Formula 1 - Back on track

The new Formula 1 season begins next week Down Under.The hard work and long hours that the teams and their mechanics have been putting in during the winter testing for the new car will be up for all to see in an extremely competitive display.

The weapons for higher speeds are being hoarded, teams are pushing for new technology and fine tuning the aerodynamics. Some cars will be the light of the field, while some may find all their hard work go up in smoke or exhaust plumes, if you may.

This season is a potential blockbuster for a surfeit of immediately visible facts. There are 5 former world champions challenging the current champion Sebestian Vettel for the title which is an unprecedented situation. There is much enthusiasm about Kimi Räikkönen’s return to the sport magnified by the impressive showing of his Lotus-Renault team in testing.

Apart from that the teams are closer bunched together than ever before. The mid–level cars can potentially take a step forward and challenge for podium on their good days. Pirelli must be complimented for making the tyres and making strategy important again and they are expected to keep up the good work this year.

Counting from 2007, we have had 3 seasons out of 5 decided in the last laps of the final race – in favour of Kimi Räikkönen in 2007, Lewis Hamilton in 2008 and Sebastian Vettel in 2010. That 2012 would be such a season that would be on my wish list. More drivers winning races, more drivers getting up the podiums, middle level teams and rookies fighting tooth and nail for the share of spoils. If the whole grid is closer together, it makes for substantial overtaking on track .With that, mix in some tyre and fuel strategy and lap after lap of adrenaline pumping action is guaranteed. This year, the cars with their platypus nosed design might not be the most aesthetically designed machines. The reason being the change of rule for the height of the front nose and several teams insistence on continuing with their 2011 chassis. McLaren’s design doesn’t feature the platypus nose and it looks better than others. Whether it is a faster and better car than the rest of the pack would be fascinating to see.

And so for the upcoming season, the wishlist includes :

• Closer qualifying, even closer split second racing.
• Jean-Eric Vergne, Paul di Resta and Brunno Senna score podium finishes.
• Felipe Massa winning a race. Can we please have the fighting spirit of the Felipe of 2007-08 back?
• Michael Schumacher, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen being regular challengers for the podium.
• All top 8 drivers win atleast a race each. That is both drivers from RedBull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes. If not, then 8-9 distinct winners of Grand Prixs through out the course of a evenly contested season.
• Wet races in Monaco, Spa, Singapore, Japan and Brazil. Rain separates the men from the boys. Ask Jenson Button , who won the epic Canadian Grand Prix in torrential Montreal rain in June last year.
• The RedBull is not the best car and the most innovative design feature lies in some other car; maybe Torro Rosso or Lotus Renault.
• The championship is decided in the last race in Brazil in a 3 way shootout .

Formula one 2012 Race Schedule

Australian Grand Prix / March 18, Melbourne – Albert Park

Malaysian Grand Prix / March 25, Kuala Lumpur - Sepang

Chinese Grand Prix / April 15, Shanghai – Shanghai International Circuit

Bahrain Grand Prix / April 22, Sakhir – Bahrain International Circuit

Spanish Grand Prix / May 13, Barcelona – Circuit de Cataluña

Monaco Grand Prix / May 27, Monaco - Circuit de Monaco

Canadian Grand Prix / June 10, Montreal- Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

European Grand Prix / June 24, Valencia – Valencia Street Circuit

British Grand Prix / July 8, Silverstone – Silverstone Circuit

German Grand Prix / July 22, Hockenheim- Hockenheimring

Hungarian Grand Prix / July 29, Budapest- Hungaroring

Belgian Grand Prix / Sep 2, Spa – Spa Francorchamps

Italian Grand Prix / Sep 9, Monza – Autodromo Nazionale Monza

Singapore Grand Prix / Sep 23, Singapore – Marina Bay Street Circuit

Japanese Grand Prix / Oct 7, Suzuka, Suzuka Circuit

Korean Grand Prix / Oct 14, Yeongam, Korean International Circuit

Indian Grand Prix / Oct 28, Greater Noida, Buddh International Circuit

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix / Nov 4, Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina Circuit

United States Grand Prix / Nov 18, Austin, Circuit of the Americas

Brazilian Grand Prix / Nov 25, São Paolo, Interlagos

Rookie F1 fans

F1 is getting really popular in India and is a bonafide ‘must-be-seen-there’ showpiece event. But then when has F1 has not been glamorous. Fast cars, machinery, grid-girls, money, attractive locales, brands and business in a weekend of action.

As a new event on the F1 calendar, The Grand Prix of India was a huge success and media played up the event and maintained the hype .India always had latent support for F1 although it was restricted to the metros and other A1 cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune.

That F1 will take off in India is a great thing ! But in it is a set of people who are new and recent converts and fans of F1. And some of these are real snobs and won’t learn a sport that is new to them with humility. They act pompous. That is where humour can be found.

Some pointers of recent F1 fans, rookie smart-ass F1 fans.

• Success breeds popularity, so most of them love RedBull. And by extension Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber ..in that order. Mark being the sympathetic favourite, Sebastian the obvious one.
• They are RedBull fans and don’t know the genius that is Adrian Newey.
• They tried their level best for ticket of F1 party to see Metallica (hahaha) and Lady Gaga, but will return and say that the race was the best noise they ever heard.
• They don’t find Hamilton-Massa duels funny, its wheel to wheel action for them. Serious stuff, high octane crash and bang.

• They will say Aryton Senna was the best ever. Why? Because they heard Michael Schumacher say so. And who the heck is this Alain Prost?
• After this they watch Asif Kapadia’s documentary Senna ..and get back to you and say “Prost is a prick”.
• Ask them about DRS and they will say – the Decision Review System is not 100% reliable yet .The Hotspot doesn’t work in the cold English weather. Oh! DRS is Drag Reduction System as well? Is that why there is that movable rear wing ? Shoot :X

• Their favourite McLaren driver depends on whether they like Nicole Scherzinger or Jessica Michibata..
• If you mention the Brazilian GP has an anti-clockwise circuit, they might think it is because of the time-zone ,Southern hemisphere and the time differential.

• They often pronounce Renault as r-e-n-a-u-l-t and not Ren-o, although they know that the Pirelli tyres are filled with Nitrogen and the car's body is of carbon fibre.
• A naive guy may ask innocently – do these cars have keys?
• Before long, RedBull was an energy drink, Lotus was a flower, pit was spelt Pitt and came with Brad, F1 was help, F2 rename, F5 slideshow.
• They cram up every circuit name and its location to sound knowledgeable.Make mental notes

Singapore – night race

Abu Dhabi – twilight race

Monaco- glamour street race

 Montréal - island race

Now repeat...

• They don’t get the Kinky Kylie reference to RB7, instead think of this this Agent Provocateur ad of Kylie Minogue.

• Sebastian Vettel’s car is called Kinky Kylie, something that every driver wants to ride on. See below.

• Others support Ferrari because they like history and also like being miserable ( these are also Arsenal fans)
• Will start playing the fantasy F1 league, buy merchandise from Puma outlets,follow F1 twitter feeds of Scuderia Ferrari, Steve Slater and Martin Brundle
• The most fun is through reverse snobbery (i.e. if you yourself are mature F1 fan) to let them explain some technicalities like rear wing or downforce and then ask with a poker face “So what is the mileage of an F1 car?” If they know they will reply condescendingly (oh what fun), if they do not, just say, I will ask someone else and walk away.