Life is a Game…

Ayrton Senna, arguably the best driver ever to have raced, won a routine pole position in the 1994 San Marino Grandprix. The qualifying event was marked by two tragedies. Rubens Barrichello, Senna’s country mate was injured in an accident and was ruled out of the race. Another driver, Roland Ratzenberger, an Austrian was killed in a mishap during qualifying. Senna was horrified at this and he spoke about forming a Drivers’ Safety Association along with his fellow drivers.

But strangely, they opted to start the race. A huge accident in the starting line led to the deployment of the Safety Car. After the restart, Senna set the fastest lap of the race and he was flying in his own world. He was determined to win his 42^nd race. Little did he know that he was counting the last seconds of his life.

Senna entered the high speed corner on the next lap and he over-braked. The car hit the concrete wall at 200+ kmph and the car was seriously damaged. When the race officials examined the mangled remains of the car, Senna was unconscious. He was later declared dead in the hospital. THE LEGEND WAS NO MORE. When the wreckage was examined, they found an Austrian flag – Senna was carrying that to dedicate his win to the deceased Ratzenberger!

This race remains the darkest chapter in the annals of racing history and it’s an irony that the greatest racer ever to have driven a Formula1 car breathed his last behind the wheels.

The two significant and controversial changes in the F1 racing this season are the introduction of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) and the DDD (Double Decker Diffuser). While most of the teams installed KERS in their cars, only Brawn GP, Red Bull and Toyota had DDD during the first race of the season.

KERS is a regenerative braking system which stores the kinetic energy during braking and the stored energy is used later. Though not accurate, KERS may be considered as something similar to Nitro Boost. The advantage of using KERS is that it gives an added advantage during the start. Thus quicker acceleration is provided. But there is a flip side to it. It does not provide the same grip as conventional brakes at the corners. It also created some handling problems.

The biggest controversy erupted when Brawn GP, Red Bull and Toyota used a loophole in the regulations and built a DDD in their cars. The diffuser improves the aero dynamic capability of the car by increasing the down force, thereby improving the speed at the corners. In fact, those three teams had a speed upto 1s/lap greater than the teams without DDD. Ferrari and McLaren protested against this, but were duly rejected. Now Jenson Button in a Brawn GP car has won six of the first races and the last year’s champion Lewis Hamilton is languishing at the bottom.

KERS is now slowly weeded out and Ferrari is the only team persisting with it. But the introduction of diffusers has caused a major change in the drivers’ standings which is a welcome change and Ferrari and McLaren are no longer monopolizing the race.

The world of Formula one is cruel and Webber is the perfect example of that!  Before the German Grandprix the veteran Australian had started 131 races but he never won a race. Despite his best efforts he never saw the chequered flag waving at him first.

But then everything has an end and the wait was over in the German Grandprix. Webber claimed the first pole of his career thanks to a rain curtailed qualifying session that saw many favourites not venturing out on track. It was all set and when the five red lights went off, Webber made a brilliant star but the Brawn GP car of Barrichello was breathing down his neck. Webber drove aggressively and he flied past the other cars to emerge as P1. That saw defending champion Lewis Hamilton braking late and losing his left wing.  Webber tightened the screws and began to lap 1 second faster than his nearest rival. But then the misfortune struck him. The race stewards adjudged his opening race move to be a tad violent and imposed a drive through penalty. Barrichello gleefully took the lead and Webber’s race was gone. But it proved to be a blessing in disguise. Kubica in his underperforming Wlliams held the pack and did not allow the faster cars to pass him thanks to his KERS enabled system.  Meanwhile Webber was cruising and lapping atleast 2 sec faster than everyone. Webber was on a two stop strategy and when Barrichello made his third stop, Webber regained his lead.  Despite the late drama behind him, he managed to win his first race after 10 years of his debut and his team mate Vettel made it double sweet as the Red Bull completed a 1-2 finish in the German GP to cut down the lead of the Brawns.

The 22yr old German driver Sebastian Vettel is already creating ripples in the F1 circle. He became the youngest driver to win a F1 GP when he led from pole to the chequered flag in the Italian Grand Prix lost season. Now he’s being touted as the successor of Michael Schumacher. Is he really upto that level?

The young German still holds the record for the youngest driver at a F1 meet when he drove in a practice session at the age of 19. In the next season, he moved to Torro Rosso where he won his first ever Grandprix. He caught the eye of many a people and he replaced David Coulthard in the Red Bull Racing Team. To his absolute delight, he found that his car is more competitive than Ferrari and McLaren. He made full use of it when he won the Chinese grandprix this year and followed it up with a dominant victory in The British Grandprix. Besides that he has 5 podium finishes.

Vettel, as is the case with any young driver, is aggressive and is not averse to risks. Infact, he is the quickest driver to be fined – just 9 sec after his debut he was fined 1000 dollars for speeding inside the pitlane. But that was how Schumacher too started his career. Vettel has got a great start to his carrer and his team is supporting him to the hilt. He is just 22 and he has plenty of years before him. The main difference between Schumi and Vettel is that Schumi had the tactical nous to remain calm and composed even in the tightest of the situations. But Vettel loses his composure on the slightest provocation and that showed when he shunted out Mark Webber and Robert Kubica in the 2007 Japanese GP and 2009 Australian GP respectively. In both the races he was all set for a podium finish but screwed those chances.

At this point of time, comparison between Vettel and Schumi are just ridiculous. But the German has what it takes to become a World Champion one day, for he is just 22!