C'EST LA VIE - VETTEL & FERRARI AT THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX

Image Source: The Guardian 

Sebastian Vettel had to bow out of the Belgian Grand Prix while he was fighting for the third place. Behind him was Romain Grosjean and he looked good to overtake the Ferrari and steal the last place on the podium from Vettel. With Mercedes not losing its might in the championships, one can assume, a third place finish to be a winner. And Vettel was within this reach and they were on a one-stop strategy with the hard tyres 27 laps old. And then, the Ferrari fending off Grosjean's Lotus had to take some defensive lines and this went on for about five laps and boom! - off it went Vettel's rear right tyre and there was no option but to retire as he had a good 5 km or so to cover to reach the pits. Whose fault was it?

NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME AND DEFINITELY NOT THE LAST TIME

It was not the first time a driver had to retire in Formula One - there have been many occasions when F1 cars have retired when the car was within kilometres from winning before hell broke loose. In the recent past, it has happened to Mika Hakkinen at the Spanish Grand Prix 2001, the car ceased to move because of engine related problems and he retired on the last lap, while leading the race. Kimi Raikkonen was leading the 2005 European Grand Prix and for the last twenty laps he went on with a flat spot on his front right tyre. He raced on over the course of twenty laps (rules stated no tyre change unless punctured) and this affected the suspension and the tyre came off on the last lap. Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren took a gamble. The team and the driver collectively took a decision to ride on their luck hoping it would pay off. Fernando Alonso would have won the race as he had a better car behind Kimi or if Kimi could have held him off,  McLaren would have celebrated the victory. You play the sport with high stakes at times!

When it comes down to going for glory or nothing, you gotta be prepared that - the other side of victory is defeat. To give one more instance of riding on one's luck - Ferrari and Michael Schumacher at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix decided not to pit for new tyres when it was clearly visible the car lacked grip and losing time. Ferrari wanted to gain more points as Schumacher's rival Fernando Alonso (yeah, again) had retired from the race. Ferrari relented and ended up losing Michael Schumacher as he damaged his suspension trying to defend from cars overtaking him.

For Ferrari and Vettel, yes it was unfortunate that tyre gave up the way it did. Twenty seven laps on a single set of hard tyres was not the way other drivers chose. The car was handling fine and I was confident he could have made it but for the pressure exerted by Romain Grosjean in the dying stages of the race. Vettel up until then was happy to be placed third and chose not to pit for new tyres - the script was perfect, just that the Grosjean factor was not considered. The four-time champion could have let the faster car go instead of defending  - but a racer that he is, it is not easy to let go someone without fight in that heat of racing. Vettel pushed his luck, while Ferrari crew could only watch and hope the result to be in their side and in the end it didn't pay off. Tough luck!

Post race, Vettel went aggressive on Pirelli and suggested the tyres must never come off as long as drivers raced within the track limits. However, this isn't an ideal world where things happen as we wish it has to, there will be anomalies and Vettel's tyre burst was one such case. He was fighting for the third place in a race where Ferrari looked out of sorts - Vettel took the gamble and in the end it didn't go his way.

When reporters asked Pirelli head Paul Hembery about Vettel's reaction - he brushed away and told drivers undergo a lot of things after such intense battle before showing surprise about being unaware of Ferrari's single stop strategy compared to rest of the drivers. 

While Vettel has come to terms with the issue of tyres, the world of motorsport mourned at the loss of a former F1 driver Justin Wilson. He drove in the 2003 season in a specially customised cars designed by Minardi and Jaguar as he was very tall for the normal design. He passed away after sustaining head injuries in a IndyCar race.

Graham Nash once quoted - “Life is not perfect. It never will be. You just have to make the very best of it, and you have to open your heart to what the world can show you; and sometimes it's terrifying, and sometimes it's incredibly beautiful, and I'll take both.”

Formula One and motor racing is dangerous and yet people have great ambitions to be part of it, safety marshals risk their lives in doing their job by the track side and many others including fans who are in the circuit - why?

Hindsight is vision 20:20 and decisions are not made all the time looking backwards, some decisions are made on the go looking at the present - it works at times, and in other times it doesn't. If it pays off - life is beautiful; when it doesn't - life can be cruel. C'est la vie, Voilà Formule Un! 

EXCUSES, EXCUSES - NICO ROSBERG AND HIS EXCUSES, POST RACE!

