To Infinity and beyond | Formula One

Return of Ice Baby | Kimi Raikkonen

2012-01-09T10:27:00.000-08:00

The most (only) speculative news in Formula One last year was the comeback of World Champion Kimi Raikkonen in 2012.After a two year break, he is back with experiences in rallying and Nascar ,most of all-he is motivated (That's dangerous). Let us explore the opportunities that lays ahead.

But first, a glance at the opportunities he had before,
His gifted driving skill was showcased to the world when he finished first in the Formula Renault championships. It earned him his formula one seat in 2001 and after a one year stint with Sauber he moved to McLaren-Mercedes.

Not one, or two or three but five unfortunate years at McLaren frustrated him. His amazing drives and performance were shunted by the car’s reliability. Retirements and accidents ruined all his chances.

His next move brought the change he wanted. He won the 2007 World Championship with the Maranello based outfit.But that was also the end of his fortunes. Ferrari fell to the strengths of McLaren and Brawn GP.
His F1 career is similar to a wave comprising of alternate Good and Bad seasons. Unsatisfied with his payments and agreements, he quit F1 to start Rallying.

He can win championships, but only in a reliable and fast car. But none of the two words ‘reliable’ and ‘fast’ describes Lotus at the moment.

The Renault powered Lotus has been facing challenges. New team managements, bad strategies and In- experienced drivers have pulled the team down the order. It is facing increased competitions from teams like Force India.

What Lotus needs is a driver who can use his experience to give feedbacks of the Cars performance and build a foundation, the team requires.

But F1 is different from where Kimi left. New rules, different tires, improved technology and most of all, significant presence of World Champions in the grid ready to challenge Lotus and Kimi.

Currently, Kimi is Lotus’s only hope. If their bond fails, they will be devastated. His progress in F1 will be slow, slower than what Schumi is facing.

It will take a year or two before Lotus builds the foundation and start fighting for their podium finishes. Kimi might not even be patient for that!! He has to build his patience and confidence as he will be fighting against Di Riesta or Hulkenberg this season.

Only a steady, planned and combined effort by Lotus and its Drivers will build the team. If anyone gives up in between, it may be the end of Lotus in Formula One.

But his comeback has brought cheers to all his fans. After a disappointing boring season last year, his return will also prove beneficial for F1, bringing back the spirit what the sport had lost last year.

Is it a start of his journey to victory or is it just another disappointing comeback? Lets wait and watch!!

Why India needs Formula One:

2011-10-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

On 28th October 2011, India is set to host its first Formula One Grand Prix in Greater Noida, Delhi. As people in international forums and communities are busy discussing about the need of India in F1, there have been very few talks on the importance of Formula one to India. To make my views crystal clear, I have chalked the key points, which I believe will impact the country and its citizens, deeper than imagined.

1.The cutting edge technology of Formula One will interest students to enter the world of racing. This will and has already lead to start of new courses in the field of Racing by various universities.

2.Driver Training Academies, which have also opened up will ensure that India will not only produce technicians and engineers, but also motorsport drivers in the future.

3.The appeal of the wide spectrum of existing motorsport events in the country will improve and will provide the necessary experience to enter epitome of Racing, F1. A new series known as i1 Super Series has already been established along similar lines of IPL in cricket, where celebrities bid for racing teams and drivers. The event spread over different countries and approved by FIA is sure to grab eyeballs. Hence the beginning of F1 era in India has ushered the inception of racing championships in the country.

4.The Automotive Industry has realised the potential of Formula One and various firms are trying to bond and associate themselves with Formula One. Few examples include supply of support vehicles to Buddh International Circuit by Mahindra and backing of HRT Team by Hero Corp.

5.When F1 comes to India, it doesn’t just bring the teams, it also brings all the sponsors associated with them.

6.When the delegates meet up during the event in Delhi, it will open doors to sign new deals and collaborations. Hence new investments will take place and technology transfer will happen. Maybe within a few years, we might see our country manufacturing indigenous sports cars and competing with the foreign counterparts.

