Jul 21, 2008

Ferrari bite dust in Germany : Race 10 review

It's all out in open. McLaren has put in some worthy changes into the MP4-23 to make it work even on the high-aerodynamic circuits like Hockenheim n when they found the sweet spot, Ferrari yesterday found no answers. It's hard to believe that they took a wrong route midway into the championship, where they actually should have bettered the performance advantage possessed in France. Lewis Hamilton was flying and was unstoppable on the raceday piling up a huge gap over the struggling Massa but was proved a worthy winner yesterday when Macca made a strategic blunder. They kept Lewis when the pitlane was open during the SC period, n Lewis had to struggle his way up there after.

Ferrari on the other hand were indeed at a loss for explaining what got screwed up in the F2008. Taking Kimi's issues into account, Kimi for once screwed up his setup and was suffering from a lot of understeer which inturn caused oversteer while correcting. On top of this debacle, the F2008 was struggling for aerodynamic grip which is supposedly one of their strengths. Massa simply couldn't find the pace which he promised after qualifiers. How on earth wud u loose 0.7 secs a lap to Lewis while starting alongside him? Massa needs to explain this and maybe one more. A piteous attempt to take back the lost position from Lewis saw him taking a tour to the grass. Ferrari boss would have been wondering "The way he blocked Lewis in the first place won't win him championships"..........how true it is.

Back to my man, Kimi did pretty well on Sunday considering his fiasco earlier on qualifiers. Starting from sixth and on the dirty part of the track, he had to struggle to keep up with the BMW of Kubica. Trademark Kimi showed us his strength at the end of each stint. Even that pitlane pile up didn't let him down. Rather, from 12th position after second stop, he came back to grab a well deserved 6th. Post race Kimi had this to say "I was struggling for grip all day.....only during the end, I was able to manage the car" n with this limping Ferrari, he got past Kubica as well. Nice one Kimi but concentrate more on the setup now cos we all know u are a great racer but things should fit into place before that. Let me excuse him anyways for his very first technical drubbing in Ferrari. Happens :)

Coming from a home victory, Lewis looked the man to beat on the fast roaring MP4-23. His drive from 5th to finish on the top step of the podium after Macca's lame attempt to optimize their strategy, was indeed worth watching. I have been blabbering till now about Macca's team orders and none listened. Heikki Kovailainen in the same car with no problems at all, simply let Lewis pass as if his life depended on providing the platform for a Lewis victory. I swear to all Macca fans yet again that there's no "absolute equality" bullshit in McLaren and they have simply gathered to put all their money on one man. BMW though would wish to see their qualification woes end cos otherwise, they no longer wud be able to split the Ferraris n the Maccas in the WCC.

On the whole, it was a good drive from Kimi but clearly nowhere near he wanted to be in the end. Massa lacks the spark when he face adversities which was always the case right from the moment he stepped into Ferrari shoes. Lewis is proving that he can indeed control his chuntering and drive when it matters and will be a pain for us in this rest of the season. Next stop is Hungary, traditionally a Macca track. Ferrari needs to sit down n trace back the flaws in their developments which made them clobber by McLaren in the German wave. I'm aggrieved by Kimi's winless streak but sometimes, I have to live with it.

Standings:

Lewis 58
Felipe 54
Kimi 51

Jul 14, 2008

JTYJN review - Retrospective yet Adorable

When most of the over-hyped extravaganzas become colossal flops by failing to connect a chord with the audience, JTYJN has come out as a big relief. Introducing Imran Khan bearing the nephew tag of two famous filmy names, Abbas Tyrewala who apparently did make his debut as well, is fully justified. Aamir Khan n Mansoor Khan financed this flick under Aamir's own banner. The film opens big and is reportedly doing great business in all the multiplexes . Let's see why!

The story of Jai and Aditi is told by a group of friends to a newcomer in the gang just for the sake of killing time when they wait for someone's arrival in the Chatrapati Sivaji Airport in Bombay. Initially being skeptical about the boring love stories, Mala the stranger gradually finds herself hasty and eager to know more as it goes. Jai and Aditi are mates from college who are close to each other so much so that they don't need anyone else to share their feelings. Everyone including their friends and their parents think they are deeply in love and will get married if urged. Aditi's parents invite Jai to her home and start talking about his future plans. That's when they realise neither Aditi nor Jai are interested in getting married and they didn't even consider they are in love.

