Kimi, get a drive!

I still cannot believe that Kimi won’t be starting in any race next year or maybe forever.

But is this too early to look at a fine career of Kimi? When i look at Kimi’s career and think of his finest moments pop up in my head. These moments include Suzuka in 2005 where Kimi won the race after starting from 17th place and overtaking race leader Fisichella on the final lap,  his exploits at Spa circuit – the circuit which separates men from boys, Brazil in 2007 where he won WDC, or performances throughout second half of 2009 season in a slow Ferrari car

I even silently pray that he gets a drive with a competitive car like Mercedes.  It would be good for Kimi fans like me and for F1 in general.

Ferrari stuck in gravel trap

Fernando Alonso has got in a Ferrari California alonside his teammate Felipe Massa and they’ve done a lap in front of nearly 17k crowd in the Valencia. As they moved closer to the crowd the car stuck in a gravel trap.

Indian F1 track design

India is set to become another nation to host a F1 GP in 2011. Here is the link to the original article.

The circuit in the Jaypee Greens Sports City bears the usual hallmarks of a Hermann Tilke-designed track. But from this first impression it seems to have some of the open, flowing corners that many modern tracks often lack.

It looks like a circuit in two halves, with several slow corners before and after the main start/finish straight. These are surely intended to increase opportunities for overtaking, something F1 car designers have been demanding recently.

But the other half of the track includes several longer-radius corners and some quick-looking bends. It’s impossible to get any sense of gradient from this flat map, however.

It is an unusually short track – slightly under 5km (3.1 miles). That would make it shorter than any track on this year’s calendar bar the Circuit de Catalunya, Hungaroring, Interlagos and Monte-Carlo.

Source: F1fanatic.co.uk

2009 F1 Season Review Montages

BBC

RTLGP

One

Withdrawal symptoms!

This week started with the news that Bridgestone will withdraw from the sport after 2010 and yesterday Toyota kissed F1 goodbye and now there is news that Renault held a meeting to discuss their future in the motorsport.

Were Renault to pull out, it will be an extraordinary year of the exit of major manufacturer teams in F1. Honda and BMW exit is not even a year old by now. Only remaining manufacturer involvement will be Mercedes and Ferrari.

Toyota’s reason to leave sport is due to falling sales of their cars. For the first time in their history since 1937 they lost money in a fiscal year. They lost $4.74b in 2008 and are expected to lose $8.3b in 2009. This is compounded by Toyota’s F1 programme’s high costs and failure to live up-to its expectations. In last 8 years of their involvement Toyota was on podium only for 8 times. Although Toyota signed concorde agreement to remain in the sport till 2012 but the numbers have played a huge part in their decision to quit.

Renault always looked like first time to leave the sport. They are already indebted by bail out package from their goverment. Along with that Carlos Ghosn isn’t F1 friendly. Numbers can play a part there too. Recently, Renault also had to suffer from ignominy of Piquet-gate. F1 is famous across the world and such incidents really tarnish the image of the whole company. Although Renault have fired the culprits but still this disgrace will be languishing at the back of their minds and can act as another factor on why they want to withdraw.

Renault can remain as a engine supplier much like 90s when they formed a formidable champion car with Williams.

The situation never looked good for manufacturers to remain in the sport in the current climate. The economic meltdown in the past 2 years have taken a toll on manufacturers and when the core business suffers, other things are bound to suffer.  F1 is all about cycles and in the current phase the number of manufacturer entries will be low.

Max Mosley already envisaged such a scenario and he was pushing for low costs but his methods were too radical and this led to famous FIA-FOTA war. His bad mouthing in the press might have already made F1 a less attractive place for manufacturers who were considering a breakaway series.

I would be upset to see Renault leave the sport. It is my second team because of Fernando Alonso. Also, a hugely talented driver in Robert Kubica’s future will be in disarray again after similar thing happened in BMW.

Vettels wins inaugural Abu Dhabi GP

2009 season ended at Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi with a win for Sebastian Vettel. Red Bull driver scored a one-two with teammate Mark Webber and World Champion Jenson Button third. This was Vettel’s fourth win of the season and it was also the third time Red Bull scored a one-two this year.

“The car was fantastic, it worked brilliantly on both tyres. it was a pleasure to sit in the car,” Vettel said. “To sum up the season: up and down. The car is getting quicker – it’s a shame the season is ending.”

Race favorite Lewis Hamilton did not finish the race due to rear brake problems. After qualifying on pole yesterday Lewis Hamilton was expected to win the race and end season in style for Mclaren. But after his early exit all eyes turned to Kovalainen and Raikkonen. But Ferrari had a miserable day in office with both Raikkonen and Fisichella struggling for pace. All three drivers finished off points and Mclaren secured third in constructor’s championship.

The otherwise boring race had a decent finish when in the last two laps Webber and Button were fighting for the second place.

F1 season end with huge driver shuffle expected and it will be back with 13 teams (14?), no refuelling, no KERS, no Mosley (:D). 133 days till it all gets going again!!