The Sahara Force India Formula 1 team

Yesterday Force India announced the sale of 42.5% of the team to the Sahara group. Dr Vijay Mallya retains 42.5% while Michel Moi keeps 15 % of the remaining shares. This would mean Dr Vijay Mallya has given up 7.5% of his shares while Moi’s family has given up 35% of theirs. The whole deal is valued at $100 million which is offloading equity for more than double the price it was purchased. In Sep 2007 the old Spyker F1 team became Force India F1 (FIF1), the deal then was rumoured to be around $80 million.

Dr Vijay Mallya vehemently denied reports in the media about a possible sale 5 days ago, his statement was cleverly worded in which he said “As Team Principal, I will continue to run the team and I have no plans whatsoever to exit.” He continues to remain Team Principal while Subrata Roy becomes Chairman of the team. It’s a wonderful opportunity for Sahara to continue making new inroads with it’s branding effort. It already has high brand recall and visibility being associated with sports in India, cricket being the biggest and with Formula 1 it gets to create a new identity in luring the motor racing fan and in creating a new fan base for the sport in the country.

Its well known that the aviation business of the UB group is in a crisis with the airline defaulting on many payments and looking for cash infusion to keep them afloat. The partial sale of equity in the formula 1 team could be part of a long term plan for the group in finding a honourable exit from the extremely cash hungry sport. It’s also a clear indication of the Moi family’s intentions, from being 50:50 partner to retaining just 15% stake.

The media in India has been more than glowing in its coverage of the Force India F1 team, probably because of the UB groups big advertisement budget and Dr Vijay Mallya’s cloud. In the past I’ve pointed out how the Force India F1 team wasn’t “indian” at all. Atleast that part changes a wee bit with the Sahara group’s entry. The media hasn’t bothered to question Dr Vijay Mallya when he loudly claims he brought the race to India. They won’t ask him how his team is Indian at all except for all the Kingfisher models who show up in the paddock on race weekends. Let’s hope more engineers, technicians and eventually at least one Indian driver gets to drive a Sahara Force India Formula 1 car. Until then … let’s wait and watch.

Geo’s talkies – Departures (Japanese)

Departures was the winner in the best foreign film category at the Oscars in 1999. The movie is based on a novel titled Coffinman and was directed by Yojiro Takita and has English subtitles.

Daigo Kobayashi is a cellist with a modern Japanese orchestra which closes down due to lack of patronage. This leaves Daigo without a job and forces him to sell his costly and professional cello, move to the town he was born in to occupy the house left back by his deceased Mother. Daigo responds to an advertisement about a job with Sasaki and manages to bag it only to realize it wasn’t what he thought it to be. The job is to prepare dead bodies for burial, encoffination is the term used by some.

Reluctant Daigo learns the trade from his boss Sasaki, a man of few words but who portrays immense respect for the dead and living, who meticulously work on dead bodies with respect to wash, clean, clothe and make them look their best in the last few moments left on Earth. Daigo’s wife Mika doesn’t like his job when she get’s to know it, he becomes a pariah with the only other association he’s shown to have in the movie.

Daigo nurtures an almost perfect relationship with his boss and eventually learns to respect and practise his trade with art like precision. Having raised by a single mother, he nurses a grudge for his Father who deserted them while he was a child. His wife leaves him asking him to decide if he wants to continue the profession or live with her.

There isn’t too much dramatic tension in the narrative, all such setups are resolved before they can sink in. The movie has been shot very beautifully with classical or classical-like orchestral music to back up the shots. The third movement (popularly known as Ode to Joy) from Beethoven’s 9th plays in it’s full 6 track glory in the early section of the movie showing Daigo’s orchestra. Daigo find more music and looks inward as his learning of his trade progresses.

The ending reunites Daigo back with his wife and brings closure to his inner turmoil in a very nice way. The Japanese have made an art of folding paper, which goes by the name Origami. Even routine and mundane activities like manufacturing in an assembly line is practiced like an art in Japan. It’s hence not very surprising to see how much of a care and devotion is laid out to prepare dead people and give them a fitting farewell from this world.

There are many scenes that stand out due to content that’s emotional or soul stirring. A dead wife’s husband crying “Naomi”, Daigo’s boss Sasaki’s methods while working, Mika starting to take pride in her husband’s profession, the Japanese people’s liking for good food, all have been portrayed exquisitely. A scene depicting salmon trying to swim up a river while dead one’s float downstream is profound in meaning. The scene where Sasaki & Daigo show up 5 minutes late to be shouted at mirrors the fact that the Japanese are sticklers for punctuality.

Departures is a must watch on any movie lover’s list, for the way characters have been laid out and made to play; around the theme of mortal certainity, of death and loss, yet would make you exclaims “What a beautiful movie!” instead of anything negative.

