Iceman is finally a champion

For last three years, I have been supporting Kimi Raikkonen for F1 drivers championship. And finally the moment has arrived. In a nail biting season finale at Interlagos (it is a beautiful circuit and is my 3rd favorite, Belgium and Suzuka being the first two), Kimi won the race and as Alonso failed to finish in top two and Hamilton in top six, Kimi won the championship by a huge margin of "one" championship point. Mclaren which was claiming of driver equality can now sheepishly boast of equal points of Alonso and Hamilton. Unfortunately, I couldn't watch this grandeur race as I was flying back to India.

Finally the time to celebrate.

P.S. We must not forget the contribution of local hero Felipe Massa who held onto second place which ensured a Ferrari one-two finish.

P.P.S. Watch out for Hamilton in the next season, he will surely continue his momentum.

Post Ideas

London travelogue - Flickr PhotoBlog

Having friends across the world
Southall - Mini India
Kimi Raikkonen - The Champion
First Onsite Experience
Air India - How not to run an airline company
My New Phone - N73
Adventure of Sherlock Holmes

Formula 1 : The Final Five Face off

The Formula 1 season has entered the final five races and it hasn't got any closer than this in recent past. There are top two teams and four key drivers swapping podium places in each race. Now it will all boil down to Ferrari's reliability and McLaren's speed. Lewis Hamilton is performing well and all set to win Drivers' Championship in his debut year provided he doesn't suffer any mechanical failures or punctures tyres.

Another pleasant surprise of the year was Massa. Initially dubbed as driver no. 2 for Ferrari, he is giving his teammate Kimi Raikkonen a run for his money. Both of them have a very positive competition going on between them unlike as what we saw between Alonso and Hamilton.

One more team to be watched is BMW who are constantly performing well all through the season. If they keep this up during the off season testing and development, they will be a serious title contender for next year's championship

So let's close this post on a positive note. Vijay Mallya has bought a 60% stake in Spykar. His company Kingfisher already has a sponsorship with Toyota. Both of these and a recent visit by Hermann Tilke are all good signs for some INDIAN hopes on F1 radar.

Help!! I am tagged

Shekhar , the citizen of joy, tagged me in his recent post, which was quite surprising. I have never been tagged before and this tag certainly got me thinking.

Read Shekhar's post for Step 1. I am starting with Step 2. And I am warning you, there will not be any step 3.

8 Random facts about me.

1. I was born on April 01, which means I share my birthday with Abraham Maslow
   
2. I was only 13 years old when I completed my secondary education
3. I got introduce to computers and technology during my XI th standard. It has become an integral part of my life after that.
4. I was aqua phobic until I jumped and rafted by the river Ganges
5. My dream job would be a test driver for F1. Kimi Raikkonen is my favorite driver.
   
6. My favorite computer game, you guessed it right, is Need for Speed. I also love to play other racing games like Midtown Madness, F1 2002 etc.
   
7. Kal Ho Naaa Ho is my favourite bollywood masala movie. Back To The Future trilogy is my favorite Hollywood trilogy.
   
8. I have a huge list of crushes ~blushing!

And.. I am breaking the law by not tagging anyone!

Kimi disappoints again

In the last weekend Monaco GP, Kimi screwed up his qualifying and started the race from P16...
8th row in a narrow street circuit in Monaco makes sure that it will not help much in your driver championship. After retiring in previous race at Spain, it was another disaster waiting to happen.

Due to one pit stop strategy, he was able to finish 8th and get one point. However the point difference has increased to fifteen, which is not a very comfortable position if you want to fight for driver championship.

And, Mclaren is showing salutable reliability and awesome speed. Lewis Hamilton has shown best rookie performance till date by finishing all five races on podium. One thing for sure, Ferrari is going to have tough time fighting it over with Mclaren. Kimi should ready himself for getting some firing from Jean Todt.

And, Mclaren has acknowledged that it asked both the drivers to contain themselves during final round of the race when they were in a comfortable lead and Hamilton was giving a good competition to team mate Alonso. There are some charges of Team orders. But in my opinion, these charges doesn't stand any ground, as team didn't order any specific driver to slow down or allowed a pass. It is just that it asked the drivers to be bit more cautious keeping in mind the nature of Monaco circuit which is prone to accidents.


Lets hope Canada brings better result for Kimi and Ferrari both. Amen

Kimi Raikkonen and reliability issues

Kimi Raikkonen and reliability seem to be synonyms. After an eventful courtship with Mclaren, where he had 30 retirements/DNF in last 5 Years (that is 6 per year... his record with Sauber was not great either, 7 retirements in a single year), he jumped ship and moved to Ferrari, which was known for its reliability.

At Ferrari, where he was replacing Michale Schumacher, the expectations were already very high. And till now, he is not able to match up. He has won the Australian GP, finished third in Malaysia and Bahrain... and living up to his old records, failed to finish in Spain.

I somehow fail to understand the reasons!! is it purely because he tries to get maximum out of the machinery and in the process forgets the limitation of machinery and blows it up??

Disclaimer: I am a diehard Kimi fanboy.

