said earlier - if you believe that everything in the world is a conspiracy and that the whole world is against you/your faiths, then there will be nothing much left to live for.... Live and let live. Dont be so negative.
Your negative thoughts dont affect just you, but it affects the goodwill of all Hindus throughout the world. If you really like to do a crusade, do it positively. Dont run a campaign by hatred. It doesnt succeed in politics or in real life.
desi - lets see :)
thennavan - maybe someday we will take a lecture for you on F1 and its wonders
robbie - thanx man :)
eshwar - Narain did not shine well as we had expected. However he has driven through the full season and for a F1-backward country like ours, this is no ordinary feat, wudnt you say ?
ananda - interesting twist to the tale. I for one do not buy the potential Kimi move to Ferrari. As I keep insisting the 2008 season, Massa will still be there. And my pet theory of Valentino Rossi in Ferrari by 2008 is still there.
Alonso has made it no secret that he would like to drive for Ferrari. Given the guys' sheer brilliance, he is a natural fit for the racing company.. and Ferrari is full of Flavio's core men.
But my guess is, lot of this depends on how much Renault is willing to shed for F1 in the next 2 years. Renault was on a cost cutting mode until now. However their winning the championship may turn things around, in which case, they may be willing to invest on Alonso, which will require Flavio as well..
with concorde drawing to a close 2008 will be a very interesting year to see.
Robbie...pls note that Siva's rebutal on my blog was meant for another blogger's comment and not my blog post per se.
And Siva, yes for a country like india that does not have very many F1 fans, Narain surely did us proud.
eshwar,
Narain is from a racing family and a rich one too. Its quite natural that he moved into F1 racing (in these days of globalisation). Also, F1's popularity in India is increasing consistently over the last 12 years or so. And ofcourse, he footed the bill for his drive (and stays in a small apartment in Europe!). Hats off to him to have tried his level best to get there.
With respect to Narain's racing, he should hv taken the podium in Indy. He missed out. He's fast, but his racing results make him appear stupid (sorry, that's how it appears to me). His team mate is able to produce results while Narain breaks the car all over the place! May be he is too good to be in a Jordan!
As far as I have seen, a sensational driver driving a not-so-fantastic car (Alonso in Minardi, Kimi in Sauber, Webber in Minardi, even Klein in Jordan) produced finishes and decent results as well. They didn't break the car all the time. I don't think Narain would have gotten into the good side of team bosses with his display.
He got himself into the big league and in my opinion, he failed to do a good job while at it.
- Anand.
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