GP REVIEW: CATALUNYA ‘08

Yesterday’s race could be termed as one of the more bizarre races in recent history of Formula 1. Why do I say so, well for starters the qualifying was pretty jumbled up. It’s been long since we’ve seen four different cars on the front two rows. And the way qualifying ended was just beyond anybody’s imagination. The last four cars to cross the finish line after the chequered flag - that signified the end of Q3 - all were on pole for an instant, only to be bettered by the car that followed. In the end it was the Iceman for Ferrari who broke many a Spanish hearts and silenced the cacophony raised by the pole setting time of Alonso just seconds before. However the most disappointed was his team mate Felipe Massa who was just not good enough on the given day. The McLarens were never too highly rated over the weekend, but still their lagging behind the Renault was being attributed to different fuel loads (as Hamilton later clarified in the post race conference). Force India had another forgettable qualifying, finishing only ahead of the miserable Super Aguris, who probably were jubilant just to be there, considering conditions prior to the race.

The race start itself was exciting. As expected, Kimi got a good start and everyone had also expected a light Alonso to hold off everyone. But probably the disappointed Massa was too charged up to prove he is not second fiddle to his World champion team mate and hence got better of the Spaniard before the first corner itself. Hamilton too jumped Kubica (who has been really messing up his starts despite good qualifying performances) and Heidfeld was a big gainer behind them. But in all this somewhere things went wrong for Adrian Sutil as he crashed with Sebastian Vettel putting both of them out of the race while also causing some damage to the Toyota of Timo Glock. This got the safety car out immediately and the race was held up behind it for three laps.

As the race resumed Raikkonen got the perfect slingshot and started reeling in some pretty fast laps to build up a comfortable lead. His team mate on a race old engine could not match his pace but was comfortable to hold back Alonso. Meanwhile Hamilton was just not able to get the better of his ex-team mate despite being clearly faster and settled down after closing up. He could afford the luxury considering Alonso was expected to pit early and till then he had no reason to damage his tyres by driving in the dirty air. But Alonso did not pit quite as early as expected, probably helped by the safety car period and the first to pit was the BMW of Kubica. Among the top two Massa was the first to dive in, making the pole setting performance of the Finn even more remarkable, as he had qualified on pole despite having carried more fuel than all the top runners.

As the cars emerged out of the pits both Hamilton and Kubica had gained track position over Alonso. There was some drama during the pit period, however unlike the norm where it is in the pits, this time it was on the track. Heikki Kovalainen was leading the race as the top runners dived in the pits and was hot on his “in” lap when he suffered a rare puncture on his front left tyre at a high speed corner. The car rammed into the tyre wall close to 180 miles an hour. The impact was so bad that the car was lodged into the tyre wall, unable to be extracted by the marshals. This raised concerns over Kovalainen’s condition and the safety and medical cars were immediately scrambled. While all this was happening the BMW team was preparing to get their second driver Nick Heidfeld into the pits, who was on a strong late stop strategy. Sadly for him this would prove to be a bane rather than a boon. Just before he could dive into the pits, the safety car was deployed and he did not have enough fuel to go round for a couple of more laps till the pit lane was officially opened. This earned him a 10 sec stop-go penalty, when he was cruising in fifth position.

I really cannot understand this stupid rule, which denies cars which were all set to enter the pits, not to do so just because some bloke crashed his at the wrong time. Poor Heidfeld who had raced a brilliant race from 12^th on the grid to fifth was painfully pushed to the back of the grid for no fault of his. But the relief came as Kovalainen was extracted from his car and gestured to the cameras showing he was conscious and no major damage was done. It is a tribute to the stringent safety standards of F1 that drivers can come out healthy out of such a horrifying crash. The safety car bunched up the grid and nullified the lead Raikkonen had built up. But again at the restart he had no problems whatsoever to break off comfortably. The top four, though breaking away from the rest of the pack, were quite not in position to challenge each other. In all this mayhem the Super Aguri of Takuma Sato was the only one who did not dive into the pits as he was on a one stop strategy.

