Delhi treats itself to Formula 1 delight

Veins pulsed threateningly as the mean machines of Renault scorched Rajpath and left Delhiites spellbound in an amazing extravaganza of maddening race stunts and blinding velocity during the 4-hour long Renault Roadshow on Sunday. As Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. and test driver Lucas di Grassi managed more than 300 kilometres per hour in less than 8 seconds, eyeballs popped out to catch the deafening sound and the blur of vision from as close as possible.

The beautifully decorated Rajpath was not exactly thronged by visitors at the start, but as the show warmed up through Indian army skydivers (we witnessed the number of crows in the sky increasing due to it), Mahindra Renault Logans, crisp commentary and music, quite a large crowd gathered all eager to witness the unknown. Renault sports cars, including the Megane Trophy driven by Julian Piquet, whizzed past the stunned enthusiasts as unbelievable drifting manouvers and 360 degrees spinning were done effortlessly.

At around 2:15pm India watched live the first Formula 1 car, and though it was only a preview, people had by now gone crazy. The real Formula 1 spectacle was seen a little later when di Grassi drove, zigzagged, revolved and spun his car cruelly fast
to the delight and amazement of everyone. The best part was set for the last when present Renault Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. drove his R-27 and set the path on fire. These wondrous machines could reach speeds of 100 kilometres-an-hour in just 2 seconds, 200 kilometres-an-hour in just 4.5 seconds and totally halt from 300 kilometres-an-hour in just 4 seconds. The smoke and majestic sound had filled the air, bringing the traffic around the area to a standstill.

However, it was Terry Grant, the famous Hollywood stunt director, who captured all imagination with his impossible stunts. In one of them, spinning his car at all angles, he revolved it endlessly at the intersection of the road when amidst all of this he came out of the car, did a namaste to the crowd, and even got down of the car for a few moments to let it revolve amazingly on its own.
Then, he also made the car move like a remote control toy as he showed amazing control to manouver it in between two girls standing less than two metres away.

For all lovers of speed and racing in Delhi, and for all the ignorant ones present at the event too, this was an experience of a lifetime. Formula 1 is not a common sport in India, and the objective of this initiative by the French team was not only the potential market, but also to draw more people into this sport before it finally arrives in India. Yet, one seriously doubts whether the average Indian public would perceive it to be more than just a tamasha.

New era of Formula 1

Journey through the year of another fabulously intense championship

The year 2008 will go down in books as a hugely significant year in the history of Formula 1. The first ever night race being held and the crowning of the youngest and the first black driver meant the shackles were broken. As we witnessed yet another cliff-hanger of a finish, we also went through a lot of drama, misfortune, joy and sorrow of teams and individuals throughout the season, which added immensely to the aura of it all.

Fernando Alonso’s return back to Renault meant that Heikki Kovaleinen became the new partner of wonder boy Lewis Hamilton. It all started with disappointment for Ferrari, who could not have a dream start at the Australian GP, which was won by Hamilton, but they bounced back in Sepang, and as a team from then it was dancing horses all the way. Apart from the frontrunners, it was Robert Kubica, who in his BMW Sauber generated a lot of attention for his brilliant performances, such that with the season’s first phase over, the championship fight looked tight with Hamilton, defending champion Raikkonen, Massa and Kubica all within three points of each other and firmly in the running.

In the Canadian grand prix, Kubica led a historic one-two to take his and team’s first win and the lead of the championship. This happened after a disastrous incident in which Hamilton ran into the back of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari at the end of the pit lane as the Finn sat at a red light waiting for the safety car to pass. Nico Rosberg made the same mistake and both he and Hamilton were given grid penalties for the next round. The incident consigned all three drivers to an early retirement. Massa excels in France and Hamilton overcomes wet-weather conditions to win in front of his home crowd at Silverstone. Exhausted but happy, the British driver described it as ‘the toughest win of my career’.

At the top of the drivers’ table it was even closer, with Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen tied at the top and Kubica just two points adrift. And just as their on-track skirmishes heated up, Ferrari and McLaren officially drew an end to their off-track hostilities over the 2007 spy scandal-the alleged spying by McLaren to receive secrets of Ferrari machinery.
In the Valencia circuit, Massa moved ahead of Raikkonen in the points table with a clinical display.

Belgian Grand Prix was a disaster for Raikkonen when, while coming first, he crashed dramatically with two laps to go, reminding us all of the similar incident which happened at Nurburgring in 2005. It was a bitter blow to his title hopes as Massa took second position, but inherited the win for Hamilton’s alleged hand in Raikkonen’s misfortune, and opened up a 17-point gap over his team mate and title holder. In Italy, Kubica is the biggest beneficiary as Vettel stuns the top guns with a maiden win for Red Bull. The Pole finished third behind Kovalainen, while Massa’s sixth place put him just one point shy of Hamilton, who took seventh. Raikkonen was again out of the points in ninth.

The special moment finally arrived when the first ever night race took place at Singapore. Under lights, the track and scenery had an amazingly attractive look to it. It was won by Fernando Alonso, who finally got back up there and displayed his magic, the same magic which won him the Championships of 2005 and 2006, especially the latter year in which he denied Schumacher a fairy tale end to his career. Hamilton was the only title contender to gain out of this race with a third-place finish.
Alonso followed it up with another win, Kubica taking the second position to get back in the hunt. Raikkonen ended his points drought but by this time, it was far too late.

The season’s penultimate race was dominated by Hamilton, with Massa coming second and Kubica with a disappointing sixth-place finish. All eyes were now on the final race, which promised to go right down to the wire like last year.

Local boy Felipe Massa drove his heart out to almost achieve the impossible and seize the Championship from the hands of Lewis Hamilton, who snatched fifth place by the skin of his teeth, thus becoming the youngest and the only black driver in the history of Formula 1 to be the World Champion. But as Massa took the chequered flag, Hamilton was denied the Championship as he was coming sixth, but then dramatically, he overtook a slowing Timo Glock at the end of the final corner and broke the hearts of all Brazilians out there.

An amazing professional that he is, Hamilton was the deserved winner of the season. Differences with double World Champion Fernando Alonso and the last race disaster were chapters from his rookie season he never wanted to repeat. His endurance and patience finally paid off for him when at long last Lady Luck smiled. Future looks bright as the history is created- the first driver of Black origin has won a Formula 1 Championship.
At the age of ten, he had approached McLaren team principal, Ron Dennis, at an awards ceremony and told him "I want to race for you one day". Needless to say, Ron Dennis will be proud of him.

Jumbo decides to land

The flawless star of Indian cricket calls it a day without much ado, the same way he has been taking countless wickets his entire career. As cricket lovers from all over the world deal with the shock of his sudden retirement and shower praises on him, Anil Kumble can be proud to look back on the 18 years of unheeded yet selfless service to the nation and sport, for being the perfect cricketer in many ways in these days of ugliness which has crept in our most loved sport.

Only some of us can sparsely remember the bespectacled 20 year old taking his first wicket of his then unknown career as an Indian spinner against England at Manchester in 1990, inducing an edge from the bat of Alan Lamb. As the world gasped to notice a dazzling Sachin Tendulkar in that decade, this man kept on silently taking bucketful of wickets. He became the fastest Indian then to take 50 wickets in just 10 Test matches, and the second fastest to reach 100 wickets in just 21 matches. On 27 November 1993, he took 6 wickets for 12 runs in an ODI to blow away the Windies at Eden Gardens , a new record for the best bowling figures by an Indian, one that remains unbeaten till date.

Against Pakistan in 1999, he bamboozled the Pakistani batsmen at the Kotla, which has been his happy hunting ground, taking 10 wickets in the fourth innings to win India the game, thereby becoming the second bowler in Test cricket history to achieve the feat. At the start of the 21st Century, he underwent a career threatening shoulder surgery, but still never paused. Like a dentist armed with a drill, he kept on probing at the best of batsmen. Once he had a victim on his chair, nothing escaped his attention.

His dedication for the game, the team and for the nation came to the fore during the Antigua Test in 2002, in which he arrived to bowl with a bandaged face after he had fractured his jaw. The most hard-working student of the game, as a spinner Kumble was India ’s best bet and his service was taken for granted. Yet he did not complain. Only about a year ago, when Dravid stepped down as the captain, he was widely perceived to have been offered captaincy only for holding the fort till successful glamour boy Dhoni was seen as able. However, the Bangalorean took it as an opportunity to develop Indian cricket for making it the numero uno in World cricket, when in November last year he presented three-page note to his mates, a stated vision that he believed could serve as guidelines for future generation of cricketers.

During the tour Down Under last year, which he has claimed to be the toughest, he reached 600 wickets, the third bowler in the World to do so, which was perhaps the final feather on his cap.

One of the most selfless and dedicated sons of the game, he has dealt with his entire career in an amazingly matured and professional manner. He was never the poster boy of Indian cricket, and has never got appropriate recognition for his performances and service. But that has not bothered him, and it tells immensely of the type of personality that he is. To many, he is one of the greatest cricketers in the World not just because of his records, but because of his spotless character and dignified persona. He will be sorely missed.

Brazilian Heart break at Interlagos

Lewis could not lose it this time.

It was a real cliff-hanger of an end. Local boy Felipe Massa drove his heart out to almost achieve the impossible and seize the Championship from the hands of Lewis Hamilton, who snatched fifth place by the skin of his teeth, thus becoming the youngest and the only black driver in the history of Formula 1 to be the World Champion.

As the first five drivers Massa , Renault’s Fernando Alonso, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, Hamilton and Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel pitted for wet tyres due to rain at the closing stages, Timo Glock, running sixth for Toyota , did not. Hamilton came behind Glock at fifth place, which was still good enough for him. However, history was about to repeat itself when Hamilton fell sixth behind Sebastian Vettel on the 70th lap, as he made a crucial mistake and slid wide. It was a desperate situation as he needed at least a fifth-place finish to take the crown. As Massa took the chequered flag, Hamilton was only sixth and the Brazilian was the winner. However, tables were turned when at the end of the final corner Timo Glock of Toyota slowed down, struggling for grip on his increasingly unsuitable rubber. It was all Hamilton required as he took the fifth position at the end and broke the hearts of millions of Brazilians in the stands. The Briton would have had his heart in his mouth when painful memories of last year came to the fore for a few moments.

Hamilton last year too had had a favourable advantage, of four and seven points from his then teammate Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen respectively, coming into the final race. But it was a miserable end for him as he only managed a 7th position, after a horrible mistake which plunged him to the 18th position at a point of time in the race. Raikkonen won the Championship by a solitary point.

"Before it started to rain I was quite comfortable, and I was just focused on having a clean race,” said Hamilton . “Then it started to drizzle and I didn't want to take any risks - but Sebastian got past me and I was told that I had to get back in front of him. I couldn’t believe it. Then at the very last corner I managed to get past Timo - it was just amazing. This was one of the toughest races of my life, if not the toughest. I was shouting, ‘Do I have it? Do I have it?’ on the radio. It was only when I took the chequered flag and got to Turn One that the team told me I was world champion. I was ecstatic."

An amazing professional that he is, he was the deserved winner of the season. Differences with double World Champion Fernando Alonso and the last race disaster were chapters from his rookie season he never wanted to repeat. His endurance and patience finally paid off for him when at long last Lady Luck smiled. Future looks bright as the shackles are broken- the first driver of Black origin has won a Formula 1 Championship.
At the age of ten, he had approached McLaren team principal, Ron Dennis, at an awards ceremony and told him "I want to race for you one day". Needless to say, Ron Dennis will be proud of him.