7.Being the World’s most watched sport with an audience of around 500 million people, Formula One provides the perfect platform to promote your brand. Hereinafter we can notice a huge rush among several Indian companies to advertise their brands in the shiny carbon fibre bodies of F1 cars.

8.The race will serve as a good reason for many foreign tourists to visit our country. They can visit and adore the rich culture of the country and enjoy the thrill of the race as well.

9.Even though a F1 grand prix lasts only for 3-4 days, it is a massive event. The preparation involved is colossal. Conducting it successfully will not only boost the image of the country to the world, but will also persuade other international bodies to conduct their events in India. In the future year’s, India may play host to lot of international events.

10.F1 is best known for its speed, performance and team work. The cars complete their pit stops even before we can finish a sip of our coffee. The Indian masses will be dumbstruck by observing the cars and the sport. The sound, speed and thrill involved will hypnotize the audience.

11.It has already gathered a lot of momentum and in a few years, Indians might be the largest follower and contributor of F1 .

In our goal towards being a developed country, hosting the F1 race is highly significant and lets hope the race is a grand success.

Best of Luck to the organizers of Indian Grand Prix.

IS FORMULA ONE GOING THE WRONG WAY???

2011-07-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

Flipping back, when drivers like Vettel and Mark Webber raced wheel to wheel or the all time famous battles between Alonso and Schumi or Senna vs. Prost happened; the entire crowd watching it are on their feet. The TV audiences clap and cheer harder. It pushes people out of their seats or sofa and makes them wave their hands. That is the spirit of Racing. That is Formula One. What is happening now is something different. I don’t care to react or smile when overtaking manoeuvres happen between famous drivers. The Fun is OVER.

Earlier, over takings were rare and tough and those whose managed to pull it received great applause and honours. People remember the races by the famous over takings that happened, not by the year or date. Nowadays, the race is filled with boring overtaking which the drivers would themselves not remember after the races end.

There are primarily Three reasons [apart from domination of Red Bull] which has Degraded and Spoiled the fun and excitement in F1:
1. DRS
2. Pirelli tires
3. Re-fuelling

The DRS:
Controlled by a button in the steering wheel or a pedal, a mechanical or hydraulic motor lifts a flap of the rear wing up which enables the car to go faster by almost 20kmph reducing the down force in long straights.
It is not the system that is under question. It is the rules surrounding it, which is under consideration. Since only the following driver can use it, he easily gains speed and in 1-2 laps he overtakes the leading driver. Even though the leading driver who is now behind can use it in his favour, the over takings which happen here are only due to DRS.[involves min. Driver skill ]
If u have seen the races, the car in back closes in slowly and overtakes with a press of a button and moves ahead within a blink of an eye. Where is the racing in this?? The rules have to be modified to ensure higher quality of overtaking manoeuvres.
One suitable solution is to allow the following or the second driver to use the DRS when he is within 1 sec ond and 2 second of the leading driver or 0.5 sec to 1.5 sec instead of the current “within 1 sec “.
This rule will not only reduce the gap between cars but also engages them in a wheel-wheel battle to overtake each other.
Few months back, FIA asked the opinions and views of the audience and the viewers expressed the changes they wished to see .The results were as expected .Viewers wanted to see more overtaking.

So the rules were tweaked to increase chances of overtaking. But they failed to recognize that there is difference between just overtaking and racing. Seeing cars that just pass each other isn’t special. I can see that in the movies or video games. What the audience wishes to see is The Bravery, Confidence and Guts of the driver to overtake. They want to see the rivals fighting a war in the fortress rather than silly fights between kids.

The Pirelli tires:
They dominate the race more than the cars do. Their performance changes every race and for every weather conditions. They degrade in the best condition and perform better in the most unpredictable situations. Even the top constructors are clueless to select the right tire compound during the race. Some say Bernie wanted this and ordered Pirelli to make tires that wear out fast. Whatever!!

It is impossible for the teams to make strategies. It is just luck that plays the decisive role here. The tires create a mess and leaves audience surprised.

