Bleacher Report - Articles by Madan Gopal

Welcome Formula One 2009!

Madan Gopal — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:13:06 -0400

The start of yet another F1 season is just a week away, in fact just four days more in the USA to watch the "amazing" cars and listen to the "awesome" sounds of the F1 engines during Friday practice.

With the new rules and regulations involving the tires, the aerodynamics and in my opinion, somewhat odd-looking cars, it is going to be an interesting season from the very first race itself.

There is this "uncertainty" about which of the teams are going to dominate from the first race itself.

The reason for this "uncertainty" is due to the new rules and regulations, unknown performance details involving "slicks" (tires), the use of Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS).

In the past couple of seasons, it was easy to point out the "top" teams based on their performance during testing.

But that is no longer the case this year, as instead of the usual picks like Ferrari, McLaren, BMW, there is a new team called Brawn F1, (Honda team of last year) with the master strategist Ross Brawn at the helm.

If the season could be decided just based on the testing performance, I guess Brawn F1 can be crowned champions for this year, although the testing times again do not indicate the fuel level etc of the cars.

Consider this for a moment. Autosport F1 recently analyzed the teams based on their testing in Barcelona. Their verdict: Brawn F1 followed by Toyota, BMW and then Ferrari, with McLaren near the other end.

Again, all these are speculations based on the particular individual or interpreter. As much as reading such comparisons is "enlightening" and sometimes "funny", I guess we will get to know in four days, three hours...when the first practice gets underway Down Under!

It is going to be an absolutely wonderful season, and hopefully the teams that showed "sufficient" promise during testing can live up the performance and let us have four to five teams competing for wins in each race, rather than the usual two.

Being a big fan of Kimi Raikkonen, I believe that we might see a rejuvenated Kimi and Ferrari this year, and there is no better sight in Formula 1 than seeing the Iceman in full flow!

My bet for the "darkhorse" this year: Force India F1

The top four teams in contention for Melbourne: Ferrari, Brawn GP, BMW, and Renault.

Keep your picks coming and let us all join and Say "Gentlemen, start your engines" in four days and three hours!!

Kimi Raikkonen's Title Chances Over After Monza?

Madan Gopal — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:13:56 -0400

If you are a fan of defending champion Kimi Raikkonen, the recently concluded Italian GP was yet another disappointment.

The racing weekend started off as a positive one, with Kimi being the quickest during the second Friday practice. However, during qualifying, the showers, the wrong tires, and the time to go for a run cost Kimi whatever little hopes he had of retaining his World Driver's Championship.

But, his legions of fans still hoped for a miracle, wishing for a points finish for their favorite driver. Alas, it was not to be. The end result was that Kimi ended his fifth race of the season without securing any points.

In this new points system, which rewards performance and consistency over an entire season, you can somehow survive a race or two without scoring points. But, five is just a little too much, although not all of them were entirely his fault.

He had an engine failure in Valencia and was hit from behind while being stationary at the pit exit in Canada. If he had gathered a fourth place finish at Valencia and a possible victory in Canada, I for one would not have had this article with the above title.

However, by his own standards, it has been a dismal season for the champion. Of course, the experts always want to link that to his off-track activities, lack of motivation, etc. But, the experts have an opinion for just about everything these days don't they? So, what exactly has gone wrong with Kimi?

I just cannot agree with people who just blindly say he has lost his motivation or he is not the force he once was; you still see flashes of the fast and furious Kimi once in a while, the latest being the final few laps at Monza.

Personally, I believe it has to do with the Ferrari characteristics, mostly the use of tires in wet conditions, and Kimi himself making mistakes during qualifying in a few other "dry" races.

That is where Felipe Massa has had an upper hand over Kimi, mainly in the dry races. In those events, Massa has often qualifying better than his teammate. Added to this is Kimi's famous luck.

He lost in Canada when he was the innocent victim of Lewis Hamilton's mistake. In France, he ended up second due to a mechanical issue on his car. And in Belgium, a combination of tricky conditions and some mistakes led to his retirement, after probably driving his best race of the entire season.

It is likely that we will see a new champion this year. Who it will be this year is a million dollar question.

But, will the current champion have a say in deciding the new champion? Absolutely. No one knows what else is in store for the remainder of the season. Would it be foolish to believe in miracles and expect a strong finish for Kimi this year, similar to last year?. One never knows!!!

Amidst all these disappointments, there was some "great" news. We will get to see Kimi for two more years in Formula 1.

