Mclaren Stumbles as Kimi delivers Masterclass

It feels good to be writing a blog after a long long time. Well, its just my second. Whatever, here it goes........

To start with, the 2007 Formula1 World Championship has been full of surprises, shock, shame, resilience, hard work, misfortune, fairytale, court cases, appeals, spying, sledging, etc, etc and the list never ends. Some may say that, thats what formula1 is all about. Indeed it is, but this time limits have been crossed and things have been put way of perspective. I shall deal with each one by one as follows.

Alonso and Hamilton Dream Team:

Many considered that racing a rookie driver alongside a double world champion was one of the best driver selection mclaren could ever make especially after the exit of Kimi Raikkonen from the team at the end of the 2006 season.

I should however recall that Alonso had signed a contract with mclaren for 3 years (2007-09) half way through the 2006 season (the year he won the championship with renault). People were surprised with the decision he had made considering he was in a title winning car (at renault) and mclaren's performance in 2006 was absolutely dismal, a year with no race victories.

Flavio Briatore (Team Manager - Renault) quoted that "Alonso wouldnt have switched to mclaren if he knew that he was going to race alongside Hamilton"
Would he have? No one knows. But i think he would have since he was pretty sure he would have had number 1 status in whatever team he drove!

It was a perfect start for Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen with him winning the first race of the season in Australia. Mclaren had a good start too with both their drivers performing well and scoring points for the team.

Spygate Case:

In brief, Mclaren was accused of possessing confidential Ferrari data which Ferrari claims Mclaren used for their benefit. The two main culprits - Nigel Stepney of Ferrari and Mike Coughlan of Mclaren. After a couple months of saga and series of bizarre events Mclaren was fined 1oo m Dollars and disqualified from the constructors championship.

This event turned tables and Ferrari clinched the contructors championship by default since they were second.

Hamilton and Mclaren:

Hamilton is a baby of Ron dennis and Mclaren. He has been with the team for a great period of his racing career. He has spent hours and hours training in the mclaren race simulator. He did not have to spend any time adjusting to new car conditions (tyres, etc) as opposed to Fernando Alonso. So, He was expected to be quick off the blo ck. He had a near perfect car in every race, he would pretty much finish where he started from on the grid. It is not that Hamilton was flawless, it was Raikkonen, Massa and Alonso having bad weekends and misfortunes prettymuch throughout the season. According to me, Hamilton was leading the championship due to sheer luck and so me good performance (which is expected from every other formula1 driver). Also, he has a brilliant car. In other words it was a cruise for him.

Alonso and Mclaren:

After a few races in the season when things were not going right, he thought he was not given what he gave Mclaren o ver the winter during vehicle development and testing. Also he was annoyed of the fact that he never got number 1 status in the team. Being a double world champion there is nothing wrong in expecting no1 position. Moreover he was always no1 in renault. So he expected the same here as well. His feeling of not being treated in the team f airly is a normal thing. Thats human nature. Its a british team with a british driver (Hamilton). After the failure of Jenson Button, Britain was in desperate need of an F1 hero and mclaren in desperate need of victories and titles. I dont see any reason why Mclaren would not favour Hamilton over Alonso.

Alonso and his misfortunes:

In Hungary he was penalised for impeding Hamilton in qualifying. The team themselves confirmed that it was Hamilton who ignored team orders and entered the pits at the wrong time. So who do u blame? Hamilton acted like a little innocent rookie and got away with it and Alonso paying the price for being honest. The media made a whole issue out of it of Alonso using non racing tactics to beat Hamilton. That was wrong!!

Time and again Alonso was quick in Q1 and Q2 of qu alifying but from nowhere he would lose all pace in Q3 and Hamilton would pull of a surprise lap and take pole position. This is more than just coincidence and strong performace. Alonso is a proven two time champion and that too during the presence of the great Michael Schumacher. I see something fishy here and so did Alonso when he accused Mclaren for not treating him fairly in the team. This happened in china as well where there were tyre pressure problems in Q3 and he lost grid position.

