Looking forward to the Hungaroring

Due to unavoidable circumstances I was unable to watch the previous 2 GPs & thus no reviews. I have vowed not to miss the next at Hungaroring.
If you are a Ferrari fan, then the last two races have not been the best of the season. Massa & Kimi have just barely managed to score some points.
As history has it, Hungaroring, unfortunately has been McLaren's strong hold since long or should I say McLaren have managed to do better than their competitors Ferrari here.
McLaren had a double point finish last year with Lewis winning, Kimi was the lone point finisher for Ferrari here last year.
The year before it was Jenson Button in the BAR Honda taking the top step of the podium. Both the Ferraris managing to scrape the last available points more than a lap behind the race leader while McLaren got to the second step of podium.
In 2005 Kimi won here, again in a McLaren ahead of the Schumacher brothers in Ferrari & Toyota.
So it is time for Ferrari to get their act together & pull a win out of the box? Only time will tell. It will be more interesting to see which driver will be given preference from now on at the Ferrari & BMW camps. Only a few points separating the drivers in each team. Will the next two races give us a pattern?
We already have a pattern at Mclaren, whatever Ron Dennis may claim, it is no rocket science that Lewis is McLaren's No1 contender for the Drivers' Championship.
Apart from the top 3 teams I would keep an eye out for Vettel in STR Ferrari car. Ever since the announcement that he will be replacing the big shoes of DC in Red Bull car, he has upped his performance.
Williams I feel have sort of lost their way midway into the season. Nakajima has been consistently improving.
Another team to watch out is Toyota. they have started to perform better since the past 4-5 races & are seriously looking at defending their Team4 contender title behind the top 3.
So all the above boils down to the point that this weekend will be a must watch.
catch you after the race on Sunday.
Till then & now, Drive Safely.

Massa leads a Ferrari 1-2 in France

A strong Ferrari 1-2 saw the end of the French connection this season. Half way into the 2008 season, Ferrari seems to be unbeatable leading the constructors’ championship. Last year round it was here that Kimi started his fight back to go on & win the 07 Drivers’ Championship.

The Mangy Cours circuit at Nevers, France which has been a Ferrari stronghold since long saw a strong performance from both their drivers. Both the drivers put a very strong performance to take home another all Ferrari first row in qualifying & victory.

Kimi outpaced his teammate to take pole. First stint saw Kimi go in & come out of pitas as the race leader. But it was not to be so for long. After he had built up a lead of around 10 seconds on his teammate, there was a mechanical failure on his car half way thru the race. The exhaust pipe broke loose &started flapping thus reducing the balance of the car. Massa gained close to a second every lap to take race control from then on. At the end of the race, Kimi’s car had a hole burned near the engine on the chassis. It was a totally dejected Kimi on the podium.

Lewis put in a strong performance recording a 3^rd fastest time which effectively meant he started 13^th on the starting grid courtesy the 10 place penalty handed to him in Canada. If you think this was all then hold your horses he had to face another penalty during the race which effectively meant he had no chance of a points finish. He was handed a drive thru penalty for straight lining the chicane and going one position up in the 4^th lap. Lewis battled all day, first behind the Renaults & battling thru the field to finish 10^th on the grid.

The French GP this year saw a huge number of penalties being handed to drivers. First it was Lewis & Nico being given the 10 place penalty for their incident in Canada. Hekki faced a 5 place penalty for impeding Mark Webber during Q3 of qualifying. Rubens had to change his gearbox the morning of the race which meant he also was handed a 5 place penalty.

The French race this season this year saw just one retirement & in those terms it was one of the most boring races of the season. Except for some spirited driving by Hekki to take home as many points as possible & an equally determined race by Trulli to defend his third position till the end rest was nothing much to write home about.

There was a small incident when the Honda car of Button clipped the back of Bourdais. This caused damage in the nose & even after replacement of nose, Button seemed to struggle a lot. This forced his retirement. His teammate who got penalized for a gearbox change managed to end the race in 14^th just ahead of Heidfeld. After a 1-2 finish in Canada the BMWs were not as strong as they were expected to be in Nevers circuit. Heidfeld struggled all weekend long in his BMW ending his race in 13^th. His teammate who now has a clear chance of taking the Drivers’ Championship also struggled despite finishing in 5^th just behind Trulli & Hekki.