Compared to the previous years, even though overtaking has increased four fold, the number of accidents and safety cars has reduced by the same. Most of the races have seen more than 22 finishers. Why don’t we see accidents and safety cars??

When do accidents happen??Only when the driver feels that the only way to get ahead is to overtake, he pushes himself and attempts overtaking and might make a mistake. But now, he knows there are more options than just overtaking. The race isn’t over until it’s over. The tire changes might push few to the top or plummet some down, so the drivers are becoming more patient and drives more carefully, particularly at the start. This restricts their driving skills to come to play. So the new tire not only spoils the fun, but also hides the driver’s capability.

Refuelling:
I love those days when pit crews gush gallons of fuel in the cars within 4 seconds. It gives a new perspective and role to pit stops. Currently since only tire changes take place, the difference in timings between teams is hardly a second but when fuelling happens it makes the difference.

Refuelling has to be brought back and this is the best time because there are around 3-4 pit stops in each race and refuelling can happen one or two times and moreover different teams will refuel at different times and tires will perform differently to different fuel loads. That creates the difference and brings the importance of strategy. The Teams would have to decide during which stops we refuel.

The new Engine rules are just making matters worse. More importance is being given to aerodynamics than mechanics. Probably the teams hire more aerospace engineers than the Boeing/Airbus.

What happened to the V10s or V12 engines that roared in the tracks? What happened to famous overtaking and team strategies??What happened to Formula One?

Decisions have to be made, rules have to be changed, and excitement has to be brought in.

The Season so far….

2011-06-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

Before the start of the season, most of us believed 2011 season would see the toughest rivalry and competition among drivers and teams. Only six races have passed by and the question has already arrived “Who will grab the 2nd Place?”

Yes, there are lots of teams competing with other teams to perform better, but there is only one team which fights and competes with themselves to move ahead. It can be and only is Red Bull Racing.

People might soon start calling “Red bull racing” as “You-Know-Who”. You Know why!!!!

Sebastian Vettel has been standing in the first step of the podium since the beginning of the season. Only once he fell down to the second step. How unfortunate!!!!

Whether it was the Tricky corners of Australian Grand prix or the long straight’s of China or the street tracks of Monaco , it has been Vettel who has been standing tall and having all the fun .His team mate however seems to be struggling. Needs to recover his form again fully and quickly!!

The second Tier teams i.e. the McLaren’s, Ferrari’s have been doing pretty decent. They are able to fight for the third-fourth places. Ferrari has been surviving only because of Alonso. Fearing this, they immediately extended his million dollar contract until 2016.The competition what we might expect this year between teammates might be that of Hamilton and Button.

Hamilton has been handling his car, just the way we play F1 races in PC’s. He displayed his reckless and unsporting driving attitude in the streets of Monaco. He better keep his frustration outside the track. The Brazilian, Felipe Massa has started digging his own grave.2012 might be the end of F1 for him.

Let us pass on to the next Tier Teams i.e. the Mercedes and Renault. Schumi cannot just handle the pressure around him. Nico Rosberg on the other hand, just keeps waiting for the right car and the right moment. Heidfeld seems to the best amongst the rest. His race wins usually come with a lot of luck.

Feels sad looking at drivers like Petrov, Di resta,and Perez. They are very talented, but are not able to show it off due to random strategies going on in the races.But; they will get their time very soon.

Force India, who looked strong in the beginning, seems to have fallen down. They need to have good Race strategists in their pits to make the right decisions. Sauber-Ferrari led by Peter Sauber seems to be getting things in the right direction. They continue to make gradual improvements.

The last tier teams ,STR looks good in the qualifying than in the races, just like its sister team. The Williams, The Lotus, Virgin Racing and HRT are hoping to score a couple of points by the end of the season.

What we will be watching this year would be teams fighting with other teams in their own tier. Some teams like Ferrari have already started working on their car for next year. Looks like McLaren might follow it also.

The season is more finished than started, so let’s start from beginning again, i.e. Hope 2012 season would be fun to watch.

