Australian GP review.

Well, F1 2008 season started with a bang! with Force India’s Fisichella and Coulthard colliding at the first corner. It wasn’t Dr.Vijay Mallya would have expected in his first race as the director of Force India. Lot of accidents involved at the end of the race which resulted in only 7 of the 22 cars finishing the race.

A perfect start for Lewis Hamilton from pole and a sigh of relief for Ron Dennis after the spying controversy that marred the 2007 season. Heikki started the 08 season with the MP4 Mercedes , qualified p3 had a good race , not the best; since there was a good chance for a podium finish, but messed up his position during the saftey car period.

Reliabilty has become the issue for Ferrari who had the worst starts for the season since 1993 with both the cars failing to finish the race. Massa, impatient driving & engine failure resulted in his failure to complete the race. The same case was with Kimi who made some unusual mistakes.

Renault who got their prince, Feranando Alonso back into the team came fourth in the race while his team mate Nelsinho who made his debut into F1 had to retire due to an accident.

Williams had a good race, with both the cars finishing the race and Nico Rosberg bringing a podium finish for the team for which they were dying for. Kazuki who had an excellent debut race.

Honda, now headed by Ros Brawn, formerly in Ferrari have found some pace in the car and we can expect a good season and has come as a breather for the team. Rubens and Jenson didn’t finish the race.

BMW, one of major title contenders this year with a competitve car had a mixed result. Nick finshed second while Kubica who had a very good qualifying couldn’t finish the race.

Toyota has been team who haven’t made any significant improvement from the 2007 car. Both Trulli and Timo Glock, who has taken Ralf position couldn’t finish the race.

Red Bull had shown some consistency ,but accidents prevented both their cars finishing the race. Super-Aguri, STR-Ferrari and Force India would be hoping for a better race in Malaysia. Ferrari need to get a look into the reliability issue and get a proper car setup.

Hope more cars finish the Malaysian GP on March 23,2008.

Formula 1 in India

Formula 1 which is an ultimate arena for speed machines to compete has extended its presence to India. Well, there has been a great progress in terms of India’s involvement in F1 which started with Narian Karthikeyan getting into Jordan team. UB group &

Kingfisher owner Dr. Vijay Mallya , who has been a sponsor for the Toyota has bought Midland F1 team and named it “Force India”. This has put India on the F1 map which now hopes to see a F1 race in Delhi by 2010/11.

There is no dearth of talent in India. Karun Chandhok , Armaan Ibrahim are to name a few. The increase in the funds for this sport & popularity of Karting has made many daring young kids to get into the sport. With Karun getting a chance to test with Redbull racing, its a clear indication that Indian’s are competitive enough. Force India needs to provide a platform and nurtures the Indian talent.

I hope the quote “Its not about winning or losing , its about the pride ” is not a media gimmick to attract viewers in India, but a true statement which i think would win the hearts of Indian fans replacing the Ferrari’s and McLaren’s….

Do check : http://www.forceindiaf1.com