Things again took a processionary note till the second round of pit stops. Heidfeld as committed as ever to finish among the points - despite his bad - luck was reeling in the back markers and was the first to pit from among the top teams. Thereafter followed almost everyone else. The dominance of Ferrari was there for all to see when they held up Raikkonen for a couple of seconds just to give him a clear exit from the pits. There was no risk of losing track position and Kimi emerged back out ahead of his team mate despite the “leisurely” stop. There was drama in the pits this time however. As Barrichello was slightly slow on the exit in the pit lane Fisichella tried to get the better of him, clipping the front wing of the hapless Brazilian in the process. The Honda had to drive an entire lap with the front wing lodged beneath the body work and this did enough damage to enforce retirement.

There was more action on the track. A determined Coulthard was trying hard to get into the points and executed a tight overtaking manoeuvre on Timo Glock’s Toyota. The German however did not give up easily and touched the rear of the Red Bull. This resulted in the Toyota losing its front wing and a puncture for the veteran Brit. Just as this was happening at the back end of the grid we had two glorious engine failures in the mid-field. First it was Alonso’s Renault which ended his good race in smoke. However the crowd was backing him still and he was waved off to a rapturous applause which he duly acknowledged before leaving for the pits. This brought a sad end to Renault’s race (as Piquet Jr. had already retired and continues to disappoint) which had promised so much. A couple of laps later it was Nico Rosberg’s Williams which ended what seemed to be a strong points scoring finish for the German. Both these engines were on their second race bringing reliability issues to the fore.

One team which has impressed with its reliability is Force India. Leaving apart accidents, they’ve finished in all the races, and at this position looked set to be in for an unlikely points scoring finish. The car is yet to have a mechanical failure and due to this they have managed decent positions where others have failed to finish. This was duly reminded by the team to Fisichella, who certainly has impressed all by his tenacity in the car. He even held off the highly charged up Heidfeld for more than five laps purely on experience and skill, as the BMW clearly was much faster than the Force India. Finally though, the Italian finished 10^th, unfortunately out of the points but still the team’s best finish of the season so far. This is certainly encouraging as Force India is getting the better of more experienced teams by means of decent finishes and impressive reliability.

At the head of the pack though it was Raikkonen all the way, who had a textbook perfect race and took the chequered flag with no drama. This made it the eighth consecutive race at Catalunya where the pole setter has gone on to win the race, thereby vindicating the belief that the track is not conducive for overtaking. Therefore the win can be attributed to the Finn’s excellent performance in qualifying, a fact recognized and appreciated by his team on the radio after the race finished. Behind him Massa came second reigniting his season with a second consecutive podium finish, while also making it a second consecutive 1-2 for Ferrari. He was followed by Hamilton, who seemed to be closing in on the Ferrari in the closing stages, but never too close for comfort. Kubica again brought home the BMW in fourth, and had it not been for some unfortunate timing would have been followed by his teammate (who eventually finished 9^th, painfully out of the points). Mark Webber was pretty happy in bringing the Red Bull in fifth and scoring important championship points. The Australian drove an event free race and hardly figured in the limelight as he finished some way off the leading pack. The final three positions were taken up by Jenson Button, Kazuki Nakajima and Jarno Trulli, in that order.

The race has further strengthened the buzz that Ferrari is the team to beat this season and that the McLarens really need to rethink. BMWs still are not quite there yet, though they are vastly superior to the rest of the pack. As to the driver’s championship, it is all much too close here to place a call. A couple of good or bad races here and there and the entire equation changes, as we saw all to well last season. But if the season continues like this it will certainly prove very entertaining, specially for the Ferrari and Raikkonen fan. As of now the Iceman is the marching ahead confidently and with the next race at Turkey, which has been hitherto a Ferrari dominated track, things look good for the scarlet team.

