The Start of Season
Mar 14th, 2006 by MAK
I think it was a smooth start for the season, looking at the result, its promising to take the championship[both drivers and constructers] down to the wire.
before i start with usual stuff, i would like to make point about the debutants in this season. As far as i have noticed there where four of them[correct me if i’m wrong here]. i have not heard about any of them before so its quite early, to say some thing that is concreate. but just a look of it, is what i want to express here above anything else.
first of all,
Ide-i think super aguri’s where not performing at all, so not sure about him.
Scot speed- the only American,his pace on track doesn’t go with his name. has a lot to learn before he do anything noticeable at this level.
Luizzi- i hope i spelled it correctly, he was quick and drove that car with some pace but is vulnerable, so has to curb aggression, i guess.
and finally Rosberg- what more can i say, than the fact that, he was the quickest man on track[1:32:400 odd ms] and got a couple points on his debut[another driver one would remember earning points on his debut is, his partner Mark Webber]. having said all, that williams car was flying around park.
Qualifying:
before i start, with start of this Season, i have some thing to say about the start of last season, McLaren had come up with car that was quick and had real pace behind it, but the downfall was, that they had a car which was not reliable. and the result was, out of FIRST SEVEN races Kimi Raikonen had accumulated a disappointing 27 points, where as Fernando Alonso had accumulated 59 points[MORE THE TWICE]. at this stage itself, it was pretty much decided that Kimi Raikonen had no chance of wining the tittle.
for me it looked like a worst possible start for this season as well, on saturday during the qualifing sessions. as a Kimi Raikonen’s fan, i was disheartened to see the rear wing fly out of Kimi raikonen’s car due to an rear suspension failure. i asked myself a question that, why doesn’t he quit McLaren?. who had failed to improve the reliability of the car last season[during the early part atleast]. and cost him championship, which otherwise was undoubtedly his. After that,i had just hoped that they[Mclaren Team] would atleast come up with a stratergy[obviously one pit stop stratery but i was not sure how it work out with new rules, i.e allowing of tyre change] to make sure that he would atleast get some points. As the winner of the race was obvious to me, so i just wanted the gap b/w him and alonso to be minimal, so that this time he gets what is his.
Race Day:
Well here i was glued to the television hoping[rather praying] that the car doesn’t conk out, leaving kimi raikonen stranded again. and the race started, very much to my joy kimi overtoke like 8 guys in first lap itself. i start fancing a podium finish. at this moment i had some work assigned to me,so missed all the action until, about 27 laps were remaining, then again i tuned in, to find out that kimi was eight, alonso was first and schumi was second. these two drivers continued where they were, but kimi advanced to a podium position at end of the race.
at end of race, i was happy that kimi finished just 4 points behind alonso. i still have serious doubt about the reliability of that car. here i started thinking who was better driver[in this race] in the lot of 22 drivers who toke part in this race. there was this rookie[Rosberg] who ended up with some points to his credit and was the fasted man on the curcuit, a reigning champ who continued the good work that he was doing. and a multichamp who was down and out last season, to the extent that ppl started questioning his abilities as a driver[obviously due his age], and finally there was this driver who had car, of which he doubted, on its reliability and started at back of the grid, 22nd to be precise, and ended up with a podium finish. and for those who didn’t get who this driver was, it’s Kimi Raikonen. As a Kimi Raikonen fan my choice was obvious. and you are free to disagree.
Next Race:
With margin of victory being very less for Alonso this race, next race[malaysian grand prix] is promising a lot. and with McLaren continuing to show signs that it is quicker even this season[i just hope it doesn’t conk out] i’m expecting a better finish for ICEMAN.
Great review of the race dude… Totally agree with Kimi being the driver of the race… This season its far more tough to start at the back and get a podium and Kimi proved his matte by doing it (again).
Scot speed- the only,his pace on track doesn’t go with his name.
LOL… Lets give the poor rookie some time. Roseburg clearly outshined him but I guess we hv seen how Webber has turned out after that amazing first season… They need to be calm and not get carried away with all the speculation thats the mark of a champ… Alonso and Kimi started their careers with similar hype but its maturity that has got one a world championship and the other twice the runnersup.