Rosberg (l) needs to overcome the mental scars inflicted by his teammate Lewis Hamilton(r)
Courtesy - Reuters 

Midway during the recently concluded Chinese Grand Prix, the race leader and the eventual winner Lewis Hamilton started to drive slowly, not at his usual breezing pace which he did until that point. His teammate, Mercedes second driver Nico Rosberg immediately spoke on the team radio, "Lewis is slowing down, can I go faster?". After watching F1 races for close to twenty years, I knew there was no problem with Hamilton's car and in my view it was a deliberate tactic - a kind of mind game if you may call it on Rosberg (my opinion). Not surprisingly, Rosberg, as usual fell into this trap as Sebastian Vettel came close to tail him and was within 1.5s as a result of all this. If Ferrari would have been competitive on the option tyres after the second pit-stop, I am pretty sure Vettel, and even Raikkonen would have been all over Rosberg! And what does that do to your confidence if you happen to be Rosberg?

Mercedes was miles ahead of Ferrari in terms of performance and it was good to see Vettel taking up the challenge to the Mercedes second driver. I re-iterate the fact, that Nico Rosberg is the second driver in the Mercedes set-up, and simply because he has not had an answer or a plan to get past his teammate on the race track. What does Nico Rosberg want? He wants to be a world champion and how does he plan to do that? By coming in second, race after race while his teammate takes the glory? or by making a statement on the track by getting past Lewis Hamilton? At this point, Lewis is clearly having an advantage and that is mainly due to the mental scars within Nico Rosberg. Instead of stating Lewis is slowing down on the team radio, try being a champion and overtake him and let's see what happens! Mercedes as a team can play it safe and they don't care who takes the top step as long as they bring 43 points from each race.

And then after the race, Nico Rosberg speaks out stating, wait, complaining - that Lewis Hamilton held him back by deliberately going slow. Lewis, quick to respond in his usual 'cool' and 'hip' fashion - "That was not deliberate (yeah right, Lewis!) and if Nico had been able to overtake him, he should have done that".

Personally, I would never pay money to watch Nico Rosberg's style of driving. I always get the feeling, he wants to live in the ideal world and everything has to go as per the plan. What kind of a racer you want to be, Nico? Opportunities do not come your way, you gotta make it happen. In this case, whether Lewis deliberately slowed down or not, you were more concerned about your tyres rather than looking for that 'opening' to break the shackles and race...challenge... and possibly go past him. Instead, your endless speeches, one after the other, does not make an iota of sense. In your quest of becoming a world champion, those words are sheer excuses!

Action speaks louder than words - in your case, both are being ineffective, while Hamilton has the last laugh at the conclusion each race, having got better of you on the track and in etching few of the mental scars.

Well, it's a long season ahead and if you (Rosberg) are serious about winning the championship this year, then start conquering your mental fears and overcome them. The problem is not the car, not the strategy, definitely not the team or don't even look at your teammate as an excuse - the problem which is holding you back is within you and I hope you realise it sooner or else you gotta be bidding your title hopes yet again this year. 

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER'S LAST WIN: 2006 CHINESE GRAND PRIX

Those celebrations, his 91st and last win of his F1 career 

In the last race at Malaysia, I had the pleasure of hearing the German national anthem followed by the Italian anthem. These two tunes, played one after the other was one of the things I would seek for, on Sundays when the top three cars came to an halt. The three drivers standing on the podium, watching Michael Schumacher standing on the top step, soaking in the atmosphere, hear the orchestra and spray champagne or muted celebrations if occasion(s) demanded so.

Sebastian Vettel winning in a Ferrari reminded me of those wonder years and weekends when Michael Schumacher won quite remarkably with the Italian team. I would have heard these two tunes in succession at least 50 times, if not more and last such occasion before this year's Malaysian Grand Prix was the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix.

ONE FROM MY MIND

My memories from that race is so fresh. Michael Schumacher storming past Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault at turn one, that overtake remains etched in my memory and has to be one of my favourite moments of Schumacher's racing history. That victory in China put him level with Alonso in points for with two races to go. Michael Schumacher didn't go on to win the driver's championship - but the manner in which he drove in China and in the final race at Interlagos (Brazilian Grand Prix), just made me wonder - 'Why Michael, why won't you race more'? He was then two months shy of turning 38, and yet his reflexes were as good as any driver on the track. The choice and timing of retirement is so personal that one cannot say if it is a good one or a bad one, just with any decisions we take at a certain point in time. I believe we make a certain call which seemed right at that point and then.......... all that remain are perspectives.

