After a three week hiatus, the 22 car F1 caravan hit the circuit for the Turkish Grand Prix. With the hangover from the Hungarian Grand Prix still present, this race promised to be a keenly fought contest. The qualifying sessions on Saturday put a Ferrari on pole as usual. The only difference being, the guy in the driver's seat wasn't Schumacher but his team-mate - Felipe Massa. Schumacher qualified in the second place followed by his title rival Alonso.
There was entertainment right from the word go as Giancarlo Fisichella spun going into the first corner, causing a multi car pile up behind him. This took out a score of cars including Mc Laren's Kimi Raikkonen, who has almost equalled Super Aguri's record of retirements this season!! Lap 13 brought bad luck again as the safety car came out following the stalling of Vitantonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso. Everyone tried to gain advantage of the situation by coming in to the pits. What could have been a gem of a move turned out to be a disaster for Ferrari, as Michael Schumacher had to literally wait behind his team mate while he refuelled. This gave Alonso the much needed opportunity to overtake Schumi and this set the tone for the laps to follow.
Schumacher drove at his spirited best to try and reduce the gap between Alonso and him and in the process ran wide of the track losing more time in the bargain. The last third of the race was a two-way battle between Alonso and Schumacher as they battled for the second spot and some valuable championship points. Meanwhile Massa drove a copybook race and kept out of trouble throughout. He crossed the chequered flag to win his first ever Grand Prix victory in Formula One. Alonso and Schumacher took the battle right down to the wire and Alonso finally won by half a car length to gain a two point advantage over his rival.
The gap between the two top drivers has now widened to 12 points with four races still to go. The next race at Monza - the home ground for Ferrari, will be a make or break one for Schumacher if he wants to keep his championship hopes alive.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Snip Snip Snip
India is a democracy; this is what we proudly proclaim to the whole world. Democracy means "Rule of the people, By the people and For the People" was what I learnt from my Civics textbook back in high school. Sadly, this definition is hardly followed today if one takes a look at the unnecessary and senseless legislations being passed today. The situation is no different than what exists in China or Pakistan!
The court order banning showing of adult content on TV is one such case. The Mumbai police with nothing better to do on its hands raided a few cable operators showing such "adult" content and seized their equipment. The cable operators decided to block all satellite channels except Doordarshan(!!) in retaliation.
Cable operators block satellite channels.
This brings to my mind two things. The first & the most important one is: If we are indeed a democracy, shouldn't we have the freedom to decide what should we watch on TV? We are a nation of extremely diverse culture and sensibilities and what is offending to one culture may not be necessarily offending to another. So, should we just go ahead and block anything and everything? The court has apparently acted on a complaint filed by one such ultra stupid lady who was offended watching such content on her TV. Heck
woman, doesn't your TV come with a remote control? It takes just a flick of your thumb to switch to another "less offending" channel!! If the high court starts banning stuff based on such complaints, I have a whole list of things that I want to complain about? Are you ready??
The second thing is: Who decides on what is "adult" and what is not? This is the definition of adult as per Dictionary.com
Adult: Having attained full size and strength; grown up; mature: an adult person, animal, or plant.
It is quite obvious that the people sitting up there do not fit the definition of being an adult themselves! Content of an adult nature is meant for the consumption of adults, people who are mature and have the ability to discern between right and wrong. Blocking adult content on TV implies that the millions of grown ups across the country are zombies who do not possess the ability to think for themselves and therefore are not adults at all!!
Time and again it has been proved that the more you try to restrict someone's freedom, the more rebellious they become. Take the case of states which have enforced prohibition. Its common knowledge that almost anyone can obtain a bottle of liquor on the sly, if one wishes to. Similarly, banning adult content on TV will force people to look towards other avenues for entertainment.
Its high time the government gets rid of its old socialist (communist?) mindset and let people choose what is right and what is wrong. There are hundreds of other issues that need immediate priority attention.
The court order banning showing of adult content on TV is one such case. The Mumbai police with nothing better to do on its hands raided a few cable operators showing such "adult" content and seized their equipment. The cable operators decided to block all satellite channels except Doordarshan(!!) in retaliation.
Cable operators block satellite channels.
This brings to my mind two things. The first & the most important one is: If we are indeed a democracy, shouldn't we have the freedom to decide what should we watch on TV? We are a nation of extremely diverse culture and sensibilities and what is offending to one culture may not be necessarily offending to another. So, should we just go ahead and block anything and everything? The court has apparently acted on a complaint filed by one such ultra stupid lady who was offended watching such content on her TV. Heck
woman, doesn't your TV come with a remote control? It takes just a flick of your thumb to switch to another "less offending" channel!! If the high court starts banning stuff based on such complaints, I have a whole list of things that I want to complain about? Are you ready??
