sLacKer’S bLog

So..

Originally uploaded by Ravi Shanker Seethapathy

Let me get this out first,I’m a die-hard Ferrari fan..not a Kimi Raikkonen or Felippe Massa Fan or fan but a Ferrari Fan.Michael Schumacher is the only person i consider to be a true world champion(Controversies aside..)and i refuse to support any driver now.I’ve been watching Formula One since…like forever and there’s something in that sport which captured my imagination and kept me glued to it(unlike cricket).
Today was the first ever night race for Formula One,The Singapore Grand Prix;the one that I’ve been waiting for this the whole year.Things couldn’t have been in a much better shape for Ferrari.Massa decimated Hamilton in qualifying by .664 of a second(It sounds quite small but in F1 terms that’s a pretty huge difference).Raikkonen qualified 3rd effectively sandwiching Hamilton.All they had to do was to hold Hamilton but things never go according to plan do they!!Alonso was looking good during qualifying & friday practice but unfortunately due to an fuel-flow problem he had to drop out of qualfying effectively standing 15th.
The race started,Massa pulled away from Hamilton(proving he’s on a lighter load than the others)Raikkonen(as he was heavier) failing to catch Hamilton fell behind.Roundabout Lap 15,Nelson Piquet(Renault) crashed into the barriers bringing out the Safety Car at a crucial point.Those who were travelling light were just about to make their pit stops couldn’t without incurring a penalty(New Rules..read it up).The critical cases like Rosberg,Kubica pitted so that they don’t lose out on the race like Barrichello did.This was when everything went hay-wire for Ferrari.All they had to do was a routine pit-stop,bring the guy in,change tyres,refuel and send them out.Now..the re-fuelling Rig,the one most problematic thing in a pit not only for Ferrari but for any pit crew and the driver too.
There was an incident…waaaaay back in Austria 2003 when Michael Schumacher came into pit and during the re-fueling part the rig caught fire.There were no injuries but the fire was not forgotten.There were cases where the re-fueling rig caught onto the tank and never came off.This caused a considerable loss of time in pit effectively losing grid positions and in certain cases..Race leads.This was exactly what happened today..Massa came in for a pit stop,tyres changed,re-fueling half way through and some A*hole gave the green signal to leave when the rig was still on the tank.This lead to a whole mess eventually leading Massa to lose the race and serve a Drive through penalty.Raikkonen also came into pit behind Massa and had to wait until Massa can leave and this also resulted in him losing valuble grid positions.Thankfully he did not have any issues with the Fuel Rig but this didn’t matter as he crashed into the barriers on Lap 57.Massa re-joined the race at the tail end of the grid and stayed there until the chequered flag.Alonso won the race starting from 15th on the grid(Hats off to him!)Hamilton finished second(thank god he didn’t win it)taking his lead over Massa to 7 points with 3 Races to go.
I heard on the news that Luca Di Montezemolo had a word with the team after the last few races asking them to work closer and harder to back Massa.He’s gonna have one helluva word tomorrow.