From being a nice, smiling, silent killer,
I’ve become an aggressively-competitive-to-the point-of-crashing-your-teammate
kind of F1 driver in the space of a few races. (Oh and yes, I’m now a married
man!) Yes, Formula 1 does that to you. Lewis and I have known each other since
karting days, and we were like an excited bunch of kids when it was announced
back in 2012 that Lewis would be my teammate. Good ol’ karting days back again?
Hell no!
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| Back in the karting days |
F1 is a competitive sport and the
competition is so intense that it will destroy any bond that you have with your
teammate. He is your worst competitor, because he is using the same gear as you
are. If a driver in the team performs worse than his teammate, he is judged
more harshly than if his performance was worse than a different rival. As much as
I pretended to be glad Lewis came over to Mercedes, I knew the team had brought
over a ‘first driver’, who I will have to humour in various ways both on and
off track. It was left unsaid, but it was evident that Lewis would be the boss,
and I will need to help him keep the lead in the championship by tackling other
rivals, move over for him in races, and generally do a lick job. And that is
exactly what happened last year after Lewis came in.
I have now spent a full season and a half
with Lewis. 2013 taught me a good many things. The ugliness all hails back to
one incident in which I was completely side-lined. It was Malaysian GP 2013.
The season had just started and the team was already showing signs of favouring
Lewis over me in races in terms of strategy. But there was no clear evidence.
The skeletons came out of the closet one warm afternoon in Malaysia when the
race was in its closing stages. On lap 51 of the 56-laps race, I was hovering
over Lewis’s gearbox with much fresher tires and hence a faster car. I asked
Ross (Team Principal) over the radio to ask Lewis to let me past, but he
refused. I desperately repeated my request over the radio a number of times,
pleading to be let past, but the “Negative Nico, negative” response I received
was there for the whole world to hear. The ominous signs of a broken
relationship with my teammate were all there. And when I said “Remember this
one” after Lewis took 3rd place in the race that was deservedly
mine, the scarring was done.
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| You don't need to pretend to be nice, Lewis. |
That is why I made a plan for 2014: To be
at the lead of the championship so that the team could not have the audacity to
request a "move over". And Ross would no longer be team principal, so the
Hitleresque team orders will drastically come down. It has gone down well so
far, with me 22 point ahead of Lewis in the championship before the Singapore
GP. I must admit, Lewis had some major issues with Lady Luck, with five races
ruined (two salvaged) due to unreliability issues in the car and one race was
wrecked by us coming together on the track at Spa. *looks around guiltily* (But
that wasn’t totally my fault, I did what a racing driver would do!) *guilt wiped
off the face* Spa changed a lot between Lewis and me. In addition to other
un-pleasantries, it cemented the fact that we were no longer friends, just
teammates who are both gunning for the title.
Singapore GP
We came to Sweaty Singapore last week,
prepared for the most taxing grand prix on drivers in terms of endurance. Did
you know we drivers lose 3-4 kg of body weight in just one race session of less
than 2 hours in Singapore? Marina Bay may look glamorous on television with
its skyline and the track lit up distinctively in the night, but it is a mean
beast. It is a tough track to overtake, and hence grid position matters a lot.
The first ever night race in Formula 1 was held at Singapore in 2008, which was
won through dubious means by a certain Spaniard. Also, there has been a safety
car (or more) featuring in every race held at Marina Bay, so safety car had a
100% chance of making an appearance.
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| Marina Bay circuit map |
Free Practice sessions
The first practice session was quite
uneventful, and we went about fine-tuning the car setup. The car felt good
under me, and the problem I had in down-shifting the gears was fixed promptly.
Ferrari looked to have improved a lot, Fernando topped the first practice. But
then, they always disappoint their fans in the main event- the race! Practice
session two featured Pastor Maldonado shunting his poor Lotus. Again. I really
pity his cash-strapped team.
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| Oops, I did it again! |
Lewis topped the second practice session, and I
was not able to best his lap thanks to the red flags courtesy of Mr. Crashtor. I
came in only 13th on my flying lap on super soft tires. FP3 saw
Ferrari shine again(it doesn’t really matter, but the Reds are improving pace)
with Alonso taking the top spot. I came in third after Daniel. Lewis did not
star in the top 10, but no worry apparently.
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| Cycling to the paddock for practice |
Qualifying
Q1 was delayed due to an issue with the
brakes on my car; we had to replace them. Kimi took the place of honour at the
top of the table with the fastest lap in Q1. It seemed to me that Alonso and
Kimi were well in the mix. We in the Mercs scraped through and took 3rd
and 6th position respectively. The relegation zone had its regular
mix of Caterhams, Marussias and a Sauber and a Lotus each. 20 minutes of
Qualifying 1 done.
