The Times They Are a Changin’

I first fell in love with Formula 1 (F1) in 1999 – watching one of the year end races – seeing Mika Hakkinen beat Michael Schumacher (or was it vice versa) – it was immediate love.. The scarlet flames of the Ferrari and the arrogance of Schumacher versus the sleek beauty of the Mclaren with the icy coolness of Hakkinen – a battle one would say made in heaven.. Love turned into obsession in 2000, when I watched every race keenly, cheered ferrari into a spectacular WDC and WCC in 2000.. Oh what a feeling it was.. the same could be said about 2001 – when Ferrari won what would be the second of six consecutive WCCs and Mike Schumacher the second of what would be 5 years of domination.. that was turning point.. 2002, a much maligned year, till 2004 came around and made it look exciting.. Schumacher walked all over the opposition, in his retirement year, Mika was but a shadow of his past, the Mclaren having reliability issues which have since been the sad hallmark of the famous marquee.. capped by the spectacular last lap engine blow up in Indianapolis.. 2003 dawned, with one really hoping that it would be different, but as the year progressed, the opposition was in disarray, williams was on the rise, mclaren on the wane, renault a rising spirit, BAR infighting with Pollock and JV.. Ferrari and MS reigned supreme again though not with the same level of dominance as in 2002.. 2004 everyone said would be year for the Ferrari to fail.. instead it set records for the best reliabilty achieved ever.. also the year that the single tyre supplier was changed into two or was it the year before.. whatever it was, the year was more famous for the offtrack happenings than the on track ones.. Ferrari swept through everything – and MS blew away the opposition to a record breaking year.. 2005 dawned with people expecting more of the same, but things had changed – Ferrari was the only top ten team with Bridgestone and the inbreeding was showing – tyre development was led by Michelin and not BS as in the past – Ferrari were suddenly a struggling mid table team along with the previous year’s runners up Honda.. Mclaren with another Finn, Kimi Raikkonen was fighting for the best spot with Renault and Alonso.. Though the Finn won the more number of races, the spectacular reliability of the Renault powered Alonso to a youngest ever WDC.. but 2005 was anything but an interesting year on track – infighting, GPMA, Max Mosley’s nonsenical pronouncements, the shameful Indianapolis incident, collapse of Jordan and Minardi, the descent of Jacques Villeneuve into depths with a sordid display for Sauber, the utterly boring single lap, single runner qualifying.. By the end of 2005, I was reading abt the races rather than watching them.. such the boring display and unimaginative direction that botched up action even when there was some.. 2006 has dawned fresh and new and according to reports the Bahrain GP was an exciting affair in which Kimi “the Charger” Raikkonen went from 22nd on the grid to the third place on the podium with an display of aggressive driving.. Ferrari look back in contention matching Renault step for step and of course, Honda rounding up the pack with a solid display from Button for the fourth place.. Sepang yielded a little bit more of the same – though renault in the end dominated and ferrari were just not there.. lets see what oz has to show this weekend..

Football, became a little passion watching the artistry of the galacticos in their famous run to the Champions League in 2001 (which they havent since won and will not for the next two years atleast).. the stylistic artistry of Zidane, the insanity of Roberto Carlos and Salgado, the poaching abilities of Raul and Morientes.. They were certainly the Galaticos then.. In a sordid display of inability to justify their salaries or their legend, the team has plumbed the depths – though currently sitting second to a Barca team which looks a lot like the Real team of 2001 in terms of ability.. Barca then were pretty much the team which said – you score 4, i will score 5 and win.. and had the ability to do it with a stellar front line.. Manyoo was a team with the same incredible ability to poach goals at the last minute.. all went through phases for real bad times (and for Madrid it still continues despite on paper having the best of talents).. Then into the scene of the Premier League till then the property of Manyoo and Arsenal – barged in the Russian multi gillionaire, Roman Abramovich – the first year with Claudio the Clown as manager Chelsea didnt do much, then they hired the one many call the One – the Jose Mourhino along with the ability to buy talent which then sat and warmed benches – Chelsea this year can field an A and a B team and have both in the top four of the PL such is the quality of the team.. Despite the exciting talent at hand – they still have to resort to sordid 1-0 wins by grinding out opponents.. Last year the manager drove a good referee out of the game (Anders Frisk retired after having received one too many death threats from Chelsea fans who were reacting to a statement from their manager that Rijkaard, the Barca manager was seen in the referee’s room during half time).. THough Barca ultimately lost to Chelsea and in unique revenge Chelsea lost to their underperforming PL compatriots Liverpool – Chelsea swept through the PL, making manyoo and arsenal look like spent forces.. but somehow it wasnt as exciting..

This year has seen barca ram the shit out of Chelsea (Yeah!)..watched the last two CL matches – Inter seemed a wee bit more exciting than Milan did and Juve were the usual poor travellers.. One has to see how Arsenal do in the second leg – as they themselves are very poor travellers in Europe, Juve reign supreme in Turin.. Lyons, Benfica, Villareal add to the mystery in this round – though i would certainly think that the semi finalists would be amongst Milan, Inter, Juve, Arsenal and Barca.. PL has seen more of the same from Chelsea – with the One crying foul everytime they have lost.. anyways, stopping this post now – has been in my draft box since god knows when and hence, out it goes..