So there’s a lot of Michael speculation these days. Will he retire at the end of 2006 or not? If he doesn’t, will he stay at Ferrari or head to Renault?

And now a new contender jumps startlingly into the fray.

BMW Team Boss Mario Theissen has admitted that he’s trying to get Schumi for his blue-and-white outfit next season. While this might normally be considered mere wishful thinking, please note that Dr T’s offer is a very generous one. $100 million, as conservative rumours dictate!

My completely insignificant two cents: Michael, now 37, won’t call it quits in 2006 — not unless he wins with massive style. Ferrari’s resurgent, and he’ll stay optimistically on board for another season. He won’t move to Renault, cause the risk – of wearing a blue suit at this time in his career and losing — is too great and would muddy up his Ferrari mythos entirely.

As for the BMW offer, if it really is as astronomical as that, then it’s interesting ’cause Michael likes the idea of building up a race legacy, a la Ferrari, with a fledgling team and might take his key personnel Ross Brawn and Jean Todt along with him. It’s a curious idea, and the concept would definitely appeal to Michael — Don’t forget BMW is as German as they come – but it would mean sticking around till about 2009 and enduring more than one title-less season.

Will Michael be racing at 40? Honestly, I wouldn’t totally bet against it.

What do you think?

– Raja Sen

So Juan Pablo Montoya’s been sacked.

Congratulations, Ron Dennis, that’s the first sign of good luck we’ve seen for McLaren all year.

Just last week Dennis was defending Montoya despite his idiocy at the US Grand Prix, where he ploughed into the back of his luckless teammate Kimi Raikkonen. But now Montoya, who has rightfully realised that he deserves no more room in a technically demanding sport, announces a move to NASCAR next season, and Dennis finds the opportunity to show him the red card. Fab.

So the crucial French Grand Prix might potentially be the ’safest’ race we’ve seen since Takuma Sato got out of a threateningly fast car. Still, despite the Colombian increasingly turning into a bland driver, I must concede that I’m going to miss Juan Pablo.

What’s your take?

– Raja Sen

One day, in the morning while checking my email, I suddenly bumped upon this mail by Vilas Jamindar. He says he has made a lot of sketches and one of his favourites is Schumi’s sketch. Vilas is working in Space Applications Centre(ISRO), Ahmedabad as a Scientist.

Thanks a ton Vilas for such a wonderful sketch. Deserves to be on the home of F1 i-land.

- Sumit Rajwade

I must say that I was more than happy to see Schumi in the record pole position. All the things are in his favour. The home ground for Ferrari, one of the most successful grounds for Schumi and the very pole position itself.

Now, thw only reason he can not make it to the chequered flag is if there is a engine which definitely is a bit slower than Renault and Merc. The only way for him is not to leave the lead position after the race starts and continue it till the 1st pit stop.

He also has a slight disadvantage on the pit stop as the Bridgestone tyres take longer to warm up. If Schumi has to win, he has to lead the race start to finish. If Alonso or Montaya overtakes him. then he will have to do a hard work to get to the lead again.

Anyways, we will see it in a few hours from now. The track has accident records including the big one by Barichello.

See on Monday post the race, till then enjoy watching!

- Sumit Rajwade

Ever heard of 20 odd strong team working for a common objective which they have to accomplish between 7 - 12 sec. As the time stands, its obvious that there is no room for error - even the slightest one. Pit-stop strategy is the name of the game and these crew members make it happen. We’ve always seen Ferrari doing it in the past to the best efficiency. Lets go take a tour of what happens in these few seconds which at times can determine the race winner.

- A total of 21-23 crew are usually present at a pit-stop.

- They all work as 1 team at the same time to service the car in 8-14 seconds.

Break-up of the crew:

Lolly-pop man (1): This person stands in the pit-lane level with the back to the pit box. He indicates where the driver should turn in. He then faces the driver and shows the first sign “BRAKES” to the driver. Once wheels are replaced, he changes the sign to “1st GEAR”, ready to leave the pit box. As the fuel nozzle is removed, the lolly-pop man raises his lolly-pop and the driver departs. The lolly-pop man is also responsible for timing a 10-second stop-go penalty, during which the car cannot be worked on and watching the oncoming cars in the pit lane.

Jacks (2): There are two people who manage the jack. One in the front and one at the rear. The front jack man lifts the car themomwnt car makes a stop in the pit box. The jacks are palced under the wing supports. The car is only raised about 10cm to minimise thetime to lift and lower it. After the wheels are changed, the car is gently lowered down. The front jack man moves to the side of the car to allow it to go. The rear jack man remains in position. He is then joined by another member ready with a starter. The car will have to be raised to restart it. The driver selects no gear and the car is lowered again ready to start again.