Belgian GP - Alonso countersteers his car at the first corner almost avoiding a crash with Hamilton which forces Hamilton out of the track. They race neck to neck together in the second corner with Alonso refusing to let go. Hamilton cribs about it and everyone points at Alonso for being unfair. Kimi (which is a comment of a true racing driver) says: "Thats normal racing incident. We are here to race each other. Its perfectly normal." As i said Hamilton acts like an innocent rookie and lets the media and every one make Alonso look like the bad guy.

Japanese GP - Hamilton did a pathetic job behind the safety car by accelerating and braking hard time and again. Remember that caused Sebastian Vettel run into Mark Webber and both were out of the race. Alonso crashed out is another issue but the point here is, Hamilton gives an excuse of trying to keep his brakes warm and gets away with it.

Brazilian GP - Hamilton sort of impedes Raikkonen during Kimi's final qualifying lap (Q3). I dont think so to be honest. But compare this to what happened in Italy last year, Alonso was accused of impeding Massa on his Hot lap when he was not even 95 meters within him. Still Alonso was penalised and lost 6 grid positions. Hamilton and Raikkonen were more close to each other in Brazil, but again Hamilton got a way with it!!

Either of Max Mosely (FIA president) or Bernie Ecclestone (Owner of formula1) [not sure] commented that: "i would like to see Hamilton be champion. He can do a lot more for the sport than can either of Raikkonen or Alonso." Excuse me, a champion is someone who is fastest on the track. Promoting a sport is secondary!!

So, was the championship a cruise for Hamilton until he saw what life at formula1 really is in China and Brazil? Yes. It was high time he saw his fair share of bad luck in the season. A championship is supposed to be earned by hardwork and proving yourself on the track and not outside it.

That leads me to the next part,

Kimi Raikkonen - 2007 Formula 1 World Champion

I made this comment when the season commenced that if there is anyone in the track who needs to be champion and deserves it, that is Kimi. Without any doubt. He missed it twice with mclaren in the years i think in which he produced the finest of drives ever. Raikkonen and Alonso are the next legends of Formula1. One (kimi) for his fearless driving, outright pace, someone who does his talking on the track ONLY and the other (Alonso), for his knack of knowing what to do when on the track and ofcourse speed!!

I respect the resilience and never say die attitude of Kimi throughout the season. He trusted himself and the team (Ferrari) and never ga ve up on the title until it was mathematically impossible.
The fact of outperforming his team mate Filipe Massa in just his first outing in a ferrai (massa was a test driver for ferrari for sometime before he drove for sauber. He finally got a racing seat last year when Barrichello left) just shows th e genius in him and what he is made of.

2008 Predictions:

People say that Alonso will leave Mclaren for good. His most likely position is ofcourse Renault who will welcome him with open arms. But:
1. Fernando will consider his reasons of leaving renault at the first place
2. Will renault be able to give him a Championship winning car? I dont think so. BMW are making great proress and Ferrari and Mclaren a re already up there.
3. Most likely thing however is a Heikki Kovalainen and Fernando A lonso swap between mclaren and renault.

If Alonso goes to Renault his partner is definitely Fisichella as Flavio will not risk putting Nelson Piquet Jr alongside Alonso.

Who will win the drivers championship in 2008??

Kimi Raikkonen: Being an Alonso fan (as you must have felt reading this blog) i feel Kimi Raikkonen is the most likely champion of 08. He has the car, the momentum and absolutely everything that he needs to win.

Fernando Alonso: Very difficult. He is completely unsettled at the moment. If he goes to renault i dont think he will get a car that will make him champion again. If he stays at mclaren, he might be highly motivated for glory next year or a repeat of 2007.

Filipe Massa: Possible. He is very hungry for one and has the car to do it. But it will be an uphill task to outperform Kimi.

Lewis Hamilton: If you think that this year was hard for him then next year is going to be harder. I think this year was as close as he could get to a title for atleast a year or two.

Other drivers to look for: Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica, Nico Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen

There are going to be regulation changes next year (viz. no traction control, etc) and so it will interesting to see how things shape up next year.

