Silverstone circuit saw an unexpected qual result as Kovalainen grabbed the pole from Webber on the very last run. He was a whopping 0.5s faster than Webber. Following Webber was Kimi. Heidfeld out-qualified teammate Kubica for the first time this season as Kubica did not participate in Q3. Massa will start 9th. He is probably still in shock from yesterday’s accident caused by oil spill from Fernando Alonso’s blown engine (could he BE more annoying). Both Ferraris seriously lacked pace and were outpaced by even Vettel’s Torro Rosso for most of the race.

Disappointing day for home crowd. Hamilton panicked in Q3, oversteered on penultimate run and finished 4th. Button could not even make it to Q2. Coulthard, on his last GP in front of home fans, was 11th fastest.

After the session, while reporting to FIA, everybody congratulated Hekki on his brilliant performance (Alonso pinched his butt…GOD!! Somebody stop him) Everybody, but Hamilton, who just sat there staring nowhere. He did not even acknowledge him. That was a bit rude of him.

The weather at Silverstone was amazing. Rain was seen on 1 side of the track while pits had nice sunshine. Rain is also expected tomorrow, so race is bound to be interesting. Apparently, British GP is going to be shifted to Donington Park from 2010. F1 will sure miss one of its fastest circuit.

Julian Bailey, former Lotus driver was commentator. His commentary was basically circling around denying each and every claim made by Steve Slater (who was accurate most of the times), except on 1 point…that Rupert Grint, who was standing in Red Bull pits was in fact, ’some character from Harry Potter’. I don’t think I can stand him for an entire race. Chris Goodwin, where are you?

With Ferrari 1-2 and surprise podium finisher Jarno Trulli, it was a wonderful day for Italian fans at French GP. See the results

Kimi Räikkönen managed to secure 200th pole for Ferrari on an uneventful Saturday. He was leading the race comfortably until his F2008 lost an exhaust manifold midrace. The hot exhaust from engine burned some part of the engine cover. The situation looked dangerous, but Ferrari crew looked unworried. ( I practiced some hardcore cursing when Star Sports took a commercial break just as Kimi entered pits with a blown exhaust ) But this was Kimi’s 1st race on this engine so he has to use the same one at Silverstone two weeks later. Ultimately Kimi had to give up his position to speeding Massa, as he was losing tremendous power.

The ‘Uselessness’ of some of the FIA rules was proven here also as Hamilton was given a drive-through penalty for ‘Overtaking outside racing line’. Isn’t it FIA’s job to make sure that driver loses time if he drives off racing line? Starting 13th after a 10 stop penalty because of pit lane incident in Canada, Hamilton struggled very hard to finish 10th.

According to me, Trulli was the most impressive driver. He held back a clearly faster Hekki Kovalainen for more than 20 laps. It was a classic example of Experience vs Speed. He ‘truly’ deserved his place on the podium.

BMWs lacked pace and did not look like a team that finished 1-2 in Canada. Both the Force-India cars finished the race, for a change. Nelson Piquet Jr. overtook Alonso on a very last lap to finish 7th and opened his championship points account.

Massa leads Driver’s championship by 2 points from Kubica. The championship is wide open!

Kubica recorded his maiden win in Canada at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. BMW had a magical weekend, registering their first ever 1-2. With 2 stop strategy for Kubica, and 1 stop for Heidfeld, there was no stopping them after Kimi and Hamilton were forced out. Coulthard was seen on podium after quite a while. So we had an unusual finish to an exiting race. Long time since a race without Ferrari or Mclaren on Podium

Ferrari had a disappointing weekend. Massa managed 5th place. Championship contender Kimi could not finish the race. Kimi stopped his car in front of the red light coming out of pits during 2^nd safety car period, as any sane driver would. Hamilton apparently, did not see the red light and hit Kimi from behind, only to send both of them out. So did Roseberg. As both the commentators mentioned (Chris Goodwin was back just for this race), this red light during safety car period rule is a stupid one, but you HAVE to follow the rules.

Naturally, action was taken against both of them, so Hamilton and Roseberg will suffer a punishment of 10 places in next race at Magny-Cours. Many people would be tempted to apply the same logic to accident involving Sutil and Kimi at Monaco. But they are totally different. Kimi, though drove aggressively, did not break any rule. Losing control at 200 kmph on a wet track is one thing and hitting a stationary car at pitlane speed limit , jumping the red light, is another. So FIA did a good job here.

Both the Force India drivers disappointed Mallya yet again. Tough luck for them!

]]> http://urs4ever.wordpress.com/2008/06/09/kubica-makes-the-breakthrough/feed/ ADI http://urs4ever.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/futile-statistics/ http://urs4ever.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/futile-statistics/#comments Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:15:39 +0000 Adi http://urs4ever.wordpress.com/?p=173

Reportedly, Harvard students are going to take IPL as case study. Add one more member to that… ‘Sakal’..the newspaper has dissected the whole event to a such a low level..it cannot sink any lower.

Their parameters-

• Price of the player
• Number of runs scored
• Rs/run

Formula-

Rs/run = (Price of player)/(Number of runs scored)

By this calculation, Chennai SuperKings owners were screwed as Dhoni cost Rs 1.5 lacs/run and Shaun Marsh got a shoddy deal as he got only Rs 1100/ run.

