The story of my hero: New kid on the block

It took 40 for Felipe Massa, 51 for Michael Schumacher and 130 for Lewis Hamilton. Wondering what the numbers are about? It's the number of international races each participated in a single-seater racing car before making their debut at the pinnacle of world motorsport: Formula One. An F1 pilot, on an average participates in 40-50 races before getting a chance at F1. However there are special talents, whom you just have to put in the car and watch them rule the beast! One of them and my favorite is my hero: Kimi Matias Raikkonen. Hailing from Espoo and having just participated in 23 races, the Finn made one of the most dramatic entries into F1 when Peter Sauber put him in the PETRONAS C20 for the 2001 F1 season. His inexperience was considered a threat to other drivers and many protested his participation including a number of drivers. Nevertheless, he was given a super license and allowed to compete at the highest level. Amidst all this commotion, guess what the 'Iceman' did before his debut race???

He slept for a couple o' hours!! That’s how cool this man is. His motto is simple. ''Give me a car and I'll show you what it can do.''

March 4, 2001 saw two extraordinary drivers make their F1 debut at the Albert Park Circuit -- Ice cool Kimi in Sauber and the all aggressive Alonso in the Minardi. Both these drivers are fantastic in their own way. While Alonso uses every part of the tarmac to shrink his times, Kimi knows how to muscle the car through the sectors with ease. Kimi suppressed all his critics after the race when he finished 6th and scored a point for his team on his debut. As the season progressed, the big guns started noticing Kimi and there was already a competition between McLaren and Ferrari to sign him for 2002. Ferrari being the then engine supplier for Sauber was rumored to be his probable destination. He however ended up at The Woking replacing the Flying Finn Mika Hakkinen and proved to be a tough nut to crack ever since!

Kimi had an average year in 2002 when his McLaren had a myriad of problems with reliability. He was always fast but his luck was such that 38% of his races he drove for McLaren ended due to the machine's instability in some way or the other. By the end of 2002, Kimi's potential was clear to everyone.

An F1 car comes to a halt from 100kph without its brakes at a faster pace than a sports car with its ceramic discs! Such is the grip on those nitrogen filled tires. The best thing about Kimi is that, he is the only F1 pilot who can actually DRIFT an F1 car!! Such is his car control and there's ample to proof of it, like the 2002 Austrian GP, the 2003 European GP qualifying, 2005 Monaco GP Hot lap or the 2008 Singapore GP practice and many many more!

2003 is the year when Kimi got his first real shot at the Championship. A competitive car saw Kimi fly faster than ever and blazing through the field often. The aggressive nature of Kimi showed in his drive and in fact he was now challenging the 5 time champion Schumacher for the WDC.

Kimi began his campaign with the MP4-17 still using the 2002 chassis and obviously at a disadvantage. He qualified a mere 15th at the Albert Park after a qualifying mishap and started in the spare car! However he made full use of his abundant ability to muscle the car to an impressive 3rd. The best part of it was his victory in the wheel to wheel fight with Schumi. Kimi was rewarded his first ever victory in Malaysia. Amidst accidents and torrential rain, Raikkonen ran red hot in Brazil blazing through the grid with some impressive maneuvers over Alonso and Ralf in the heavy rain. His move over Alonso’s Renault was incredible. On a fantastically slippery Interlagos, Raikkonen staged himself for the pass from the tight right turn at corner 10 and accelerated beautifully over Alonso’s slipstream downhill. After making full use of the slipstream throughout the climb back over the hill, Raikkonen made the pass in the Grid line straight. The sight was nothing short of mesmerizing when he continued this momentum through the ‘Senna S’ curve and out braked Ralf Schumacher at Turn 4. He almost won the race after getting past Fisichella when the zenith was denied by a huge accident and the race red flagged.

It's amazing to know that Kimi was in the fight for the crown throughout the season despite just 1 victory. In quite a few races, he started way back from the grid and managed to secure a podium consistently. After the Italian GP, the failure of McLaren to bring in the MP4-18 only made things worse for him. Still using the old car, he made his way to 4th at Monza.

Kimi is regarded by many as the fastest driver on the planet as well as the unluckiest!! His 3 retirements in 2003 is a clear example. Herbert Haug, owner of Mercedes has repeatedly said that his team has failed to give Kimi at least 2 championships due to mechanical and engine stability issues.

The way the 2003 championship evaded him was quite dramatic. 9 points behind Michael, Kimi needed a win at the Suzuka and also needed Michael to stay out of points to be crowned Champion. A bad qualifying session put Kimi 8th on the starting grid with Michael on 14th. With the new ban on the controversial Michelin tyres, Kimi drove his heart out to get to Second behind Ferrari's second driver Barichello and Michael, despite a flat tyre late in the race managed to scamper to 8th spot earning him a point and eventually claiming his 6th ever Championship by just 2 points!

The best part of Kimi is that he never blames anyone for the loss. He takes everything on him even if it was the team's fault on the whole and he never hesitates to praise his team during the golden moments. Calm, composed, straight-forward and Ultra cool - An alloy of all these gives U Kimi!!

