My obsession with Formula one began aroun 9-10 years ago. One of my friend used to closely follow it. It is from there that I got addicted to this sport. I would describe my love for Forula one car racing some other time. But, I am a big fan of Formula one. Infact, I have hardly missed any races in last 9 years (Except for 2 seasons wherein my favorite driver did not participate). My favorite driver has been Kimi Raikkonen. He started his career with Sauber, and after 1st year itself, he got to drive wih Mclaren, which was one of the best teams that time. He replaced another F1 legend and fellow Finn, Mika Hakkinen. Thereafter, he drove for Ferrari in 2007. He fulfilled his long time wish of driving in Nascar, and came back to Formula one with Team Lotus in 2012. He has been my biggest influence to watch Formula one. I can say, I watched Formula one just for him! Family functions, exams, power outages, friends.. Nothing could stop me watching it!
I always dreamed of watching a formula one race live. Infact, when I was on a trip to Malaysia in 2006, I tried my best atleast to witness the grand Sepang circuit near Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately, could not. Even last year, when Formula one debuted in India, I was desperate to witness it, LIVE! Missing out last year too, I was determined not to give it a miss this year. As it is rightly said, when you really need something, entire universe conspires for you to get it. Situations happened in such a way that my dream was finally going to be a reality. The race was to happen on Sunday, 27th October 2012. I somehow completed my work and booked my tickets at 6.30pm on Saturday, 26th October. Some friends were supposed to join me, but could not make it. But, I was determined to watch it, come what may; and decided to go alone.I reached Delhi early in morning of Sunday, went to a friend's house and got ready for D day. As things turned out, my friend too got tickets and we along with his cousins set sail for the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida.
I collected my passes on the way from a mall in Noida, where a huge queue greeted me. After almost an hour in the queue, I finally managed to grab my passes after verification of my e-ticket. My happiness knew no bounds as I finally had the opportunity to see my hero, live!!We drove our way to the BIC facing some traffic enroute. I was already thrilled by the site of Mercs, Ferraris, Porsches, BMWs along the way driven by some enthusiastic and some not so enthusiastic fans. Hordes of Bollywood actors, celebrated sportsperson were an added attraction.
My happiness knew no bounds at the first sight of circuit. I located my stand.. it was North Picnic stand. I had my security check done and rushed to the stand. My friend who witnessed it last year had instructed to be there before time. I reached there an hour before the start up. I was finally in the company of Ferraris, Mclarens, Force Indias, Bernie Ecclestone, beautiful women always associated with F1, race stewards, Michael Schumacher (in his final few races) and most of all.. my hero, my demi God.. Kimi Raikkonen. The first sight of the beautiful Grand stand left me amazed at the architectural marvel. A grand circuit expanding across over 5 kms of race track. Eventually, a helicopter started encircling the circuit.
Sounds of engine began to grip the circuit, and people sensed a coming car. It was Mercedes Benz SLS AMG car which zoomed past. It was the safety car which had to ensure smooth proceedings of race. This car had my hearts racing in anticipation of the grand show that I was about to witness. Slowly time approached. The commentator started a count down, 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 and huge roar equipped the entire circuit. It was like the sound of normal car engine raised multifold times. And the cars started to flow in. It was formation lap. And the fastest car in qualifying of Sebastian Vettel passed through. The blaring engine sounds engulfed the entire arena. The sound was deafening, and I had to literally shut my ears to protect my ear drums. But, my adrenaline started and I started to get a high from that sound. And finally, the car of my hero passed through. I could not believe my eyes at the sight of Kimi Raikkonen passing through. I finally achieved my dream of seeing him in action! The cars lined up the grid, had a warm up lap and finally the race began. The cars started circling the circuit. The ultra fast cars, ultrafast pit stops, amazing over taking manoeouvres, wonderful fans, kept me glued to the race throughout. It is indeed amazing how a car has his 4 tyres changed in 3 seconds and complete the entire 5kms tipsy turvy track in about 90 seconds!!!!
