Red Bull deny Raikkonen link
The 2010 Formula One season is one day closer now and Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has just upped the stakes a wee bit, claiming that nothing short of a world championship would be satisfactory for his team this season. This particular statement is an obvious one. For the simple reason that it is the next step in their evolvement as a top F1 outfit in the last few seasons. 
The simple fact cannot be denied that Red Bull were the fastest cars on the grid come the end of the 2009 season. Their rate of development throughout the season was quite consistent and Adrian Newey designed a car which has been copied and reproduced in various forms by most of the current teams on the grid. Furthermore, but for the double diffusers on the Brawn GP, it is very fathomable that Sebastien Vettel would have been the world champion in place of Jenson Button.
Once again this season, Newey has designed a great looking car and at the Jerez and Barcelona tests, it became apparent that the RB6 is very much quick and will be in the mix for race victories and the title fights this season as well. They have gone for continuity in their team and the pairing of Vettel and Mark Webber should prove to be a strong one. However, when it comes to Webber, it is the other remark from the Red Bull owner that really caught the eye.
Ever since the former world champion Kimi Raikkonen went rallying this season, there has been a strong rumor linking him to Red Bull for a 2011 race seat. Consider this – Red Bull is currently sponsoring Raikkonen’s rally adventure. Plus Mark Webber’s current deal expires at the end of the season and there is widespread speculation that the Aussie might call it quits then. Furthermore Vettel and Raikkonen are quite good friends and the Finn has always made an Adrian Newey car go fast, just ask McLaren. So add two and two, and we know where it points to. Red Bull may deny it at the moment but this is how these things work in F1. Didn’t Mercedes GP say they won’t have an all German line-up and then a month later hired three German drivers?
The team owner adds quite a stipulation to it with respect to Webber’s performances. It will all be good if he does well but what if the exact opposite transpires? What if he isn’t able to cope with Vettel and the others despite the car being good? What if he isn’t able to help the team take the next logical step in its evolution? The presumable answer only lays more pressure on Webber and that too in what will be a very closely fought season.
Problems aplenty for IPL
Less than two weeks remain before the annual cricket carnival that is the IPL begins. In all earnest, hosting the tournament in India this time around is proving to be a bigger hassle than it was to transfer the entire circus to South Africa on short notice. Lalit Modi and company will power through this time as well but if the teething problems are not solved, it might end up being a waste of time and money.
The first problem is one that has now been recurring for the last three years. IPL’s media rules are quite different from what other cricket tournaments stipulate. There is a reason for this. The tournament is a domestic tournament under the provisions of the BCCI and ofcourse values more as property than any other such tournament in the world. The Board and the IPL administration want to protect their commercial rights, and rightfully so.
However, safeguarding their interests is one thing and locking out the media is quite another thing altogether. Media accreditation as well as coverage rules bring about an annual standoff which is something both parties could do without. The first two seasons were not covered by the international press agencies and the threat looms on the third season as well. Only this time Indian news channels too are joining hands with them.
The IPL needs coverage from both national and international avenues because that is cricket’s lifeline. What happens if only those people who attend the grounds or cared enough to see the match know what is happening or happened? What about those Indians living in the USA or New Zealand or UK which doesn’t have a broadcaster after Setanta’s pull out? What of those foreign fans who want to follow their stars’ performances here and cannot access a television set? Can the IPL be as successful if it ventures out alone, snubbing people who matter all round?
The other point is that hosting the tournament successfully would go a long way in making the world stand up and notice that there are no security issues here as such. And we need the media even more here for extensive coverage would help grab attention. Even while the hockey world cup is being hosted in Delhi with all international teams participating, there is fresh news that cricketers are still not too inclined to make the trip. The Aussies are just looking for an excuse to not come and Ravi Bopara has already delayed his flight plans.
We need a successful IPL to re-assure the cricket world that we can host the Common Wealth Games later this year and more importantly the ODI World Cup without any problems. It’s high time that Lalit Modi pulls out all stops to make it happen.