Sandeep Ganesh

Drivers and their style:

2011-05-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

Well, this is not about F1 drivers; it is about the bus drivers of Chennai. Don’t mistake them, they are no less talented.

Since my university is situated in the outskirts of the city, I catch the buses frequently to go to city. I have always been fascinated by the Buses. Whenever I get into the buses, I try to catch a seat in the extreme front; thereby I can catch a good view of the road ahead.

As I have travelled over years, the actions and style of various drivers have caught my attention. Most of the bus drivers have a unique and amazing way of driving. Some are cool, some are real funny. I have just picked the best amongst them.

This guy driving a 500 deluxe bus was frail and thin. He had a pack of matchboxes in front of him. He is the ONLY guy in the world who uses both sides of the matchsticks. If the road is empty ahead, he takes out the matchstick and uses the wooden side to remove particles stuck in his teeth. He kept doing that till he approached traffic. When the traffic approaches, he flips the matchstick and immediately lights the beedi that he takes from his pocket. He gets a sudden rush through his veins and overtakes other vehicles. As he passes that vehicle, he looks at the driver of other vehicle and puffs the smoke out at him signaling him that he is defeated.

There is another kind of breed among the bus drivers in Tamil Nadu.These drivers keep their one leg over the engine and control the remaining three pedals with one foot. They remove their shirt and hang it in the seat. They enjoy the breeze and the old classic Tamil music as they drive. Probably that is what you call Business with Pleasure!!

Some bus drivers cannot drive without chatting with the conductors, especially the drivers of the Volvo A.C Buses. One day, I heard the discussion they were having. They were discussing the TV programmes they watch. The conductor said “Serials have become boring. So nowadays I watch only channels like Discovery, Nat Geo, and Animal Planet”. Even the bus driver said he does the same, so they started discussing the animals that come in Animal Planet. At one point, the driver removed his hands from the steering wheel and raised his hands wide towards the conductor standing beside him and said the African elephants raise their Trunk very wide. GOSH! I was terrified .The roads were filled with cars and he just lifted his hands to imitate an elephant from animal planet??!!

This Bus driver, is arguably the best. He got my Adrenaline pumped up. There was a Traffic Signal in the Highway and both the lanes were filled with cars and there might have been around 30 cars between the bus and the signal. As the red Lights turned Green, He rammed his accelerator pedal hard and turned the steering wheel to left throwing the people standing in bus to the right. He exited the road and entered the muddy area filled with bumps. Neglecting the bumps and potholes, He throttled hard and raced ahead. After crossing several vehicles, he drifted back to the road and flew ahead. He had just overtaken 18vehicles within a minute. He was simply brilliant. Loved his Driving!!

Whatever their style might be, all of them did one thing perfectly.ie Driving!! They have amazing reflexes and have avoided accidents that could have happened due to the negligence of other drivers. If they sense a competition in the field they don’t rest until they win. It’s nothing new, only another proof to justify all tamilians have racing in their blood.

So, if you want to see Real racing, it’s not necessary to go to a Race track, just come by Chennai, I can show you plenty of them.

The new Era of Formula One:

2011-05-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

“Old is gold”, well this was rightly said, but now “Young is the better gold” seems to be more appropriate.

In the earlier years, F1 was run by the experienced and the old guys. More the experience, the better u were was the common ideology among people. The young guns would only get to watch the races. But as years and time passed, the young lads began driving cars and were given crucial responsibilities.

Well this shift is clearly visible now. The current F1 2011 season features 90% of the drivers under the age of 30.These youngsters win various racing championship series like GP2; DTM etc before they prove worthful of driving in F1.Some of them have grown and struggled alone, whereas most of them are introduced by various training schools.

Companies like McLaren etc have already well established driver training programmes similar to the ones by the football clubs. These driver trainings select kids around the age of four. These tots are given financial backup and vigorous training. They are then taken to various racing series starting from go karts, and their progress and performance are evaluated throughout the year. As they grow, they are given opportunities to participate in more popular series like the Formula ford, F3 etc.
As they reach their 20’s they are already familiar faces in the international motorsports community. Many of them would have grabbed test driver positions in various F1 teams also. And within a couple of years ,they are fighting on prestigious tracks like Monaco, Spa etc and challenging the oldies still left hanging in the field of f1.