I got some F1 facts online (Source: http://www.binscorner.com/pages/s/someamazingfactsabtf1technologyatitsbest.html):
à F1 car is made up of 80,000 components, if it were assembled 99.9% correctly, it would still start the race with 80 things wrong!
à When an F1 driver hits the brakes on his car he experiences retardation or deceleration comparable to a regular car driving through a BRICK wall at 300kmph!!!à F1 car can go from 0 to 160 kph AND back to 0 in FOUR seconds!!!!!!!
à F1 car engines last only for about 2 hours of racing mostly before blowing up on the other hand we expect our engines to last us for a decent 20yrs on an average and they quite faithfully DO....that's the extent to which the engines r pushed to perform...à An average F1 driver looses about 4kgs of weight after just one race due to the prolonged exposure to high G forces and temperatures for little over an hour (Yeah that's right!!!)
à At 550kg a F1 car is less than half the weight of a Mini.à To give you an idea of just how important aerodynamic design and added down force can be, small planes can take off at slower speeds than F1 cars travel on the track.
à Without aerodynamic down force, high-performance racing cars have sufficient power to produce wheel spin and loss of control at 160 kph. They usually race at over 300 kph.à In a street course race like the Monaco grand prix, the down force provides enough suction to lift manhole covers. Before the race all of the manhole covers on the streets have to be welded down to prevent this from happening!
à The refuelers used in F1 can supply 12 liters of fuel per second. This means it would take just 4 seconds to fill the tank of an average 50 liter family car. They use the same refueling rigs used on US military helicopters today.à TOP F1 pit crews can refuel and change tyres in around 3 seconds. It took me 8 sec to read above point
à During the race the tyres lose weight! Each tyre loses about 0.5 kg in weight due to wear.à Normal tyres last 60 000 - 100 000 km. Racing tyres are designed to last 90 - 120 km.
à A dry-weather F1 tyre reaches peak operating performance (best grip) when tread temperature is between 900C and 1200C.(Water boils boils at 100C remember) At top speed, F1 tyres rotate 50 times a second.And that's not Magic . Its only the Power of Human Imagination!
F1 is a truly amazing sport.
The race was amazing as always. One disappointment was the small screens, which made it difficult to track the drivers. We had to track them using a live F1 mobile app. Unfortunately, Schumacher had a tyre puncture in initial lap only and had to retire. Other then that, no major accidents happened. The sound of cars, sight of best drivers in world, speed of fastest cars in world, glam of the most glamorous sport in world, nobility of the most expensive sport in world, expertise of most technical & technological sport of the world made it a memorable event for me.
Formula one in a cricket crazy nation was bit disappointing. Some people still felt Michael Schumacher drives for Ferrari. Irrespective of driver, Ferrari was always cheered. People searched for Michael even though he had crashed out in first lap itself. During the race, some people asked, is India leading? I wondered if he's asking about Narain Karthikeyan or Sahara Force India? Either ways, they have never lead a race. Some people were found sleeping with their ear plugs on during the race, the people catching photos of speeding F1 car got tired and retreated after few laps. Some people kept wondering what is this sport.. no boundaries, no catches, no wickets. Some people enjoyed the exorbitantly priced beer and other cold drinks with chips, snacks.
I happened to meet some fans. To my great joy, Kimi Raikkonen had a strong support in the crowd. A group of Finland nationals were present in the crowd to cheer for their national hero Kimi. They were supported by some Indian fans too. Everytime Kimi passed through, he was cheered. There were some Schumi fans too, and so were the cheers for team Ferrari. Although Kimi did not have a podium finish, he managed a wonderful race, right upto my expectations and beyond.
I realized my dream of watching a Formula one race. I would now love to watch a Formula one race at Monte Carlo circuit in Monaco and watching Kimi Raikkonen drive at his favorite circuit of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
Kimi Raikkonen, Formula 1; Mission Accomplished. Dream Fulfilled!
The sport of Formula one, Kimi Raikkonen and my obsession with it is truly Amusing and Confusing!