HIS LAST WIN

Three seasons in the wilderness and then Michael surprises the racing world when he announced his comeback with Mercedes. He raced with them for further three seasons, which yielded no wins and his tally remained at 91 wins in spite of racing close to sixty races in those three years.

His 91^st win came at a time when he was chasing Fernando Alonso for an unprecedented eighth world title. Going into the race, he was 2 points behind the Spaniard, and three races remaining. It was now down to the drivers with both cars evenly matched. After having made his emotional announcement to leave Ferrari and the sport in the previous race,  the racing world knew these were the final moments when the ace German would be behind the wheels. His last three races, his last punch, that last bit of mighty effort and go for three wins for his team, and for the dream farewell.

2006 CHINESE GRAND PRIX

The weather was anything but clear  and was wet during the qualifying session. This meant, the Bridgestone intermediates found wanting when compared to Michelins and Michael Schumacher was the only driver to finish in top ten, the sole Bridgestone runner. Alonso and his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella were 1-2 and as Michael stated - "We did the best we could in these conditions. You can call it a damage limitation operation".

The race started under wet conditions, and all Schumacher needed was a safe start, clear getaway and maintain his position if not gain a couple of positions. The lights went off, Schumacher, a little less aggressive kept away from any trouble and his position remained at six at the end of lap one. The gap between him and Alonso, who at the top was 6.5 seconds and increasing with each corner they went passed by.

Eight laps went this way and by this time the Bridgestone tyres had shown improved performance and this came in the aid of Schumacher. On lap nine, Schumacher pulled off an overtaking manoeuvre on his ex-teammate Rubens Barrichello to move to fifth.  Next up was Jenson Button, and this time it was the use of sheer straight-line speed advantage over the Honda powered engine of Button's. End of lap 14 and Michael Schumacher was in fourth position and his gap to Alonso, the race leader was 25.3 seconds, with 43 laps more to go.

The Ferrari was a touch faster than the Renaults and the pressure was felt by Alonso, who went off the track for a second or two onto the grass.. it was all playing into the hands of Ferrari maestro. Kimi Raikkonen, by this time having overtaken Fisichella was in second position and on lap 18 he retired from a mechanical failure (throttle problem) having just made his first pit-stop.

Michael Schumacher was now in third position and made his first pit-stop on lap 21, followed by Fisichella a lap later and Alonso, two laps later. At the end of these pit-stops, Michael Schumacher had retained his third position and was in pursuit of the two Renaults. Alonso opted for just the change of his front tyres while sticking to the rear-tyres.

The decision to go with unchanged rear tyres would soon haunt Alonso. At the race midway, Fisichella and Schumacher take advantage of a relatively slower Renault of Alonso. Fisichella makes his move to take the lead. A lap later at turn two, Michael Schumacher moves inside and overtakes Alonso to move into second position. Twenty-six laps to go and Schumacher has a Renault and a pit-stop ahead of him.

Struggling for grip with his existing tyres and reacting to other drivers make the switch to the dry tyres, Fernando Alonso makes his second and final pit stop on lap 35 and he found himself stationed for 19.2 seconds owing to the problem with the right rear release. This little drama now put focus on Fisichella and Michael Schumacher and their battle in the remaining twenty laps.

On lap 40, Ferrari call in Michael Schumacher and release him at the end of 6.9 s with dry tyres. A lap later Fisichella, having had a track advantage over Schumacher comes into the pit-stop, stays for 6.6 s and off he goes to join the race track. There was a clear gap between Fisichella as he exited the pits to Schumacher as he had just crossed the start/finish line.

A turn later, Fisichella struggling for grip on his fresh and relatively colder set of tyres and Schumacher zooms past him nonchalantly with two wheels on the track and two wheels on the kerbs and Astroturf. He chased, chased all this while and now he was presented with the only opportunity the Renault team would give to take the lead. At the height of Renault's vulnerability, there he was, Michael Schumacher in full authority ruthlessly getting past Fisichella to take the lead. He went to say about the move - "I knew he'd see I was coming and that he would be pressing (with fresh and cold tyres) and I sort of expected he would be having a moment".

 What would be Alonso and Renault's response? Alonso puts in fastest laps, one after the other, seven in a row, takes second spot and chases Michael Schumacher. But the damage had been done and unless Michael would make a mistake, even those rain drops which were beginning to accumulate on the race track would not come in the way of his victory.