Drivers Championship:

Kimi Räikkönen - 29

Lewis Hamilton - 20

Robert Kubica - 19

Constructors Championship:

Scuderia Ferrari - 47

BMW Sauber - 35

McLaren Mercedes - 34

GP REVIEW: SAKHIR ‘08

The season’s turning pretty interesting now. This weekend’s race at Bahrain was a treat to watch and generally satisfying for most of the teams. It was pretty interesting that a circuit (in)famous for being hard on the tyres, engines and drivers entailed the minimum number of retirements this season till now with 19 of the 22 cars reaching the chequered flag safely. The biggest message to come out for the race was that BMW are in Formula 1 big time. If there were any naysayers left to this argument before Sunday, they surely would have been forced to rethink their stand on the topic. A team leading the constructors’ championship – even though the season is only three races old – cannot be taken lightly.

Qualifying didn’t bring up any big surprise, other than for those who would not have given the BMWs a chance. Ferrari were strong throughout the weekend, and going by that Kimi would have been a tad disappointed. Massa was pipped to the pole by the talented Kubica, but as would be seen in the race on the next day, he was running lighter that most top contenders. This however did not take any glory away from either the Pole or his German team, both of which scored their maiden pole which was long coming.

The race however didn’t start as spectacularly for them. Kubica got caught by Massa as the light went green, as a result losing his position before the first corner itself. Maybe the lack of launch control on a dusty track proved to be more of a challenge to him than his more experienced rival in the scarlet car. But this was nothing in comparison to the disaster that hit championship leader Lewis Hamilton. It seemed as if he was driving a car from a lower rung of motorsport, as all and sundry overtook him at the start. By the end of the first corner the Brit was down to 10^th place and to make matters worse for him, ahead of him was his old nemesis Fernando Alonso. The biggest gainer in this melee was undoubtedly Felipe Massa. Behind him the two Finns who got better of the hapless Hamilton were in a battle for third place. This saw them exchanging positions twice before half of the first lap itself, with the Ferrari driver coming on top finally. It would be two more laps until Kimi pulled off a remarkable overtaking manoeuvre on Kubica, making a Ferrari 1-2 at the head of the pack.

Even before the mayhem of the start could settle down and the field could consolidate, Hamilton could not contain his urge to fight back to the top before his title contenders gained a healthy advantage. This cavalier attitude seemed naïve when his urge overtook sensibility and he ended up driving into the rear of Alonso. For a moment it seemed as though the Spaniard had braked a fraction too early, thereby causing the mishap, but neither did McLaren, nor did the stewards found any fault with it. However the loss of the front wing in Hamilton’s car meant a painful trip to the pits and his race lay in shambles. His stop though suggested that McLaren may have fuelled him enough to finish the race on a single pit stop (as they did with Räikkönen at this track when he raced for them) and salvage something out of it. Rest of the field could get away cleanly with the order now the Ferraris leading the BMWs followed by the McLaren of Kovalainen.

Meanwhile Massa was driving at the front with vengeance like a man possessed with a mission. The opening two races had been a nightmare for him and he had to score a strong finish here for his title aspirations and also to prevent Ferrari from totally shifting focus to his more illustrious team mate. Räikkönen was being kept busy by Kubica whose pace was good enough to match the Ferraris and certainly better than the McLarens. Behind them Fisichella made yet another positive start that saw him leap ahead of his dismal starting position. Meanwhile it just didn’t seem like a day for Brit drivers. Both Coulthard and Jenson Button had to pit early following punctures. Later they were to clash courtesy an ambitious overtaking move by the Honda diver, which also ended his race. In all this Jarno Trulli was again putting up a determined show for the Toyota team as his team mate struggled to keep Alonso off.

First round of pit stops put forth no drama other than confirming the fact of the light BMWs. Kimi seemed content to follow Massa for now (though he did some fast laps, only to be replied in kind by the Brazilian). Somewhere in this period Kovalainen was overtaken by the other BMW of Nick Heidfeld further confirming the difference in pace of the two cars on the given day. There was enough advert for the Force India as Fisichella showed off his experience when he held off the charging Hamilton for three laps. The belligerent gesture by the young Brit as he finally passed Fisichella – though not very sporting – showed just how frustrated he was. However if he was expecting any mercy from a driver ahead of him on track on the basis of he being in a superior car, then he is grossly mistaken. However his benediction did not bring about any epiphany on the given day.

