HE is back.

Apologies (to the few who read my F1 reviews) for the late post...

Come Imola and the only words on everybody's lips are : 'Ferrari','Tifosi','Schum' .... and 'Ayrton'. Eleven years on, the legend lives. Tamburello is perhaps the most well known chicane in modern day Formula One racing, simply because in those haunting 1.8 seconds in the year 1994, a racer died and a legend was born.

Ayrton Senna.

This might sound like the incessant jabber of a mad Senna fan, but guess it all has relevance. Ayrton Senna, over a decade ago, set the record for pole positions at 65 from 161 races. This weekend, almost eleven years since the great racer passed away, Schumacher, widely considered Senna's successor, broke that record, getting his 66th pole in his 236th race. It is indeed ironic that the German great should take his 66th pole on the very track where Ayrton took his last pole position, the very track where he lost his life so tragically.

Long live Ayrton the amazing.

The Grid:

Michael the Magnificient, Jensen the Joker, Barrichello the Bewildered, Felipe the fu*ked, Fernando the Formidable, Ralf the baffled, Kimi the Killer and Montoya the marauding. As for the rest, I'll mention them as and when the tickle the clocks.

Come raceday, it would be interesting to watch a couple of drivers. First up, can Jensen Button come of age, winning his first GP? Unlikely, considering that a hundred thousand and one tifosi would be out to get his a*s, the last one being Michael Schumacher. And ofcourse, lets not mention the Bridgestone tyres and their inability to retain heat.

Felipe. With qualifying, it was pretty evident that Felipe had been reinstated as the resident scape-goat at Maranello. Felipe's got big challenges. He isn't very good at car-control which means that the Villeneuve-Tamburello complexes are going to have fun with him. And Felipe has also got to keep Renault (a.k.a Alonso) in check, thus helping Michael take his eighty-fifth career win. Maybe he needs to learn the 'Make Mike win' tips from Mr.Barrichello.

The McLarens clearly haven't shown the pace that they did in 2005 at this point in the season, but one cannot write them off. Toyota seem to be improving by the hour, and with two people within the top ten, they look good to challenge the McLarens. Williams have Webber at P10, but will the Cosworth stay-put all race long? Only time will tell.

Schumacher, as expected, got off to a clean start and so did Jensen Button. However, Barrichello could not hold on to his position, and Massa and Alonso shot past him. However, the race was stopped after Yuji Ide nudged Albers, making him barrel into the gravel. Perhaps Ide's last race, considering that Montagny has been signed on as Super Aguri's third driver.

A couple of safety laps ensued, followed by another incident. The usually sobre Trulli had hit Liuzzi. It later became evident that Trulli's Toyota had steering problems. Liuzzi continued on inspite of being hit, but Trulli retired shortly after.

The first set of splash 'n' dash affairs ensued, with Barrichello and Button pitting on laps 11 and 12. Clearly, the Honda's have been sand-bagging, running on much lighter fuel-loads compared to the Renault's and the Ferrari's.

Michael set some scorching laps before plunging into the pits on lap 20. It was then Alonso's turn to capitalize on the empty tarmac before him, as he set the tracks ablaze before pitting eventually on lap 25.

Come lap 27, it appeared that Schumacher and Massa were both facing tyre problems. For Schumacher, that meant that Alonso would soon be hounding him.

On Lap 30, there was some action in the pits as lollipop man Alistair Gibson gave Button the all-clear way too early. The Brit pulled off the pits with the fuel-rig still attached to his machine. Clearly, bad luck for Jensie, but too bad, he's now got a reason for race number 105 (or 106, who cares) without a win.

It was now a race to the finish with Alonso chasing Michael in much the same way that the German did a year back at the same venue. Alonso pitted on lap 42 and Michael on lap 43. From then on, the two cars ran as one, as spectators could not differentiate the red blur from the blue-yellow one.

The final few laps saw Alonso back off, as the wise Spaniard noticed brake-dust coming off his rear wheels. The Renault has always been a bit harsh on its rear-tyres, and Imola being the 'brake-buster' track, wasn't going to make things easier.

With the Tifosi blowing their trumpets, a jubliant Schumacher cleared the chequred flag, punching the air with the same enthusiasm as he did fourteen seasons ago. Surely, Michael isn't going to retire this season?
As for the others, they hardly need a mantion. Montoya, to my utter amazement, was third, and Massa drove well to come in fourth. Raikkonen, Webber, Button and Fissichella were the others to tickle the scoreboard.

The next three races are way too close for comfort, and one should lookout for Team Maranello(a.k.a Schumacher) and Team Woking(a.k.a Raikkonen) to come out in full force and challenge Alonso.
Going by the statisitcs, my bet is still on Alonso, but Schumacher being Schumacher may still rattle the young Spaniard.

Over to the European Grand Prix at Nurburgring.

Snapshot of Nurburgring 2005.