Last day of pre-season F1 testing
Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren notched up the fastest time of the Barcelona test on the last day of pre-season testing for the 2010 season. His 1:20.472 was the quickest time of the last four days the teams spent at the Circuit de Catalunya. He was just 0.032 seconds quicker than Mark Webber’s Red Bull who clocked 1:20.496.
In fact the top eight drivers were bunched u
p very close on this last day of testing. Sample the rest of the best times set by the other drivers – Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:20.539, Adrian Sutil (Force India) 1:20.611, Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 1:20.667, Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) 1:20.745, Rubens Barrichello (Williams) 1:20.870 and Kamui Kobayashi (BMW Sauber) 1:20.911.
If one didn’t know any better, the above timings would seem the top eight times during a qualifying session with these top drivers separated by less than half a second. It is representative of the fact that this year will be the closest battle we have seen in years and somehow we can thank the new rules for the same.
I was following the Autosport coverage of the this final test session and it was interesting to note a battle for the quickest time between Hamilton, Vettel, Schumacher and Massa take place just about half an hour before lunch was taken. As per the reports, Hamilton and Vettel seemed to be doing more laps on these qualifying-simulation runs – in bunches of three to four laps – whereas Massa and Schumacher seemed to be doing an outlap, flying lap and an inlap.
This can point in some way to what the actual order maybe like. A lap around Barcelona means the F1 cars burn off on average 2.4 kilos of fuel and every extra kilo means an addition of about 0.035 seconds to the timings. Combining the two above points and you can pretty much say that McLaren and Red Bull are indeed looking to be the front runners at the moment with Mercedes and Ferrari just about there. Beyond these four teams, Sauber, Williams and Force India will be the ones mixing up for points though one doesn’t want to discount Renault just as yet.
However, this is cannot be confirmed in any way, for again, there is no way to be sure of the fuel loads any of these cars. Also it was reportedly a wee bit windy at the track and teams had a tough time finding the right set up. And this only means that we are still pretty much guessing (albeit with some knowledge) with just fifteen days to go for the first race of the 2010 season.
Can’t wait for Bahrain!
Are Mercedes GP sandbagging?
On the penultimate day of the Barcelona test, Nico Rosberg notched up the fastest time at the Circuit de Catalunya with 1:20.686. Now that maybe just 0.072 seconds off the pace set by Nico Hulkenberg’s Williams on day two but nothing can be read out of it just as yet, except of course that Nico – the Mercedes one – was on a qualifying simulation. 
The part that is open to interpretation though is in regards to the statements that the two Mercedes drivers have been making. Before the final test session began, Rosberg admitted that ‘Mercedes will not be revealing their final hand just yet’. From what one has been able to gather from reading testing reports is that Ross Brawn and team will reveal their 2010 diffuser (along with an upgraded aero package) only at Bahrain. Probably it has something to do with an earlier statement from Ferrari that said another row over the double-diffusers could ensue.
In that sense, it is quite clever to make first use of such a device only at the first race. That will not give any time to your competitors to realize you have tripped them over once again so they can lodge a protest and get a verdict. And by the time they do that, a couple of races might already be won and then the FIA can be made to look stupid. Why, isn’t that what exactly happened last year, when Brawn GP ran away with the first few races while the rest were arguing with the authorities over the legality of the diffusers and ultimately the FIA had to accept them, given the loopholes in the rules?
It doesn’t mean however that this year too Ross Brawn will unleash magic at the first race. But if you need indicators, then what better than the words of a seven-time world champion? Michael Schumacher, after his first day of testing at Barcelona, said that ‘he didn’t expect the car to be fighting for wins in the initial few races’. Twenty four hours later, he retracted his statements and said that Mercedes are very much in the fight.
Now one can only assume that Brawn probably went up to a worried Schumacher and told him not to stress himself out for the solution to ‘diffuse’ all their problems was coming soon. And if that is the case then the general feeling that the German marquee just a wee bit is utter trash!
For they have sandbagged like crazy over the testing season.