The remainder of the race was prosaic, with the second round of pit stops also not bringing any untoward incident. However for a while Kimi did put in some stonking laps, but his car had a race old (and probably detuned) engine compared to Massa’s fresh for this race. Hence he judiciously backed off to assure a second placed finish for him, which would be enough to catapult him to the top of the driver’s table. Behind them the BMWs followed unchallenged and their nearest car was of Kovalainen who was never involved in any action but for the first lap. Trulli again finished among the points being sixth to cross the flag and this already looks to be a much better season for the Japanese team when compared to the catastrophe of 2007.

Final two points were notched up by the impressive Webber and Nico Rosberg who certainly are driving much better than their car probably deserves. In ninth and tenth were Timo Glock and former world champion Alonso. By now Alonso must have figured out just how big a task lays ahead of him and the difference between his cars and the top contenders. But atleast he has been finishing races, a fact which sadly can’t be said of his team mate Nelson Piquet Jr. Force India’s Fisichella finished in 12^th and ahead of forlorn Hamilton who could neither have a single pit stop race, nor had the pace to challenge anyone even in the mid field. Behind them the Super Aguris had a nice little battle among themselves (as they too are in a class of their own!) with Davidson getting the better of his senior.

So it was an uneventful race one might say (though I feel the destitute Team McLaren would beg to differ) however one that makes the title race even more open. Certainly I’ll wager this season will be more open and emancipated than last years. Though the BMWs may eventually not be able to sustain the momentum and challenge for either championship, but they sure will make the season interesting, and then who knows what can happen. Did anyone give Hamilton much chance at he beginning last year, or for that matter Kimi just before the last couple of races. Either way there is much to look forward to and think for one and all in the three week break before we head to the European leg of the season, starting at Catalunya on 25^th of this month. Till then let Kimi and the BMWs bask in their glory.

Drivers Championship:

Kimi Räikkönen - 19

Nick Heidfeld - 16

Lewis hamilton - 14

Constructors Championship:

BMW Sauber - 30

Scuderia Ferrari - 29

McLaren Mercedes - 28

MATCH REPORT: ARSENAL 3 BOLTON 2

Harsha Bhogle recently said that the thrill and excitement of unscripted drama can never be replaced by scripted drama. There was abundant proof of that in this weekend’s clash between Arsenal and Bolton Wanderers. In the see saw battle one was moved from tears to hysteria and vice versa (depending on which side of the pitch your allegiance laid). What was to be a very important match for both the teams – albeit for different reasons – started off as a disaster for one and ended as the same for the other. What came out of it was the never-say-die spirit of the Gunners and the restoration of their self belief – which many may say has come a little too late, but I would rather say better late than never.

To begin with the absence of Adebayor in the starting 11 raised some eyebrows, and questions were raised as to if Arsene Wenger had given up title aspirations in the Premiership with an eye on his (elusive) first Champions League trophy. Nevertheless the match started with Arsenal in perfect control of the proceedings. Robin Van Persie had a good chance taken away due to some determined defending by Al Habsi. But there were more to come, with Nicklas Bendtner was a little profligate missing two good oppurtunities. There was no doubt as to the intent Arsenal had come out with. However intent alone is sometimes not enough in football.

Bolton meanwhile hardly had a sniff of the ball. But in the 14^th minute Gretar Steinsson sent a sublime cross from the right wing to find Matthew Taylor who powered an unstoppable header past the hapless Almunia from six yards out. If Arsenal had not woken up to the fact that they had not won at the Reebok since April 2002, this was a rude awakening call for them. But things were to detiorate further for the visiting team. In the 31^st minute Abou Diaby lunged studs up, not reaching the ball and catching Gretar Steinsson on his ankle. It was a dirty and mistimed challenge and referee Chris Foy had no second thoughts on dishing out the red card. Things were really getting bad now, but Arsenal replied in the best possible fashion. Just after play resumed, Bendtner had a real good opportunity to score but could only fire wide.