Lewis Hamilton - The new force to reckon

Lewis Hamilton is a formula 1 driver from McLaren Team and is a rookie in the sport. But considering his performance in first four races, Rookie title seems to be a misnomer for this guy. In his maiden F1 Championship, he is leading the driver table and poised to finish in top three this very first year. This is inspite of not winning a single race but finishing all four on podium.

Consistency surely takes you far...

5 days to go

The 2007 Formula season is about to start. Australia will play the host for first GP.

However, the challenge for me right now is that on 17th March there is a cricket match of India (which is suppose to conclude by 03:30 AM IST next day morning) and on 18th March morning 08:30 AM IST the Australian GP will start. After analysing my sleeping habits for past 3 months, there is very slim chance that I will be able to manage with only 5 hours of sleep.

Man+Machine : Madness

Formula1 season opener Bahrain GP is only a week away.
So from now, i will continue my last year blogging about it and providing various useful article extracts with links to full articles. keep checking if you heart runs petrol, your body is made of carbon fibre and your physique is aerodynamically optimal. ;)

Alonso Moving to McLaren!!!

McLaren has shocked the world of Formula One by announcing that World Champion Fernando Alonso will be driving for the team from the start of the 2007 season.

Alonso's decision to sign for the Woking-based team means that either Kimi Raikkonen or Juan Pablo Montoya will be moving aside to make way for the Spanish star - which is likely to have a considerable knock-on effect throughout the rest of the drivers market.

It will also be interesting to see what effect the announcement has on Alonso's motivation during the 2006 season - when he will still be driving for the Renault team. Juan-Pablo Montoya suffered from a relatively disappointing season in 2004 after it was announced that he would be leaving Williams for McLaren.

Read Full Story

Team McLaren Mercedes: Facts & Figures

THE TEAM McLAREN MERCEDES ...

.. Sends between 95 (fly-away races) and 135 (European races) personnel to each Grand Prix.

.. Has a race team which comprises: technical director, race team manager, senior race engineer, chief mechanic, software engineer, race strategist, two driver engineers, two assistant engineers, two system engineers, two data analysts, 10 mechanics, two gearbox mechanics two fabricator/carbon repairmen, engine dress, chief truckie, two tyre men, electrician, two support crew, security, senior fuel technician, fuel technician, spares co-ordinator, team co-ordinator.

.. Has a test team which comprises: test team manager, test team engineer, two driver engineers, two assistant engineers, two system engineers, chief mechanic, 12 mechanics, two gearbox technicians, data analyst, engine dress, two tyre men, spares co-ordinator/chief truckie, three full-time truckies, fabricator/laminator/truckie, part-time truckie.

.. Transports approximately 30 tonnes of freight, including three complete race cars at approximately 600kgs each, to grands prix.

.. Takes three spare gearboxes to each race, two built with rear suspension and one loose unit.

.. Takes eight engines to each race, one in each of the four cars and four loose spares.

.. The Team Communications Centre, the team's trackside hospitality unit, travels to all European Grands Prix. It has two floors and comprises offices, meeting rooms, kitchen and dining areas and driver rooms.

.. Takes approximately seven seconds for a pit stop, with 29 crew working on each car, to refuel and to change four wheels and tyres, and the cars can be refuelled at a rate of 12 litres per second.

.. Completed approximately 52,000 kilometres when testing during the 2003 season.

.. Completed approximately 17,000 kilometres when racing in 2003, including Practice, Qualifying, and Races.

.. Generated 40 gigabytes of data during all race meetings and 75 gigabytes of data at all tests in the 2003 season. This equates to about 35 full CDs' worth of data.

.. Consumed 70,000 litres of Mobil Unleaded fuel for track work during the 2003 season.

.. Competes with a car that typically handles 2,500 gearchanges during a race. This figure varies from circuit circuit.

.. Competes with a car that is typically capable of the following performance:
0-60mph / 0 - 96kph 2.3 seconds.
0-100mph / 0 - 160kph 3.6 seconds.
0-100-0mph / 0 -160 - 0kph 6.6 seconds.
and can decelerate from 185mph to a standstill in 3.5 seconds.

.. Michelin supplied Team McLaren Mercedes' race cars with 2304 tyres in total for the 17 Grand Prix weekends in 2003. (1360 dry-weather tyres and 944 wet-weather tyres)

.. 4500 drawings are need to created the 11,000 components that make up each car. This is equivalent to 22 telephone directories.

.. The drivers are subjected to forces of up to 5G under braking.

Source: Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Website

A look at a Formula One steering column

An essential link to turn the car’s wheels

For a sport in which hundredths of a second can mean the difference between pole position or a mid-field grid slot, a car's ability to handle well is paramount. As Phil Gallagher, Senior Design Engineer at McLaren Racing, points out, the steering system provides the driver with his first indication as to how well the car is handling.

The steering column is an essential link in the chain of events that sees a twist of the steering wheel turn the car's wheels. The column is joined to the steering wheel at one end and the rack and pinion at the other. This means that the steering column stretches from the edge of the cockpit down to the front bulkhead.

Quite simply, when the driver turns the steering wheel, the column rotates the pinion gear and the rack moves laterally. The track rods are put into action, shifting the wheels.

