|
SEVERAL
readers of my Formula One (F1) column and article last
week have one similar request: “Please tell us more
about Formula One.”
Request
granted.
Formula
One was born in Silverstone, the United Kingdom, on May
13, 1950. The first winner was Italian Giuseppe Farina,
who went on to win the seven-leg F1 World Championship
that year.
A car
race that is basically Europe-based, Formula One’s
popularity spread rapidly. Through time, it became a
17-leg season in 1977 and established itself as the
world’s benchmark of motor-sports racing.
F1 is so
hugely popular worldwide mainly due to the powerful
engine installed in each car, which is so bull-strong it
can outrace any vehicle on land invented by man.
Only a
jet can outrace an F1 car, but then, aren’t jets built
to fly?
In a
sense, an F1 car also flies. Because of its sheer speed
on a straightaway (at times more than 300 kph), an F1
car virtually “lifts” from the ground when in full
speed.
Jacques
Villanueve holds the fastest straight-line speed in F1
history, making 351.7 kph in the 1997 German Grand Prix
(GP). Also that year, Jean Alesi had the fastest speed
of 250.295 kph in a practice lap in the Italian Grand
Prix at Monza.
We can’t
see the wind, right?
We can
just feel it.
That’s
the F1 car—virtually.
****
IN
Singapore on September 28, I was just about seven meters
away from a speeding—er, flying—F1 car during the
inaugural race of F1 in that world-famed city-state
known for its affluence despite a government-imposed
regimented way of life.
My
grandstand seat, assigned by Toyota’s Big E, the
irrepressible Elijah Sue Marcial, afforded me the chance
to feel firsthand the strength and sting of each of the
20 cars that pierced the ear and air of an island-nation
as F1’s night race debuted in roaring style.
As I
said here a while back, it was my third F1 race—the
first two being both in Kuala Lumpur in 1999 and 2001
(thanks to Ford and Honda).
But the
one in Singapore put me in the heat of things—literally,
that is—as I was in the thick of it.
I guess
Danny “Sir John” Isla, the first vice president of
Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP), will, likewise,
experience the thrill I just had in Singapore when he
watches the F1 leg in Japan on October 12 in the company
of some of TMP’s top honchos and fleet-car moguls.
****
SIR John
wasn’t with us in Singapore as Raymond Rodriguez took on
the chores of babysitting for us—and he did it A-OK!
The
Japan leg, born in 1977, is the 16th in the F1 calendar
this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sir John would
hotly root for Jarno Trulli, Toyota’s top driver. The
race will be held at the Fuji Speedway, an exclusive
Toyota property.
The
season’s penultimate race is on October 19 in Shanghai.
After barely a two-week break, the 18th and final leg is
on November 2 in Brazil.
OK, to
get back to the fast facts of F1.
The Indy
500 of America used to be an F1 leg. It is in this race
that the famed, lamented Jim Murray of the Los Angeles
Times wrote his Pulitzer Prize-winning sports column
with the classic lead paragraph, “OK, gentlemen, start
your coffins!”
Said
James Deakin, the editor of C! Magazine: “F1 dropped the
Indy 500 this year in favor of more Asian tracks. Indy
uses similar cars, arguably more powerful than F1, but
they cannot match F1 cars in cornering and braking. Indy
was only brought back to the F1 calendar in 2005 to try
and court the huge American audience. That was the year
when the Michelin teams had a dispute with the FIA
[International Automobile Federation] and refused to
run. Only six cars showed up on the starting line after
the warm-up lap. It was a PR disaster for F1 and
Michelin was forced to refund the tickets to the fans.”
****
THIS
year’s F1 season blasted off in Australia on March 16,
with Lewis Hamilton winning it.
The
23-year-old Hamilton, of McLaren-Mercedes, was the
heartbreak kid in 2007 because he was just a breadth
away from making history as the first rookie to prevail.
But Lady Luck wasn’t on Lewis’s side in the year’s last
leg and he missed his date with destiny.
Hamilton, who placed a strong third in the Singapore F1
Grand Prix on September 28 behind winner Fernando Alonso
of Renault and Nico Rosberg of Williams-Toyota, has his
foot planted again inside F1’s door as he is up 7 points
on Ferrari’s Felipe Massa going to the Fuji Speedway on
October 12.
Hamilton
was merely nursing a 1-point lead over Massa heading up
to Singapore.
But, as
you most probably have seen it, Massa suffered a freak,
though noninjurious, accident caused by his mechanic
that sent him finishing second to last among 14
survivors in the incident-, spill-marred Singapore
edition.
Massa’s
Ferrari was still being refueled when a mechanic gave
Massa the green light to speed away. Marshals had to
restrain him before he could blast off completely from
the pit lane. But before his crew could unplug the
severely stuck fuel hose, Massa, who was leading when he
made the pit stop, had lost precious time—and the race
altogether.
“These
things happen,” said Massa, who approved of his team’s
generous gesture of not firing the mechanic who caused
the misfortune.
Hamilton
upping his margin over the Brazilian Massa to 7 points
was a result of the Briton’s 6 points from his
third-place finish in Singapore.
A leg
winner gets 10 points, runner-up—8, third—6, fourth—5,
fifth—4, sixth— 3, seventh—2 and eighth—1.
But
Massa, who won this year in Bahrain, Turkey, France, the
European GP and Belgium, is not definitely out of it.
With three races to go, that 7-point deficit is peanuts.
Just one mishap or mechanical breakdown hitting Hamilton
in any of the remaining three legs could catapult Massa
back to the top.
Watch
the Japan F1 race live on TV this Sunday.
Some
drama awaits us, I believe.
****
Pee
stop.
From Arnel Doria, the Big Boss of Honda Safety Driving
Center (HSDC): “For the month of October, we will extend
the Safety Driving Seminar every Tuesday, 3 p.m., at
HSDC Training Center at Km. 17 East Service Road,
Bicutan. For more details, call 838-0814. The seminar
is free to riders of Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha,
Vespa, Bajah and other brand users who wish to learn
more tips on safety driving.” |