So apparently the franchises bought the players because they are just run making machines. Fielding, bowling, captaincy is for free and T-20 is all about batting.

I think this was a project of some 1st yr Statistics students who wanted to see if they can divide two numbers.

We are 6 races down. And it has been quite an eventful season already, thanks to revolutionary change by FIA to bar use of electronic driver aids. Next season is about to bring 3 major confirmed changes.

1) Limit on Team Budgets-

A dream come true for teams struggling for consistent championship points. There has been a hue and cry about top teams spending extravagantly on developments. This decision is expected to bring the game to a fair level. But capping amount is yet to be finalised. Also, what will come under this limit is unknown. If rumors are to be believed, driver contracts and marketing may not come under FIA scanner. Importantly, it is feared that Constructors can easily outsource the development to hide it from FIA. So, to keep complete tab will therefore be a challenging task for FIA.

2) Introduction of slick tyres and ban on tyre warmers-

Use of Slick tyres was banned in F1 since 1988. Slick tyres are the ones which do not have any tread pattern on them. These treads are essential to remove water from under the tyres. According to Wiki and one Automobile Engineering book that I have, treads help in better traction under wet conditions. But under dry conditions, slick tyres provide more traction. They deform less under stress conditions and hence can be made of softer compound, allowing better grip.

Tyre warmers are to be banned. This will only affect the initial laps. So tyre warming laps before the race and qualifying will be of vital importance.

3) Introduction of KERS-

I just loved this 1. KERS stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery System. This is already used for commercial purpose. The principle can be explained by considering the basic braking principle. Breaks apply force opposite to the direction of motion of the wheels and dissipate the energy into heat. KERS uses this energy and converts it into some other sort of useful energy, eg. Charging a capacitor bank or storing it in a flywheel, as in the case of Formula 1 cars. This energy can be used in peak energy demand periods for additional boost. Let Wiki enlighten you on this subject..here you go

One more unconfirmed but interesting change is on board front wing adjustment control to driver. This will be a ‘REAL’ change that will kill the ‘ALLEGED’ monotony of the game.

Today’s Pune Mirror features a front page brawl against MNS supremo Raj Thackeray. The article is aimed at discrediting Raj. Let me make it clear…this post is not written to support Raj in any form. But the only intention is to point out the fundamental flaws in assumptions of PM.

Mirror has interviewed a bunch of people. The selection seems to be totally off the mark. Let me take you through the interviewees-(I dont want to mention names, so I will just write which group of people they represent)

• Politicians- Yeah, right! You expect them to talk FOR Raj Thackeray?
• A scientist- Fair choice, but the guy seemed to be in accord with Raj, even if not to that extremity.
• Educationalists- Why would they not want North Indian students? ‘Donations’ …always welcome!
• A bunch of NI students- They are the victims.
• Student Leader- One of them
• Restaurateurs- They think their customers will be lost. But one gentleman thought that culture is changing and thats not good.

Politicians, Scientists are not the victims in any logical frame.

Students…basically, Raj just wants these people to behave. Are they not ready to do that? If they are they are not the victims.

Educationalists…how many times have read about IT raids and large number of unaccounted money they possess? So if their ‘unaccounted money’ is stopped they can’t be called victims.

Restaurateurs…yes 7-8 lakh of NI students do matter to them. But again they are not their only customers. No doubt some of them will be deeply affected.

Pune Mirror tries lamely to portray Builders as victims. Thats totally preposterous! Not a single builder was interviewed and we know that they really don’t care who buys the flat. They are sure…if students don’t buy them, somebody else will.

People they have chose do not even represent quarter of Pune’s population. For a fair opinion, they should have interviewed Housing Society chairmen, landlords, neighbors of NI students, ‘AAM JUNTA’ along with them.

So the whole drama created by Mirror to show ‘Pune cannot survive without North Indian students’ is utterly ridiculous. And the headline ‘Huge NO to Raj’ is completely baseless!

Disclaimer- I have nothing against NI students and I feel they have as much right to live in the city as anybody else. But I believe that Pune’s economy is not run by them. They are one of the factors.

It was so close and yet so far! Perhaps it was not meant to be.. Force India almost clinched those precious Championship point but Sutil’s dream run was shattered by none other than the reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen! Sutil was stunned and could not control his emotions. He was thrown out of the race for no fault of his own. But its part of the game. I am worried about Kimi though. Every amateur Indian Formula One fan will will portray Kimi as a villain…and we don’t want that.

Due to wet conditions, almost every car got a ‘NOSE-JOB’. Some were fortunate to get 2 or 3 of them (Alonso was one of them!)! Cars were just brushing the walls and each other…so pit crew had a long hard day changing the front and rear wings in numerous unscheduled pit stops.

