FORMULA 1 -> the ultimate goal of any racer currently touring on four wheels. Also the ultimate goal of a certain Narain Karthikeyan (pardon me if I got the spelling wrong). In every sport there were, are and always will be legends that had, are & will grace it.(Man I sound like a professional writer here).
Like I was saying, Formula 1, the ultimate in motor racing, has in a season 16-17 races (for information of those who are not into F1), consisting a grid of 10 teams currently and each team having two drivers that take part on a race weekend. Besides this, each team have test drivers, wind tunnel facilities, research and development centre just to name a few. It is a sport in which money literally talks. We aren’t talking here of a few million dollars. The amount runs into hundreds of million dollars a year. Every race weekend, there is a pre-qualifying (that was introduced this year) that takes place on a Friday, which decides the running order for Saturday’s qualification (run in reverse order to the actual positions got by the cars & their respective drivers on Friday). The Saturday qualifying is a one shot qualifying (that was again introduced this year), which means that each car has only one chance to get a grid position, which decides Sunday’s starting positions. Each race in run for a distance of just over 305 km. And like any race, there is a first, second and a third position driver who get 10, 8 & 6 points respectively. Actually, drivers down to the 8th position get points in the order 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 after the first three. The points received by the drivers driving for the team accumulate to give the Constructors point to a particular team. At the end of the season, the driver with the most points gets the Drivers Championship, while the team with the most points get the Constructors Championship.
In the last four years FERRARI have take home the constructors trophy to Maranello, while MICHAEL SCHUMACHER has won the drivers championship in the last three years. Previously, he had won two drivers championships on the trot with Benetton (now taken over by Renault), taking his tally to 5 World Championships. Only one other driver Juan Fangio has ever become a World Champion in 5 occasion, and that was more than 40 years ago. Last season, Ferrari had it all their way, winning 15 of the 17 races, and clinching both the championships with almost half a dozen races still left to participate in. This year, its become a little tough (as expected), and even though he is leading the drivers championship (only just -> by 1 point), and Ferrari are behind in the constructors championships by 8 points, don’t write them off. They will come back strong with three races to go, and clinch both the championships.
I hope so atleast.
Lets wait and watch. Its going to be an exciting end of the season, and one which F1 buffs were asking for seasons to come. But BETTER LATE THAN NEVER. What do you say?
-CIAO