Finally i have to mention about Mark Webber (Yes, i have been in australia for more than a year now and the reasons are obvious). Why does he always have to be in the wrong team at the wrong time? why does his car keep blowing up? perhaps he is the most unlucky driver on the grid who has not yet been rewarded for his talent.

Phewwww!! that was a long one. I hope this is the my first of many more F1 posts!!!

Watch 'Johnny Gaddar' & 'Manorama 6 Feet Under'

Its been a seriously long time since I have seen two consecutive Hindi movies and have thoroughly enjoyed them both. The last I can remember are Lagaan & Dil Chahta Hai which were spaced quite close to each other.

Over the years there has been the odd Omkara, Swades & Sarkar as movies which have caught my attention and consoled me that Bollywood can produce more than just brain-dead, formulaic, cheesy, over the top, predictable yada yada. But they have been, for the lack of an analogy, few and far between. Yes Hollywood does make a lot of croppers as well but they do make a lot of sensible stuff as well.

Having seen Johnny Gaddar and Manorama back to back on DVD (don't ask how I got hold of DVD's now!), I once again feel that we can indeed make some decent cinema. Moreover they were exactly the genres I enjoy and the genres we never seemed able to make in India. Heist and whodunnit thrillers.

Johnny Gaddar is no Oceans Eleven, but its one of the better heist films to come out of our industry for a while. Its got great characters, an interesting and twisty plot. Also it holds you till the end. Although it is obvious who the Gaddar is by interval, its the way the others find out that makes it great viewing. And I loved the soundtrack as well. Also the references to movies from the 70s was also well placed. All in all an enjoyable heist film which I would want to watch again.

Manorama 6 Feet Under was of a slightly different type. Obviously on a low budget, it never came across as tacky or having low production values. The pacing was slightly slow for my liking. It could have done with some more editing. But the plot had enough meat and twists to keep me from dozing off, given it was touching 1 in the night! What I loved in the film was the believability factor. Everything looked real. Right from the 10 seconds insurance agent to the henchmen of the politician to the lead actors themselves. Although Abhay Deols tash looked a bit dodgy. Another great watch.

Also these 2 movies highlighted what a fine actor Vinay Pathak is and what he can do given the right character. I was craving for more of his Rajasthani accented liquor swigging sub inspector Brij Mohan in Manorama...

All in all, 2 of the better movies to come out of Hindi cinema. Do give them a watch!

Recovery agents aka 'Vasooli'

Earlier tonight there was a story on NDTV Witness about the dark underbelly of the Indian credit card market. What with the credit card debt rising to an astonishing Rs. 14,000 crores! Its hard to comprehend those kind of numbers.

One of the points they covered was the the methods of recovery being employed by some private sector banks. All this in the light of a recent report of a man driven to suicide after being hounded by recovery agents hired by ICICI Bank. In very crude terms it amounted to 'vasooli'.

These unscrupulous methods of recovering debt have always been prevalent in the world of private (non-institutional) or even unlicensed financing. These methods are the only recourse to recovery in case of defaulting when there is nothing mortgaged or put up as a security against the borrowing. But then the borrowers in these cases are mostly people who would be generally classified as non-credit worthy per say on paper.

What is worrying is that these methods are slowly finding their ways into the mainstream debt recovery system. One can include both borrowing and credit card debts into this category. Having borrowed money or used the credit card in the first place, the individual is obliged to repay the money to the bank. So a certain degree of blame lies with the party for taking on more debt than one can handle.

But we also need to look at the other side of the reason as to why people are so easily riddled with debt. We have all been hounded at some point by those infamous tele-marketers urging us to buy everything from insurance to falling for that 'free' trip to a destination of our choice. Overzealous marketers and credit card companies are almost compelling people to sign up for credit cards with hard sell. And a lot of times verification becomes secondary to selling a credit card.

Pre-approved loans being offered to people who do not have the capacity to repay them. Offer anybody easy money and they are more than likely to fall for it. So you end up with people using credit cards and availing pre-approved loans way beyond their capacity to repay. And there you have defaulting and then comes the debt recovery.

So I think the fault lies on both the sides. The greedy, sometimes gullible, borrowers and overzealous banks and credit card company executives with 'targets' to meet.