Sigh, I am finally in Ferrari, Michael
would have been so proud. I will be brutally honest; I have been trying to get
into the place even while Redbull was giving me wings. There comes a time when
you realise you absolutely need ‘red’ on your CV, and I have been in that place
since 2009. (No offence, Deitrich.) So Ferrari… So far it has been an absolute
kick to be here. I have been an extremely lucky bugger to escape the shambles
Redbull is in now, though I will admit McLaren (I actually mean Fernando) are
in worse shape. *teehee* I have fit in quite well at Ferrari, and the internet
and F1 fan sites are plastered with photographs of Kimi and me bromancing around
the garage all through the GP weekend. Yes, I have a great rapport with Kimi,
we get along well, thank you very much. Much to the chagrin of other drivers
and astonishment of the media, as seen from the post-race press brief, we are
actually friends. If you guys don’t remember, I will recount the hilarious
conference interaction between me and a certain other driver at the end of this
post. It will spoil the suspense of the race if I give it up now.
Artwork by Abhinav Krishna, an amazing F1 artist
Show him some love : The Circus
Winter was a very long but exciting one, and initially I was really apprehensive going head on into the mess that Ferrari was in. Atleast Redbull had wins in 2014, no matter if they were not mine. The getting-used-to and getting-to-know-every-Italian on the team was really big, with some family dinners thrown in for good measure. After the oust of Luca di Montezemolo from the team, there seems to be a little less intimidation from the top brass and a little freed up atmosphere in the lower echelons of the team. This is evident in the much more informal Twitter handle now, and the inauguration of the Instagram account. Things happen for the best I reckon. Personally, I never liked Luca, though I have spoken to him a few times only. After the tests at Jerez and Barcelona, I was convinced that the car was definitely better than the RB10. And Kimi was positively beaming, which indicated it was infinitely better than the F14-T. (See? I can read him man!) The team had worked hard over the winter, and had added atleast 80bhp to the sluggish engine unit. Which puts us in top contention, but still a long way off from the current ‘prancers’ Mercedes.
Bromancing (We do not engage in the Italian style)
This weekend we arrive in Albert Park, which
will customarily kick off the 2015 F1 season. Albert Park, in spite of
technically being a street circuit is quite different from other street tracks.
It has fast, sweeping corners and as opposed to a traditional street circuit,
which has very less heavy braking, Albert Park has plenty. Hence, taking care
of the tires in the race is as crucial as being fast, as that matters a lot
when strategy is key. We drivers love Albert Park, and the fans here always
turn up in hordes. I adore this place, even though I got booed for winning here
on previous occasions. Does being in the most popular F1 team change that? Let’s
find out!
Australian Grand Prix
Run at Albert Park, a recreational park on
the outskirts of Melbourne serving as an F1 track for the weekend, Australian
GP is the popular season starter for F1. The track itself snakes around the
Albert Park Lake, and makes for a picturesque venue, with the Melbourne skyline
adorning the horizon. With 58 laps, the track offers plenty of opportunities
for overtaking, but Turn 3 rules supreme amongst all. Getting a good exit after
the first couple of turns is extremely important, and hence race start often
decides the final standings. (Well, when doesn’t it, in F1?) It is a clockwise
circuit, so atleast no oddity there. Pirelli formulated a new tire compounds
for the race, and this was presented in the form of medium and soft rubber. As
the circuit is merciful on the boots, most drivers are expected to do a
one-stop race. We are fighting it out with the Williams in reality, with the
Mercs too far off in terms of pace. So, depending on how the race plays out,
the strategy will be put into play dynamically. Oh well. I am just messing
around with you guys. We decide the main strategy post qualifying. Don’t listen
to politically correct answers.
