Forza Ferrari!!!

The recent F1 season is by far the most exhilarating and dramatic season with the spying scandal and drivers’ feud thanks to McLaren that added human spice to a sport that seemed to focus on speed and technology.

I really thought the race is between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. I was dead wrong! I know that Kimi Räikkönen is still in contention but I kind of dismissed the idea of him winning. Like his moniker “Iceman” suggest, Kimi was like a predator stalking the two McLaren drivers and when he had the chance, pounced and ran away with the drivers’ championship. Very very sneaky! Not to downplay Kimi, he actually had a good start this season winning the Australian Grand Prix. His teammate Massa and the two McLaren drivers outpaced him until the 7th and 8th race, French and British Grand Prix respectively. And come winning time, he won 3 of the last 4 races, the Belgian, Chinese and Brazilian Grand Prix. He won a total of 6 races this season compared to Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton each having 4 wins. Also notable this season is his tenacity, which made him at striking distance of the driver’s championship. At times he did not finish on the podium, with 2 retirements in Spain and Europe, he still managed to score points by finishing no. 8 in Monaco (1 point), no. 5 in Canada (4 points) and no. 4 in the US (5 points). Kimi Räikkönen finished with 110 points, both Alonso and Hamilton with 109 points, truly a heartbreaker for the two… as cold as it can get by Kimi.

Felipe Massa racing on his home track (Brazilian Grand Prix) made complications for the two McLaren drivers. Starting on pole position, I am pretty convinced that Massa should have won the race but would have cost Kimi Räikkönen the drivers’ championship. But knowing he’s the number two driver and already out for the drivers’ championship, I suspect that he gave way. That’s the Ferrari winning formula that Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello have used in the past and the McLAren driver’s should learn it if they want to be on top. A clear line of who is number one and two must be drawn.

The Ferrari Team once again proved that they are at the top of the sport. At one point in the season, when the spying scandal broke out, the question that’s bothering me is how they can beat McLaren? But somehow towards the end, they were able to win 9 races over McLaren’s 8 or they were just lucky Hamilton made a mistake in the wet Chinese Grand Prix?

Lewis Hamilton is truly surprising and is the future of F1. He could have won it, first ever as a rookie, if not for the mechanical failure early in the race that cost him to start from the back. But due to his superb driving, he still managed to finish 7th including a brave curve overtaking Rubens Barrichello. BMW and Williams allegedly made some refueling irregularities and if they were penalized, Hamilton would have moved up to 5th place and won the drivers’ championship by a point. But Hamilton, the competitive gentleman he is, expressed no interest in winning by a protest… he prefers to win the title on the track. A few more seasons or maybe next season, he’ll surprise us again but I hope not with race retirements!

Fernando Alonso’s winning streak on the other hand has been singed. Was going to McLaren a mistake on his part? For McLaren, it was truly a gain. There’s a lot of question for Alonso right now and since the season is over, everybody’s wondering whom will he race for. Ferrari looks content with their present lineup. Will he go to Toyota to replace Ralf Schumacher? His best chance of winning is with a team with a superior car and at present, that’s Ferrari and McLaren. Or he might as well return to Renault, BMW? The whole world is guessing right now.

With Michael Schumacher out of the picture and with Alonso’s failure to win this season, the playing field is pretty much leveled which makes next season exciting… Especially the newly added Singaporean Grand Prix night race!