Many of the picks by different teams have proved very fruitful. Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian vettel etc who have won the championships have grown by similar programmes. They have already inspired teens around the world to pursue their passion.

Now why are these young ones selected and why do the teams press on investing money and start various training schools?

If u look at the young drivers in f1, all of them are charged up and greedy to score points and make their way up in the field. They are filled with energy and keep pushing till the chequered flag wavers over their head .This “Do or Die “attitude is what teams are looking for. The teams would prefer drivers with this characteristic than the older drivers like Webber, Raikonnen who have varying moods throughout the race and needs continuous motivation. Moreover, as these drivers are trained right from their young ages, they are loyal to the team that back them and do not demand extra salaries or benefits.

But some of them have turned brats and caused trouble in the pits.Morever these youngsters might not be able to give a detailed feedback about the car’s performance to the team engineers as the experienced drivers. Feedback is very essential and plays the key role to reach greater heights.

But the ever changing rules look to be in favor of younger drivers as these new rules bring the experienced drivers in the same court as the younger ones. Hope the old experienced drivers pull their socks up and race harder so that they survive in a F1 filled with youths.

Air Show 2011

2011-04-21T12:22:00.000-07:00

Aero India 2011
Bangalore
9-13 Feb

"If there is something as awesome as an f1 car,then it would surely be a fighter jet"

Feb 12,I was lucky to get VIP passes for the Aero India Air show,which is the biggest air show in Asia.This air show is held once in two years.I was able to attend it even in 2009 in bangalore.

World famous jet manufacturers displayed their popular models .Whether it was a U.S Navy Cargo Planes or a fighter jet like F-16 etc all were present here to participate in the show.

The stunts they perform are mind-blowing and the adrenaline rush is fantastic.
I was able to take some good pictures using my Nikon D3100 camera.Just wanted to share a few of them.Have edited the pictures slightly to boost the image looks.

This stunt was performed by Red Bull. They were a set of four and did some amazing stunts.just waited the right moment to take a good pic of them.

They made a move such that they go together to the top and then they split.

There we lot of fighter jets zooming past the sky.Their power and sound was great.

This one went all the way to the top and then dropped down at an breathtaking pace.

These planes occupied the skies as they did jaw dropping stunts.The crowd cheered as they passed .

And finally, the only thing the pilots couldn't do was reaching the moon. They tried their best going towards them. See Image

It was an exhilarating performance.Looking forward for the next air show.
Sandeep Ganesh

Malaysian grand prix 2011

2011-04-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

KUALA LUMPUR,

2011 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX:

PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING SESSION:

Practice sessions were dominated by Mark Webber of Red bull Racing Team and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Racing team. McLaren team seems to have closed their gap to the red bull racing team. The positions of other teams kept changing as they were trying various setups.

Saturday, qualifying saw the McLaren dominating Q1 and Q2 but it was Vettel who grabbed the honors of the pole position. Timings dropped from 1.36’s in Q1 to 1.35’s in Q2 to 1.34’s in Q3.

The top 4positions was occupied by Red bull and McLaren. A distant 5^th place went to Alonso, who was the best amongst the rest. Schumi again couldn’t qualify for Q3.The Mercedes team performed better in the practice than in the qualifying. All the Teams qualified inside 107% rule which proved to be a great relief to Marrusia Virgin and HRT .Thunderstorms were no where to be seen, both in the practice and qualifying session.

RACE DAY,

Sebastian Vettel Lead the field as the five red lights went off followed closely by Hamilton in P2.Behind Vettel, his team mate Webber’s KERS failed at first lap itself. Due to lack of KERS power, he trickled down positions to 9th.This in turn affected Alonso who started right behind him, who lost a couple of positions in the first corner. To turn things around, Heildfeld of Renault who started in 6^th went around the outside in first corner and squeezed in Hamilton pushing him to 3^rd.His team mate Petrov also had a good share of advantage by following him .Schumi and Kobayashi gained positions as Rosberg stumbled down few places. Barrichelo suffers a initial tire puncture but is able to bring the car back for a tire change.

