The Race Evading Questions

 Finally you can see the results of the engineers’ witchcraft in which they were involved during the winter and evaluate (approximately) teams’ possibilities. But this time everything was completely different. Did you get the answers? I personally have even more questions now.

Friday’s practice sessions passed as usual. Perhaps, drivers were a bit more cautious: they had to treat their engines in a more tender way than they used to.  Saturday brought much more fun! By the way, Jarno Trulli proved to be not a bad prophet. (You must have read Toyota’s Friday’s press-release.)

Fisichella was first who risked changing to “dry” tyres. As expected, his advantage on the circuit enveloped by sunshine was about two (!) seconds. The qualifying was near to its middle when the torrential rain broke out. The shower just washed away Massa and M.Schumacher. At that moment I was ready to bound around the flat! Then it was clear: nobody will be able to move Trulli from his second place! Though I felt sorry for Ralf who could not put up a good show.

6 March, Sunday, 02:45 a.m. The alarm-clock is ringing. It’s odd why it’s ringing…..today is Sunday… How could I forget?! It’s time to watch the second qualifying! I jump out of the bed, turn on the TV. No sign of rain, thanks to God. Jarno Trulli does a clean lap, the same clean lap he did on Saturday. He lines up 2^nd  in general. Excellent! And what is also important, he shows the 4^th time in the second session. That means, Toyota is quite good. But why is Ralf so far away? Obviously he did not manage to set up the car in a proper way because of Saturday’s rain… It is forbidden to change any settings except for the settings of the front wing.

I’m going to bed. The race starts in three hours.

06:45 a.m. Time to get up. The start goes smoothly. Well, Trulli was always notable for making a good start. He is running rather fine. It’s not likely that he can catch Fisichella, but he pulls away from Coulthard. Evidently David restrains all the other drivers. So JT is in with chance of…..OK, it’s better not to make a foregone conclusion. The 19^th lap. What do I see?! The Italian is going to the pits…..and goes away only 7^th! Losing five places at once! The rest of the race turned into quiet creeping down the order. After the second refuel the chance to score some points was blown…

Finish. Renault gets the win and the 3^rd place in the first race of the season. Who could think of that really (apart from their supporters, of course)? When Briatore was shaking the hands of the team’s members, only a shadow of smile stayed on his face. Alonso? Somehow his happiness vanished too quickly.

Whose idea was it to call Jarno Trulli in so early? Obviously Toyota’s strategists lost in the situation when their driver was running so high… Though I cannot say this about Red Bull. Hopefully, they will come to the right conclusion about the race. And next time they will be able to make the most of their advantage. No matter, what is the cause: caprices of the weather, leaders’ failures or the results of their hard work. We still have 18 (!) races ahead.

The Saturday’s shower upset the apple cart. M.Schumacher, Raikkonen, Button just amazed me. The title challengers (as they call themselves) were just driving one after another not even trying to attack. How powerful are the top teams in fact? How good is the new Toyota? Can they really threaten the leaders sometimes or do they have only Sauber and Red Bull as their main rivals? The questions are the same as on the eve of the championship. There are no answers for a while.  We should wait and see. Time will show.

Little Queenie

Special thanks to Linda Camper

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