I feel bad for a lot of people-

• First and the foremost- Adrian Sutil
• Kimi Raikkonen- Had a drive through penalty for pit crews’ fault…hit Sutil when he lost control over brakes and did not get a single C’ship point
• Nico Roseberg- He had an impressive qualifying but was thrown to the last spot due to 1st lap pit stop…drove fabulously but again crashed out
• Hekki Kovalainen- Stalled his car before warm up lap…started from pits…damaged his wing and still managed to get 1 point. Impressive but could have been beeter.
• Nick Heidfeld- It was not his day. Started 12th, came into point scoring, got hit by Alonso on turn 6 (who..unlike Kimi…had brakes in control and was driving at 40 kmph) ended up 14th.
• Sebastien Bourdais- Was a passanger of the sinking boat with Sutil. He ran into Coulthard’s stationary doomed red bull and was out of the race just like that.

There were only 4 real gainers in Monaco. Hamilton, well deserved winner. Kubica, kept his cool…took advantage of Massa’s stupid mistake and finished on podium…yet again. And Vettel and Barrichello…opened their respective accounts.

STR has already scored 6 points. With Super Aguri gone, FI remains the only team without C’ship points. They had a realistic chance in Monaco…but was in vain. Remaining race tracks are not going to favor them. Its a rough ride ahead for them!

Wit(h) Steve Slater-

Sutil following Massa in 4th position. Kimi joins him in 5th position after his regular pit stop

Slater- Its like a dream run…will he manage to get those championship points for his team?….Following Massa……followed by Kimi…..but no pressure..no pressure!

I was in Mumbai a couple of days ago and I happened to be in Landmark when I came to know that Jeffrey Archer was to come there in half an hour as a part of his promotional tour for his new book ‘A Prisoner of Birth’ I have not read a lot of his books but I admire some of his works. So I bought his book and joined a large bay of people waiting for him. Crowd erupted when his arrival was announced.

After the formalities, he started answering some FAQs, expecting them to come up that day also. While mentioning his initial struggle to get a publisher for ‘Not a penny more, not a penny less’ he compared himself with JK Rowling and said that he beats her on this one that he had to approach 18 publishers while Rowling had to visit only 16!

During Q&A, he lightened up a bit and endless topics were discussed. After a 2hr ride to Landmark from his hotel just 15km away, he was convinced that Indians have understood traffic rules in some whole other dimension which nobody else can understand. He said that he could have walked a lot faster, but would have been a lot sweatier so decided not to.

Being a purist, he is not happy with the whole T-20 and IPL hype. According to him, real cricket match is a test match….between India and England…….at Lord’s………when India is 37/7…….(after a lot of BOOs)ok 37/6. He narrated one incident when an Indian guy called him and wished to meet him over dinner. Archer tried to explain how famous he is and how his time is important. But the guy did not yield. So Archer asked his name and the guy said ‘My name is Rahul Dravid and my friend is Sachin Tendulkar’ He invited some more BOOs when he said that both of them can bat OK!

He mentioned that real success in India is when a book is sold on footpaths and traffic signals. Todays Pune Mirror runs a story about him. He was surprised when they presented him with a copy of his book from footpath. Apparently he was not aware that those are pirated copies.

When he announced that he would be signing the books, INDIAN within the INDIAN woke up and everybody started running towards the dais. After 15 mins and a lot of bickering, the crowd narrowed down to 7 queues and that was it! I got his autograph after an hour, but it was worth a wait.

Looks like bollywood is running out of Legends. The ‘Nautanki’ of Life Time Achievement reached a new height in this years Zee Cine Awards. They had no better choice but ‘Feroz Khan’. Thank god he was sober when he accepted it (Fardeen Khan did the ‘Honour’). Few years ago he made a scene at Filmfare when he showed up with Smita Thakarey to present an award, totally drunk.

So where is this going?? There must be some standards while presenting such awards. Firoz Khan has been around for a long time, but he has not done anything to deserve this award. If you dont have people to give this award to..dont give it.

I am not talking about same old ‘Idli’, ‘Dosa’ or ‘Uttappa’…I am talking about REAL south Indian food…Authentic! Yesterday, I went to ‘Vithal Kamat’s Soul Curry’ on Mumbai-Pune highway with my family.

My curiosity was tickled as soon as I entered the restaurant, as I could see all south Indian crowd inside ( crew and customers )  After attempting to read the menu for a few minutes…it was clear that I was at a wrong place. South Indian is not my type. This has nothing to do with the food itself…because everybody else thought, that it was awesome. I cannot consume such a large quantity of coconut in one go. Also I thought that the taste was a bit extreme….either too sweet or too spicy. Our 4 course dinner included

• Corn Wada (not a south Indian dish but was served with coconut chutney..so..)
• Uppam with Drumsticks and Banana Flower silk curry (too spicy)
• Curry leaves rice with Aviyal (was shockingly sour)
• Chikoo milkshake (for me and Payasam for the others)

Probably our selection was altogether wrong. I was more than disappointed (partly because I had to miss Jayasurya’s dazzling century). My mom hails from south India and I did not have a faintest idea about south Indian food. When you live in Sangli…outing essentially means going to a typical pure veg restaurant (like- Shiv Sagar) for Punjabi food. So I was not prepared, mentally, for such a changeover.

I should have taken things step by step. Suggestions and directions are welcome. I should work a bit more to develop my taste!