Rottweiler Raikkonen roars past Renault!

Raikkonen roars to victory!

The three week gap does not seemed to have hampered Raikkonen's momentum as a perfect weekend for the McLaren driver saw him take podium and breeze to victory at the inaugralTurkish Grand Prix at the Otodrom circuit. The party would have been perfect had it not beenfor the last minute blip by the Finn's team mate that put Alonso a step higher on the podium that he must have hoped for. Montoya, who was bumped on his back by a Jordan driver with just a lap to go took third and the Renault of Giancarlo Fissichella came fourth in an eventful race.

The Tilke designed track at Turkey promised to deliver right from the word Go! The track isbasically built on four different surface levels, thus providing ups and downs and blind corners which drivers had to take at 200 kilometers an hour. With eight left hand corners and six right handers, the anti-clockwise circuit also boasted the notorious turn number eight, described by veteran drivers as "four corners in one". With plenty of dust from the yet to be landscaped area that surrounds the circuit and a rain-storm prediction for the weekend, Turkey was all set to dish out an undulating race.

Qualifying saw a lot of drama with both BAR's bottoming out at turn 8 and Michael Schumacher
spinning out. But for the title contenders, it was a regular affair, with Kimi grabbing pole ahead of Fissichella and Alonso, with the second McLaren of Montoya completing the first two rows on the grid. Schumacher strated further back on the grid than anticipated after the German decided to change his engines. An interesting note is that Michelin is said to have asked its teams not to "touch the kerbs" in several places. Sources say that the tyre manufacturer had the same worries as they did before the infamous Indianapolis incident. Among those on the 'bad' end of the grid were former champions Villeneuve, the Indian rookie Karthikeyan and Takuma Sato, who seems to like the gravel more than the tarmac.

As soon as the red lights were out, Fissichella took advantage of a Raikkonen who was trying to block him, emerging the winner out of the first turn. However, the Italian lost P1 to the Finn at the fag end of the first lap. From there on, it was boom time for McLaren and Kimi Raikkonen. At the middle of the pack, Massa ran wide and pitted on lap 2. Michael makes spectacular moves, gaining eight positions before the end of lap 1. Meanwhile, the Renault pits directed Alonso to pass his team mate, citing that he was slower. Moments later, Alonso passed Fiscio. Is this a milder form of a team order? We wouldnt know, for we never heard what the pit-wallers had to say to Fiscio! Button, who started on row seven, passed Schumacher, the Ferrari unable to match the speeds of the British-Japanese team.

The middle part of the race saw some spectacular events, with both Willaims losing their right rear-tyres like clock-work and Webber colliding with Schumacher, something that would lead to the eventual race retirement of the seven-time champion. Button sets blistering pace, taking out Barrichello, Coulthard, Klein and Trulli within six laps. Later, he also made a great move on Alonso whose car was heavier from a recent pit-stop. Clearly, Sir Frank must be impressed with his performace, and must be upping the pressure on the BAR driver. Fissichella lost his third place to the Columbian, Montoya, after a poor pit-stop.

Towards the end of the race, things seemed perfect for a McLaren 1-2, but the collision between Montoya and Monteiro made it clear that the top step of the podium was out of rach but the second and third places were still up for grabs. The Monteior incident led to Montoya developing a flat-spot on his tyre and losing second position to the Renault of Fernando Alonso. Fissichella, Button and Trulli did well to grab points, and so did the Red Bull drivers, for their flawless performances.

Trully, it would have been a McLaren 1-2 had it not been for the Jordan driver's fault. Kudos to them, McLaren, for keeping up their challenge to the title leaders Renault. Mixed results for the Grove team, with Button proving that he could be a future race winner. Sato, on the other hand, managed to stay out of the points yet again. A poor race for the Williams' team, with tyre problems that could probably be setup issues. A great race for Toyota, the team managing to grab a couple of points.

The Ferrari's must have been unsurprised, for their car has failed to deliver, with both their drivers tottering along, finishing outside the points. Michael had a brief outing after the clash with Webber, a trip to ensure that he wouldnt be the first of the drivers out on qualifying at Monza. As for the Indian, he managed to stay ahead of his team mate, although Dutchman Doonboors seems to have done a very credible job, coming in thirteenth. Incidentally, the other Minardi retired, owing to a technical problem.

With five races to go, the title challenge seems to be hotting up. With all due respects to Kimi, the Driver's challenge is over, with 24 points being the gap between the speeding Spaniard and the flying Finn. On the constructor's front, however, just nine points separate Renault and McLaren, and a couple of good performances from McLaren should ensure that the championship goes down to the wire.

