Gentlemen… Start your engines…

March 21, 2007


Another fast season has begun this year with the start of the Formula 1 season in Australia last Sunday. A lot of surprises have excited everyone, including such F1 newbies like me, of the forthcoming race season this year.


This year will be the first year of F1 season after Michael Schumacher, the most successful F1 driver so far, with 7 championship titles in his credit. The great ‘Schumi’ opted to retire at the end of last season after almost 20 years of unparalleled success on track, rewriting F1 records books in total number of championships, fastest laps, pole positions, podium finishes and race victories. This one man has made me a little bit curious about racing and F1, and my very late interest in Formula 1 racing has now grown into admiration in the fastest and one of the only “pure sport”(a sport wherein the competition is decided on who came first to the finish line and no judges to modify the outcome). F1 is a spectacle in almost the whole world, can even rival the World Cup, and is widely accepted in all continents including Asia(which has Japan, China, Malaysia, Turkey, and Bahrain as Grand Prix hosts), excluding the Philippines which so much dwell mostly on basketball.


A lot of critics observed that this year’s season might be a boring one with the departure of Schumacher, but the first race proved otherwise. Expectations were high on Ferrari, with Kimi Raikkonen jumps aboard from McLaren, replacing the ‘irreplaceable’ Schumi, and teaming up with the promising Felipe Massa. Kimi did his job well, starting first on the grid, left everyone to dust, and winning his 10th F1 race and 1st as member of the scarlet team. Massa was 6th place after staring last on the grid with a gearbox problem in qualifying, and changing engines overnight which accounted to minus 10 places on the grid. Ferrari made a statement that they are still a force to reckon with even without Michael, and from the looks of last Sunday’s race… it looks like everyone might have to inhale all the dust and smoke that the team will leave behind as they ‘fly’ race by race.


McLaren is in a good position too, after having a bad season last year, not winning even a single race. They ‘snatched’ current champion Fernando Alonso from Renault, and then partnered him with a young promising Brit Lewis Hamilton. Both finished in the podium, which says that McLaren is strong too in terms of speed and reliability.


Renault, it is still Renault, less the pomp and glory minus Fernando Alonso. Only Flavio Briatore is keeping this team alive, with his on and off race comments. Giancarlo Fisichela should exert and assert himself as the leader of the team, based on his experience.


Honda is still the same, except for the very nice design of its car, the environmental concept. Not bad to dream about having a nice place to race on.


The rest of the pack, still they will catch up, as always year after year, in terms of speed, reliability, and the amount of work to achieve a winning car.


My bet for this year? It has always and forever will be RED, it will always be Ferrari. Almost everyone would love to have a Ferrari. Watching Formula1 is exciting, just like the first time I watched Schumi race live when our cable connection was installed. I just happen to see F1 and Schumi only in bits and pieces of news before, and now I have the TV at my disposal, since watching the race live requires me to be awake from midnight until 2 to 3 hours later, and no son and Cartoon Network to compete against during those hours.


Just happen to be disappointed that Michael has already retired.


So… Gentlemen… Start your engines…