Let us see what he does in the remaining four races. Will we see a neck to neck battle with Hamilton similar to the Belgian GP or will he end up in a position to help Massa win the championship, which I feel will be well deserved!!

Let us sit back and enjoy some great racing for the remainder of the season. I do believe in miracles. But two in consecutive years for the same driver is somehow not very likely!

Hungarian Grand Prix Offers More Questions Than Answers

Madan Gopal — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:56:31 -0400

Round 11 of the Formula 1 Championship is complete. Hungaroring is a track where qualifying plays a major role. You can finish the race in a better position by qualifying towards the front of the grid.

The race did throw a lot of surprises, the biggest being Heikki Kovalainen's maiden victory. The three main contenders for the Driver's Championship—Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen—had a mixed day, with Raikkonen scoring the maximum points for the race.

The start was fantastic with Massa taking the lead from Hamilton at Turn One. Kimi lost a position to Alonso and that would not change for two-thirds of the race distance.

Once Kimi got past Alonso during the pit stop rotations, he was able to show the true pace of his Ferrari F2008.

There have been many reports or comments about Kimi's lack of desire or focus but his laps before the second pit-stop summary shows a determined driver trying to pass his rival by pitting his car one lap later.

Check out the lap times below for the two world champion drivers. Although Kimi had an off-track excursion on Lap 50, he was able to put in a stunning in-lap for his pit stop on Lap 51, and followed it up with an excellent out-lap.

This allowed him to jump Alonso during the second round of pit-stops [Alonso had a comparatively slower set of laps for the pit stops]. He ended up on the podium to join his fellow Finn, much to the surprise of many people watching the race.

Kimi Alonso

Lap 47: 1m21.843    1m21.793
Lap 48: 1m21.709    1m21.914
Lap 49: 1m21.773    1m21.833
Lap 50: 1m23.913    1m24.326
Lap 51: 1m23.551    1m47.032
Lap 52: 1m43.921    1m23.044

But the story of the day was the amazing drive by Felipe Massa. It is a shame that his Ferrari engine gave up with three laps to go.

He put on a stunning display by passing Lewis Hamilton and then building up a good enough lead towards the final few laps of the race. His misfortune allowed Heikki to take his first ever race win in Formula 1.

He had a steady race and benefited from Massa's bad luck. I am sure this will be the first of many more victories for Heikki.

Also, Hamilton had a puncture on his left-front tire, due to which he could only finish fifth, but that is still four valuable points for the season.

The greatest irony is that in spite of being the driver of the race, Massa goes home without any points for the race. That is the "cruel" nature of sport.

There are seven races remaining in this season, out of which two circuits, Valencia and Singapore, can throw surprises by holding their first-ever Grand Prix.

So, who will win the 2008 World Driver's Championship? That is a million-dollar question right now.

Let us enjoy the summer break along with teams and come back for an exciting remainder of the season.

Retirement Is an Important Call for an Athlete

Madan Gopal — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:29:50 -0400

One of the NFL's (National Football League) elite quarterbacks is attracting a lot of attention as of late. The attention is not based on his on-field play, but something that happened in March 2008. Yes, after leading the Green Bay Packers to the NFC (National Football Conference) Championship, he decided to retire after a stellar career, accumulating practically every passing record on the way.

The team then decided that Aaron Rodgers would be the starting quarterback (four years of studying Brett Favre) from this year onwards. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, when all of a sudden there were reports that Brett Favre wanted to come back!

Thus the attention in recent weeks.

This leads to the question, "When should an athlete retire?"

There can be a variety of answers to this question. Some might say to go out when he is on top of his game, but is getting old; some might argue that the right time to retire is when his performance is going downhill; or a few others might say that an athlete should retire when he knows he is good enough but cannot keep up the high standards that he had set for himself.

Many people are of the view that once you are above 35-years old, the reflexes tend to slow down and, although today's athletes are fitter than before, their skill-set is bound to suffer just a little.

Of course, age is not a criterion for retirement, but performance sure is. So if an athlete is 35+ and can still deliver a strong performance, why not continue with him?

The answer to this retirement question lies with the athlete himself. No outsider should coerce an athlete into retirement.

Was Michael Schumacher, the legendary F1 champion, forced to retire? No one knows the answer to that question. So once an athlete decides to retire, he should feel that he gave his best shot and should not have any regrets.

Announcing his retirement and then trying to make a comeback is just going to make him lose the respect and admiration of his fans and teammates.

