indianapolis blew it open

[indianapolis]

so when can you catch an f1 car driving sideways? well, only at indianapolis.


as expected, the indianapolis race was filled with pure excitement and mix emotions - well at least for certain parts. only nine cars remained in this incident filled race, while the rest retired or was involved in a first corner mayhem. i would say this was one the craziest crashes we've seen this season.

unfortunately, of all races, the big crash had to be at the usgp. both mclaren and both bmw had to retire from the race, and i believe if they would were to finish the race, all four cars would have finished ahead of alonso. and that is why i am rather annoyed by it.

the superior renault of alonso was finally in deep trouble, but not enough cars punished him for it. alonso could have easily finished outside of the points, and with that michael would jump ten points closer to alonso in terms of the championship. instead, only three cars behind michael managed to beat the reigning world champion. not good enough.

fine. i am delighted the championship is a bit wide open now. it seems more probable that ferrari has a chance to catch renault. but let's not kid ourselves and let's be realistic. this is just a one time blip. michelin was conservative at indiana, and tyres reliability is a must because we can't bear to witness another farcical race. therefore, bridgestone triumph and dominated.

with that said, i can't help but realize that fisichella's performance absolutely did not display a sign of weak tyres. in fact, fisichella's car was balanced, speedy, and had sufficient mechanical grip. michelin did have weaker tyres as compared to bridgestone, but surely not weak tyres per se.

alonso basically failed. he was chased, overtaken, and soundly beaten by his teammate. alonso looked helpless and couldn't find any solution to release him of his misery. which is rather surprising. is he a driver who can't input to the engineers for car balance? has he not articulated as well as fisichella with regards to the problems of the car? has he lost his supposedly natural talent? i don't quite understand.

what i do understand is that ferrari absolutely won the weekend. pole positions, front row grid, 1-2 finish (since last year at indianapolis), and fastest lap. it was basically a dream weekend for them. it was michael's fifth victor (should have been sixth if rubens didn't steal one of it away), and massa's best finish in his career. morale was indeed high at the sceduria ferrari camp.


while i was watching the celebration, i can't help but ponder why do people hate ferrari so much. sure, people say they cheat, they are buddies with fia, they have team order, and etc. but, isn't any other team just the same? countless teams cheat, many teams are great pals of fia, and numerous teams have driver preference and team orders.

in fact, i don't bloody care about any of those cheating and politics. what i enjoy watching is their enthusiasm and their team spirit. after the race, i love how they celebrated as a team, how massa jumped into michael, how michael and the team picked massa up in celebration, and how they are focused on the bigger picture and the ultimate goal.

i just don't see the same spirit or motivation from any other team on the grid. none even close.

anyways, magny-cours is coming up. a high downforce track most suitable for michelin and renault. needless to say, they will win it. ferrari will come close, but just not close enough. i'm afraid the trend might continue till the end of the season. i really believe so.

as for the usgp:
winner of the race:
alonso. although driving like shit in a shit car, and getting beaten soundly by his teammate, he was still able to give 4 important points. ralf's retirement saved him as well, and the huge crash during the first lap took away potential embarassment. though not from his effort but rather from luck, damage limitation was achieved.

loser of the race:
mclaren, bmw, midland, redbull, and williams. five teams and 10 cars with potential to score points and possibly trash alonso crashed out. un-fucking-believable.



previous posts:
indianapolis:damage limitation
montreal: mclaren and ferrari vs renault
monaco: superman on and off monaco podium
monaco: did he or didn't he?
spain: renault in great shape
nurburgring: ferrari back in the hunt
nurburgring: nurburgring a real test
imola: renault lost imola
melbourne: renault completes hat-trick
melbourne: jenson grabs pole down under
sepang: sepang revealed more problems
sepang: engine changes dominate qualifying
bahrain: thrilling bahrain
bahrain: an exciting start to 2006


[tagged: ferrari, indianapolis, fernando alonso, formula 1]