Malaysia.... The Macs are Back!!!

Two people decided the outcome of the Malaysian GP pretty much on the first lap. First Massa messed up the start and also ended up slowing his Kimi just enough for Lewis Hamilton to overtake the both of them and let Alonso drive of into the distance.

If there was a big loser this weekend it was Massa. Coming into the season and through the winter he seemed to have the pace to keep up or was even faster than Kimi. There was talk of him contending for the championship , but if his driving this weekend was anything to go by , he has a long way to go. He just doesn't seem to be mentally tough enough to contend for the championship at the moment., but its early days yet and i could be wrong. For me the driver of the day was once again Lewis Hamilton. The way he calmly took the Ferrai's on the outside and held of Massa, frustrating him into a mistake shows that with the right amount of luck a race win and a world championship is not very far away. So after 2 races he has finished on the podium both time and only bad pit strategy prevented him from having 2 second places to his name. Also he has lead in both his starts (must be some kind of record).

The Macs looked very strong during the race and they have truly caught up with the Ferraris. The ferraris in fact didn't seem to have the pace . Kim's engine didn't give up on him , but the cloud hanging over the engine seemed to definitely affect their performance and pace. It would be interesting to see if the Macs would enjoy an advantage in the reliability stakes, especially during the second races with the same engine. All in all a solid race from Kimi and a master class from Alonso. Truly the two of them seem to be the class of formula 1 at the moment , with the rest playing catch up. Massa needs to step up to the plate or the Macs could run away with the constructors.

Among the teams the BMWs are definitely the best of the rest and are edging up to mix it up with the Ferraris and the Macs. A little better qualifying strategy could be the difference. It was also nice to see the Williams back among the second rung teams. Hopefully they will get even better. Strangely the factory Hondas and the Toyotas still continue to disappoint.

Well all in all a good race... onward to Bahrain.

When the Heart beats for ..... India !!!
As i look back at the performance of the Indian team at the world cup, its just got me thinking as to how we rarely revel under pressure, especially when we talk about representing the country. Got me back to one of the shows Harsha Bhogale did, and a statement he made about Leander, and i quote,"I feel that Leander should be the honorary 12th man of the Indian cricket team for the passion he brings while representing the country, which is sorely lacking among our cricketers".

Truly perhaps the only person in history who seems to revel in the pressure and the honour of representing the country. His heroics while playing for the flag far out do anything he has done on the tour as an individual. Numerous and heroic wins in the Davis cup , and Olympic bronze and almost another with Mahesh.

Surprisingly some of our most heroic moments have been in the sport of tennis and especially in the Davis cup where the likes of Vijay Amritraj, Zeeshan Ali, Ramesh Krishnan, Leander & Mahesh have made a mockery of the rankings and superior opponents to steer the country home.

Is there some way to spread this spirit around ?