Multi-21

Don't Copy From This Blog...

Multi-21 is a phrase which will go down in history as the moment when Vettel established himself as a fast and ruthless racing driver who doesn't stop at anything to win. Multi-21 refers to the command given to both the Red Bull drivers toward the closing stages of the 2013 Malaysian F1 Grand Prix, which orders both drivers to hold position, and cruise to the chequered flag. Webber was leading Vettel to a Red Bull 1-2, when Multi-21 was issued. Webber turned down his engine, and started preserving his tyres, and Vettel too was expected to do the same. Vettel however, had plans of his own.

Post race reaction.

He attacked Webber, and after a fierce battle over the first sector, he pulled out ahead of Webber. The drivers went wheel to wheel in what could be described as street racing fashion. It's a miracle that they didn't collide. Vettel later claimed he ignored the call and was sorry for what happened. Flimsy excuse. I expect more from a man who just pulled the rug from under his team-mate. He then continued to apologize for his actions, which I thought was very funny. He is clearly not sorry for what he did, and he doesn't need to be. He's 25, and he has won 3 world championships. He is already one of the Formula 1 greats. He doesn't need to explain his actions to his team-mate, who hasn't been anywhere near as successful. Vettel has joined the ranks of Michael Schumacher, and Ayrton Senna, and neither of them would settle for anything less than a win. Mark should've known Vettel well enough by now to know that he isn't a chubby teenager anymore.

Awkward podium ceremony

They won't see eye to eye for a while now

Red Bull were worried for obvious reasons. First being that they might just run into each other, and lose valuable championship points. Second being that while battling for the lead, they might destroy the tyres and then struggle to complete the race, and lose championship points. Now that the situation turned out favourably, Red Bull won't see the need to waste time on it any more. Vettel will not be penalized, or reprimanded even. Helmut Marko will ensure driver number one status to Vettel.

Read More

Kimi Raikkonen and James Hunt

Don't Copy From This Blog...

Often Kimi Raikkonen has been compared to James Hunt, and their playboy lifestyles do have a few similarities. Both are world champions, and neither of them give a damn about the consequences of anything they say. The playboy lifestyles they lead were in stark comparison to their fellow drivers at their times. But the key difference lies in their core personalities.

SEX: Breakfast of Champions. James Hunt doing his thing.

James Hunt was English, and he led a quintessentially eccentric english lifestyle. He spoke to the media, and loved appearing on the television. People didn't only love him for his driving, but for his personality as well. James Hunt was rumoured to have slept with 33 British Airways stewardesses. In a week. That does guarantee a certain degree of respect. I'm not sure if it is a record, but that is how James Hunt lived life. He was often to be found before a race, in a small shed, having drugs and sex. It was his pre-race ritual. Apparently James Hunt slept with more than 5,000 women before he passed away at the age of 45. He attended formal functions, and press events barefoot. He would often go for dinner with his alsatian, Oscar at expensive Mayfair restaurants. I'd say he redefined the very definition of a 'playboy'. He won the 1976 championship by one point from Niki Lauda. After retiring from racing, he became a commentator for the BBC covering Formula 1 races with Murray Walker. Hunt had a dry and satiric humour, and he often berated drivers who he believed weren't good enough, or had made silly errors. The day he died of an heart attack, he proposed to his girlfriend of the time, Helen Dyson.

On the streets of Monaco

Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen is Finnish, and he is possibly the only man who doesn't give a damn about anything. He hates the media and PR events with a passion with which he loves racing. Unlike James Hunt who struggled to enter Formula 1, Kimi Raikkonen had a prodigious rise to the top level of motorsport. Having completed just 23 Formula Renault races, of which he won half, he was given a Sauber race seat, and he scored points at his very first race. Ferrari and McLaren both offered him a race seat after his first year at Sauber, and Kimi wisely chose McLaren, where he became de facto team leader. Throughout his career, showed utter disrespect to the media, and prefers not to speak with anyone. But the wild lifestyle which he leads often makes front page news, and his answers to the questions by the media is now the stuff of legends. He has built a brand around his demeanour. He goes by the nickname of 'Iceman' derived from his ever cool exterior. It might also do with his love of drinking and ice-cream. He might be the most laid back person in the paddock, but he is the fastest man on the track. In 2007, he switched to Ferrari after five frustrating years at McLaren. He also won his title in 2007 by a single point. After being dropped at the end of 2009 by Ferrari, he took the severance pay and went rallying, where his performance came as a shock to the well established rally drivers. He was just as quick, and if not quicker. In 2012, Lotus-Renault bought him back to Formula 1, and Kimi put in the best performance of his career in a car that was often few seconds off the pace of the leaders. He started 2013 with a hugely convincing win, and hopefully his second title is along the way.