Looking forward to Monza, the circuit built within a king's garden and also the fastest track on the calendar. It would be interesting to see if Michelin comes up with the same kind of warnings it did for this race, and it would also be interesing to see how Ferrari performs, for afterall, this is the closest race to their Maranello outfit and has been a happy hunting ground for the Scuderia team.

Adios till Monza!

B-A-Rrichello!

Rubens Barrichello, an evangelist amongst drivers for having sacrificed his own career for the sake of Ferrari (read: Michael Schumacher) has finally decided to convert, signing a "multi-year" contract with BAR. Rubens will give way to Felipe Massa, another Brazilian driver who will now don the Scuderia cap, knowing fully well that he is in for atleast one season as the Number 2 man. Rubens will join BAR after having contributed to five Constructor's (read: Constructor's and Driver's) championships.

Rubens Barrichello, considered a great driving talent, took the traditional silk-route taken by all great Brazilian champs. He was a Brazilian Kart champion who went on to win his maiden GM Lotus Euroseries and then whizzed into British F3 Champioships inspite of financial problems. And like his mentor (the late Ayrton Senna) he won there too, and no one was surprised when Eddie Jordan decided to give him a run in 1993.

"Rubino" showed talent, running as high as third at Donnington (European GP) in just his third race. He glittered in other races like Monza and also at the erstwhile Estroil and Adelaide circuits. And inspite of being linked with McLaren for the 1994 season for the seat left vacant by his mentor, Barrichello remained at Jordan,loyalty personified. He left Jordan a couple of years and several "might-have-been" performances topped by a blistering second at Canada in 1995.
Having served the fledging Jackie Stewart team that was later packaged as "Jaguar Racing", Rubens Barrichello swapped seats with Eddie Irvine for a Ferrari drive. What Rubens must have known even at that time was that Ferrari was a team that revolved around one man : Michael Schumacher.

Ferrari had undergone quite a fantastic change in the four years that Michael Schumacher had been with the team before Rubens joined. Todt led the initial ressurection, putting the team together after Enzo's death. And in 1996, a young colt, aged 27, already with a title under his belt made a decision to join the team, a team that could hardly be called top-brass during the time. The package that Ferrari signed for included Michael and his Benneton buddies, a stunning team that would consistently deliver for the better part of the next decade.

Perhaps a driver always likes to drive the best car, but then, a diligent person does not drive for the same team which also employs a man whose records suggest that he has won 39 GP's and a couple of World Championships more and still expect to be treated the same. Barrichello was/is hardly comparable to the German maestro. A true example of that would be the 2005 season in which Michael has managed to rake in a staggering fifty-five points in the thirteen races that have happened so far. The F2005 is a mediocre car, and Michael being the master that he is, has managed to take the car beyond its limits. Barrichello, on the other hand is a true reflection of the idiom "The driver can only be as good as the car is."

Rubens joined Ferrari and called himself "1B" instead of number 2. A couple of days after he renewed his contract with Ferrari, Rubens faced the ignominy of Austria 2002, where he was ordered to slow down his car to let Schumacher pass and take victory. A visibly shaken Barrichello was just reminded of what his fate would be for as long as he partnered Schumacher. Perhaps the last straw in Barrichello's decision was Monaco 2005, when Schumacher over took him in the last lap to come in seventh.

BAR presented Barrichello with an opportunity to lead a team, perhaps his last chance of leading a competitive team. And Barrichello decided to jump ship. Afterall, no driver likes to be remembered as another's assistant, no matter how great the other might be. And had Barrichello remained with Ferrari, the world would have seen him as Michael's minion, a teeth-less driver who sought a safe second rather than as a driver who contributed to five championships.

The decision has been made, Ferrari would get Massa and Rubens might just get to lead the BAR team, bringing with him the impeccable Ferrari discipline, one which once saw him sail for fifty-eight races without a single retirement.

Long live Barrichello!

Support McLaren, drink JW Black Label!

The new McLaren design Source : Pedro Medeiros @ www.orkut.com

Woking based McLaren-Mercedes team would now prescribe "Johnny Walker's Black Label" whisky instead of "West" cigarettes from the Imperial stables as a partnership that started one cold October morning in 1994 comes to an end. The silver-black McLaren first driven to victory by David Coulthard at the Australian GP in 1997 would now be replaced by the design shown in the picture.

The Hungary 2005 GP was the last race when McLaren ran with the West livery. "West McLaren" has won two driver's championships in 1998 & 1999 (Mika Hakkinen) and the Constructor's championship in 1998. After 38 race victories , the silver-black screamer will finally stop spewing smoke and sign off in style.