15 minutes of Q2 got underway. My first
attempt put me only third fastest behind Lewis and Fernando. The team slacks in
giving me information and I duly scream into the radio for “Traffic
information”. I am suffering a bit of understeer in the car and I tell the guys
so. In my final attempt in Q2, I storm up to the top of the charts with a lap
of 1 minutes 45.825 seconds. I am elated. For the time being. Grosjean is out
with engine failure and a very colourful comment which made me laugh
afterwards: “I cannot believe it! Bloody engine! Bloody engine! We break our
balls for this?"
Lewis was second in Q2 behind me, and I
know this guy well to expect the worst for me. I was careful from the very
start. The competition gets to your head, as we saw it happen in Italy when I
lost my car under pressure from Lewis. I wanted to beat this guy, all the time
pushing my limits, and trying to keep the car in the right places. Singapore is
a very bumpy track, and one mistake can cost you dearly. Q3 shortly began and I
post a time worth of a 7th position in the first run on scrubby used
tires. Meanwhile, in all the heat, Kimi loses power on his engine and limps
back to the Ferrari garage. In the last few seconds of the session, I take
provisional pole, 0.2s off from Daniel. Lewis is yet to complete his last lap,
and I hope fervently that he does not beat my time. Singapore has not had a
single winner who did not win from pole(except Fernando, and we all know what
he did). I desperately wanted this pole position. Lewis flies on his last try
and snatches pole from me for a mere 0.007 seconds! That’s like 30
centimeters!!! DAMN IT!
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| See? We are practically holding hands! |
Race
I will get done with this part of soon
enough, as we all know what happened. (The rest will all be in the present
tense, as if the race is being run right now. It’s exciting that way, isn’t
it?) The bad omens start to reveal themselves during the drivers’ parade lap
itself, when we drivers sit in different fancy vintage cars or a huge truck and
wave to the fans. It is different fancy vintage cars this time, and I am
assigned to a beautiful red Mercedes. Well, what do you know! The car breaks
down before the start, and has to be pushed to get it started! Sign of things
to come? You will see!
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| The First Sign |
I encounter a problem on the installation
lap once the pitlane opens, and I return to the garage to resolve it. Pre-race
jitters? Tell me about it! I am only 22 points adrift of Lewis in the
championship table, and with Lewis on pole position and me languishing in the
pits with problems on the steering wheel of my car, it looks like that
advantage is only going to be short-lived. With the glitch in the gearbox fixed,
I am back on the grid once more. And to make matters worse, I’ve to don a new
steering wheel. There are a lot of fans around, and though you can hear them,
you can hardly see them under the floodlights. I have become a hot favourite
for podium boos nowadays, which was strictly Sebastian’s forte before. I can
understand why. After the Spa debacle, the fans have likened me to Seb.
Singapore will also be the first race
without the usual radio cackle; FIA has banned teams from giving drivers vital
technical information to gain an advantage in the race. I am personally happy
with this; mainly because Lewis has benefitted in various races from the data
fed to him by his engineers on the settings he needs to put his car on to gain
advantage. Let us now see him try to defend by copying my settings!
The cars rev up for the warmup lap, and I
can feel the car beneath me not responding so well. The team tells me to try
manual settings to pull the car off the gridbox, but in vain. I am utterly,
helplessly stranded on the start-finish straight. The guys push me back into
the pitlane and I dejectedly realise I’m going to start last, from the pitlane.
Provided the problems are fixed. My only thought during the whole thing is:
Lewis is going to get ahead of me in the championship! I morosely start from
the pitlane and after lap 1 I’m the last car on the grid. (Kobayashi retired on
the parade lap) I’m told Lewis is running first from Seb in second and Fernando
third.
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| Being wheeled back to pits |
By lap 5 I am up to 20th place,
but my teammate I’m told is lapping 3 seconds faster than me. They tell me
things that will only serve to depress me more; why can’t FIA ban the entire
radio?! Lap 10 and I’m 19th ,
with more problems being fed my way. The team informs me I’m to come in soon
and I will need to stall the car in the pits; a new steering wheel will go on
me again. For quite some time I can’t make out what the cackle on the radio is.
Lap 12 I am told to box, in first gear and strictly under 6500 RPM. Normally, a
pitstop which includes tires change is 2-4 seconds. I wait in my cockpit as
they work on my car, and it seems like ages. They are tinkering, changing the
steering wheel, tinkering again. And I am waiting. Finally, it’s decided that
the problem cannot be fixed and I have to retire.
I walk out of the car and my thoughts are
still resting on Lewis. 22 points behind me and 25 points are available for the
winner of Singapore GP. If Lewis wins, he’ll be 3 points ahead of me. That
doesn’t sound good. Doesn’t sound good at all. I tear up a bit at having lost
out on an easy race due to reliability and not my mistake. I do not take the
helmet off for quite some time. I go over to my side of the garage and start
discussing what went wrong with my car. He says t’s probably an electronics
thing. I groan.
Meanwhile, Lewis is 8 seconds ahead of Seb
and 11 seconds ahead of Fernando at the end of lap 15. That does not seem like
too big a gap, or maybe it is. I don’t care. I am not rooting for my teammate
anymore. The first set of stops have proved to be a bane for other drivers than
me too. Felipe has jumped Kimi by pitting earlier. He is now running 8 seconds
behind Daniel in 5th place with Kimi trailing him in 6th.
I feel bad for Kimi. He had shown good pace in practice and qualifying. I
would’ve been his fellow countryman had I taken up Finnish citizenship.
Jean-Eric was an unexpected gainer in the first round of stops, with a 9th
place.
The race goes on but I have eyes only for
Lewis. (Ha, that sounded gay.)It gives me some relief when Daniel, who is
behind Fernando, takes off a few tenths off Lewis with the fastest lap. Only
with Lewis responding with a better lap. On lap 21, I feel delighted as the
race engineers warn Lewis of debris in his front wing and his lead over Seb is
now 9 seconds. Could the debris be his undoing? Sadly not, as he responds that
the car feels fine.
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| Please crash Lewis! |
The second round of pitstops start and
Lewis comes in. Felipe, Fernando and Seb are already done with theirs, and
Fernando has crucially jumped the Redbull by undercutting him. Lewis takes a
long time in the box, with the mechanics clearing debris from his front wing. I
chew on my fingers as I watch the car from the pitwall. Will he ever give up?
He goes back out and the lead Fernando had on him is reduced drastically to 3
seconds. Sounds good. But no! Lewis extends the lead to 5 seconds by lap 29.
Lap 30 sees Sergio bring out the customary safety car at Marina Bay, when his
wing breaks and debris is strewn all over the track. Adrian and him clashed
together, and the Force India did not leave enough space. The pitlane buzzes
with activity as the pitstops commence under SC.
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| Perez limping back to pits without his frontwing |
The debris takes a long time to clear. On
lap 38, the SC dives into the pits and we are racing again. I mean the others
are. I am especially waiting for this, because this is the only chance anyone
can overtake Lewis after getting that close to him. Seb is running second now,
with his teammate Daniel third. Can they do it? Lewis is on super softs, so he
needs to pull a qualifying lap everytime on the 7-odd laps that those tires can
survive. He does it. He gains lead of seconds after seconds on Seb, who is on
the prime tire(softs) which last longer than super softs but are slower. The
building-the-gap goes on for quite some time, and by lap 48 his lead over Seb
is 20 seconds. To make his pitstop and come out ahead of Seb again, he needs a
gap of 27 seconds. And Seb has no pitstops remaining, which means he’ll be
going to the end on his worn-out tires. Is it possible for Seb to take Lewis?
Atleast I hope so.
Lewis comes into the pits with 9 laps to go
and a lead over Seb of 25 seconds. The stop is good, and as expected he rejoins
behind Seb and ahead of Daniel.
Crucially at this point we should keep in mind that Seb is on worn-out tires in
his Redbull with a freshly-booted Mercedes behind him. And Singapore is a
circuit where overtaking is tough. I am desperately hoping Seb would keep the
lead as I watch the race with the boys from the pitwall. For a moment, Daniel
is sniffing the back of Lewis’s car, and I am egging him on(silently). Only for
a moment though, as Lewis is bolting behind Seb to catch him. In a single lap,
Lewis is already looming large in Seb’s mirrors. Lap 8 starts and Lewis makes
mince-meat of the struggling Redbull with a burst of DRS to assist him. I
cringe inwardly. So much for having a 22 points lead! Lewis prances on ahead of
the field and opens up gap to Seb lap after lap. I wince with every second of
his closeness to victory at the Singapore GP. And it happens in another 7 laps,
and by then Lewis is 8 seconds clear off Seb. A healthy gap and he takes the
victory. I curse myself silently and in agony walk to my truck.
“You were made to make it hurt!
Dear Agony! Just let go of me!”
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| The Perks of being a teammate to Lewis |
(Blogger: In case you didn't know, that was Nico Rosberg)