Constructed primarily from carbon fibre, the steering column is made of two tubes. They are linked together by a constant velocity joint, which makes sure that the two parts move at the same speed. It also provides high stiffness and low friction. As the man responsible for designing the steering column, Gallagher says these are two of his main concerns. "If there is too much friction or not enough stiffness then it will adversely affect the way the driver can handle the car," he says.

The column features an electrical plug which connects the steering wheel's electronics to the chassis control unit via a wiring harness. This end of the column also has quick disconnect, which means the driver can remove the steering wheel in a hurry. "There's an FIA rule which stipulates that the driver must be able to exit the car in five seconds, so the quick disconnect is very important," he says.

At the steering rack end of the column, a splined joint is used to link the two together, this then connects to the power steering valve and then on to the pinion. Without the power steering, which uses a 200 bar hydraulics supply, the driver would have to work the steering twice as hard.

Another of the requirements for the component laid down by the FIA is the aluminium crush tube. "We have to perform a test in which we drop a weight on the end of the steering column and measure the deceleration," he says. "The peak deceleration must be less than 80g in a crash."

The steering column takes around ten hours to make, and the team takes three or four spares along to each race. They are inspected after completing 1,500kms and serviced after 3,000kms. A typical service would involve complete disassembly, followed by a crack check of the safety critical parts. It would then be re-assembled - with new parts where necessary - and finally tested on the test rig before being signed-off for use on the circuit.

Having arrived at a design that is both light and stiff yet reliable, Gallagher says the steering column is not changed regularly. However, frequent design reviews are carried out and a new design will be put in place if the monocoque changes sufficiently. The current example has been in action for two years with limited change. Proving that, when it comes to steering, Team McLaren Mercedes is always moving in the right direction.

Technical Specification:
Length: Approx. 950mm
Diameter: Approx. 35mm
Material: Carbon fibre; titanium; steel; aluminium

Source McLaren Mercedes

2006 F1 Calender..

The 2006 calendar in full:
Bahrain 12 March
Malaysia 19 March
Australia 2 April
San Marino 23 April
Europe 7 May
Spain 14 May
Monaco 28 May
Great Britain 11 June
Canada 25 June
United States 2 July
France 16 July
Germany 30 July
Hungary 6 August
Turkey 27 August
Italy 10 September
Belgium 17 September
Japan 1 October
China 8 October
Brazil 22 October

So near, so far: the McLaren revival

So near, so far: the McLaren revival

This time last year McLaren found themselves languishing in fifth place in the final championship standings after one of the worst seasons in the team’s long and illustrious history. Twelve months on they are runners up, having pushed Renault all the way and taken the title down to the wire at the final round in China.

Of course, nobody ever got rich betting against McLaren's long-term prospects, but it was a remarkable recovery, even by the team’s own high standards. No one can argue that Fernando Alonso and Renault have thoroughly deserved their 2005 success, but what alarmed them and the rest of the paddock was the way that McLaren bounced back in the second half of the season, having lost out on victory in five of the first seven races.

In the closing half of the season, McLaren clearly possessed a sizeable performance advantage at most circuits - they won six races in a row prior to China - and if the team had been spared even a fraction of the bad luck that dogged their campaign then they may well have been trying to find space for both championship trophies. To illustrate the scale of their comeback, they entered the final round in Shanghai just two points shy of Renault - 174 points to 176 - despite having taken just 63 in the first half of the year, finishing it on 182.

All that said, while McLaren are never a team happy to settle for second, the season has left awkward questions to be answered before next year. First and foremost - will Mercedes be able to solve the mechanical problems that saw the luckless Kimi Raikkonen forced to take grid penalties or start from the pits on no fewer than four occasions after engine changes. And some in the paddock have even wondered whether Juan Pablo Montoya was the right choice for the team. He's had a great second half of the season - seeming, if anything, to have a slight pace advantage over Raikkonen - but a series of unforced errors, unfortunate crashes and the mysterious tennis injury that forced him to miss two races have all left some pundits questioning his temperament.

A flick through the history books produces plenty of other examples of McLaren's comebacks through the ages. Statistically, they are already the most successful team in Formula One history in terms of titles, with no fewer than eight constructors' and 11 drivers' championships. After falling from contention in the mid 1980s, the team were able to persuade Honda to shift its backing from Williams in 1988 - giving them access to what was by far the most competitive powerplant of the era, and allowing them to completely dominate the '88 season, with 15 victories out of 16 races. In the late 'nineties, after another period in the doldrums, McLaren poached Williams' brilliant chief designer, Adrian Newey, and joined with Mercedes in another winning technical partnership. The result was two drivers' titles for Mika Hakkinen and another constructors' championship.

We'll have to wait until next season to find out if we really are on the verge of a new age of McLaren dominance - but you can guarantee that Renault and the rest of the Formula One paddock will spend the winter worrying about it.

In formula 1 racing....

As the end of a long, but gripping, season finally reached its conclusion. Next year Sauber will be BMW, Minardi will be Squadra Toro Rosso, Jordan will be Midland and BAR will be Honda.

In Formula One racing, nothing stays the same for long."