The rest of the cars behind pretty much maintained their position. Showers were expected to be 30 min away. Humidity was also very high standing at 80%.

8laps pass by, all cars are throttling full speed. At the end of lap 8, Maldonado pits due to a broken exhaust which ends his debut Malaysian grand prix. Kobayashi and Webber were seen engaged in a serious battle as they kept exchanging places. It was fun to watch all thanks to KERS and DRS. Even Di Riesta was seen nudging Rosberg. Vettel started building his lead over Heildfeld right from lap 1.

Lap 10 marks the first pit stop of the race and Webber changes on to soft. Third to sixth place positions were covered within a second or two between them. So the pit will be a deciding factor to determine their positions after the pits. Hamilton and rest of the frontrunners lap around lap12.Heidfield was caught up in traffic after the pits and hence had to allow button to get ahead of him. Slow pit stop by Massa enabled Alonso to get ahead of him and ultimately overtake button in the first corner. The Track was surrounded by dark clouds, but the only thing the clouds did was spray some droplets in some parts of track.

Lap16, Narain of HRT team retires due to safety concerns. Perez and Alguersuari battle each other and the Mexican driver gets ahead of him. Buemi of Torro Rosso receives a 10second stop/go penalty due to speeding in the pit lane. Felipe Massa of Ferrari passes mark easily for P6 with the help of his KERS unit.

Lap 23, Webber pits. The rest follow him in the subsequent laps for their second pit stop. Surprisingly, Hamilton takes hard tires on his second pit. He is the first person in the grid to pick the hard tires. He joins right behind Petrov. Seems to be a bad call by the McLaren team.

25 Laps pass by; Perez pulls to the side of the track. His race comes to an end. A bad call by the Red bull team puts Vettel behind Massa and Heildfeld after coming out of second pit stop. So Vettel had a tough time fighting the Brazilian and ultimately overtakes him with help of his DRS. Even Hamilton finds a way past Petrov. Schumi of Mercedes and kobayashi go side by side for several corners and the Sauber gets past the Mercedes.

Lap 29, Race leader Vettel is radioed by him team ordering him to not use his KERS.

Alonso struggles with Webber behind him. Fortunately for him, Webber pits at lap33.The kiwi driver picks the hard tires. Probably the McLaren’s decision of giving hard tires to Hamilton influenced this decision. Sutil passes alguersuari for P6 on lap36.Hamiton has a slow pit stop. Button senses this and immediately pits and thus enabling him to overtake his team mate. Even Alonso has a slow pit thereby demoting him to fifth.

Lap45, hamiton’s rear view mirror is covered by the Ferrari of Alonso. Alonso’s Ferrari DRS has stopped working. Since his DRS is not working, he tries overtaking Hamilton in the sector 2.He misjudges a pass and his nose hits Hamilton’s rear.

Lap 47, Alonso pits for a new nose cone. Massa and Webber battle for fifth and Webber gets ahead of Massa.

Lap 51, hamiton struggles for speed as Heildfeld overtakes him easily. He makes a pit stop again and joins P8.Webber now attacks Heildfeld.Petrov runs wide, his car is launched in the air by the kerbs and his race is over. Webber struggle to pass Heildfeld goes in vain and is forced to give up the struggle. The main reason he gave up was because spatters of tires started hitting his car and his helmet.

56 laps and the chequered flag welcome Vettel as he zooms past it. His third consecutive victory since Abu Dhabi last year. Button comes second followed by Heildfeld who achieves a stand on the podium. Webber and Massa follow the top 3 as Alonso secures p6 with Hamilton in p7 and kobayashi in p8.Schumi could settle only for p9 ahead of Di Riesta who scores points for his Force India.

