More on movements at McLaren

Well, having talked about Adrian Newey's move from McLaren to Red Bull in a recent post, its time now to talk about what is going to happen to McLaren, now that the guru is gone. And ofcourse, to the avid McLaren fan, the rumors of Nicholas Tombazis too moving from McLaren would have set-off the alarm bells. But ofcourse, it was just a rumor and the former Ferrari chief-aerodynamist is still with McLaren, having played a major role in the design of the award winning MP4-20 and being the driving force behind MP4-21.

Now, to talk of the void that Adrian would leave at McLaren, it was confirmed by Ron Dennis, McLaren team principal, a couple of weeks back that Adrian would not be replaced. And that is eye-brow raising stuff in itself. But perhaps Ron played a careful move in promoting the brilliant Tombazis as Vehicle Director, making him the chief-designer in effect. Perhaps a more subtle way of showing Newey the door? A mutual agreement, considering McLaren's track record of fighting ferociously when in danger of losing an engineer?

With Mike Coughlan heading the design team, Neal Oatley building up the engineering base and Paddy Lowe taking care of aerodynamics and simulation and a Tombazis to overlook all of them, McLaren, in my view, have not lost much.

And ofcourse, Red Bull has a lot to gain from Adrian, although I do not see that reflecting until 2007 when Newey gets to design a brand new car.

Narain rocks at Jerez (Winter Testing)

On a cold winter morning, somewhere in Spain, Narain Karthikeyan set the tracks ablaze, with a scintillating 1:19:171. While the fastest man today was Narain's former nemesis Fred Montagny, Narain emerged as the fastest among those who ran on V8 engines.

Though none of the stalwarts of 2005 including Schumacher, Raikkonen, Alonso & Fissichella tested today at Jerez, it is of note that the line-up included one-lap wonder Mark Webber, the maverick Montoya, new scape-goat elect Massa, quick(alleged) Nick, bulls-eye Rosa and the freakishly fast Finn Heikki Kovalainen.

Although Karthikeyan (thanks to the flag) was able to put in only thirty-seven laps as opposed to forty-six from Webber, being almost a second faster must have raised a few eye-brows in the paddock. And not to mention that Narain had outpaced Nico Rosberg in a previous testing session at Jerez.

And ofcourse, a special mention to the Cosworth engines, bringing nostalgic moments from the early 90's, when a certain Mr. Schumacher won his first world championship with a Benetton-Cosworth.

This being his last test with Williams F1 until further notice, Narain has signed off in sizzling style. We can only hope that he gets the third cum test driver role at Williams.

The 'bard' of F1

To me, Stratford-upon-Avon would always be known for two people. One, Shakespeare - who essayed some of the finest plays ever and two, one Mr. Adrian Newey who essayed some of the mightiest machines to have raced on a formula one tarmac. For a kid who grew up tinkering old karts because he could not afford a new one, Adrian Newey has indeed come a long way. The McLaren technical director would now move over to Red Bull, a team that has amazed one and all in 2006, its debut season.

The ace aerodynamist cum designer cum technical director is considered one of the best ever race engineers, with over eighty grand prix titles under his belt. At one point of time in the late 1990's, Adrian stood head and shoulders over his peers with six of the previous ten constructor's championships under his belt. Having served with March Indycar and March F1, Adrian's first taste of success was at Williams in 1992 with Nigel Mansell taking the driver's title. His first would have come a year earlier had it not been for reliability issues and a genius named Ayrton Senna. Adrian then led Williams to two more titles before Ron Dennis lured him away to McLaren.

At McLaren, Adrian would dazzle for a couple of years, winning the constructor's in 1998 and 1999. The year 2000 would see Mika Hakkinen lose the driver's title by a whisker, and thence, Adrian would have to wait for half a decade while Rory Bryne designed Scuderia Ferrari's would rule the roost. However, with the rules changing for 2005, Adrian would come back with a strong performance, and McLaren would power they way back to the top, coming second in the driver's and constructor's championships. Had McLaren sorted out its reliability issues a little earlier in the season and won the Constructor's championship, it would have been a fitting tribute to the master of all designers.

