We still have fresh in our memories, the fashion in which Kimi Raikkonnen’s McLaren Mercedes gave way and he crashed out of the way in the penultimate lap of the European Grand Prix in 2005, though it was heartbreaking but not unexpected since at that time, it was the prancing horse of Scuderia Ferrari that could boast of no failures over the last 2-3 years of running.
Then came the latter half of the 2006 Formula One Season, once again we were in Canada and Michael Schumacher triggered an unexpected Ferrari renaissance that no one could think of and at the end of the season everyone was expecting a fairytale finish to the illustrious career of a driver who was known for his ability to lift his team’s spirits through the murkiest of moments.
But some things are never meant to be, the unexpected happened in the Japanese Grand Prix and we saw something that we had almost forgotten, blue smoke from Schumacher’s Engine !!!
Every Ferrari fan and even the pure racing followers were sad to see a man who had achieved so much being betrayed by his luck at the penultimate lap of his career.Fast Forward to 2007, Schumi is still in the Ferrari pits, although this time as a “CONSULTANT” and we have another fairytale of a season in a making for probably the best rookie this game has ever seen, yes, I am talking about young Lewis Hamilton. Talking about Ferrari first, the thing that has worked against them more than even McLaren is their reliability, which until the end of last season was their hallmark. So if Ferrari seriously want to pose themselves as the title contenders, they’ll have to work on their car’s reliability otherwise neither the expert advice of Schumi nor the pace and flair of Kimi and Massa would be of any help. Even if McLaren are docked points by the FIA over the espionage row, Ferrari would have to work very hard to win this season’s championship.
Now, we come to the surprise package of this year. No doubt Hamilton has proved to everyone that he has got all the ingredients to make him a great champion. 9 straight podiums in your rookie season is no mean feat, and we shouldn’t forget the fact that he is still leading the driver’s world championship ahead of his two time world champion teammate.
And finally this weekend we saw something that many people had been waiting for, anything unfortunate for Hamilton. Everyone was talking about Hamilton’s response to any misadventure to him on the race track. The grit and determination that this young man possesses was evident when he was stretchered off after his accident in the qualifying when waved and showed thumbs up to all the fans and viewers. And then again the next day when he was on the starting grid, its not that easy to recover that fast from at a speed of around a 160 mph.
The big question that remains is that how he comes back in his next race, because this is the first time he is facing adversity on the big stage and if he comes out of this with a race win or a podium, Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes can rest assured that they got a couple of great champions in their team and with them being ahead of Ferrari in terms of reliability this season, it would arduous task for Ferrari to lift this season’s championship.