16 cars finish the race. Liuzzi of HRT manages to complete 50 laps. Disappointing race for Rosberg who finishes p12.Alonso and Hamilton later receives 20 second penalty for rash driving. This demotes Hamilton to P8 whereas Alonso maintains his position.

With a week less to go for shanghai, let’s see how the teams are;

Hispania racing team must be very happy with their performance which crossed their expectations. Their next target would be to have both their drivers finish the race completely. Marrusia virgin and Lotus racing could have only one of their drivers finish the Malaysian rand prix.Both the teams need to concentrate more on their reliability than aerodynamics. Bad luck for Williams as both their drivers failed to complete the race. Their progress has been good and maybe they might find more luck in the upcoming race. Torro Rosso might look to earn some point in the Chinese grand prix.

Di Riesta drove a splendid race again and earned a point for the team. But his team mate Sutil who was good last season seems to be suffering this season. Their close rivals Sauber team are in a much better situation as Kobayashi was seen fighting neck to neck with the Mercedes.

Mercedes ‘plans for the season seem too gone all wrong. They must be under a mighty pressure and needs quick updates which will improve their performance.

The Prancing Horse continues to have a good race speed, despite their disability to fight in the qualifying. They are lacking down force and need some improvements. Team principal Stefano said they will turn to Plan B if the team performs badly in the next race also. It seems that plan B was decided before the season started and will have a completely revamped aerodynamic package.

Lotus-Renault had a good race and they be looking to continue their performance in the next race. The McLaren is quite vice versa to the Ferrari. They perform better in the qualifying than in the race. But due to their good performance in qualifying, they manage to get ahead of the Ferrari.

Red Bull is unstoppable. Their qualifying was brilliant and they set the fastest lap in the race even without the KERS. They need to solve a few issues with their KERS, then there is nothing between them and victory.

Many people who criticized the DRS unit and labeled it USELESS would have come to know about its importance in the race. It compromises the downforce and reduces the drag thereby enabling a car to go faster by almost 12kmph in the straights. It helps slower cars like Ferrari overtake faster cars like Red bull [Massa overtaking Webber].

Sepang International track was very demanding on the tires, and balls of rubber began falling in the track near the racing line. By End of the race, lots of rubber spatter were spread around the track. This is rumored to be the reason behind Petrov’s accident. Pirelli need to look into this and correct them as soon as possible.

What else??This season seems to be a replica of 2009 championship where Button of Brawn GP dominated the first half of the season. The only Team I believe who can challenge the Red Bulls is the Ferrari, as seen last year and they seem to be in a bit of struggle now. Till they recover and fight back, Red Bull Racing team can continue enjoying their victories.

The australian grand prix 2011

2011-04-04T10:12:00.000-07:00

Albert park,

2011 Formula 1 Qantas Australian grand prix :

The first race of the 2011 season was supposed to be held in bahrain,but due to certain political riots happening in the country,the race had to be cancelled.So the entire F1 industry had to wait for two more weeks for the season to begin.

Being the season opener, all eyes were open on all the teams, on how they would perform. Three teams that were particularly looked were the redbull, Ferrari and Mercedes. The McLaren had performed dismal in the testing and they accepted that they were slower by a second compared to their competitors, but they were working on major upgrade that they were planning to bring in Australian grand prix which kept their hopes alive.

The practice session in the Albert Park could conclude tell one thing-red bull is as fast as the team expected. The major surprise however was the McLaren topping the second practice session. Their upgrades did work and better what the team predicted. The Ferrari drivers couldn’t see beyond 3^rd place and Mercedes were competitive to Ferrari.

Qualifying :

The weather was calm as the session took place. The Hispania racing team took their cars out first time on the track, and hence had to settle for the last place. Heidfield in Renault couldn’t score better than 18^th place, whereas his teammate Petrov could achieve 5^th place. Barrichello was blocked by Hamilton hence secured 17^th place.

None of the force India cars could qualify for Q3, which would have put mallaya in a fix. Schumi’s luck didn’t last beyond 11^th place, which was quite a shock.