The second thing is: Who decides on what is "adult" and what is not? This is the definition of adult as per Dictionary.com
Adult: Having attained full size and strength; grown up; mature: an adult person, animal, or plant.
It is quite obvious that the people sitting up there do not fit the definition of being an adult themselves! Content of an adult nature is meant for the consumption of adults, people who are mature and have the ability to discern between right and wrong. Blocking adult content on TV implies that the millions of grown ups across the country are zombies who do not possess the ability to think for themselves and therefore are not adults at all!!
Time and again it has been proved that the more you try to restrict someone's freedom, the more rebellious they become. Take the case of states which have enforced prohibition. Its common knowledge that almost anyone can obtain a bottle of liquor on the sly, if one wishes to. Similarly, banning adult content on TV will force people to look towards other avenues for entertainment.
Its high time the government gets rid of its old socialist (communist?) mindset and let people choose what is right and what is wrong. There are hundreds of other issues that need immediate priority attention.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
What a race!!
Drama that began even before the race did and continued even after the chequered flag! This is how one would describe the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring. This was one of the most keenly contested and unpredictable races in recent times. Only when the last 3-4 laps were remaining, could one predict the winner! How I wish all the remaining races of the season would turn out like this!
The Friday practice results threw up fastest times for the test drivers as usual. However, Saturday morning brought some shocking news. Both the title contenders, Schumacher and Alonso were penalised two seconds on each qualifying lap(!) due to some apparently dangerous overtaking maneuvers during the morning practice sessions. The race stewards have recently come up with some really strange penalties and our football referees can very well learn from them instead of just handing out yellow & red cards :-)
The stiff penalties would mean that no matter how fast Schumi and Alonso drove, they would be relegated to somewhere on the back of the grid. Qualifying on Saturday saw both the champions setting some fast times. However, inspite of a scorching qualifying lap, Schumacher qualified eleventh and Alonso fifteenth. Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa looked almost set to start from the front till Kimi Raikonnen grabbed the pole position from him in the dying seconds of the third qualifying session.
This was just the beginning of all the drama as a strong morning spell of rain made the track wet & slippery. All the pre-calculated race strategies went for a toss as the cars switched to the wet treaded tires, conditions which promised a real humdinger of a race. The start of the race saw both Schumacher and Alonso gobble up the poor, unsuspecting drivers in the middle rows and make up a good 4-5 places. The track proved really slippery and the first one to crash out was Mark Webber in his Williams Cosworth. Schumacher known as the master in wet conditions was struggling in his Ferrari and it did not take Alonso too long to overtake him. Alonso looked in sublime form as he effortlessly negotiated the treacherous conditions and built up a huge lead over Schumacher, who had problems in keeping off the second Renault of Fisichella.
Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen drove superbly and one thought that the Flying Finn, as he is know might finally win this race. However, his extended bad luck continued as this time he was taken out of the race in a spectacular accident on Lap 25 by a slow moving Vitantonio Liuzzi. I think, Kimi Raikkonen must definitely be the driver with the most rotten luck in the history of Formula One. Kimi Raikkonen's retirement meant that Alonso was back in the front. Renault once again looked like the team that can do nothing wrong till the 51st lap when Alonso made a pit stop and put on dry weather tires. This looked like a master-stroke from Renault as the track had begun to dry out in a lot of areas and the dry weather tires would give Alonso some much needed speed. However, the car began slipping and sliding and it was evident that all was not right. Alonso finally crashed into the barriers, putting an end to hopes of gaining any points in the race.
One man's loss is another's gain - they say, and Schumacher proved this saying right as he put in some stonking laps to gain places and move into the second place behind race leader Jenson Button. He looked all set to gain some valuable championship points and cut down Alonso's lead to practically nothing. All seemed well till the 67th lap of the race when the Ferrari slowed down considerably and eventually returned to the pit-lane bringing the championship equation back to square one!! Jenson Button in his Honda finally won his maiden Grand Prix with Pedro De La Rosa in a McLaren coming in second and Nick Heidfeld of BMW-Sauber coming in third. It was good to see new faces on the podium for a change and this would be a real encouragement for the younger and newer F1 drivers.