More hell was to break lose before the interval though. As the match settled and Arsenal looked for the equaliser before the break, their worst fears came true. Mathieu Flamini lost the ball in the penalty box to McCann, which duly went to Taylor who could not have put a foot wrong on the day. His strong shot took a deflection of William Gallas leaving Almunia to make a last minute change of direction, which went futile as the ball found the back of the net. All the fears of the previous four matches came rushing to mind. And the only thing that seemed probable then was that the impeding defeat would end the Gunners’ title challenge for sure now. The fifth consecutive Premiership match without victory also might have a bad flow on impact considering the next 10 days entailed three meetings with Liverpool.

As the players and staff left the pitch at half time the body language of both squads showed the mental state they probably were in. Whatever Arsene Wenger said in the dressing room – though would have been significant – did not immediately seemed to show any results. Arsenal were still being tied down by the Bolton defence who believed they were now in sniffing distance of an unlikely victory. The astute manager though still had a move or two in his repository and made two crucial substitutions. He brought Adebayor and Theo Walcott on for Bendtner and Senderos, thereby having a strange yet attacking 3-5-1-1 formation. This had an immediate impact as Walcott the worked his midas again, troubling with his pace on the right side.

The goal when it came was a little bizarre. A corner whipped in by Fabregas found the adroit Gallas at the far end who was shockingly unmarked and should not have missed from 5 feet with the goal at his mercy. And he did not. The defensive howler from the Bolton backs showed that they had forgotten to do their homework well. This was the shot in the arm for Arsenal and then they came in waves. A second goal never looked a distant possibility if they could sustain the momentum. And they finally were rewarded for their incessant efforts in the minute. Alesander Hleb was brought down by Cahill in the box and the referee again had no doubt in pointing to the spot. One would have expected Van Persie to be under tremendous pressure considering the importance of the goal and his lack of match practice compounding the difficulty. But even if he was under pressure, neither his demeanour, nor his coolly taken penalty betrayed it as he easily sent the Bolton Keeper the wrong way to score the equaliser.

Arsene Wenger was very candid of the fact that he had told the team a draw would just not be good enough today. And it was very true as they had already extinguished their quota of drop points, and any more now would be akin to comitting hara kiri. Hence the eagerness and desperation showed by Arsenal in the final minutes in hunt for the winner was pretty understandable. But what was more significant was that Bolton maybe had lost the very belief which they had in abundance less than half an hour ago. Still the manner in which the winner finally came was not the prettiest. Cesc Fabregas took a shy at the goal from the edge of the box, which ping ponged between two defenders to finally somehow squander into the net, sending the entire Arsenal contingent into hysteria.

Wenger later said that this has to be the best comeback game he remembers – though I still feel Liverpool’s epiphanous comeback in the ‘05 Champions League final was much more extraordinary. Nevertheless it was a remarkable achievement, and frankly no one had expected that a team 2-0 down, away from home, a player down and which has not been in the best of form lately could rally back to draw, let alone steal a win. Considering one (or maybe both) among Chelsea and Manchester United will drop points when they go head to head, then it will be upto Arsenal to beat United at Old Trafford, which though is no mean feat, but maybe just the kind of finish the season (and the eventual champions) deserves. So concomitant of this match the title is still pretty much alive (as the re-inspired Arsenal are much more lethal than a couple of games ago). For me it just further implied how right Bhogle was when he spoke out the above statement.

Lot was written over the course of the Super Sunday last week. Steve McMahon wrote that the Gunners lack a good leader (and the prima facie evidence at St Andrews may have suggested that). Though I am not denouncing his statement, but I feel it’s ostensible, as more than the leadership they needed to come out of the Eduardo incident. There are many leaders on the pitch for them, each leading in his own way. But after the Birmingham match it was their free flowing football which was questioned. It was the faith that the teams would not get dirty to break down their “beautiful football” moves that was broken. And when that happens, the only person who can succour you is – you yourself. It has taken some time for the young Gunners to realise that, but now that they have, it will be interesting to watch how their hunger for the title and angst against their several critics drives them towards the title(s).