Q3 wasn’t so nail-biting like the one’s we had last season. Vettel grabbed the pole with a 0.7s lead to second place Hamilton. Webber was 3^rd for red bull with button occupying 4th. The Spaniard driver of Ferrari, Alonso made a slight error in his flying lap which resulted him being 5^th.Petrov, rosberg and massa grabbed 6^th,7^th and 8^th respectively. Buemi had a good time, being able to qualify in q3 for the first time in his career.

The Race Day

Sunday, Race day saw a pretty good climate with temperatures around 17degrees. Hispania racing team driver’s narain and liuzzi were to sit out as their cars didn’t qualify the 107rule in qualifying, but the team was pretty happy with their progress and promised they would perform better in the next race.

The red bull team decided not to use their KERS in the qualifying and in the race because they had some problems with their KERS unit and they didn’t want it to hamper their cars reliability.

The first lap of the race, vettel lead the corner followed by Hamilton and Webber. Button pushed Alonso to the edge due to which the Spaniard dropped to 9^th.Massa was able to take the edge over button.

Surprisingly, there were no major crashes or accidents at the beginning of the race. Michael Schumacher had contacts with Alguersuari due to which he had to make pit stops immediately and later retired .Rosberg lost his engine due to his crash with barrichelo. An extremely bad result for them as they were the ones who started working on the 2011 car earliest compared to the other teams.

Massa was followed by Button who was trying aggressively to overtake him. He skipped a chicane in the process and overtook Massa. All this drama was closely watched by Alonso who overtook two cars after his bad start .Then Massa made a error and Alonso overtook him. Massa was told to come for the pits and hence button didn’t have an opportunity to give back his place and hence was given a drive through penalty which spoiled his race. He was later able to overtake Massa in the lap 54 and brought the McLaren in 6^th place.

Petrov who slipped to 3^rd place in the first lap continued to dominate his position until Alonso grabbed his position after the first pit stop. But he was able to get back the place as Alonso did a 3pit strategy whereas he was on two.

Sergio perez stunned the paddock by doing a one pit race which pushed him to 7^th place ahead of his team mate kobayashi.Later the sauber team was found guilty of certain technical rules and hence disqualified. This enabled the force india drivers to come inside the points.

Pastor Maldonado had a transmission faiure in lap9.The same with his team mate barrichelo ,who retired in lap48. They need to solve the transmission issue quickly.Jarno trulli of lotus finished 15^th followed by ambrosia of marrusia-virgin team.

The red bull front wing was seen bending down during the race,which caused quite a stir in the paddocks. Critics belived that the wing is flexible and it bends down, thereby causing more downforce in the front.

The coming race, the Malaysian grand prix might be more interesting. Red bull has confirmed the use of KERS in the next race. Ferrari hopes to improve their down force by analyzing the various data collected over the weekend. McLaren seem to be heading in the right direction, Mercedes needs to pray for luck to score some good points.

Sauber Ferrari will have to correct their technical infringements before next week. They will be bringing out an exhaust design similar to the red bull’s by a months time. Renault will face a even tougher competition next week and they must be prepared to tackle it.Force India is still a long way from their goal of achieving a podium finish in the first ever Indian grand prix.Williams need to inspect their gearbox failure and rectify it.The same goes with lotus where focus on reliability is the key.

Hispania Racing team and Marussia virgin have a lot of homework to do and they might struggle for another 2-3 races.

Speaking about the tire wear, scott perez showed the teams that the race could be done with one stop strategy also. Choosing the soft/hard compound will depend on whether it’s going to be a 2 or a 3 pit strategy race which in turn depends on track position and weather conditions. The Malaysian grand prix has always been accompanied by rains, so finding a right strategy is a important. Its hard on the tires ,so we can expect even 4pit stops from some teams.

DRS might prove more helpful in the sepang international circuit, for its long straights and corners. Few more races need to pass by to judge the real success of it .KERS will prove important in the first and the last straights where chances of overtaking is high.

I hate to say this, but Red bull and McLaren look good to continue their dominance unless the rain goddess gets bored and decides to play with the race.