The Formula ONE season has finally drawn to a close (cliche). It's that time of the year where I sit down (cliche) and look at the whole season and try to write my usual junk (cliche). Though I promised myself that I'd post an entry to my blog before and after the race, knowing fully well that I was asking for the moon, the slob in me did nothing about it. I was more interested in keeping track of fuel levels, engine, weather and a multitude of thing that normally screws up McLaren's strategy (fan alert - I watch Formula ONE only for McLaren). This year has been disappointing for McLaren as a team (I got to be kidding right!!, they won the driver's championship this year then why?). I would prefer a performance like last year minus the controversy about stolen Ferrari data (Stepneygate in case you are squeezing your brains). Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, despite their intensely competitive nature of driving which at times worked against the interests of the team, kept adding points to the Constructor's tally of McLaren which saw them zoom ahead of the pack to establish early lead in the points table and consistently kept it going. McLaren finished the season with 218 points as opposed to Ferrari's 204 points but were denied the Constructor's championship due to the spy scandal, that was the hardest blow to any team in the history of Formula ONE. The $100 million fine they had to pay should have dented their P&L sheet badly.
The last season saw only two big teams competing for first and second places: McLaren & Ferrari. The other's didn't have the horsepower to dream of finishing ahead. This year has been a refreshing change on that front. The two engine rule and the various other technical regulations introduced like the lack of traction control all have played into the hands of an avid racing fan. How else could one have ever seen Sebastian Vettel drive his Ferrari powered Redbull designed car to first place for Torro Rosso in the Italian Grand Prix? Robert Kubica won his first race ever in Canada, last year it was Lewis'. BMW Sauber reaped huge returns by competing fiercely for qualifying positions and race results. In effect, Sauber's stole more constructor's points from McLaren this year than Ferrari. Heiki Kovalainen is without doubt a great driver and has performed reasonably well in his first year with McLaren. I did expect a lot more from him but am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt because he's young and is probably surrounded by similar folks. He doesn't have the support which Lewis Hamilton enjoyed last year. Remember last year, Lewis Hamilton was the rookie and Fernando Alonso was the champion roped in by McLaren to turn it's sagging fortunes. Fernando surely brought in immense experience into McLaren working hard with his team to extract 1/10th of a second in every move. After Adrian Newey's departure from McLaren in 2005 Simon Lacey was entrusted the aerodynamics department and in Fernando it looked like the team had found it's perfect sounding board, the one person who can rip test all the aero stuff they were designing, after testing those in the wind tunnel, and give them exact feedback. It worked well for McLaren until Lewis sneaked from behind showed he was no rookie but was there to win as well. A lot of water has flown under the Thames (for that matter any river in the world) since then and Fernando's exit at the end of the last season ushered in the entry of Heiki Kovalainen. McLaren won 8 races compared to Ferrari's 9 last season and this season McLaren won 6 compared to Ferrari's 8, Renault won 2 while Torro Rosso and BMW Sauber won 1 race each.
The last time McLaren won the Constructor's crown was in 1998 when Mika Hakkinen was world champion. Lewis is no Mika, he's a star already, a stud at that. Who else could have had 3 girlfriends in 2 years, one of them being billionaire boss' (clue:TAG) daughter all their good times splashed across tabloids and the internet. Lewis sometimes is too humble to be believable, he's never shown disgust or rage on the track or off it (nothing in the media as yet) and wins with panache and loses with equal spirit. He's any team owner's dream. I strongly believed his driver (Anthony Hamilton) would strongly try to pitch the superstardom hard in the F1 market and get a move to the red folks stationed in Maranello, Italy (Bah, I should have simply said Ferrari!!!). I don't see that happenning though, Lewis is comfortably signed up till 2012 and from the statements he's been giving out to the media he's pretty happy with McLaren and hopes to drive all his career for the team. The next season is going to be even more challenging with the introduction of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), slick tyres and a 3 race engine rule.
How can I write a year end post and not talk about how the championship was won by Lewis? They were the most intensely thrilling 30 seconds in my life. Massa won the race and almost celebrated the victory and the championship as Lewis was running 6th one place lesser than the requirement to win the Driver's championship. At the very last moment he passes 4th place runner Timo Glock who slowed down due to dry tyres on a wet track and regained 5th position to steal the championship. The sheer tension of seeing all these unfold in front of one's eyes was a little hard to bear, tempers were running high as was the heart whose beat would have sounded like a rumbling train at 140kmph. That was it, Lewis Hamilton became the 2008 Driver's World Champion and brought the title back to McLaren after 9 years, the last time they had it was in 1999 with Mika Hakkinen.
Force India meanwhile has severed their deal with Ferrari for engines and has signed up with Mercedes Benz High Performance Engines (Illmer) for engine and McLaren Automotive Racing for hydraulic systems, KERS and support. So the VJM02 cars next year will be very competitive and I'd expect them to be in the top 8 at any time. Initially it was rumoured that McLaren would also supply Force India the chassis but that was not to be the case. With this deal, Force India also get's exclusive access to the whole list of McLaren's official suppliers which will certainly work well for them. Getting Collin Kolles & Mike Gascoyne out of the way will be the sad thing to happen and don't be surprised if Dr.Vijay Mallya becomes Team Prinicipal to reap the benefits of all the hard work these folks put in the past year resurrecting the team. Clever guy this man is, when it come to having the cake and eating it nobody can ever come close to him. (cake!!! clue: calendar)