James Hunt's iconic helmet design

Kimi Raikkonen's tribute to James Hunt

Kimi Raikkonen is an outspoken James Hunt and in Monaco 2012, he wore a James Hunt helmet as a tribute to the eccentric world champion. Although they might have completely different personalities, they do share one common trait. Both live life as they want to, and not how their sponsors, or media force them to. This individuality is rare, and very few sportsmen dare to express their true personalities. James Hunt and Kimi Raikkonen are different. They might not be as successful as Schumacher, but they will be respected more for their fearless and individualistic attitude toward life.

Raikkonen with Lotus

Read More

Formula 1 Malaysia 2013

Don't Copy From This Blog...

This was a messy race. With the wet track at the start, and rapidly changing conditions, it was a slightly random result. There wasn't too much drama at this race, and it was a boring race to watch. With the faster degrading Pirelli tyres, pit stops decide the outcome of the race, and there is less of wheel to wheel battle.

The only wheel to wheel battle
we saw was that of Vettel and Webber for the lead of the race. Against team orders to hold position, Vettel attacked Webber, in a affair which will now be called "Multi 21-gate". Multi 21 refers to the order given to Vettel to hold position. Hamilton and Rosberg too fought it out for 3rd place, and it didn't end well. Hamilton ended up using too much fuel, and in the closing stages of the race he was coasting in 3rd. Rosberg meanwhile was 4th, and right behind Hamilton. Rosberg was also told to hold position, and after a lengthy debate on the radio, he complied.This meant that no one on the podium was happy. It was pretty tense. Team orders had decided the result, and this not only ruins the race for the fans, but also for the team-mates of the drivers who had benefitted. There will be a tense atmosphere at Red Bull and Mercedes for days to come.

Lotus had a terrible race, with Grosjean finishing ahead of Raikkonen in 6th and 7th respectively. Raikkonen had a nasty fight with Hulkenberg of Sauber, with the two touching. Hulkenberg barely escaping a penalty, finished 8th. Perez finished 9th for McLaren, while Jenson Button retired while en route to a podium finish. Both the Force India's retired on safety grounds after a problem with the wheel nuts. Williams had a horrid weekend, with Maldonado retiring due to a KERS issue. But Valteri Bottas hasn't showed any of the prodigious pace that was seen last year in the free practice sessions. But the car could be at fault.

Jules Bianchi is the best driver on the grid. He drove to the chequered flag in 13th, while his team-mate finished 16th. He was superb. Now Ferrari will probably snap him up next year to replace Massa. He's quicker than any of the rookies, or even the more established drivers. World Champion material. If he had been driving the Force India, he would've been a threat to any of the front running teams for sure.

Read More

Mac Apps: The Games

Don't Copy From This Blog...

Although there aren't as many games available for Mac as there are for Windows systems, there are still more than enough games to choose from. Here are some of the games I think are worth buying. I'm not listing it in any specific order. I'll try to update this list whenever I can.


TOCA Race Driver 3: One of the best all round driving games ever. Basically, its Gran Turismo for the Mac. So you can play this game for the rest of your life, and still not complete it.

F1 2012: The best and the most accurate Formula 1 game till date. Although F1 2013 is coming this year, F1 2012 is still a superb game, and the online experience is unparalleled.

The Movies Superstar: This is like Sims, but all about movies. You're basically controlling a movie studio, producing movies, and managing stars. Good fun

Lego Batman 2: Its Lego. And its Batman. Need I say more? Haven't had so much fun in a long time.

Colin McRae Rally Mac: Probably the most realistic rally game there ever was. It is quite a challenge.

Call of Duty 4: The most iconic FPS game of all time, and the one with most hacked servers ever. I think there's more than a million players online by the looks of it, and an infinite number of mods. It's better than Black Ops because of the game's hack-ability.

Call of Duty Black Ops: This another iconic FPS game, but it's a lot more realistic, and you have to work a lot harder while playing it.

Lego Star Wars Clone Wars: Once again, Lego, Star Wars, and lightsabers. Better than the original Star Wars games.

Dirt 2: The rally game next-gen. With the X-games, and rallycross, focus has shifted from proper rallying. Not as cool, but still it's a lot of fun.

Minecraft: It's blocks of pixels stacked on each other. With imagination, you can create anything.

Angry Birds Space: The best Angry Birds version. Much better than the original thing.

NBA Jam: Retro game refreshed and bought back to life. Best played with a friend. This has to be ported to the gaming consoles. So much more fun than the original NBA games.

Real Racing 2: Same as the now iconic iOS version. Not as polished, but still playable.

Anodyne: The product of indie developers, this game had a game-changing launch. The devs put it on pirate bay.org for free, and asked players to donate. And oh boy they did. Brilliant RPG.

