Flying Lap!!! – By Chetan Narula.

Anticipating a thriller…

Sport cannot get more ironical than this. The very same year Formula One earned a bad name because of Stepneygate and the very ethics of the teams being questioned the world over, it will still however, witness one of the greatest spectacles in the history of motorsport, come Sunday. All those very same people who doubted its very basis the world over will tune in to watch Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso win the title.

Formula 1 could have done without the spy saga but, lets be honest, it needed this tight race for the championship as a shot in the arm, especially after the great Michael Schumacher left us fans (read F1) at tenterhooks last season. In the words of none other than Bernie Eccelstone himself, the sport needed a saviour. And so, thank god for Lewis Hamilton. Err, shouldn’t we thank Ron Dennis?

Indeed Hamilton will be thanking his mentor, his second father or team principal, whatever he calls him. From a very young age, Ron has nurtured this driver to see this day, when he would bring back glory to his team and finally end Mclaren’s quest for their own Schumacher. And as we stand just three days away from a historic grand prix weekend, the signs are truly ominous for this to happen.

Quite simply, Hamilton has the numbers in his favour to drive conservatively and win the title, come race day. Alonso has already stated that he needs a miracle to win the WDC for a third time running and obviously then, Kimi needs more than a miracle. But if we leave aside the points for one second, is it really possible that a rookie could pull off such a huge upset in his very first year in the sport?

May be yes, may be not. He has the talent and more importantly the car to do the needful. But maybe not, because Hamilton has shown that he can wilt under pressure. That happened first at his home race in Britain, where at Silverstone, he first almost lost out his track position to the Finn and then eventually did lose it when he made his first error in the pits. It is only logical that the pressure will only increase on him considering that atleast every British fan of the sport will be rooting for him on Sunday.

Add to it the fact that he has never raced at Interlagos. Yes, he has the famed Mclaren simulator at his aid and of course, has spent time on his PlayStation as well. But after all, if that were the real thing, then aren’t we all world champions in our own right? The point is on an unknown circuit, under pressure from two rivals, and of course, adding the rain factor to it, the situation suddenly doesn’t look really rosy from here. If one is to consider the only two races where he hasn’t scored points this season, Nurburgring and Shanghai, we see only one common factor, rain.

There is always the argument however, that he won in the rain at Fuji. Yes, he did, but let’s just put that in perspective. Half that race was driven behind the safety car. And of course, Ferrari’s big foul up with the intermediate tyres cost them the race. When Kimi began his charge in the later stages at Fuji, he looked unstoppable. The other factor is that both in Germany and in China, Hamilton failed to look after his tyres in the mix of dry and wet, which ultimately proved critical.

Even then Fernando Alonso would say that his chances are no good. This is because Mclaren will provide both their drivers with equal opportunity. Yes, the very same thing the Spaniard has not desired the whole season. Again if it weren’t for Ron’s ethics, he wouldn’t be here. Simply because, after blackmailing your own team, one doesn’t usually get away without any punishment. But he did. And that might just come back to haunt Dennis.

For there is no way that one sees Fernando Alonso driving for the Silver Arrows next season. So will the Spaniard do the unthinkable and be overtly aggressive on the race track? The first corner at Brazil is a bit squeezed for space and obviously in the wet, things will only be trickier. The big question is if at all Alonso is that desperate to leave Mclaren or hurt them so badly that he will jeopardize both his and Lewis’ chances? If yes, then certainly there is no place for him at Woking next year.

Did one mention two rivals for Lewis earlier? Well make it three. Because Kimi will only win if there is Felippe Massa playing the supporting acts. Even then things aren’t exactly cut out for the Iceman. He has to come first, and then hope that Alonso finishes no higher than third, and even then Hamilton has to be sixth or lower. Indeed a tough ask but then stranger things have happened in sport.

There is only one guarantee though. That is, we will have a champion, even after all that has happened this year. Which one, that’s a question, even the most hallowed punters or pundits of the sport will avoid.