It shows a weakness in his mind, when he is unsure of his actions. One of India's great yesteryear cricketers said it best that a sportsman should retire when the world asks, "Why?" rather than, "Why not?"

When an athlete retires and people ask the question "Why?" the athlete is going out on his terms, with his respect, admiration, and accomplishments intact. The second question, "Why not?" indicates the athlete is overstaying, and he may be past his glory and is slowly but surely becoming a burden on the team.

An athlete can have strong career of about 10-15 years, provided he stays fit and injury-free. He can make enough money during this period to support his family for the rest of their lives. So, money should not be a factor in considering "retirement".

Is there a fear of stepping into an unknown world? Maybe. For an athlete who has been actively involved in his sport for such a long period of time, the thought of not being able to pursue his only passion in life may lead him to play more, ignoring his performance aspect.

Therefore, in my opinion, an athlete should call it quits when he is still able to compete at a high level, but not with the high standards set for himself. That, to me, is a job well done!

Where is the "Real" Kimi Raikkonen?

Madan Gopal — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:47:22 -0400

It feels strange to have the title of an article as a question. But that is the exact question that I have been asking myself over the last few Grand Prix races. The last victory Kimi Raikkonen had was a dominant one in Barcelona, Spain in April 2008. Nearly three months have gone by and the Finn is yet to win a race.

He has come close to winning but circumstances have denied him the much needed victory. He could have won in Canada, he should have won in France, and he may have won in Silverstone with the right strategy. But the reality is he did not win any of these races. He did collect points in the French and Silverstone race though, which might be crucial in the end.

Coming to the just concluded German GP, he qualified sixth, although there was very little to separate positions three through six. He was on a heavier fuel load and got stuck behind Jarno Trulli's Toyota and was able to jump him during the pit stops.

However, while watching the race as well as the live-timing on the official Formula One website, I couldn't help but notice that it took him a while to get out of the pits. Agreed, he had to queue behind Massa but that delay might have cost him some time.

However, I saw a more determined Kimi after that pit stop, where he passed four cars to finally end up sixth and collect three more valuable points. Although he was nowhere in contention for the victory, he had a determined race and this aspect of Kimi is what I've been waiting for.

He had a bad start to his season last year but had a similar determined drive at Indianapolis and then things changed for the better. Hopefully history will repeat itself and I just hope this German race does the trick for Kimi. Although, I have to admit that there have been far too many listless races for the defending champion and that is still a cause for concern.

So, if at all the defending champion reads this (yeah right...dream on), please give us that old Kimi back, who used to push like there is no tomorrow. There are many fans of Kimi who are eagerly awaiting the "real" Kimi, the one from 2005.

I just want to see a more "aggressive" Kimi turn up at each and every race here on in and make it an exciting three-driver battle till the end.

KIMI, LEWIS OR MASSA—Who will be the 2008 WDC?

Madan Gopal — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:24:49 -0400

We are halfway through the F1 championships for 2008 and yet do not have a sure-shot winner. After nine races (exactly the halfway mark), there are three drivers tied at 48 points, the fourth just two points away and these four are the only drives to have won races this year.

I have a feeling that this situation is mainly due to driver errors and a few mechanical problems. Massa had a forgettable few races at ths start but since then has buckled up and was caught in a "spinning spree" at Silverstone.

As for LH, he started the season and the initial races in an emphatic fashion but then took himself and Kimi out at Canada but drove beautifully in the last GP. LH had a couple of forgettable races this season.

As for Kimi, he had a mixed bag in the initial part of the season, with two dominant victories but errors in Australia and Monaco, coupled with LH shunting him out. His exhaust related incident and bad strategy (driver and team) call in Silverstone has not helped him either.

All along, the man least expected by many to dominate has probably been the most consistent driver and he goes by the name Robert Kubica. Barring Australia and Silverstone, he has been in the points with good, controlled drives and also inherited his maiden victory in Canada.

So who will be the last man standing?. Can Kimi make it two in a row? Will Massa be strong in the second half of the season, drive error free and win his maiden WDC or will Lewis Hamilton take the glory? Or, the fourth contender, can he snatch the big prize from under the eyes of the other three?

We are in for a wonderful season and being a big Kimi fan, would love to see him defend his championship, but he will have to drive strong and error-free like last year (he drove strong in France and Britain) or else Hamilton, Massa and Kubica will be waiting for him to slip up.