Grand Theft Auto Series: Its grand theft auto. Burn everything.

The Incident: Another indie game, this is really very good. Hours of fun.

Video Tennis: This uses a novel method of playing ping pong. It tracks your hand using the webcam to play the game. It works very well.

Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy: Another iOS port. Multiplayer is epic. Needs a joystick though, to play the game properly.
Galaxy on Fire 2: A space exploration game with good space battles. Great graphics.

Flatout 2: The daddy of smash 'n' race games. Haven't seen speed and violence in a such a great cocktail before.

Tomb Raider: Underworld: It's Tomb Raider. Owe up. You only play the game to look at the girl. Everyone does. She looks great in this game. So it's a no-brainer.

Bus Driver: Great training if you lose your job. It's sort of a realistic bus driving game. I haven't driven a bus, so I have no idea how realistic it is.

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy: One of the better Star Wars games. Although it is quite old, it is still really good. Deserves a remake though.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: The most iconic Star Wars game ever. With an option to build your character toward the dark side, or the light side, it is quite a easy decision to make. Join the dark side. Have fun.

Read More

Kimi Raikkonen to Red Bull for 2014?

Don't Copy From This Blog...

Mark Webber is due to be replaced in 2014, and so far, none of the drivers at Red Bull's sister team Torro Rosso have impressed. Red Bull would probably prefer to promote António Félix da Costa to the team, or even Jules Bianchi, or Davide Valsecchi. So till they believe the drivers have achieved some level of maturity, they might sign up Kimi Raikkonen for a single year at Red Bull for 2014. This is subject to the fact that Kimi might not continue in Formula 1 in 2014. Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel have a great relationship on, and off the track, so a move might be possible.

Kimi Raikkonen at Red Bull next year?
Image by Sutton Images

But there's one factor that makes Lotus a very good team for Raikkonen to thrive at. Lotus doesn't make Kimi do any PR work, and they don't involve in him team politics either. By shielding him away from the media, and PR work, Lotus can get the best out of Raikkonen, as the 2012 standing show quite clearly. 2012 was probably Kimi's best ever season in Formula 1. Kimi enjoys the privileges he receives at Lotus, and so there isn't much of an incentive to join Red Bull. Kimi prefers to enjoy his racing, rather than be outright successful, so there doesn't seem to be much of a case to join Red Bull. But if Kimi wants to win a championship, then he can do so with Red Bull. Red Bull has the budget, and the resource to do so, and Kimi might be tempted to sacrifice some of his PR freedom at Lotus to win a championship. There's no guarantee that either Red Bull, or Kimi want this move, but who knows what could happen next year.


UPDATE: As it turns out, I wasn't wrong after all. Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz said: "Kimi is cool and fast and always a candidate."So Raikkonen could spend his final year in Formula 1 with Red Bull, reunited with Adrian Newey from his McLaren days. Although it wasn't an entirely a successful relationship, their last year together in 2005 was a very good one. We saw Raikkonen wallop the competition with an extremely unreliable car. Now both men have gotten better over the years, and we could see ultimate dominance once again in 2014?

Read More

Formula 1 Melbourne 2013

Don't Copy From This Blog...

Kimi Raikkonen won a race that could probably the most exciting and coincidental on in years to come. He qualified on P7, and then using a 2-stop strategy, he cruised to a win. This also tells us how the cars stack up in terms of one lap speed and race pace.

@Sutton Images

Melbourne 2013 and Abu Dhabi in 2012 were uncannily similar. In both race, Raikkonen on P1, Alonso on P2, and Vettel on P3. In both races, Webber qualified P2, and had a bad start. Another interesting fact is
that all the podium finishers were in sitting in the first row on Thursday's press conference. Coincidence? I think so.

The qualifying of the pace of the cars couldn't really be analysed in Australia because of the rainy conditions, which meant that no one was really pushing, and many made mistakes. Raikkonen, for instance wasn't happy with himself after qualifying 7th. He believed that if he had pushed slightly harder and not gone slightly out of shape at the last corner, he could've qualified on the second row. But Red Bull were quick as usual, and the Mercedes duo were fast as well. Vettel was 0.4 seconds faster than his team mate, and 0.6 seconds faster than Lewis Hamilton who qualified third.