If you thought this was enough drama for a day, you are mistaken! Coz, Robert Kubica, the first Polish driver to race in a Formula One was disqualified from his seventh place finish as his BMW-Sauber was found to be two kgs(!!) lighter at the finish. Because of this, Massa who finished eighth moved up one place to earn two points and surprise surprise - Michael Schumacher, who had been classified as ninth, was awarded eighth place and a priceless point, cutting down Alonso's overall lead to just 10 points!!
With five more races to go, just ten points separating the top two drivers and new drivers tasting victory, the Driver's Championship is heading for a fighting finish! Gone are the days of Ferrari or Renault domination! The Constructor's championship is also hotting up with Ferrari just seven points behind Renault. Also, with a few driver change announcements from the top teams in the pipeline for the next season, the next couple of months are really something to watch out for!
I am donning my Ferrari cap and keeping my fingers crossed! :-)
The Friday practice results threw up fastest times for the test drivers as usual. However, Saturday morning brought some shocking news. Both the title contenders, Schumacher and Alonso were penalised two seconds on each qualifying lap(!) due to some apparently dangerous overtaking maneuvers during the morning practice sessions. The race stewards have recently come up with some really strange penalties and our football referees can very well learn from them instead of just handing out yellow & red cards :-)
The stiff penalties would mean that no matter how fast Schumi and Alonso drove, they would be relegated to somewhere on the back of the grid. Qualifying on Saturday saw both the champions setting some fast times. However, inspite of a scorching qualifying lap, Schumacher qualified eleventh and Alonso fifteenth. Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa looked almost set to start from the front till Kimi Raikonnen grabbed the pole position from him in the dying seconds of the third qualifying session.
This was just the beginning of all the drama as a strong morning spell of rain made the track wet & slippery. All the pre-calculated race strategies went for a toss as the cars switched to the wet treaded tires, conditions which promised a real humdinger of a race. The start of the race saw both Schumacher and Alonso gobble up the poor, unsuspecting drivers in the middle rows and make up a good 4-5 places. The track proved really slippery and the first one to crash out was Mark Webber in his Williams Cosworth. Schumacher known as the master in wet conditions was struggling in his Ferrari and it did not take Alonso too long to overtake him. Alonso looked in sublime form as he effortlessly negotiated the treacherous conditions and built up a huge lead over Schumacher, who had problems in keeping off the second Renault of Fisichella.
Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen drove superbly and one thought that the Flying Finn, as he is know might finally win this race. However, his extended bad luck continued as this time he was taken out of the race in a spectacular accident on Lap 25 by a slow moving Vitantonio Liuzzi. I think, Kimi Raikkonen must definitely be the driver with the most rotten luck in the history of Formula One. Kimi Raikkonen's retirement meant that Alonso was back in the front. Renault once again looked like the team that can do nothing wrong till the 51st lap when Alonso made a pit stop and put on dry weather tires. This looked like a master-stroke from Renault as the track had begun to dry out in a lot of areas and the dry weather tires would give Alonso some much needed speed. However, the car began slipping and sliding and it was evident that all was not right. Alonso finally crashed into the barriers, putting an end to hopes of gaining any points in the race.
One man's loss is another's gain - they say, and Schumacher proved this saying right as he put in some stonking laps to gain places and move into the second place behind race leader Jenson Button. He looked all set to gain some valuable championship points and cut down Alonso's lead to practically nothing. All seemed well till the 67th lap of the race when the Ferrari slowed down considerably and eventually returned to the pit-lane bringing the championship equation back to square one!! Jenson Button in his Honda finally won his maiden Grand Prix with Pedro De La Rosa in a McLaren coming in second and Nick Heidfeld of BMW-Sauber coming in third. It was good to see new faces on the podium for a change and this would be a real encouragement for the younger and newer F1 drivers.
If you thought this was enough drama for a day, you are mistaken! Coz, Robert Kubica, the first Polish driver to race in a Formula One was disqualified from his seventh place finish as his BMW-Sauber was found to be two kgs(!!) lighter at the finish. Because of this, Massa who finished eighth moved up one place to earn two points and surprise surprise - Michael Schumacher, who had been classified as ninth, was awarded eighth place and a priceless point, cutting down Alonso's overall lead to just 10 points!!
With five more races to go, just ten points separating the top two drivers and new drivers tasting victory, the Driver's Championship is heading for a fighting finish! Gone are the days of Ferrari or Renault domination! The Constructor's championship is also hotting up with Ferrari just seven points behind Renault. Also, with a few driver change announcements from the top teams in the pipeline for the next season, the next couple of months are really something to watch out for!
I am donning my Ferrari cap and keeping my fingers crossed! :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)