A satisfying season
With the ODI series win against South Africa, a highly satisfying season for the Indian cricket team has come to an end. It has been one of many highs and some disappointing lows. Wining the tri-series in Sri Lanka while playing on poorly prepared pitches was an ideal start, though that waned off when Champions Trophy in South Africa and the ODI series at home against Australia proved fruitless. A high yielding home series against Lanka and then some boring cricket against Bangladesh, rounded off by a decent display against the South Africans meant that India finish at number one in Tests and number two in ODIs.
That right there is a target ready for the next season. To get to the top spot in 50-overs cricket with the big tournament coming up, now wouldn’t that be something? If at all, the past season has proved that India are a far better Test side at the moment than they are an ODI outfit. Maybe it is because of the experience factor that the seniors bring into the five-day game.
This implies a few worries that need to be addressed in the build up to the World Cup. Injuries are a part and parcel of the game but the team suffered way too many this past season. Barring Sachin Tendulkar, almost every batsman was out injured for some duration and missed games. While the batting was troubled by injury, the bowling showed a lack of depth and that is most worrying. Injuries can be taken care of though one is not sure of the same as concerns our bowling resources.
As one sat watching the third and final ODI between India and South Africa, it was worrying to see Abhimanyu Mithun and Sudeep Tyagi bowl. The Proteas just accelerated at will. It was not long ago that India was bursting at the seams with upcoming fast bowlers. Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, RP Singh, L Balaji, and later Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma spoiled the team management for choices. Then they started getting injured, and barring Khan and Sreesanth, were rendered unfit for the international game. Nehra did show the resoluteness to return but what about the others? A similar phenomenon is being witnessed in the spin department and it is worrying that one, Harbhajan Singh has no one to challenge his place in the side, and two, the second choice spinners Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha are proving to be too raw for the highest level. Piyush Chawla too has not returned from oblivion yet.
Sometime in the middle of the year when the team re-groups for a new season, coach Gary Kirsten and skipper MS Dhoni will have a job on their hands knowing only too well that a fit Zaheer and an in-form Bhajji hold the key to India’s challenge for the World Cup.
Oh and meanwhile, bring on the IPL!
Barcelona Testing Day One and Day Two
After two days of testing at Barcelona, and dry ones at that, the teams are somewhat beginning to show their true colors. It was expected for this one test is the closest the teams get to a Grand Prix circuit before the racing begins and of course the factor that Circuit de Catalunya is an awesome indicator of the readiness of the teams at this late stage.
On the first day, Mark Webber scorched the tracks in his Red Bull. He lapped in a best time of 1:21.487, almost a second quicker than second placed Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg’s time of 1:22.407. On the second day, Hulkenberg upped the ante by finishing first with 1:20.614 and upstaging Fernando Alonso’s 1:20.637 in the Ferrari.
It was the last day of testing for both the Williams and Ferrari driver, and as expected they did some low-fuel running it seems. Reportedly, Alonso did his low-fuel runs earlier in the day and then went on to do race simulations while Hulkenburg managed his quick time in the last minutes of the day.
That the Ferrari is quick is in no doubt. The lap times that Alonso has charted in Valencia, Jerez and Valencia reflect that the car is good both on high-fuel and low-fuel loads. Plus it is reliable as both he and Felipe Massa have clocked over 600-laps each not counting the Barcelona test. That sort of mileage alone proves that Ferrari are pretty confident about their race pace and come Bahrain will be one of the teams to watch out for.
Williams too have racked in the laps but for them it has been to gel in the chassis with the Cosworth engine. In both Valencia and Jerez, they concentrated on high-fuel loads and no one could really guess as to where the pace parameter placed them on the pecking order. With this quick lap-time, the rookie driver showed that the Williams car is fast and that he is one to watch out for. Just how fast we will have to wait until all cars are running on the same loads.
This brings us to Mark Webber’s time. First of all, the difference between the best times on day one and day two is representative of the fact that conditions at the track change very quickly. Of course Bridgestone were testing different tyres compounds on the two days (as per reports) and then there is the fuel load factor. A couple of days back there was this news flash of Kimi Raikkonen returning in 2011 with Red Bull when Webber is out of contract. If the Aussie displays such good form throughout the season and maybe, just maybe, ends up with the crown, then what?