Melbourne F1 Circuit map
Friday and Saturday practice sessions
Practice sessions in the season kick-offs
are all about apprehensions and curiosities. The former are about your own car
and the latter are about the other cars. I am one of the firsts to line up at
the pitlane exit at the start of FP1, like a dutiful son. The first lap I put
in for my new team is 3.7 seconds off from the one Nico put in for Mercedes. That
was just a warmer though. I leap to second behind Nico on my second attempt,
but still the effort is 2 seconds off him. That was it for flying laptimes with
minimal fuels. The team let me do long runs after that and I end up fifth on
the charts. FP2 is mainly checking up on the pace we could give in for
qualifying, and it is stopped briefly when Kevin crashed his ailing MP4-30. The
session also sees me competing with Kimi for fastest laps until the two bullying
Mercs decide to put their good (Notice that I did not say ‘best’) game on and take
away our swings. I am quite satisfied with my car settings, and at the end of
the session I stand third after clocking 26 laps. I am still 0.7 seconds off,
and the Mercs still only have their good game
on. FP3 briefly sees Valtteri grabbing my third position for a while, and I
clock in a decent lap in vengeance. This not only sends Valt to his rightful
place but also happens to knock Nico off his second place. (He was on the
slower, medium tires though) I hold on, and FP3 ends with me sandwiched between
the mighty Mercs, with Kimi clocking in a distant sixth.
Qualifying
Q1 is on and the team decides to send Kimi
out first. I take the car out on soft tires after some last minute tunings, and
I take my time warming up the tires in Q1. Meanwhile, Kimi puts in a lap of
1m30.188s on the faster soft tires and goes first. I light up purple sector
after sector and beat Kimi with a solid 1m29.307s. Lewis and Nico manage to take
the mickey out of us, and slot in laptimes in 1m28s on the slower, medium tires. Alarmingly, Valtteri puts in a laptime of
1m30.488s to slot in behind me on mediums too! The team thinks that is enough
running for Q1, and both the Ferraris find their way back to the garage. Max,
who is the youngest chap on the grid, gives a stellar lap on softs in his Toro
Rosso to go third, displacing me. He is relegated to fourth by the end of the
session by Felipe, who takes the third slot on softs. The shocker of the
session is Mclaren, with both Jenson and Kevin (stepping in for Fernando)
knocked out of Q1 with Marcus Ericsson for company.
Q2 sees every car on the soft compound
tires, and I set my first laptime to grab third place from Kimi behind the
Mercs. I clock in a 1m27.594s. The team thinks that is good enough and doesn’t
send me out again. I remain third at the end of Q2 and five drivers are
eliminated. Q3 starts, and it is a 12 minute tussle to the pole. I go around
the circuit like a madman and clock in a 1m27.519s, to slot in second behind
Lewis. Nico runs off after a lockup at the second last corner, and Felipe slots
in third after me, 0.6s off. Kimi is fourth after him. Meanwhile, on his second
run, Lewis improves massively to a 1m26.327s, and Felipe manages to snatch the
third slot from me. My tires are relatively worn out, and I cannot put in a
better lap again. Bummer. So, Kimi and I line up fifth and fourth respectively
on the grid for the race.
Artwork by Abhinav Krishna, an amazing F1 artist
Show him some love : The Circus
Race
The Sunday starts with just 15 cars lining up
the grid; Manor Racing does a no-show, Valtteri drops out with a lower back
injury and Kevin & Daniil back out with mechanical failures on their cars. My
race is with the lone Williams of Felipe, and probably my own teammate Kimi.
The third rung on the podium is up for grabs, and unless the Mercs suffer any
problems, the other two rungs are out of contention for the rest of us. We take
the cars around for the warmup laps, and I have a slow start which momentarily
unnerves me. But thankfully I recover and take my place back from Kimi. After
snaking around the track and getting enough heat in the tires, we all line up
on the grid. Charlie takes charge and the five red lights come on one by one,
to go off simultaneously, and we are GO! I have a slow start again and Felipe
has bolted ahead of me and is chasing the Williams. I have a bit of a moment
with Kimi at Turn 1, and to avoid getting hit, he makes a manoeuvre which makes
him lose a few places and end up eighth. I see a Lotus in the barriers at Turn 2 in my
mirrors, and it turns out to be Pastor. It turns out I trigger those events, by
tapping a kerb and nudging Kimi. Kimi ends up slowing, and the three cars
behind him try dodging him and one of them, Pastor’s Lotus, spins into the
wall. Racing incident, I suppose. The guys ask me to be careful on the second
lap, and look out for tire-piercing carbon shards. The new safety car, Mercedes
AMG GT S, makes a debut.
It was a racing incident... Kimi agrees!
Safety car goes back in in no time, and we
are racing again. The Mercs have already raced off to chase the sunset
together, and Lewis is 3 seconds ahead of me. Felipe is 0.7s ahead, and I
prepare myself to rein him in. DRS is active and I begin to up my game. But it
turns out Felipe has some tricks up his sleeve too, and he matches my pace
despite my DRS advantage. By the end of Lap 12, he is 1.2 seconds ahead of me,
and I fall back, biding my time. I continue chasing him, and keeping him in the
sub-1.5s distance. The guys on the wall have got some good mind games on with the
Williams crew, and it’s a matter of best-strategy-wins. Felipe is called in by
his team on lap 21, and I take my chance and launch off. Felipe rejoins in
sixth behind Daniel, and that is good news because my ex-teammate will hold him
up for sure. I lap faster than earlier when I was in Felipe’s bad air, and I
can’t say the same for him in Daniel’s exhausts right now. The team calls me in
on lap 24, changes me into the medium boots; the move brings me out comfortably
ahead of Felipe, despite a 3.6s stop. All hail the reverse-undercut! My team
wins in the strategy mind game, and it is up to me to take the car to the
finish as I am one-stopping. By lap 28, I am nearly 2 seconds ahead of the
Williams, with a clean track ahead of me.
I dare you to pit!
At lap 33, I am well and truly clear of the
hounding by Felipe, and more than 4s ahead of him. By lap 40, the gap between
us has stabilised and I can afford to look around at other things and chatter
away into the radio. Kimi makes a second stop, as he had put on softs after his
first, and needed to stop again to use the mediums. He rejoins fifth, poised to
challenge Felipe, but his race ends because of tire on left-rear is not
attached properly. Shame. He was doing amazing. At the front, Lewis is leading
from Nico, and both the Mercs are miles off from me. As I am letting my mind
wander, the guys warn me that Felipe is slowly encroaching and has chipped away
the gap to 3.2 seconds on lap 45. I get a grip on and sit up straight, metaphorically.
The team warns me that I have to look after the depleting fuel too. I put in
conservative laps, and Felipe continues to eat into the gap and is a scary 2.5s
behind me on lap 51. I decide that there is enough fuel to last me through the
7 laps remaining, and decide to push away. I manage to match Felipe’s laptime
on our next lap. It is lap 56, and I recover lost ground and put myself four
seconds ahead of the Williams again. Soon, the three remaining laps are done,
and I cross the chequered flag behind Lewis and Nico in a distant, 35s off
third place. Turns out Lewis and Nico had a close fought race too, and the
German was just 1.8s behind the Brit in the final lap.
Arnie stealing everyone's thunder!
I am elated that I have managed to bag a
podium on my Ferrari debut. A special mention should also go to rookies Carlos
and Felipe Nasr, who have managed to bag good points for their teams in their
very first F1 race. Arnold interviews us on the podium, and I don’t hear any
boos for me. Now, as I promised, the following is the excerpt from the
post-race press conference:
I
mention to the interviewer that I feel bad about both the Ferraris not
finishing and Kimi having to retire.
Nico(butting in): Are you genuinely
disappointedly to see him (Kimi) retire?
Me: Yes… I don’t know how much you like
each other (Lewis and Nico) but Kimi and myself we get along, so I think it is
a shame.
Nico(defensive now): I thought as a racing
driver you might like it that you have a couple of points’ advantage over him
now. I don’t want you off the wrong foot there, sorry.
I
smile knowingly at Lewis. And he looks on with a hint of awkwardness on his
face.
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