i am pleading for ferrari to bring out the f2005 for the next race at bahrain.
ferrari f1 team is playing with fire here if they continue to think the modified f2004 champion car can continue to threat the rivals. they will sadly regret this assumption and eventually lose out, especially to renault which is currently the strongest team so far. ferrari needs to get their momentum started, and to once again bring fear to the rivals' guts.
they made the same mistake for year 2003, in which they thought the all-dominating f2002 was good enough to continue in year 2003. yet it turned out to be a disaster, performing terribly for the first few races. however they managed to give f2002 a good retirement by winning the san marino race before introducing f2003-ga (which wasn't a great car, albeit it winning that championship). this year, i don't see how they can give f2004 the retirement it deserves. only getting 10 points after two races for the team, that's just too risky.
i hope the rumors are correct, in that the f2005 will finally be flown to bahrain for the weekend. that was why michael continued to use melbourne's engine despite retiring the last race. now both rubens and michael can have fresh engines in a new car for bahrain. michael will be doing testing on the f2005 for the first (about goddamn) time. rumors also have it that bridgestone are horrendously terrible. i firmly believe that the tyres are to be blamed for ferrari's embarassing weekend at sepang. i can't imagine that the engines, the drivers, the chassis, and the aerodynamics can be worst than red bull or on par with sauber! bridgestone need to really buck up, or else this would be the last season i like to see them with ferrari.
so ferrari, get your act together! the time is ticking.
right after work, i dragged five of my colleagues to the nearby dragon bar in desa sri hartamas to check out the toyota f1 rev party.
it was still quiet, but people were moving steadily into the club. the media, as usual, were already booking the best place for a picture of the drivers. other than that, i could see a lot of cute girls in their tight outfit flaunting their beautiful package to the guys. there were also cute promotional girls promoting panasonic cellphones.
i wasted no time in taking pictures of the toyota f1 car on display there. although it was an old version of the mock f1 car, it was nice to see nonetheless. i didn't want my colleagues wandering around the place feeling uninterested. since we were not on the invited list, we moved to a nearby mamak to order food. however, i never let my eyes off dragon bar.
after about 15 minutres, we suddenly heard the honking of the police motobikes. i knew the drivers were on their way. upon seeing the flashes of the siren light, i rushed back to dragon bar and got my camera ready. then came two toyota camry with both jarno trulli and ricardo zonta. they came out with other toyota officials, stood amist the media, the kompang player, and the fans, then slowly inched into dragon bar. here are the unfortunately blurred pictures of the driver (i was stupid i didn't have my flash on):
the good part of the evening (other than seeing the drivers close up) was i sweet talked into getting a nice toyota gift bag. there was a t-shirt, a calendar, and a michelin keychain. not too bad for not being an invited guest.
i managed to get another bag for my colleague too. i'm sure he's pretty happy with that as well. overall a fun evening!
fuck yeah! my f1 blood was bubbling in excitement as i drove happily to klcc.
i reached there around 1pm just in time for my breakfast and lunch. however, my excitement exceeded my hunger as i totally forgot i needed to eat to survive the rest of the day. i have no time to waste as i rushed to the center court to grab several close up pictures of a mock sauber petronas f1 car. it's even a mock car of an older version, but who cares.
i took it from several angles as well. here's one from the top:
i took some car stickers that they were giving out for free. i even saw a ticket booth which reminded me i still don't have a ticket for the event. i moved along and decided to then move out from suria klcc to check out the perimeter although it was still early before the street demo begins.
once outside, i can't believe the amount of people who were already waiting, booking their places right next to jalan ampang for the best view. i slowly inched towards the street, taking pictures along the way.
security was terrible as i was actually walking around the 'motor preperation area'. i walked past the petronas trailers which probably house the teams, and also next to the sauber engineers preparing for the sauber f1 car. it was a pretty cool sight!
i decided to park myself at the opposite of klcc, thinking that the view was more magnificent. i stood right in front of menara public bank looking towards the twin towers and the v.i.p section. i figure that the road is also paved, thus the cars would be zooming in front of me, but later on i discovered that i've made a huge mistake.
i saw some interesting figures of the media:
later these media people pissed me off by blocking the whole view of the spectators. despite being told to move away as their position was in danger of being knocked down by a zooming f1 car, these stubborn photographers and reporters (even the bomba people) have grown roots to the divider and weren't moving a muscle.
all discontent soon faded with the appearance of the sauber c24 f1 car and the drivers, felipe massa and jacques villeneuve, in style:
although rain started to pour, it didn't really dampen the spirits of the fans. however i was pretty annoyed with the organizer for wasting so much time with band performance, local racer karamjit singh racing on the waja (even though he was awesome, i was there to see f1!), and the petronas team motobikes before getting on to the f1 demo. well, it was worth it.
massa performed brilliantly (but he almost stalled the car after a pitstop performance), spinning his car in the rain but controlling it with sheer percision. jacques' performance was alright, nothing special in particular. but the engine does sound amazing, and the speed was blindingly fast. cool stuff.
after the street demo, the fans rushed forward to where the car was parked and mobbed it with pictures and cheers. i too rushed forward to try and get some glances of the car and the drivers up close. well, i got more than what i bargained for:
all in all, a fabulous experience. i didn't expect to be so close to the actual car. i was so close i was standing right next to it. i could feel the heat of the purring engine, smell the burnt rubber of the tyres, and i could actually feel its weight next to me. that was amazing. not forgetting being so close to the drivers. shaking hands and patting the back of an f1 world champion (too bad i didn't get jacques' picture, but i got felipe), that was totally amazing!
it was a once in a lifetime experience. i'm so glad i made the trip!
after some four agonizing months, the formula 1 circus is back in town. first off from down under is the melbourne gp. always an exiciting race to watch as the cars zoom around the park. many are promising a close battle between the top teams, and with all those changes in the rules and regulations we might see some mix up in the racing order. however we will only see the true pictures during the race itself.
judging by the first practice so far, mclaren is in good shape. top drivers in a top team can sure bring some challenge to ferrari. however, ferrari running their older version cars is still keeping up to the pace. i'm impressed with nick heidfeld and i hope he continues to do well in this season. i've always liked him and felt that he deserves a good car to show his potential. hope he beats kimi. villeneuve is relatively quiet, so to are montoya, the toyota, and the bar teams. god i can't wait!
actually i am more anticipating for the circus to come to malaysia. i really want to go, and my friend in the states is surprised i might not go. "how can you not go?!" well the weather is the biggest thing as i can't stand the heat! the humidity doesn't help either. "go sit at the grandstand." that's a good solution but hell it's too expensive. i'm earning money but i'm not printing money for that kind of pampering. "sit at the grass area with the roof then." good idea, but i have no 'kakis' to go with. everyone is still back in the us and currently i don't know anyone well enough to drag along. "bring your gf." she's rushing for her final project. "..." well, i'll just see what happens.
i'm praying for free tickets to fall out of nowhere. i'm praying hard!
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