Requiscat in pace – Malcolm & Carmel

Malcolm Simmons & Carmel Simmons, two lively people who could put a smile on anyone’s face. Lively, humorous and one of the nicer folks we’ve known. A road accident ended their time on Earth, they’ll continue now under God’s care. RIP.

The Monaco GP of 2011 – McLaren’s story

After making a good start Jenson Button did what a good driver would in keeping his position and setting himself up for an opportunity should one show up. He stopped slightly early for tyres, luck came in the form of a complete botch up of pit stops at Red Bull Racing and Jenson assumed race lead. By then the team appeared to have decided to run him on a 3 stop strategy. The second stop was one lap too early, getting onto super soft’s in hindsight seems to have contributed to what was in store there after.

Safety car was out, cars ran at speeds much lower than race levels saving tyres that much more and have tyres left for much more race distance and Jenson hadn’t use his primes yet. He had to pit one more time to change to primes which he did and caught up once again to the leader Vetter and Alonso who was frenetically chasing him down. A red flag, race restart and an unprecedented move of allowing cars repairs and tyre changes while they waited for the restart on the race track itself meant that Jenson would keep his 3rd position with no chance left remaining to give a go for the top podium spot.

Yesterday’s race might have given us different results if the two safety cars weren’t necessary. The other McLaren car has a different story to say. In the initial stages of the race Lewis was doing a good pace, he was on primes. An early brush with Michael caused some damage to his rear. He pulled off an excellent move on 5 time race winner Michael Schumacher. McLaren’s pit crew who usually do an excellent job let Lewis down at his stop, Lewis says he was asked to box and when he did the pit crew weren’t ready.

In the remaining period of the Lewis he demonstrated an abject lack of decorum and decency one would expect someone of his nature and calibre to have. Lewis tried to get into the inside of Felipe Massa entering Loews hairpin, Massa is no angel to go wide and allow him to pass, he’s racing too. Massa took his line and both cars brushed. They raced going into the tunnel fiercely and in the tunnel Lewis passed Massa who then loses control and rubs the walls coming out of the tunnel with a broken front wheel. Game over for him. Lewis said “I went up the inside and he turned in me on purpose” to his pit over radio, the message itself is baffling as if Lewis expected him to wait and let him pass. Lame that was.

On lap 74 Lewis tried to pull off another move on Pastor Maldonaldo who stood his line and turned at San Devote clipping Lewis off onto the kerbs and ramming into the barriers himself there. Maldonaldo’s race ended at that point, he was running 6th and would have brought home some much needed and deserved points. And then Lewis goes on to say “he turned in a good car length too early”, that’s absolutely ridiculous.

Lewis ought to know he’s racing people who are racing drivers too. Radioing to his pits or talking to the media about how everybody else is turning too early when he misses a chance to make a move and thereby causing an accident is the sour grapes story. The icing on the cake is attributing racist motives to the stewards’ decision, which of course he’s attributed to as a joke, Matt Bishop must have given him a lesson or two on what you say to the media.

This weekend is worrying for a McLaren fan, I’m sure it should be worse for the team. One is because if drivers go shooting their mouths off to the media in this fashion then where is the sport headed to. You got to accept defeat and mistakes with as much humility as you would take to success. Second is around some strategy decision the team have been making around pit stops and tyres. Third is Lewis Hamilton. It must be intensely frustrating being where he is, the pressure must be getting onto him, not to mention the girlfriend whose presence in the track almost certainly makes Lewis that much more aggressive. Don’t take my word for it, go to YouTube and see for yourself.

The red flag came in just moments before the McLaren pits said over radio to Lewis that he needs to drive back to the pits and retire because of the damage caused by the Torro Rosso to his rear wing was beyond repair. And then by some stroke of luck they are allowed to conduct repairs to the wing on the race track itself while being red flagged. Isn’t that a mighty stroke of luck ? Someone like Lewis shouldn’t forget the European GP of 2007 where a crane lifted him and put him onto the race track, check out 00:36 – 00:38 of the video link. There are lucky days, there are unlucky days. There are days when the machine behaves like it’s an extension of you and there are days when it’s a beast that doesn’t behave no matter how much you tame. We don’t need an English Fernando Alonso mate, we already have a Spaniard.

Martin Whitmarsh gives a measured response to the race to BBC, that eloquence and dignity is exactly what’s missing in Lewis’ ramblings. I hope the team talks to him and brings him back to the usually jolly fellow he is, the talented and aggressive racer, not this jerk that keeps ruining other people’s races and then says “these drivers are absolutely freaking ridiculous, stupid”. On the lighter side don’t miss this funny exchange between the Eddie Jordan, David Coulthard, Jake Humprey and a FIA official.

Note: This writer is a huge fan of Lewis Hamilton as his posts on this blog from the past would prove and has been following the McLaren Mercedes team’s Formula ONE races rather closely for over 1.5 decades.