Time to be realistic

Monaco turned out to be a rather entertaining race. Thanks to the Saubers and Trulli & Fisicella we finished 7th & 8th. I think Schumi like Barri was on a 1 stopper and had he not lost the nose he could have been in a better position than 7th.
Kimi was once again stunning. The car is a lot lot better and seems to be getting back its reliability. Monty though must be begining to wonder if the move from Williams was really a wise one coz he has become the official No. 2 drive at Mclaren.
Renault's had a lot of problems with their tyres and that sort of trouble is not what u'd want to have when u r lookin at 3 races in the next 4 weeks. They always seem to lose their way during the middle part of the season.
Williams ended up 2nd & 3rd just becoz of the minardi crash which brought out the safety car. Else their 2 stop strategy would have hurt them. But still am happy for Heidfeld. Hez out performed Webber in almost every race. Will be interesting to see who joins Button next season.

Finishing another race behind Alonso, it doesnt look good for Ferrari.
There is a time to be optimistic and then therez a time to be realistic. Its just too much of a mountain to climb. The thing is that its not just one component, its the whole package, the driver, the chasis, the engine, aerodynamics, tyres etc that have to work constantly for 13 races. There are so many variables that its gonna be tuff for all to get their act together and come out on top. Having said that, they did it last yr. But this yr they've lost the momentum and the competition is stronger.

Lets look fwd to the Euro GP
I love such back to back races coz I dont have to wait long.
7th is not a bad spot to start the qualifying run from. Hopefully they should qualify around the 2nd/3rd row which is not bad to have a chance to beat Alonso. Honda's r comming back but shouldnt be much of a worry as they'll b the first to qualify.
The best thing is that with the qual format changing from the Euro GP, I'll get 1 more hour of sleep on Sunday morning ;-)
The bad news on the weather front is that its gonna be real hot at nurburgring and we all know how Bridgestones fare in the heat.

Need a lot of crashes at Monaco

Had a nice time at D&B. Lots of pool with my new cue. Started out well but lost the touch as the evening progressed.
F1...
Qual1 went just as I thought with Kimi once again blitzing the field. Unfortunately ferrari are at an even worse position. 2.5 secs off the pace is a sad situation.
For the race I think Kimi is gonna have another easy one if he keeps going. Soon everyone will see things the way I do an Kimi is gonna be the real champoionship contender rather than Alonso.
Ralf had a spectular off yesterday. I hope there are more in the race or else is gonna be a boring procession.
Qualifying format is changing and I would think the sooner the better. It should help Ferrari on the way back from the European GP.

Working long nites

Long nite, but got a lot of work done. It's really the only time one can work peacefully. Coz in the regular office hours there is always something or the other to keep to out of focus.
Have 5 hrs of stupid meetings tomorrow. Really not looking fwd to that but am surely lookin fwd to some good games of pool at the project party 2morrow evening.
F1...
Another pathetic practice session. 1 sec off the pace is huge on a track like Monaco. Actually I wonder if they r faking it. How could Bridgestone get it rong so frequently? Plus it seems that they have stated that they r trying out a new compound and construction and if this doesnt work then it's all over for the season as they do not have any more tricks in their hats. How can this sport allow race results to be decided by tyres. They gotta do something. As of now the single tyre supplier rule doesnt look quite so bad.

Anyways coming back to Monaco, Mclaren and Renault are looking good again. Its gonna be too close to call between Kimi & Alonso with Monty having an outside chance. Toyota shouldnt be a problem but DC did some good times. Ferrari should come out in qual1 around P6/7.
There is no hint of rain too for the whole weekend.
Will come back after the qual1 to give my race predictions to the most boring yet supposedly glamourous race on the calendar.

Monaco is gonna be another bad one for Ferrari

Another weekend is here, but there is lots of work to be done this time.
Oh BTW I forgot to mention the huge raise I got last Friday. Just amazing. Was expecting half of it actually.

F1...
Qualifying is the most imp thing in Monaco coz overtaking is just not possible. And as things stand, it is a given that qual1 will put the Ferrari's around P10. From what I have seen in Monaco, teams go 1 stop and try to extend the first stop till upto lap 40-45.
Based on the above I have worked out a plan that could win Ferrari the race.
Ferrari will need to short fuel both Barri and Schumi to end up on the front row after qual2. Barri can then slow up the field while Schumi pushes like hell to make up for a pitstop window within 15-17 laps. Schumi then holds the field till Barri returns and then its just a cake walk to the podium. Provided the Bridgestones do not bring in their own drama in the late laps.