After having been wooed unsuccessfully once by Jaguar racing in 2001, Newey will now move to Red Bull racing, a team that has failed to amaze me in the past year. A stunning 34 points in a transition year, followed by the acquisition of Minardi and the brilliant driver's program, Red Bull will now have the services of Newey for 2006 and more importantly 2007 when the aerodynamics regulations change yet again. And thats exactly what Newey is good at - 'change of plans!'.

All is not lost

The ice man might have lost the championship battle to Alonso, but he most certainly is not losing out on post-season awards. Kimi Raikkonen has just been named "Driver of the year" by F1 Racing magazine, and has also been presented the "International Racing Driver" award by Autosport Awards.

To add icing to the cake, McLaren-Mercedes has been elected 'team of the year' and the MP4-20 from the Woking stables named as 'car of the year' with a thumping 41.3% of those polled calling it as 'among the greatest ever'.

Among other awards, Renault's chief technician Pat Symonds won the 'John Bolster' award for a lifetime award of technical excellence. Tiago Monteiro, the Jordan driver was named as 'Rookie' of the year. McLaren-Mercedes who lost out to Renault on both counts (Driver's and Construtor's) romped home in style, gathering six of the fourteen awards presented.

"It could have been better this season but it could have been an awful lot worse...so I am happy", said Kimi Raikkonen.

Undoubtably, one of the Finn's best years, leaving audience wonder what Kimi's points tally would have been, had it not been for engine failures, suspension trip-ups and mechanical mayhem!

Meanwhile, Flavio and his blue eyed boy Alonso received their awards at the FIA pricegiving ceremony held at Satte des Etoiles, Monaco.

Alonso who is now officially the FIA World Champion said, "This title has taught me that the most important thing in life is to be happy. Today I really am."

Who ever got the bizzare idea of suspending a Renault F1 car on the stage to 'saute' the team's performance!

Everything I learnt in life was from the Godfather

A recent thread in a mailing list was titled "Everything I learnt in life was from the Godfather" - and off I went with my list of favorite Godfather qutes and scenes.

Movie 0 - I mean the book, it was a movie in itself!

The Don on his death bed- "Life is beautiful'

Don to Tom Hagen - "A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men can with guns."

Movie 1

Don to Fontane (looking at Sonny) - "A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man."

Mike to Kay - "That's my family, Kay, it's not me."

The Don to Luca regarding Solozzo and the Tataglia's"I want you to see what he's got under his fingernails."

Clemenza to the group - (lazily eating his sphagetti) - "It's a Sicilian message - means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes at the bottom of the ocean"

Sonny to Tom - "Now listen up - I want somebody very good -- to plant that gun. I don't want my brother coming out of that loo with just his dick in his hands, alright?"

Movie 2

Michael to the Senator - "My offer is this. Nothing'.

Michael - "My father taught me many things keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, he said"

Roth to a group - "I'd give a million just to be able to take a piss without it hurting"

Michael kissing Fredo on the lips in Cuba - "You broke my heart fredo !"

Michael to Fredo - "You're nothing to me now, not a friend, not a brother. I dont wanna know you or whatcha doing..."

Michael to Hagen - "If histoy has taught you anything, it says you can kill anybody"

Pentangeli to Hagen in the Jail - "Like those old Roman soldiers ..They went home and sat in a hot tub n opened up their veins, and bled to death. And sometimes they held a little party before they did it."

Movie 3

Mike to Mary : "I would rot in Hell to keep you safe."

Vincent Mancini to Al Neri before the killing of the arch bishop -
"Neri, take a train to Rome and light a candle for the archbishop."

Altobello to some sheep herd (Mosca ?!)- "I have a stone in my shoe. I want you to remove it!"

(Wasn't Mosca a main character in the novel Mario Puzo wrote before the Godfather? Its some WW II novel based in Germany where they used cigarette as curency! Voila! The Dark Arena!)

Altobello to Michael - "I've lost all the venom, all the juice of what they call youth"

Kay to Mike - "No, I don't hate you. I dread you."

Mike to Don Tomassino -- "Politics and crime , they're the same thing."

Some favorite moments -

-- Michael staring at Al Neri even as he makes his peace with Fredo at their mother's funeral - Francis Ford Coppola at his bizzare best!

-- Quarantined Vito sings out and the scene shifts to the first communion of Anthony Vito Corleone.