Next up: The story of my hero: Clash of the Titans!

Who said F1’s boring?!

A fantastic Australian GP has silenced all the critics of the new rule changes in F1. All the drama, chaotic grid order changes and some nice overtakes and blocks, all ONLY because of the gamble that the F1 pilots took with their tyres when refueling was out of the equation.

My Star of the race without a doubt was Robert Kubica. He had a fantastic start, helped majorly by the first corner incident and followed it up with some awesome blocks. It was amazing how he managed to hold his nerve while defending his position against a clearly superior and charging McLaren of Lewis Hamilton during the first half. He never looked like being in trouble when Felipe tried his best to overtake him (He was ordered to but no one saw any hint of it on the track!). A P2 by any measure is nothing less than fantabulous for Renault. Well done Kubica!

For all the hype that was created for Lewis Hamilton being the dominant of the McLaren British duo, there was absolutely no sign of it when it really mattered! Jenson Button is an excellent driver when it comes to taking care of his tyres. That’s why the whole no refueling thing could be playing to his advantage. Lewis on the other side is aggressive and still has a lot to learn. We could see his intent in the way he overtook Nico Rosberg. Getting a clean exit over the S-curve he had the power and slip stream to take him past Nico over the high speed second sector. With full credit to Lewis, I suspect the Mercedes was not as fast as the McLaren. However with far fresher tyres and clearly the better car, Lewis could not even get close to making a solid move on the real champion material Fernando Alonso. Like Schumi, Alonso is one of those guys whom you don’t want to chase or get chased by in the last few laps with no more pit stops. Even Michael with his all conquering Ferrari could not a find a way past Alonso’s Renault at the 2005 San Marino GP.

After a dismal qualifying performance, Lewis accelerated his way to 7^th at the start from 11^th, thanks to Alonso’s spin caused by eventual race winner Button. No one was to be blamed. It was a clear racing incident. Button wanted the inside line after a good start and Alonso as usual never budged. Since Alonso entered the corner first, there was no reason why he should not block. It was a typical first-corner-Albert-Park incident. How Alonso went to the last position and came all the way to 4^th is an amazing story. He went to the last position, went to the pits after the Kobayashi-Hulkenberg incident and muscled his way through the entire grid with some wonderful demonstrations in F1 overtaking combined with the one stop strategy.

All credit to Jenson again for managing his tyres as usual and patiently winning his second Australian GP on the trot. It was a pretty normal race for him once he got his strategy right by opting to run the soft tyres for 50 laps. He did struggle in the beginning on a not-so-dry track, but eventually managed to hold on to his car and in fact half the pack followed his switch to soft tyres in the next few laps.

Felipe Massa’s blitzkrieg off the start line was by far his best ever start and without doubt, THE start of the race. He raced past his more aggressive team mate in no time and was in second place after the first corner escaping the spinning Alonso. It was more disappointing later that Webber passed him for 2^nd though he got it back via his pit stop strategy. Massa must have been pretty relieved that it wasn’t him blocking Lewis rather than his champion team mate because that would be too much to ask from this young man who has proven quite a few times to go for a spin when under pressure. He was enjoying the cushion of his team mate protecting him and it was pretty dissatisfying that he did not use this to push Kubica; or maybe he just couldn’t.

All Webber did on Sunday was to prove himself once again to be among the worst losers in F1. You cannot get any worse! The little tap on the back of Lewis while trying to pass him was such a rookie mistake and it cost him dear. He must be glad he could at least get some points. For all the Schumacher lovers who enjoyed his most hyped heroic comeback, this race was a total disaster. Hit at the first corner, he had his nose cone changed and rejoined the race at the least favored position on the grid. He did overtake the last few, but his duel with Luca di Grassi was one of the best to watch. The moment Schumi passed Di Grassi, the latter made a spirited re-pass on the 7-time champion as if to say “Hey there mate! U aren’t lapping me and U have to fight for my position!!” Even though Schumi won the duel, his inability to pass Algersuari for a considerable amount of laps was shocking. Maybe the car was damaged or his real talents are shown only now with a not so good car. Either way, let us just hope that he doesn’t make a mockery of his comeback because his younger counterpart loves challenges and has had the better of him in all their duels so far. Rosberg is a promising young talent and with the right car, believe me, he can win races. For once, Michael Schumacher is feeling how a real team mate challenge feels like. I’m afraid this won’t last long because at the end of the day, it’s the same old Ross Brawn who runs the office!!

Before I conclude, am I forgetting something here? Oh yes. I almost forgot! There was this little 22-yr old who started from pole and lead the race till lap 26. Poor Sebastian Vettel: Of all the drivers I’ve seen in my times, I consider him the second most unlucky guy of all times. He ran a perfect race, started perfectly from the cleaner side of the track and had no hiccups until that one fatal moment of a suspected brake failure.

Just in case you are wondering who THE most unlucky man is, it’s the Iceman himself – Kimi Matias Raikkonen.