In what could be classified as one of the most intriguing & astonishing races of the 2009 F1 season, the terrific veteran Giancarlo Fisichella put the Force India on podium with an emphatic 2nd place at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Franchorchamps. Yep, its true! Force India made it to the podium!! It also pocketed some very valuable points after almost 30 desperate attempts to enter the points tally! Guess how ecstatic the team boss Mr.Vijay Mallya & the entire crew of Force India would have been!
It was seeming like a weekend completely bewitched by Fisichella! He provided the 1st surprise by putting his Force India on P1 during the 1st qualifying session(Q1), then he was the 2nd fastest at the 2nd qualifying session(Q2), a session which saw the favorites like Jenson Button & Lewis Hamilton manage to achieve a meek P14 & P12 respectively.Force India’s 2nd driver Adrian Sutil also qualified a stunning P11! And then came the true big sensational moment, the final qualifying session(Q3).Nick Heidfeld provided the 1st breakthrough for BMW by putting a good lap-time on the charts, but was outclassed at the final moments of qualifying by Toyota’s Jarno Trulli. And then the Fisichella magic! He put the entire racing fraternity into a momentary standstill when he timed the fastest lap in his Force India Mercedes, giving the team its 1st ever pole position! A glorious feat, an amazing achievement. Everybody was dumbstruck! They couldn’t believe their eyes! A Force India on P1! Mr. Vijay Mallya & his team were having the time of their life. Then the following Sunday, warm yet uptight , had loads of thrilling & chilling bites in reserve for the motorsport fans. It was an all Italian front row with Fisichella on pole & Trulli on P2, a rare scenario. As the 5 red lights eliminated, Fisichella made a good start, cruising to the lead. A major crash on the opening lap itself forced title contender Jenson Button return to pits & the podium favorite Lewis Hamilton retired due to the collision with the Renault rookie Grosjean. The race was then yellow flagged & Safety car deployed, the cavalcade of the world’s fastest cars was led up & down the hill for almost 3 laps by Giancarlo Fisichella. Then on lap 3 , Ferrari’s samurai, the iceman Kimi Raikkonen casually overtook Fisichella, thanks to the magical KERS! Yeh, we can only imagine how frustrated & disappointed Fisichella would have been with that! (His car lacked the KERS technology).But still, Ferrari is a Ferrari, right!
Actually , what was really supernatural in the race was the way Fisichella drove his car. He constantly kept pushing hard & made no mistakes whatsoever. And everything worked well for Ferrari & Force India as they finished first & second respectively. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel finished a surprising third! And the matter of fact here is that Fisichella was only 0.9 secs behind Raikkonen as they crossed the checkered flag! Now that’s a stupendous achievement by Fisi. Flawless driving, well managed pit strategy & superb support by the pit crew helped this estranged & much criticized team earn the dream of their life. A podium finish & 8 well deserved points. Patience & perseverance finally paid for Mr.Mallya & his team. Kudos !! Guess that rabbit incident bestowed a lot of good fortune to the team & the driver as well! Whatever, it was a wholesome team effort that earned the rewards.
After this marvelous performance by Fisi, speculations rife of his mid-season transfer to Ferrari, who are struggling too hard to find an able replacement for the injured Massa. With Badoer failing miserably to produce anything sweet for Ferrari as the team’s 2nd driver, they are in a serious quest for a better contender, ahead of their home race coming in 2 week’s time at Monza, Italy. But, whatever might be the problems with these big teams, its been the smaller, less hyped teams that have been delivering surprises all thru the season. Its nice that now, Force India too has joined the foray. Hope we get to see many more of such exciting, astonishing races. Hope Formula 1 enjoys some fine patronage & tastes more success & glory in the days to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment