This is my first blog and I plan to update this on a regular basis. This will contain various views on the F1 season and news updates too. Let me start with yesterday's Canadian GP..
For the second race in a row, the Formula One race in Canada was an action packed thriller, leading to a debut win for both Robert Kubica and the BMW F1 team. Similar to the Monaco GP over a fortnight ago, the Canadian GP provided lot of overtaking, crashes, and the all new hammering helpless cars from the rear. Who says we need rain to make a F1 race interesting??
Saturday's qualifying took place in controversial circumstances as certain parts of the track started to wear out causing problems for many drivers including reigning World Champion Kimi Raikkonen. Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica took full advantage of the conditions to slot in 1-2 and while Kimi could only settle for 3rd. Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg put in superlative performances to get to 4th and 5th respectively on the grid. With resurfaced parts of the circuit having started to fall apart during qualifying, most drivers were fearful about the state of the track for Sunday's race. With all teams being highly critical of the condition of the track, the authorities took up the enormous task of re-surfacing certain parts of the track including the hairpin. This is not the first time that the drivers have suffered with the surfacing at the hairpin. In 2006, if my memory serves me right, Schumacher passed Raikkonen on the penultimate lap, when Raikkonen went wide due to low grip levels. Well one thing, we were assured of a interesting race ahead.
Race started off smoothly with Hamilton in the lead, followed by Kubica and Raikkonen. Hamilton pulled away a 10 second lead from Raikkonen in third and was looking like he was going to dominate the race until Raikkonen started to reel fastest laps one after another. Force India's Adrian Sutil's gearbox failure brought out the first safety car on lap 17 which cut Hamilton's lead to nothing and led to the top six pitting together when the pit lane opened. This was a lottery and a test for the pit crews. Little did anyone know that what transpired in the next couple of minutes determined the outcome of the race. Kubica and Raikkonen jumped Hamilton and emerged jointly out of the pits only to be stopped by the red light at the end of the pitlane. Hamilton, who suffered a slow stop did not see the red light and rammed the back of Raikkonen's Ferrari, destroying both the McLaren and the Ferrari. Rosberg also missed the red light and hit the Hamilton, resulting in a broken wing. With the two title contenders out it looked to be a battle between Kubica, Alonso and Massa, until Massa was forced to pit again, due to a fuel rig problem. With half the field not pitting and the other half of the field pitting, this race was going to go down to the wire.
Heidfeld now led the race and looked to pull out a big lead before his stop. The BMW F1 team changed Heidfeld to a one-stopper and he still managed to come out ahead of Kubica and Alonso. Heidfeld was forced to let Kubica by. BMW's strategy to change Heidfeld to a one-stopper ruined his chances of winning, and effectively ruined Alonso's chances. Alonso, on a lighter fuel load was stuck behind Heidfeld, who was fuelled up till the end. Alonso's frustration finally caught up with him when he lost the rear after turn 6 and went straight in to the wall.
Kubica at this point showed why he is World Champion material by pulling out a 17 sec lead in 7 laps. He was like a man possessed putting in one fastest lap after the other. I wonder if he knew this was the race and not qualifying. This sealed the win for Kubica as he came out if the pits comfortably ahead of Heidfeld. Massa fought back from last to claim fifth place, which included a great move to get past both Barrichello and Kovalainen at the hairpin.
Kubica's victory was the first for him and the first for BMW. All in all a highly entertaining race with few after thoughts.
In my view, both Hamilton and Raikkonen have showed that it is their cars working well for them this year rather than their driving abilities. Both have made 2 unforced mistakes in the first seven races, which is definitely not the way championship contenders should be driving. Same can be said about Alonso, but his only way is to take more risks and be more aggressive. While it is clear Massa is not on the same level of Hamilton and Raikkonen, in terms of pure talent, he is ensuring he finished every race and also seems to be a strong contender. Which leads us to yesterday's winner - Kubica.
Kubica's crash last year at Canada was the most terrifying crash witnessed after a long time, and for him to bounce back like this shows enormous courage and determination. He was dominated by his team-mate last year but this year is easily the 'Number One' driver in the team, deservingly so. He has been consistently finishing in the points an taking complete advantage of his rivals mistakes. We have seen in the past few years that in order to win a championship you have to be consistent. Alonso also mentioned at the end of last year that the driver of team that wins the championship is the one that has most points - not most wins, not most fastest laps and definitely not most crashes.
Hamilton and Raikkonen will have to pull up their socks now, as will their team-mates if they want to have any chance of winning the championship. Could Kubica be counted as a serious championship contender now? Seems unlikely but this guy seems to be something special so I would think ten times before discounting him..
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