Aint I the cleverest ;-). Aparently not, coz in qual2 the moment the McLarens & Renaults & Toyotas realize what Ferrari are up to, one of them will use their No. 2 drives to stall the Ferrari plans.
So all said n done Monaco is gonna be another bad one for Ferrari and if there is any resurgence to come, it will only come European GP onwards.

Bad day for teams in red

Sunday was just a bad bad day for teams in red I guess.
Ferrari had a disaster of a race. Schumi looked good for P2 untill lap 43. Barri was no where. Just as I suspected, Bridgestones did a bad job of the whole thing.
Schumi is way too far behind at the moment and a 34 pt lead is tuff to claw away. And it is just shocking the way they are going about the whole thing. But then again they can only do so much... Bridgestone suck
Am happy though for Kimi. He won just as I had predicted. And the best part was he way he won. Complete domination. Alonso has won but hasnt yet dominated the big guys. He dominated the Toyota's but never the Ferrari's or McLarens coz they were in their self created troubles.
This also proves that McLaren this season have awesome pace. The way things stand I would give Kimi a better chance at the title than Schumi. Alonso's lead will definitely help him but some how I am of the opinion that Renault just dont improve at the same rate over the season compared to the other better teams. They fizzle out as the season progresses.

Anyways looking fwd, Monaco hasnt been a gr8 hunting ground for ferrari lately. Infact I dont even remember the last time Schumi won there. So its really looking game over for the Schumi dominance era.

As for the other red team, the Cincinnati Reds... everything was fine untill the 4th innings when the Dodgers broke loose and scored 4 runs. They got the home run rite when they needed it and the Red's just could

Busy weekend... wow

This is turning out to be a rather busy weekend. Started out on Fri evening and went to a client party and played some good amount of beach volleyball. Was gr8 fun and it was pretty tuff on the legs to run around in the sand.
Today was out the whole day to Kings Island and went thru all the rides. Son of the Beast n FaceOff are awesome rides and we did em twice. Also did Flight of Fear which I missed last time but it wasnt quite so gr8. Plus all the dames there is just...oomph :)
Tomorrow, going for a Cincinnati Reds Vs LA Dodgers MLB match. Should be good fun. Plus we have the Spanish race to look fwd to.

F1...
This 1 is not looking quite so good is it? Bridgestones have again dissapointed with a lack of single lap grip costing qualifying. But even otherwise, over the practice runs the Ferrari's havent done much gr8 so am a little unsure about the race pace too.
And it is such a shame with what is happening with Barri. This is not expected of a top team like Ferrari.

BAR are out coz of cheating with the fuel tanks... what can u say, but surely looks like Button is gonna be at Williams next yr. Webber hype is also wanning out coz of the performances shown by Nick. I always maintained that Webber was always compared with rather inferior team mates and Nick is definitely equally talented if not better.
Looking at the gap's in the qual1 times, Schumi should qualify around 7th, Barri is anyways hit by the 10 slot grid penalty, so he'd be around 18th :(

For the race I think this 1 has to be Kimi's race. Hez again up there and the Mclarens are looking good now that even cry baby Monty is back. I hope that Kimi's car lasts so that we can have a good race. Schumi... umm really cant say. Might end up on the podium but it is high time he stared cutting the lead to Alonso. In my view if Schumi can just take a couple of points away from Alonso, this would be a decent race from a championship point of view.

Happy B'day dude

Here we are on another 2nd May.
The best half of my life is behind me and the worst looks me in the face now.
Worst half here I come...
I havent been in better shape my whole life. Professionally I am doing pretty ok. Moneywise things r cool, I am rich of heart ;-) So it should be interesting here on.

F1...
Another race week and as the week goes on I will start getting excited. I would actually want the Spanish GP as my B'day present. A Ferrari 1-2 would be even better.
Renault some how are not ready to acknowledge Ferrari's pace at Imola. I've also said before that this race will decide which way the championship goes. McLaren have to have it going for them pretty soon too.
Weather report isnt much to write about.