The qualifying results,

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:44.657	1:36.745	1:27.407	27
2	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:44.472	1:36.524	1:27.827	26
3	10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:45.456	1:36.625	1:28.087	29
4	4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:44.635	1:36.666	1:28.490	23
5	3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:43.850	1:36.691	1:28.493	26
6	9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:43.380	1:36.194	1:28.523	28
7	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	1:45.545	1:37.517	1:28.738	27
8	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:44.284	1:37.641	1:29.013	25
9	14	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:45.601	1:36.901	1:29.305	23
10	5	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:44.688	1:36.644	1:30.357	24
11	11	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber-Ferrari	1:45.930	1:38.067		19
12	15	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:47.330	1:38.134		19
13	18	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Ferrari	1:44.871	1:38.778		19
14	19	Daniel Ricciardo	STR-Ferrari	1:46.450	1:39.042		20
15	6	Sergio Perez	McLaren-Mercedes	1:44.300	1:39.900		18
16	17	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	1:47.328	1:40.290		19
17	16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1:47.614			11
18	12	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:47.776			10
19	22	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Cosworth	1:48.147			11
20	23	Max Chilton	Marussia-Cosworth	1:48.909			11
21	21	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham-Renault	1:49.519			11
22	20	Charles Pic	Caterham-Renault	1:50.626

The biggest shock was, watching the McLarens struggle. It's a ride height problem, so I expect them to be in the top 5 by China. Jenson Button made some good decisions in qualifying, so it wasn't a driver problem, and tyres benefit his driving style. The new faster degrading Pirellis also complement Kimi's driving style. Both Kimi and Jenson are kind to their tyres, and can use them very efficiently. They had problems with the 2012 tyres as they couldn't get them in their working temperature range due to their gentle driving style.

One race day, the track was dry, so the race pace of the cars was quite easy to figure out.

Red Bull doesn't have the race pace to match its qualifying prowess, or is it that Vettel isn't as good a driver as the others? He couldn't get past Adrian Sutil in a Force India on older tyres even though he was on fresher ones.

Mercedes is quick, but its not kind to its tyres, especially when Lewis Hamilton is at the wheel, and he is definitely not the smoothest driver around. Quick, but not kind to his tyres.

Ferrari has a good car. Nice to its tyres, and fast as well. Alonso knows how to get the best out of the car. Alonso was simply mega in Australia. He was smiling as well. He knows he can win the championship this year.

McLaren. No one has a clue why they are so off the pace. They might switch to the older 2012 spec car if the new car doesn't deliver. Jenson Button is furious. Although he might not show it, he definitely isn't a man who seems happy.

Lotus has the best car on the grid, its very very quick, and very kind to its tyres. Although Romain didn't impress by finishing 10th, I think he just had a bad day. Both Raikkonen, and Grosjean can extract the best out of the car. Raikkonen was the only driver who was comfortable pushing with a 2-stop strategy. He said he plenty to spare, and he simply wasn't pushing the car too hard. Kimi Raikkonen never lies, and it seems like the Lotus is the quickest car on in Kimi's hands on race day. Qualifying still seems to be an issue though. Kimi set the fastest lap of the race in the last stages of the race.

Force India was another surprise. It was very quick, especially in Sutil's hands. Although he wore down his super softs in the ending stages of the race when he went wheel to wheel with Hamilton in what could've been a very personal battle. They aren't the best of friends.

Sauber didn't put on a representative show as Hulkenberg didn't start the race due to a fuel line issue. Esteban, a rookie didn't really impress. So it's still to be seen how they stack up

Williams had a disappointing weekend, with Maldonado claiming the car was undriveable. Well he would, he if he got outqualified by his rookie teammate Bottas. Still, the car looks really slow.

Torro Rosso didn't impress much, but Verge put on a good show to finish 12th.

Caterham has the slowest car, and the drivers simply couldn't get anything out of it. Charles Pic didn't even qualify due to the 107% rule. An absolute horror show.

Marussia had a brilliant weekend, with Jules Bianchi impressing everyone in the paddock.

The final race standings,

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	58	1:30:03.225	7	25
2	3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	58	+12.4 secs	5	18
3	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	58	+22.3 secs	1	15
4	4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	58	+33.5 secs	4	12
5	10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	58	+45.5 secs	3	10
6	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	58	+46.8 secs	2	8
7	15	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	58	+65.0 secs	12	6
8	14	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	58	+68.4 secs	9	4
9	5	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	58	+81.6 secs	10	2
10	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	58	+82.7 secs	8	1
11	6	Sergio Perez	McLaren-Mercedes	58	+83.3 secs	15
12	18	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Ferrari	58	+83.8 secs	13
13	12	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	57	+1 Lap	18
14	17	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	57	+1 Lap	16
15	22	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Cosworth	57	+1 Lap	19
16	20	Charles Pic	Caterham-Renault	56	+2 Laps	22
17	23	Max Chilton	Marussia-Cosworth	56	+2 Laps	20
18	21	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham-Renault	56	+2 Laps	21
Ret	19	Daniel Ricciardo	STR-Ferrari	39	Exhaust	14
Ret	9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	26	Electrical	6
Ret	16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	24	Spin	17
Ret	11	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber-Ferrari	0	Fuel System	11

Read More