Hekki can again feel he was undone a bit by circumstances. It was all about being in the wrong place at the wrong time for the Finn. Just when he was on his cool down lap he found himself in the last place he wanted to be. He was caught behind Williams car of Kazuki Nakajima & behind him was Mark Webber setting a qualifying lap. This resulted in spoiling Mark’s timing in the dying moments of the qualifying session. Despite the fact that he managed to anchor his car in order to let Webber go the damage was done. This happens to be the second time Hekki was involved in this sort of incident this year. Ron Dennis quoted this as a positional confusion.

The Toyotas seem to have turned a new leaf with Trulli & Timo doing well in qualifying to manage a 4^th & 8^th respectively. While Trulli stole the 3^rd position from a determined Alonso to defend it aggressively till the end, his teammate had to race Lewis for quite a while & then Vettel for track positions. Timo seems to have settled more so well in the Toyota team now.

Mark Webber in the Red Bull Renault team car out raced & out qualified his teammate DC to bring home a very well deserved 6^th. DC managed to stay ahead of his fellow Brit Lewis in McLaren. A very good show from the RBR Renault team, in front the home crowd of their engine suppliers Renault. So good a performance that they out paced the home team! The home team did not disappoint the crowd either, both the Renault cars finishing in points for the first time.

Alonso was for the first time outpaced by his teammate Nelson who was ever so determined to do well. He drove a very hard fought race fending off Lewis for some time & then racing his senior & Renault’s No. 1 driver Alonso. At the Adelaide hair pin, with a lap or so to go, Alonso went too far taking the outside line this gave Nelson a sniff of a chance & that was all he needed. Nelson grabbed the opportunity with both hands & finished ahead scoring his first points of the season.

The Williams team had a forgettable weekend. Despite both drivers finishing the race, no points were scored. Only consolation would be that of Nakajima out pacing & out qualifying his team mate Nico. Nico needs to pull up his socks & do well the next race.

The Force India cars were having a bad weekend. The handlings of the car being a reason of complain with both the drivers. Fisi had a terrible accident in this circuit back in 2002 & he still admits that memories of the race still scare him.

The STR Ferraris of Vettel & Bourdais started 12^th & 14^th on the grid. Vettel managed to keep his position on track while Bourdais slipped a further 3 places.

At the end of the French GP the Drivers’ Championship has a new driver on top in form of Massa. Massa becomes the second driver after legendary Senna to lead the Drivers’ Championship. 4 races 4 different drivers on top what more could spice up the race?

Massa leads Kubica by 2 points with Kimi trailing a further 3 points. Ferrari seems to have the Constructors’ Championship in the bag with a 17 point lead over BMW.

The next race is in Silverstone Circuit in Great Britain in 15 days time. But, before the race the teams get to do a testing in Silverstone this week.

So stage is all set for a Royal Battle.

Till then & now… Drive safely.

Maiden victory at Montreal

Another incident packed race unfolded at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal. BMW picked up their Maiden victory, Maiden double podium finish & for the first time a BMW driver leading the Drivers’ Championship. The best weekend of the career for the Munich based team since inception. At the start of the race not many would have fancied for a BMW on the first step of the podium but as things unfolded it was to be so.

On Saturday the track held up pretty well for a deteriorating one. It was business as usual for the front runners. Kimi came up with a stunning lap at the dying minutes of the qualifiers to take P1 but was not to be. Pole stole Pole from the Finn. The Poles’ party hopes were dashed by Lewis Hamilton who took his maiden victory here 12 months back.

The starting grid had all the major constructor teams in the lineup from positions 1-5 McLaren, BMW, Ferrari, Renault, Williams. A clean start to the race saw Lewis pull away almost 8-9 second lead over Robert & Kimi. Nico had a good start as he managed to get past Alonso in the first few corners.

It was as if the race had decided to be one dimensional. Adrian Sutil in the Force India car, the hero of the Monaco race had other plans. His brakes got very hot & were on fire. He was forced to stall the car to the side. This caused the first safety car periods.

Most of the front runners went in as soon as the pit lane entry opened. Lewis came speeding & crashed into Kimi who was waiting for the pit lane exit to open. Nico also clipped the rear of Lewis at the same time. It was really busy one way pit lane traffic with close to top 7 cars pitting.

After this incident, Robert Kubica was in the lead with Nick behind. Alonso joined behind Nick. Massa was a victim of circumstances as he was called into pits again to be properly fueled. When Massa rejoined he was at the back of the field in 18^th place & forced to fight thru the traffic to go up again. Massa ended his race on 5^th.

Hekki had a clean race throughout but clearly he was struggling & did not finish in the points. He had to battle it hard with Vettel in the leading STR car. Vettel managed to score the last points up for grabs.