Now having revealed what's their relationship is all about, our protagonists think of finding a better half for each other. Aditi helps Jai to find the sizzling Meghna on a party but only to find herself in disarray and in a sea of jealousy. Meanwhile, Aditi is also hooked up with Sushant by her parents and expectedly, this brings a tiff b/w Jai and Aditi. Gradually, they realise how desperately both of them need to get back on terms. Knowing Jai to be soft and kind-hearted soul, his mother is relieved the fact that he is not following his father's way. Apparently, Jai is from the Rathore family of Ranchaur whose men are known for being virile and daring. The rest of the film is all about how the couple eventually sort out the problems and also how Jai manages to break her mother's heart :P

Okay, I'm not being soft here cos JTYJN doesn't dare to be different. Infact, the story is a rehash of KKHH, Ishq Vishq and many of the pot boilers from the south including Niram. But what makes the film work is the novelty in screenplay and some stellar performances from the lead pair. Watch out for the scene where Aditi motivates Jai to fight her enemy or that scene where Jai's mother talks to her 'husband on the foto' n expressing her despair over her son's current dilemma. Nasserudin shah plays his hilarious 'dead' father and is a treat to watch. Imran is presented well while the director is careful enough not to expose his weakness which is undoubtedly a chocolate boy attire. Genelia has continued from where she left in Santosh Subramaniam. Pranky, bad tempered, bubbly antics along with the spontaneity she brings in her character, add to the highlights of the film. The rest of the cast have all done their part well.

Rahman's music is a rage. 'Pappu can't dance saala' is well choreographed and oozes the whole atmosphere as long as it lasts. I won't be surprised if u feel like dancing to it's ever-so peppy tune. 'Kabhi Kabhi Aditi' is refreshing where we see the Rahman we know. Abbas Tyrewala has done a commendable job in his first venture. On the downside, the climax is very filmy which we are seeing for the umpteenth time. It's lengthy as if we are onto an endless voyage with no U-turns in the ride. There are some sleazy dialogues mouthed by all the characters the stupidity of which is credited only to Bollywood. Yet JTYJN is a breezy entertainer which doesn't promise to be something which it's not n also it succeeds to achieve the target, which is to satisfy the youth.

Rating : 3.5/5.....Go for it

Jul 9, 2008

Kimi & Photographer - The altercation

Some cockeyed arm-chair experts have a lot to say about Raikkonen's crude behavior towards the photographer when he pushed him to the ground. The latter was desperately taking a close snap of the Iceman believe it or not, leaning onto Kimi's race stuffs and that too just before the race (see the controversial snap below). I'm throughly amazed by the anti-Kimi press and others who consider Lewis is a saint and Fernando no loudmouth, making a fuzz about this incident. Well, all I have to say is Raikkonen like any other human being in this world has every right to show his emotions no matter whether he's living upto the nickname Iceman or not.

I never knew that Kimi should not wilt under such frivolous act by a pass-by photographer.He was not sane enough to let the race driver have his 'personal space' n all Lewis fanatics say "Kimi is insane n doesn't deserve the Iceman tag". I'm speechless. Kimi is the people's champion and was given the Iceman tag in 2003 due to his sheer raw pace and ofcourse his 'never mind' cool composure on/off the track. In those days where drivers were seen busy lamenting bad races, cursing their own teams, chiseling others out of glory, there stood a man called Kimi Raikkonen from the tiny country of Finland doing less talking and more driving.

It's not the first time Kimi lost his cool and involved in a brawl. The famous 'push' of the race Marshall (I don't remember which GP) is still somewhere in the back of my mind and also the late-night wrangle in a Spanish pub was no different. But it's his private life n Kimi himself had a tiff with McLaren boss Ron Dennis for interfering in his training regime and preventing him from having fun. From what I saw all these years, Kimi is the fittest man around.

So let's face it, Kimi did hurt a photographer. As Ferrari mentioned his behavior was completely understandable because a driver goes through the turmoil and needs to get into the groove minutes before racing to incur undisturbed concentration. And Kimi was deprived of the most important thing in an F1 driver's life, concentration. They die for it, they calculate the minutest lapse in the car by only having it and they would do any harebrained antic to get it back. I mean absolutely anybody.