Refuel (2 - 3): This can determine the outcome of the race, so this is the most important function of a pit-stop. There is a standard maintained close to that of aviation refuel for all cars. The fuel hose has two hoses. One carries the fuel and the other carries exhausted air exiting around the outside. This ensues the full use of the hose and fast refuelling. The nozzle has three internal levers which must be activated together to open the nozzle. This means the nozzle must be placed square to the cars filler. The first man opens the exhaust valve to let air out of the fuel tank, then the fuel is allowed to flow. A flow meter shows the refueller how much fuel has entered the car. When the required amount has been dispensed, the nozzle is pulled back. First, it closes the fuel valve then it closes the exhaust. Refuellers then clear the car.

Tyres (12): Each corner of the car uses three crew members to change the tyres. The gunman, who uses pneumatic gun to remove and fix the single centre nut. This is done while the car is being raised on jacks. Another crew member will be holding the wheel and remove it when the nut is undone. A third member stands is ready with the fresh wheel and tyre assembly. As the old wheen and gun man moves, he steps forward, placing the wheel on the axle. The wheel may need rotating a few degrees to locate studs that enable the wheel to turn the front axle and brakes. The gunman reverse the rotation of the gun and tightens the nut. The gunman removes the gun from the nut and pulls out the safety pin to re-engage the mechanism. He then lifts the gun above his head to indicate that he has finished. This process takes a total 6 to 8 seconds.

Extras (2 - 4): Extra crew members are placed at the sidepod entrance to reach in and remove debris from the radiators to prevent overheating and engine failure. These crew are pulled from their positions just as the car is about to leave the pit box. Other members may be employed to clean the drivers visor during a stop. A cloth with cleaner fluid on one side and is wiped across the visor. The cloth then is turned over to dry the visor. Another crew member stands at the back of the car ready with the electric starter should the driver stall.

Apart from regular pit stop work to be done, Crew also looks after:

- Changing of the front wing and nose assembly if needed.
- Check suspension components after an accident and determine if the car is safe to continue.

The amazing part is, its appreciated only when all do their job.

So, thats all for now! C U Soon! Till the, G’bye and have a nice weekend.

- Sumit Rajwade.

I am still recovering.

Well, I don’t know what to say about this match. I did the prediction that Button and Fisichella are the better drivers on the track. The race turned out to be disappointing, full of crashes, luck playing roles — I don’t know. Lets check what we have got here in this race on Sunday morning.

Before even the race starts, 2 of the best drivers, Montoya and Fisichella land in trouble. Montoya spun the car in warm-up and Fisichella’s car could not start. So there was an additional warm-up.

Finally, when it started post turn-4, we see Roseburg and Massa out of the race with a big crashout. So, Safety Car is on the track. Post green signal, Alonso overtook Button. Dear Jenson, why could you not warm your types well in the SC period. Why did you not drive with your original style and focused on the rear view so much. Something he will be asking himself may be.

Klein - the accident man. 50 laps remaining and SC is flagged again. Post green signal, the scene looks like Alonso -> Kimi -> Button -> Webber -> Ralf.

Ferrari’s problems were their tyres. They knew bridgestone takes a while to warm up and spped em up. So, when given a chance, why not warm them up. Unlike to see Micheal crashing, but his “rough” driving was visible in the last few laps before the crash.

24 laps to go, and Michael crashed out. SC on the track for the 3rd time. Still the order quite remaind the same.

20 laps to go and Luizzi crashed out. SC on for 4th time. This time post green signal, the order was Alonso -> Kimi -> Ralf -> Montoya and Button on 6th position.

11 laps to go and Montoya was out due to mechanical fault. Raja I must say you were right in judgement of his skills. But I think he lagged too far behind in the beginning.

Finally after the last and 14th turn and few yards to go and bag the 4th place, Button has a last bad luck striking him as his car caught fire and stopped before the finish line.

So, what happened here. I am not trying to defend what I said. But, the game is all about the straight lane overtaking and smooth driving. Those who failed to do it, lost.

Alonso and Kimi had to use the opportunity and skill of overtaking once post SC cleared.

Button consistently lost the lead and ultimately the points as well. There is a luck factor involved along with his over cautious driving.

Toyota was high on fuel and easy on tyres. As the track demanded, the game was all about smooth driving. Ralf did exactly the same and got the reward for it.