An enthusiastic Michael goes past the chequered flag to win his first Chinese Grand Prix, his 91st Grand Prix and what turned out to be the last win of his career - but little did I or he knew about it on that evening of 1st October in Shanghai. With two races left in the 2006 season, both Alonso and Michael Schumacher were tied in first place with 116 points. "It's clear that if I win in Suzuka (and Alonso went scoreless) we have done it. We have it in our hands. We'll go for it as hard as we can, and the better one will be the winner".

Oh, Michael, you didn't win your title that year - but there is no arguing who the better winner was and is!

Sebastian Vettel, then aged 19 was a reserve driver with BMW-Sauber and had participated in one of the Friday free practice sessions. Come Sunday, he and Ferrari would hope to emulate that performance of 2006 against the Mercedes. 

AFTER MICHAEL, HERE COMES VETTEL - FERRARI'S NEW HOPE

The three German Ferrari drivers in Formula One - Wolfgang Von Trips on the left was the first

Come Sunday, Sebastian Vettel will be the third German driver to race for Ferrari works team in Formula One. Going by the record his previous two compatriots have achieved - there is little to suggest otherwise but success for the youngest four-time world champion.

WOLFGANG VON TRIPS

In the 1950's, there was none more famous German driver than Wolfgang Von Trips - who began his Formula One career with Ferrari in 1956. It took some time for him to get going and it was in the season of 1961, when he and the American Phil Hill both demonstrated their prowess and the power of Ferrari. If not for his death as a result of a collision with Jim Clark at the Italian Grand Prix, Von Trips would have clinched his first driver's championship as he was leading the championship at that time. The only consolation for Ferrari was Phil Hill's triumph as he won an emotional race marred by the on-track incident involving his team mate.

Two of Von Trips wins came in his final season at Netherlands (Dutch Grand Prix) and Aintree (British Grand Prix) and it was not until 1992, a German driver had won a full-length race in Formula One. At the time of Schumacher's victory at the Spa-Francorchamps (Belgian Grand Prix 1992), it was just the fourth win (Jochen Mass won the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix which was curtailed) for a German driver.  And since then German drivers have won a total of 146 races.

ERA OF MICHAEL SCHUMACHER

One of the best drivers of all-time and taken in the same breath as Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher will go down as the best German F1 racer irrespective of what Vettel will go on to achieve. For the 1996 F1 season, Michael Schumacher had decided to don the famous red colours of Ferrari. The two consecutive driver's titles with Benetton were anything to go by, a move to the ailing Italian team was perceived as an illogical move. Ferrari was struggling and the team were in a desperate need for a champion who could revive their fortunes. In came 'Michael Schumacher' to overcome this challenging task and to bring back the glory days of the Prancing Horse.

With Michael Schumacher at the top of his game, Ferrari rose to new heights which also saw them claim six consecutive constructor's title (between 1999-2004) and five consecutive driver's title (2000-2004). In those 11 seasons with Ferrari, Schumacher won a wow-rendering 72 races! (91 in total). Just for the record, the second placed Alain Prost has 51 victories in his career.

NEW HOPE WITH VETTEL

Sebastian Vettel is 27 years old, the same age as Michael Schumacher when he joined Ferrari. Vettel said at the time of joining Ferrari - "When I was a kid, Michael Schumacher in the red car was my greatest idol and now it's an incredible honour to finally get the chance to drive a Ferrari."

For Ferrari, since that emotional heartbreak in Brazil in 2008, they have not won any championships. This winless phase is nothing compared to the 20 years drought they went through between 1979 and 1999. Like every era, this too is different and with technology and news reaching to all corners of the world by a single click, each season without a win makes it that much harder, opinions are quickly drawn which aches the management a touch more and thus with the start of new season comes pressure in the form of expectations, great expectations.

Fernando Alonso during his stint with Ferrari came close to winning more than once, but always found wanting at the last hurdle. This year Vettel will be on the other side after scripting those memorable wins for Red Bull which had him win those close encounters against Alonso. Alonso will remain a rival if it is of any comfort and instead Vettel will be alongside Kimi Raikkonen, who was Ferrari's last champion eight seasons ago.

This is what great racers are made of, the ability to drive a team forward, win championships and taste successes together. Michael Schumacher had to wait four years to achieve glory with Ferrari, and who knows how long Vettel has to wait. One thing is clear, he would definitely enjoy this challenge than spending few more years at Red Bull.

We will see how history unfolds for the German driver with the Italian team.