-- The look on Kay Adams Corleone's face when Michael cries out after Mary is killed at the end of movie 3.
(Personally, I think Kamal Haasan copied his crying from Al Pacino's crying at the end of movie 3!)

-- The end of Michael Corleone (last scene movie 3) - and the small puppy. Man, that was some artistic touch.

-- The sad 'ocarina' playing when in movie III while Frank Pentangeli slits his hand and dies in his bath tub.

And finally, Francis Ford Coppola himself on the Godfather ---

I always thought of THE GODFATHER as the story of a great king with three sons. The oldest was given his passion and aggressiveness; the second, his sweet nature and childlike qualities; and the third, his cunning and coolness.

OK ! Thats enough GODFATHER for a lifetime :-)

F1 updates

Bernie sells F1 ... yet again.

Bernie Ecclestone, the famed ring master of Formula One has in a startling move sold his entire stake in Formula One, but has still managed to stay as the CEO of F1. It might be noted that this is the third time in three years that Bernie is selling his stake in F1, and it would be foolish to imagine that the 75 year old elf from Ipswich is out for good. CVC Capital Partners who own Dorna (MotoGP) would now be the biggest stake owner in F1, with 75% of the stocks in their kitty. It appears that CVC would now hold talks with the GPMA, a consortium of manufacturers who threaten a breakaway series if not offered a bigger share of the F1 pie. Time and tide may change, but Bernie would still remain CEO of F1!


Super Mario on his own.

After divorcing Williams and Sir Frank, BMW is now on its own, having bought out Sir Peter Sauber's F1 legacy. Powered by state of the art BMW engines and not outdated Ferrari ones, Peter Sauber's wonderful aero package would perhaps be put to better use under Super Mario. Nick Heidfeld the German would race alongside veteran Villeneuve, who after being left out of plans earlier has been included at the last minute.


Honda Racing is reborn

After buying out British American Tobaco's 55% stake, Honda Racing is now back. Honda Racing was first active in the sixties and then in the eighties, having won eleven championship titles in all. Jensie of Buttongate fame and Barrichello, the former Ferrari driver would race for the Grove outfit, rejuvenated by Honda's fresh commitments to F1.

Red-Bull Part II

Last year it was Jaguar Racing and this year it is Minardi. Red-Bull, the Austrian drink maker has gobbled up yet another privateer team, re-christening it "Squadra Torro Rosso" and then changing it to "Scuderia Torro Rosso" since "Squadra" was a word more common to Football teams than to racing ones. The Italian name is quite a surprising one to me, perhaps it could only be justified if Red-Bull can sign-up one Mr. Valentino and rename their team yet again to "Scuderia Torro Rossi".

A eleventh team at the eleventh hour.

Aguri Suzuki, the former Japanese F1 star would now head Super Aguri F1 team, also known as the HONDA 'B' team. It appears that according to the 2006 regulations, teams can buy engines but not chassis. It is believed that if Aguri plans to race in 2006, he would use the old Arrows chassis, used by Yamaha-Arrows in the late 90's. If Aguri races, Taku who is currently in the wilderness might get a green signal.


Sir Frank signs up a Rosberg yet again!

Nico Rosberg, son of the original flying Finn and 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg has been signed on to race alongside Mark Webber at Williams F1 . Nico will now replace German Nick Heidfeld who moves on with the BMW contingent that has just bought out Sir Peter Sauber's F1 legacy. Nico,20, is the reigning GP2 champion and has already made more starts than his father ever has.It would be interesting to watch how Nico performs in F1, considering that his experience at the wheel of an F1 car is almost zero.


Kovalainen joins Renault.

Heikki Kovalainen, the young Finnish talent has signed up with Renault as a test driver. It was rumored that Heikki would join BMW after his arch GP2 rival Nico Rosberg signed up for Sir Frank Williams. Kovalainen is best known for beating Michael Schumacher at the Race of Champions a year ago. Yet another Briatore managed driver, it is widely rumored that Heikki would partner Alonso in 2007 and Italian Giancarlo Fissichella would be shown the door. However, had Heikki's BMW racing option materialized, it would have been interesting to watch Heikki take his revenge on Nico, who stole his GP2 crown at the fag end of the season!