A marriage of convenience?
Yesterday there was this bit of news on Autosport that the FIA is to inspect USF1’s preparations for the 2010 season. For this assignment, technical delegate Charlie Whiting is flying to the team’s headquarters. While the FIA has neither confirmed or denied it, the other bit of news is that USF1’s main backer and You Tube owner Chad Hurley is trying to make a deal with either Campos or Stefan GP for a possible merger and somehow save the team.
Both are interesting bits. What if the FIA at this late stage finds that the team cannot make it to the grid at Bahrain? Would they grant them permission to miss the first three or four races? Are they prepared enough to show their face in the fifth race of the season or will that end in a no-show as well? These are some of the questions that will be answered by this visit.
Why it is important to answer them is because the governing body certainly wouldn’t want egg on their face. A big nuisance was created last year with this issue being one of the talking points and if the chosen new teams can do nothing to increase the value of the sport that is Formula One, then what is/was the FIA intending to do in the first place?
The other issue here is of the team itself. Chad Hurley wouldn’t want to be remembered as an associate of a non-starting organization and therefore it is understandable that he is pulling out all stops to see the You Tube name in F1 atleast for a season. Of course there is the small matter of the staff as well and keeping them buoyant so that their move to this team doesn’t prove an entire failure.
If there is a merger then, what team should it be? Stefan GP, for all their readiness and money, do not inspire confidence enough for they have just bought Toyota’s plans and come to race. What next on their agenda? Where will the development come from? Then there is Mike Coughlan as one of the major players in the team and one gets the feeling that not too many people in the paddock would appreciate seeing him there after Spygate 2007. In that sense then, Campos and USF1 coming together with the blessing of Bernie Ecclestone seems a match made in heaven.
Look at it this way: even Sir Frank Williams will be happy for there will be two cars less on the grid.
Thank You Sachin!
Almost eighteen years to the day, in the 1992 World Cup, India took on Pakistan. That was the first match I watched, thanks to our babysitter who was a cricket fan as it turned out. A curly-haired guy got a half-century – whatever that meant I must have thought then. Important point was everyone was happy and later got happier because India won. It was a good day.
Probably an infantile obsession began that day for Sachin Tendulkar too seemed no more than a child in the world of men then. I hated that my brother had curly hair like him. So I tried to emulate him whilst playing gully cricket. All through my life I have bought bats with the same sticker on them as his bats – SG, Power and MRF – although I am yet to purchase one from the new range of Adidas bats he’s come out with.
It is astonishing how one man touches billions across the world. My own experience is but a tiny part of the world that we share with him. I think almost every one who follows the game ardently remembers what he was doing when he played this knock or that knock. There are 90-plus tons that he’s scored over twenty years and many more where he didn’t get to the three figure mark. But we remember most of them, and celebrate them all, like it’s each and every one of us who has scored those runs. I doubt if any one Australian remembers all of Ricky Ponting’s ODI or Test tons for that matter, or revolves his life around them. That, right there, is a measure of who the greater batsman is.
The generation that I belong to has grown up watching him play and are we blessed or what? Classroom discussions in school when he conjured up a dust-storm in Sharjah in ’98, the shock and anguish of the pain in ’99 against Pakistan, the continued discussions this time in the college cafeteria about the killer six off Shoaib Akhtar in the 2003 World Cup, burning off half a pack of Wills Classic when he was bowled for a duck in the crucial encounter against Sri Lanka four years later – these are but some of the prints that he has left on all of us, I am sure.
I must admit though that the feeling on seeing this 200 not out was quite different. I felt like shedding a few tears – joyous ones of course – for this was an overawing moment that I know I have lived for. A culmination of a childhood dream! A dream common to us all just like those memories – I forever wanted to see a double ton in ODI cricket and I wanted Sachin to make one. I got mine!
P.S – This post is the first one on this sports blog-based venture which is under construction and due for proper release sometime in March 2010. But 24th February 2010 was too good a day to wait for such trivial matters. Only Sachin Tendulkar can make us do such things – posting on an unfinished website.
