these thoughts dominated my mind 9 hours back just before the start of the final F1 race of the 2006 season at the interlagos circuit in sao paulo, brazil...
with the indomitable teuton michael schumacher retiring after this race, a huge chasm in the pinnacle of motor racing would emerge. schumi is without a doubt, in my mind, the best living F1 driver today...his record stands for itself...having spent 2 seasons with benetton (and pulling them up from obscurity), he then joined the slumbering giants from maranello and proceeded on a winning run of which the likes the world had never seen...seven times (count them!) a world champion in the rarified stratosphere of this sport...that's almost unheard of...the number of records that this man has set in the process sets him apart from luminaries such as ayrton senna (whose career and life were devastatingly cut short), alain prost, nigel mansell, mika hakkinen and the like...maybe he wasn't exactly the most talented driver of them all (that honour goes to ayrton) and he wasn't the most charismatic prescence in the paddock (that claim goes to nigel in my book), but his sheer pace, sheer driving gumption, sheer driving consistency and race intelligence were second to none...in this current competitive hothouse of the sport where there are quite a number of teams considered capable of challenging for the honours, the consistency is what sets him apart from the rest of the herd...and if that wasn't enough, his will to win was second to none, to the point of being quite ruthless in fact...
well michael, i thank you for the moments that you have given us and i bid thee a fond farewell as you move into a new stage of your life...
at the same time, i was thinking about his "successors" at scuderia ferrari...2 young bulls who will be duking it out for the #1 driver spot...the iceman kimi raikkonen and the brazil flash felipe massa.
kimi showed his potential earlier of course...he's been in the top 3 to 4 drivers for the past couple of years already and what distinguishes him is his calmness and quiet intensity, not unlike a brewing hurricane...he's fast, no doubt about it, but in the last 2 seasons, he's been severely let down by his machinery whilst at mclaren...that dominant team has somehow found a way to lose consistency, speed and reliability all at once...too many DNFs...just too many...these facets are more than readily apparent at ferrari...speed of course is more than apparent and the reliability is now almost the stuff of legends...before schumi's engine gave up the ghost 2 weeks ago, ferrari had run about 2 seasons or more without a single mechanical failure...and this from a marque known for its temperamental road cars...simply astounding. so let's see during this next season whether kimi can emulate schumi's consistency with the available speed and reliability to challenge for the top spot...
as for massa, we've always known he has the speed and the ability...even when this young sao paulista was with the lower echelon teams, he was always able to make the most of the machinery to stand out as a wonderful prospect...back then, he was still a bit immature on the circuits, often going for it when he shouldn't have and ending up with DNFs but throughout, he's been exciting to watch...his season with ferrari this year has been slightly inconsistent sometimes but all the time he has played a very capable #2 to schumi...with this win at interlagos, he now has his 2nd GP win of the season in his 70-race career and is the 1st brazilian to achieve this since the great ayrton in 1993...and to do it in front of his home crowd was simply fantastic for him...he'll be nursing a hangover for weeks on end, i'm sure...massa started off 2006 off the pace from schumi but he has learned well, matured fast and now is in a position to move his way into the leadership void that will be left by schumi's departure...
all in all, an interesting 2007 beckons for the tifosi...
and what of fernando alonso, you might ask? why are you missing him out as the repeat world champion? oh no, i am not...it's just in my nature as a tifoso to focus on my beloved ferrari first (and foremost)...alonso is a driver who continues to show his best repeatedly in spite of his young years...with his champion win in 2005, he became F1's youngest ever champion at the tender age of 24 years and 59 days...and now with schumi gone, he is the winnigest active driver with 15 victories...and he can boast of 1 thing that all his rivals could never...he can beat schumi in his prime. the coming season however brings with it a spectre of sorts...with alonso moving on into the hot seat at ron dennis' mclaren team, can he maintain the consistency to take his 3rd title in a row? mclaren has been plagued by the car gremlins this year and most of last year...if alonso is to challenge for the honours, the team itself has to up its workrate, efficiency and reliability...it remains to be seen whether the team can live up to the precocious talents of the fiery young spaniard...they need to find a rich vein of reliability and a tad more speed to complement the natural talents of alonso...
well, this 2006 F1 season has been thrilling to say the least...one of the best in recent years...with ferrari initially running into seemingly insurmountable problems with the chassis and tyres, they have fought back magnificently only to falter at the last moment...renault proving consistently at the top of their game...and the king of F1 grudgingly giving way to his heir apparent...my oh my i have enjoyed this...
but now, F1 is about to go throught its most significant change since the departure of the late lamented ayrton senna...it will be interesting to see how things change and how things stay the same...though there will be days that you find moi being a bit bored and more than slightly critical of this sport that i love, i find myself irresistibly drawn back into this world of hi-octane hijinks, into this world of the greatest sport on earth...
forza ferarri!
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