So, I am not leaving the pre race analysis. But I will start putting the disclaimer against the drivers’ names I put

See you soon.

- Sumit Rajwade.

Ah.

So the prescient Sumit Rajwade’s predictions for Melbourne seem to be in good shape. Both men he earmarked in the last post, Jenson Button and Giancarlo Fisichella, share the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix.

The top 6 drivers are: Button, Fisichella, Alonso, Räikkönen, Montoya, and Ralf (yes, we’re all bloody incredulous at the wrong brother being out front!) Schumacher.

Ferrari fans, looking forward to a convenient circuit like Melbourne will be put off by Felipe Massa’s spin and Michael Schumacher’s lack of a last minute run — he did lose some body parts, but let us not fish for excuses. He will, however, start from 10th.

So what are my predictions for Melbourne? Well, seeing as it involves waking up at an unearthly hour once a year to watch it, I’m not the biggest fan of the circuit. However, overtaking is very possible at the track, and the better drivers do manage to carve their way upto the podium.

Call me foolish, but here are the three teams I believe will be on the podium tomorrow: McLaren, Honda, Ferrari. No, I do not believe Jense will score his first win. No, I do not have unflinching faith in Renault reliability, and believe they need a couple of interteam crash-outs. No, I do not think it’s too much to expect Michael to lead a charge, especially if he has a full-tank and it starts raining.

You ask me to pick a winner at random and I, going, as always by gut feel, pick out a name that I have trouble taking seriously myself. But he just might pull it off. Juan Pablo Montoya.

Stop laughing. No, really.

– Raja Sen

I think its a good idea to look at what happened in years at this very racing track.

- Its only 4 out of 9 times that the driver who started the race from the pole position has emerged as the race winner.

- Almost all the winners declared that one of the top most priority was to look after the tyres to prevent them from getting them in a trouble.

- 55% times 2nd or 3rd place holders have started the race from way back in the position.

- Pit stop strategies rarely helped change the winners.

So, Fosters @ Albert Park is all about:

- Using your tyres right and smoother driving (Fisichella and Button)

- If pit stops are implemented as splash-and-dash then drive the car light on fuel and grab the position ahead on the race day.

- No risks in overtake — may cost the whole race.

Well, this is what I feel about the track. One can have different views.

So, that all for now. Enjoy the race and the weekend!!

- Sumit Rajwade.

If someone told me last year that I would get hooked on to F1 racing, I would have wagered all my money on it.

Even two months ago, I was clearly on the side of the skeptics. Don’t get me wrong, but as no mean driver myself in a Fast and Furious machine that is belied by its size, I couldn’t digest the sight of a bunch of adults whizzing around in laps. It made me giddy to just sit and watch them for over an hour.

How ignorant was I of F1? Quite a bit. I remember, many many years ago, a colleague’s IM handle was Schumi on Pole, which intrigued me. What does it mean, I asked her and was told what today seems so obvious to me. Did I feel like a dork then? No, for a few reasons. One, I knew of Schumacher, but did not know that he was called Schumi or what pole position meant. Two, F1 then was not the rage it is today, so I did not feel like I was out of a mainstream cult.

Like most of my generation, I was more interested in cricket, though even here I was not a stats-crunching machine. I enjoyed the game for the moment, and forgot all about it by the next ODI.

We often underestimate the tremendous influence words have on us - I think it all depends on the person saying it. Thus it was a few weeks ago that a few words from a friend goaded me into watching the Bahrain race. I was no connoisseur, I knew that Schumacher had been dethroned by a young challenger, and naturally my sympathies lay with the veteran who was closer to me in age. And through most of the race my loyalties remained true to the ex-champion, till Alonso’s second pit stop when he wrestled the lead away. The manouevre left me open-mouthed, and promptly switched over to the Blue team.

The strange thing was that the Bahrain race was on the same day as the historic Australia-South Africa ODI, but I blanked it out. The second race was also on the day of another cricket encounter, but I did not tune into it either - which surprises me immensely. I may not have the knowledge of Sumeet Rajawade or the passion of Raja Sen, but I am sure I will get there in time.

My friends must be upset over my act of betrayal in backing Alonso, but it gives us an occasion to spar over the results.

Like we did for Sepang, and will continue to do till the season ends in October. With Renault walking away with the top two slots, and the Red team not making it to the podium, from here on things look positively exciting.

And, despite all the snorts, my money will continue to remain with Alonso/Renault for 2006.

– Janus