ten ₱esos

I just watched a Formula One race on television – the season-opener in Melbourne, Australia. The race began at 5 p.m. there  – 2.p.m. here in Malaysia. Racers of Brawn GP, formerly Honda F1, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello had qualified Saturday to start in positions one and two! An auspicious start for Brawn GP, which as Honda F1 had been languishing for years.

From the start, Jenson roared away from the field behind him as if he’d been launched by a catapult. Rubens botched the start somehow, almost stalled, shifted into first gear, lagged far behind, got punched in the rear by a McLaren racer, and some of us groaned in dismay as Ruben slewed sideways, speared a Red Bull car and other cars tangled and became damage. A very ugly start (around the first turn), and not indicative of Ruben’s immense talent and skills.

Jenson zoomed far ahead of everyone, taking a ‘commanding lead,’ as they say. He lead the second-place racer by seconds, lap after lap. On lap 36 I noted that the cameras around the track showed Jenson circulating all alone, corner after corner after corner for a lap with no one in sight ahead of him or behind him (boring for TV fans and fans in the stands) until the long view down the front straight, wherein wunderkind Sebastian Vettel showed-up five seconds behind Jenson, trailed by Pole Robert Kubica. If Kazuki Nakajima hadn’t trashed his Williams car (unforced error) and caused a long, boring caution period, in which Jenson lost his extensive lead, he would have been ten or more seconds ahead of Sebastian.

Ten laps later, Jenson had lengthened the span between him and the also-rans to twenty-three seconds. Of course he had only stopped for service once. But that lead enabled him to pit for fuel and tires (stopping in second gear) the rejoin the race in first place! The race was really his to lose. It was as if his car were burning special fuel or running a larger engine or special tires. Very strange for a racer and car of the former lackluster Honda team to lead so handily for so long.

I never knew why Heikki Kovalainen’s car was retired. I guess it may’ve been a victim of the first-lap chain-reaction.

Late in the race Kimi Raikkonen spun, seemingly alone, and I didn’t know why. He blew a chance to gather a few points. Felipe Massa quit his car around lap 47, and I didn’t know why.

Because he didn’t participate in a qualifying session, last year’s world champion, Lewis Hamilton, had been required to start the race in the eighteenth place, so he spent the race fighting his way forward through a field of slower cars.

So as I said, the race was Jenson Button’s to win or lose. On lap 50 I noticed that his teammate Rubens had climbed up to third place. What the heck? Then I heard that he needed to stop again for service. After pitting for a quick, 5.6 second service, he emerged in fifth place – good for him! He seemed to redeem himself after a lousy start and first lap.

Seven laps from the finish, Sebastian Vettel has approached Jenson — well, he had him in sight, at least. Jenson was no longer alone far in the distance. I didn’t think that Sebastien could catch and pass Jenson, though, unless JB made a mistake. I didn’t know if he’s reduced his pace to be ‘careful’ and reach the finish, using his own discretion or following counsel from his boss, Russ Brawn. After the race Jenson told interviewers that as the sun was sinking in the Australia sky and he faced the sun in some portions of the race track and tried to see deep-shadowed turns through a lightly-tinted visor elsewhere, he had been contending with horrible visibility in the most difficult corners, making them doubly difficult, so his pace was reduced.

Rubens Barrichello passed Nico Rosberg for fourth place, which would gain him more points, yet he wouldn’t get to join his teammate on the podium. Hotshoe Robert Kubica richly deserved to celebrate on the podium!

By lap 54, four laps from the end,  Lewis Hamilton had reached seventh place with help from the KERS in his car. Good for him. He’s in the points.

On lap 55, Sebastian Vettel crashed into Robert Kubica! Robert had bravely taken second place, but Sebastian, a true racer, wouldn’t accept third place and tried to regain second without enough space to overtake on the inside of a turn. Incredible! Robert’s team was upset! Their car was destroyed and their driver wouldn’t come home second or third, due to Sebastian’s impatience. Both drivers lost their potential podium places and championship points!

The BBC television crew divided the blame equally between the two racers,  asserting that Robert could’ve left a little more room for Sebastien to negotiate the turn if he could — to safeguard his own car. After most of a uneventful race — no passing of the first, second and third place cars, which you’d like to see  – race fans saw Robert seize second place then try to keep Sebastien behind him by disallowing an entire lane on the inside for his competitor to come back. Of course Robert wants to drive a fast racing line through the turn, at least approaching the apex. He’s racing, not driving a BMW road car safely on city streets.

A TV commentator referring to Robert said, “There’s no point in squeezing a guy who’s committed to a braking zone” because he’ll just punt you (without enough pavement to drive on). Well, that’s true. I’ve seen it countless times in ChampCar and Indy Car. Racers make desperate late-braking moves on the inside of turns without enough room and then knock-out the guys who were leading them through the turn. We know it happens dozens of times in top-tier open-wheel racing. So one could assert that the leader should not drive a tighter arc through a turn — not to enable passing but only to avoid being rammed.

I see that point of view. Preserve your car even if you lose a place. For years I liked drivers who were more gentlemanly and more conservative, whom I won’t name. Although I always respected them and appreciated them driving ‘cleanly’ and fairly and bringing their cars home, race fans all around me cheered for their harder-charging competitors, the racers barging down the inside of a  racer ahead in a turn, hazarding both cars.

The ‘bull in a china shop’ drivers whom I didn’t like to see banging into competitors were more often winners. Win or bust. Win or crash trying. Not satisfied with second, third or fourth, they’d risk taking out two cars and ruining two drivers’ finishes to try a pass. I didn’t like these reckless drivers, but they took race wins and found alot of fans. They were racers, not merely drivers.

Because erstwhile second- and third-place cars crashed (though Sebastian continued to drive his machine with only three tires on pavement), Rubens moved forward from fourth to second! As yellow caution flags waved around the course, we realized that Brawn GP, which had started 1 and 2 would finish 1 and 2 in its maiden race! Amazing rebirth for Honda F1, which had decided to ‘quit’ Formula One racing (for the most part).

Since December, when Honda said that it would sell or close-down its Formula One team, the team had been in turmoil and first put its 2009 cars on track three weeks ago, after the team sale. Yet the team has rebounded, not with survival in the middle of the pack, but in the top positions!

In truth, Honda spend a huge amount of money last year to develop the 2009-rules cars. Its total 2008 fiscal year budget was reportedly 300 million US dollars. Although it couldn’t buy a win in 2007 or 2008, Honda had spent alot for research and development of cars for 2009, and has continued to fund the team with a much, much smaller stream of ‘stay-alive’ money, because a big-money buyer for the F1 team couldn’t be found.

This season the huge investment has paid off, but not for Honda, insofar as it’s brand isn’t emblazoned big on the cars. They’re plain white and yellow-green cars with a few “Virgin” decals that had been applied yesterday.

Congratulations all-around, to Honda’s Formula One racing team, to Honda F1 management, including Ross Brawn and Nick Fry, who’re buying their team from the Japanese, and to Honda headquarters for funding the team for so long. I greatly respect Porsche and Honda as carmakers because they’re engineering-driven companies which have been racing since they were begun.

I am eager to watch the F1 race in Sepang, Malaysia next weekend. My covered (shaded) grassy hillside admission costs 200 ringgit – a bargain. I’m not flush with cash, and that’ll be my first F1 race, so I’m not buying a 500-1200 ringgit ticket. I’ll have a good time, I’m sure with general admission and access to “C2 – covered hillside.” I only wish that the Sepang Grand prix weekend included A1GP so that I could cheer Team USA and Team Malaysia!