Formula 1: Need for Speed
Formula 1: Need for Speed
Last Saturday, I watched the season opener of the 2007 Formula 1 World Championship held in Melbourne, Australia. There are a lot of changes in F1 this season but I guess the most obvious is the absence of Michael Schumacher as he had retired last year. Felipe Massa, who won the final race of the 2006 Formula 1 season at his hometown of Sao Paulo, Brazil and Kimi Raikkonen are now the top two drivers for Scuderia Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen had previously been one of the race drivers for McLaren-Mercedes. His spot was taken by Fernando Alonso who was previously driving for the Renault F1 team. The other race driver for McLaren-Mercedes is a newcomer named Lewis Hamilton. It was also interesting to note that all cars now use Bridgestone tires, no more Michelin!! So much for competition! Constructors and drivers who were using Michelin tires have all had to make adjustments to accommodate for the size of the tires.
Anyway, the race was quite eventful as usual. Raikkonen placed first, his first Grand Prix win with Ferrari. Both Alonso and Hamilton made the podium with second and third place respectively. Quite impressive for Hamilton to place during his first ever F1 Grand Prix. He must be really ecstatic! Hamilton is also the first race driver in F1 history to have an African and Caribbean ancestry. I was a little disappointed with Felipe Massa as he did not make the podium but managed to place 6th overall. David Coulthard had a bad crash against Alex Wurz as he was coming out of the pit lane and trying to merge back onto the race track. He lost his left front tire and almost took Wurz' head off. Luckily Wurz decided to use his break and stop his car from colliding any further with Coulthard's car. It kinda reminded me of Ayrton Senna's fatal car crash at the Italian Grand Prix back in 1994. That was probably the very first time I've watched F1 and you can't forget that kind of stuff.
It would be interesting to actually see a Grand Prix at the circuit. Although you really only hear the cars as they zing past you at 300 - 350 km/h. For those of you who are interested about the Formula 1, here is the link to the official website:
Here is the schedule of the Grands Prix making up the 2007 Formula 1 World Championship:
1. ING Australian Grand Prix - 18 March
2. Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix - 08 April
3. Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix - 15 April
4. Gran Premio de Espana Telefonica - 13 May
5. Grand Prix de Monaco - 27 May
6. Grand Prix du Canada - 10 June
7. United States Grand Prix - 17 June
8. Grand Prix de France - 01 July
9. Santander British Grand Prix - 08 July
10. Grosser Preis von Deutschland - 22 July
11. Magyar Nagydij - 05 August
12. Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix - 26 August
13. Gran Premio d'Italia - 09 September
14. Belgian Grand Prix - 16 September
15. Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix - 30 September
16. Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix - 07 October
17. Grande Premio do Brasil - 21 October
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