Martin Brundle can relate to the above statement better than anyone else. Whenever he's in the middle of ITV's famous grid walk, I have seen that lots of drivers just ignore him. Do u think the drivers are shy to have a say about the race or even about their strategy? No way! That's where u see dedication. I'm a lover of this sport purely because there is no other sport in which one experiences 4G of pressure and a weight loss of almost 5 Kgs in 90 mins. But pls let them drive!

Having said that, let's rehash Brazil 06 gridwalk by Martin
Martin : Kimi, u missed the speech by Pele on Michael?
Kimi : Yeah
Martin : Why?
Kimi : I was having a shit!!!!!!!
Martin (shameful laugh) : Thank u for that


The impassive Manmohan Singh would have laughed at it. My point is, Kimi is known as Iceman for what he's on track and for how he handles the media. Take a look at this statement while addressing the British media
"I don’t mind what people think too much. If they ask nice questions then yes, but for sure if they ask stupid questions, I won’t answer and they will think I’m a dickhead"

He's also the insane party animal, he's the Iceman and we all love him for what he is n we don't hate him for what he just did cos that's the way it is :)
U have any probs???

Jul 7, 2008

Lewis won it but did Kimi lose it? British GP review

The answer is probably Yes cos I have to take a dig at Ferrari's tyre strategy or a tyre-poker for Kimi during the first pitstops and I'm afraid they did a poor job. Kimi was closing in on Lewis lap after lap to almost 1 sec just before the stop and we expected a tyre change for Kimi. Down in McLaren, the pit crew rightly changed Lewis' intermediates while in the far end, Ferrari decided to keep the already worn-out intermediates in Kimi's F2008. They would have expected the rain to stop but I think that was a logical error as it was getting very dark as if the heavens was just about to open. From then on, Kimi lost 2 secs and even 4 secs at times to Lewis. Infact, he had to give way for Heikki and Heidfeld after some time. Let's have a driver analysis of the British GP

Lewis Hamilton - I hate to say it but it was a good show from him after some "no shows" in Canada and France. The indisputable beneficiary of the chaos in the Ferrari pitlane. He was fast after the second stint as well but had a spin just after hitting the standing water on the track. He has been OK in wets considering his mess up in China and Europe last year.

Kimi Raikkonen - I feel for this unlucky man who had a scant consolation in the fastest lap times but he couldn't have done any better given the circumstances. He too had spins and it was no easy after the pitstop with worn-out intermediates. Having said that, his pass on one of the best wet weather drivers Alonso was something spectacular. I say so cos just after Kimi got past Alonso, we saw Heikki in a superior McLaren struggling to get past the double world champion for 3 laps or so. Kimi collected 13 points from two unfortunate races and I think it's a sign - a sign for more to come.

Heikki Kovalainen - He had a good start holding up Kimi and making Hamilton's life easy through the inside of turn 1 but that was just about it. I think he's struggling to overtake an evenly matched car and like Canada where he lost a place to Massa, Heidfeld overtook him while he was trying to get pass Kimi. McLaren say we should not underestimate Heikki but from what we saw till now, Heikki is very much a back-up driver to Lewis unless proved wrong.

Felipe Massa - Probably he has gone into the record books for the most number of spins in a race. He just couldn't control the car on the wet conditions and was struggling for grip even on the straights. How many races have u seen Massa spinning unconditionally? I think 3 Australia, Malaysia and now Britain. I would say without TC, life is getting one big fuck for the Brazilian and it's a big surprise that he didn't hit anything after all these spin cycles other than chasing down a rabbit.

Okay, Lewis is back with a victory and I believe he would have read my previous blog which might have been a wake-up call :). Wait a min, with this win, he's back on the limelight and I wouldn't be surprised if he screws up yet again in Germany. Kimi bemoans the tyre strategy but is ready to move on. We would have never known how much pressure would Hamilton had to soak had Kimi put the right tyres. We would never know and the Hamilton fanatics compare him with greats...........let them. The season is long!

Standings

1. Hamailton 48
2. Massa 48
3. Raikkonen 48
4. Kubica 46

Next race : German GP, Hockenheim Sunday, 20th July