F1 First Time

I have never followed F1 closely. Just about knew that Schumi is like a demi god on the track and there were names like Raikkonen, Montoya and so on. But never really followed it. But yesterday my friend came over to stay at my 1BHK apartment (for all u suspecting morons, it is a guy !). And he is an all out F1 person. I was hesitant initially. But slowly got sucked into the Renaults, the Ferraris, the BMWs and the Mclarens. It was the 70 lap Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal yesterday.

It is real fun , following the F1. Those zooming machines whizzing at 200 miles an hour on the scorching tracks. There are so many parameters which decide the winner in the end. The track temperature, the air temperature, the number of pit stops a car makes, the time for each pitstop, the downforce of each car. It's just amazing the manner in which the cars are prepared for such strenuous races. All of this being monitored by the engineers in the control room(is that what they call it?) via radio to the driver. Its just amazing.

For once, I was totally involved. Though there was a certain Narain Karthikeyan on the Jordan Toyota, I was more keen to know the various factors which decide the winner on the F1 track. While the Renault had Alonso and Fisichella behind the wheels, it was Raikkonnen and Montoya for the Mclaren. Also got to learn the engines being made from which company. McLaren by Benz for instance. The first half of the race was exhilirating, with the 2 Renaults racing between each other leaving behind the McLarens and the Ferraris. Incidentally, Schumi was there, quietly plugging away in a stable Fiat Ferrari, even as Renault sadly fell away from the race towards the second half, the track conditions taking a toll on his engine. Though speed does matter, the engines need solidity and sustainability to survive such a gruelling race.


Once the 2 Renaults fell away, Schumi became more visible, with only the McLarens to be now wary about.Barrichello ,also on the Ferrari was quietly getting ahead.It was a battle between Raikkonen and Montoya one felt before a black flag was raised against Raikkonen's McLaren for leaving the pits under a red light during the safety car period(not sure about the actual rules. will get to learn slowly :)). As a result he had to pull out of the race and now it was left to the McLaren and the Ferrari, with McLaren in the lead with Raikkonen behind the steering wheel and Schumi closely following him. Raikkonen retained his lead till the end but McLaren had to settle with just the first position at the podium whereas Ferrari had Schumi (2nd) and Barrichello at 3rd.

Really, its a good sport. Or can we call it a sport. It has more to do with the machine than the human inside. But one has to admit, to drive at 200 mph for over 70 mins, inside a F1 car needs huge amount of focus and tenacity. Really does. One lapse in concentration is enough to spell disaster on the tracks. But as I said, its more the way the machine is designed which will determine the ultimate winner. The human inside is just the enabling force for the machine to race .