Aquaplaning madness – European F1 July 22, 2007

As if by Divine Intervention it would just so happen that the clouds that gathered over the Nurburgring would burst open and turn everything upside down as soon as the second lap. The amount of water turned the track into a lake of aquaplaning madness as car after car slid of into the gravel on turn 1, neatly lining up next to each other, and coming to a gentle stop next to the barrier.

The frenzy of cars sliding off, teams scrambling to change tires and the battles that ensued as racers battled each other for position, whilst trying to stay on the track, made for a very exciting race! 

Hamilton got stuck in the gravel after sliding off, but was lucky enough to be allowed to continue his race after being lifted back on to the track with his engine still running on lap 4. He was a lap behind however and with the rolling restart under the safety car, tried his best to unlap himself. During lap 45 Hamilton got blue flagged forcing him to allow Massa to pass and lap him. After that he got himself back up to 9th place where he finished the race.

Winklehock, Spyker’s new driver who replaced Albers for this race, started in 22nd position. Spyker decided to take a gamble on the dark clouds rolling in and got their driver a set of full wets with which to start his race, albeit from the pits. As the rain poured down, claiming a total of six victims on turn 1, Winklehock sets a fastest lap on lap 3. He was now leading the F1 GP on his debut race! Conditions turned nasty and the race was suspended with red-flags on lap 4. All the driver’s now had to start in the positions they were during the red-flag. What a day for Spyker and Winklehock! Unfortunately for him, the rain faded and the full wets couldnt churn out any kind of pace. The Spyker had to retire during lap 15 with small flames showing from the engine bay.

Massa had a good race and lead most of the way until the rain fell down again in the last ten laps, where the change to intermediates left him with vibrations from a bad set. Alonso fought very hard and after some aggressive driving bumped his way past Massa to gain pole position and win the race.

Raikkonen drove very well, and even after missing the pit entrance as he lost grip in the web on slicks, he still had a very good change of winning the race. He dropped from 1st to 7th before the restart, and back up to 3rd before his car gave problems and he had to retire. Very unfortunate since this race could’ve had him gain 10 points on the lead of Hamilton.

Ralf Schumacher made a mistake on the 2nd to last lap giving Heidfeld a gap to try and pass. Ralf didn’t see him there and they collided which had Ralf end in the gravel, very mad at what just happened. Heidfelt finished 6th just behind Coulthard who was the biggest gainer of the day, finishing in 5th after starting his race in 20th.

The final standings:

1. Fernando Alonso
2. Felipe Massa
3. Mark Webber
4. Alexander Wurz
5. David Coulthard
6. Nick Heidfeld
7. Robert Kubica
8. Heikki Kovalainen

A very exciting F1 race indeed, even though my man did not finish. I surely need to get this one on DVD, as it will probably be the most eventful race!

Kimi takes it! July 1, 2007

I’ve never been a Ferrari fan, mostly because I never liked Michael Schumacher. Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for what he has achieved and for the talent that he definately has no lack of. There was just a certain air around him that just didn’t work for me. Back in 1996 when I started watching Formula1 I instantly became a Hakkinen fan. The cool, calm held back personality showed some kind of confidence combined with modesty and smooth driving precision. He didn’t need to be loud and articulate and flashy. He proved his worth with every race that he lead and won.

I guess it reflects a certain part of my personality, so when Mika left F1 at the end of the 2001 series, I was in need of a new hero to follow. A hero that exhibits similiar traits of confidence and style. I took notice of two drivers; the Columbian Juan Pablo Montoya from Indy 500 and a Finn, Kimi Raikkonen. In the years that followed both showed their own styles and personalities through the races they battled; Montoya revealed what I at first interpreted as gutsy and bravery, but which I later realised was probably aggression and temper. He left F1 in 2006 when Ron Dennis, McLaren boss, offered him an early exit.

Kimi shined often and proved to be very competitive in many battles between himself and other top racers. It always felt to me like he was right there on the verge of winning, but maybe inexperience or having his mind on parties prevented him from getting there. Schumacher and Ferrari was of course a very very strong opponent with impeccable skill and reliability. As Michael kept on winning race after race I slowely started losing interest in my favorite sport. It wasn’t racing anymore, it was mundane, boring and repetitive. I probably saw one or two races in 2005 and only a handful more in 2006. It was the strangest moment seeing Schumacher doing his last race and you could feel the air around the track, the pits, even the people that he had been competing with for the last decade. It was the end of a spectacular era that we may never experience again and the start of a legendary story that will be on the minds of every F1 fan, and the pages of every F1 book ever to be written. I felt sad despite my negative feelings towards this talented driver.

From a year that designated the end of an ara, to a year with new teams and drivers, 2007 was surely going to be exciting. Montoya was gone. BMW started their own team. Williams got Toyota engines. Kimi signed with Ferrari and Felipe Massa was suddenly the talk of the town. This sport has so many surprises! I had to make a pick, but staying with Kimi whilst he signed with Ferrari just felt like sin. So I didn’t pick, I just watched, and as the season progressed I got used to Ferrari. Ferrari didn’t equal Michael Schumacher and it felt good. Of course things couldn’t just be that easy, a newbie in F1, a Brit named Lewis Hamilton who started with McLaren started taking podium positions from very early on and threw the whole sport upside down. It was awesome, exciting and very far from the repetitive mundane days of Micheal Schumacher. We had real racing, filled with unknowns and “i-wonder-who-will” every week. F1 was back with a bang.

This weekend the French GP took place at Magny-Cours, in my opinion one of the weirdest tracks, but I liked it for exactly that reason. Very fast S bends as proven by Hamilton this year and hard to overtake corners. Alonso felt the pain as he tried lap after lap to pass, he was afterall the world champion and for him to be stuck in 7th place must’ve been frustrating like no other. You could see his desperation but the track was unforgiving. Bernie Ecclestone confirmed that for 2008 Formula1 will not return to Magny-Cours. Paris may be an alternative in 2008.

During Massa’s final pitstop, he was leading the race up to this point, Kimi pulled one out of the hat and made up precious seconds from second place. This allowed him to pass Massa during his pitstop for 1st place. You have to give credit to the Ferrari team in Maranello who worked very hard to produce much needed improvement to their car.

Let’s hope that this is the start of a turn around for the Ferrari team. I cannot wait for the next race at Silverstone in Brittain!