Toyota meanwhile had a great outing at Montreal with a double points finish. The best result for the team this season. Timo Glock finished 4^th & Trulli 6^th. Both the drivers were on a single pit stop strategy. As the record books would have it the Toyota drivers lead the race for a brief period of 5-6 laps. Glock seemed to be very high on fuel as he pitted in 42^nd lap of the race.

Honda too were on a single pit stop strategy for Rubens. Rubens drove well & finished in the points, but could have finished higher than he did. Jenson did well to finish in 11^th after stating from the pit lane. Honda is showing improvements as the season progresses. Ross Brawn is surely having a big impact.

The story of the day belonged to a veteran of 230+ GP starts. Yes, it was the grand old man DC. DC managed to put a great show by finishing on 3^rd step of the podium. His teammate Webber, who out qualified him did not have much of a finish as he ended up finishing 12^th.

Williams team did not manage to score any points with Nico finishing 10^th close behind Hekki while Kazuki had to retire. The STR team would be happy to see both the drivers finish the race. While Vettel managed to score the last available points his teammate Bourdais finished 13^th.

Renault had a double retirement. Alonso who was on a hot pursuit of Nick Heidfeld had a gearbox failure & spun his car close to the escape route on the track. His teammate the much under pressure Nelson managed to race ferociously against the Toyotas till he too was forced to retire with technical problems.

The end of the Canadian GP leaves us in a peculiar situation with BMW leading the Drivers’ Championship & Ferrari managing to hold on to Constructors’ Championship just 3 points clear of BMW. Kubica leads Drivers’ Championship with Lewis & Massa tied in 2^nd with Kimi in 4^th.

With the season headed for a Battle Royal, we head to French GP in 15 days time. Hope the French Connection brings the teams good luck.

Till ten & now, Drive safely.

Vindication at Monaco

A hysterical Lewis took the checkered flag in the 66^th GP at Monaco one of the oldest tracks in F1. The race was nothing short-of excitement. Lewis was busy planning the evening celebration party on his slowdown lap even as he was trying to catch his breath.

Ron Dennis would have felt vindicated after a win at Monaco just to the fact that after a win in Australian GP, the first step of podium some how eluded the silver car. Lewis now leads the Drivers’ Championship

A 1-2 starting for Ferrari team meant they had the best shot at the podium. A perfect qualifying lap by Kimi saw him on pole position surprising the McLaren. But his joy was short lived as Massa pulled out another stunner to steal pole from his teammate by 87 thousands of a second.

If the narrow street circuit with a lot of down force was not enough, then rain made it just that much more interesting. So a wet start was inevitable. It could mean that any one or anything could happen. So it did. Hekki’s car stalled due to some technical failure in his steering wheel. He was forced to start from pits despite qualifying in top 4.

Kimi did not have a very good start which meant Lewis grabbed the opportunity with both hands and took P2. The order seemed to stabilize by the end of lap 2 but not for long as Lewis ran close to the walls & punctured his tyre. But luck seemed to be on Lewis’ side as a safety car scenario saw him in P7 & close to the front runners.

The winner of the last 2 GPs at Monaco had a very ordinary race first having a brush with the barriers & a busted tyre & then came very close to BMW’s Nick Hiedfeld & had to pit to change his front nose. His team mate the man under severe pressure at Renault team, Nelson Jr drove a very inspired race till he had to retire. That wouldn’t help his cause3 in the team. There are rumors that the Renault team are looking to replace him half way into the season.

Red Bull Racing Team had a mixed weekend with Mark Webber finishing 4^th but his team mate the more experienced David Coultard crash tested the car not once but twice. DC had a decent start to the weekend qualifying into Q3, but in Q3 all he could manage was to crash test the car at the exit of the unique tunnel at Monaco. Luckily there are a plenty of escape routes now which saw him get out of the car unscratched. The crash caused him to change his gear box & hence a 5 place penalty. But the race was nothing much different for Dc as he again went into the barriers near one of the casinos.

Monaco GP saw the debut of long due STR3 chassis. Just as the chassis seemed to be performing very well for the STR Ferrari team, Bourdias ran into the already stalled DC near a casino making look like a car park. Luckily DC hadn’t yet attempted to get out of his car. The young German, Sebastian Vettel on the other hand had a wonderful race finishing 5^th ahead the experienced Rubens & just behind Webber. Vettel also kicked off his championship with the first points of the season.

Honda team had a great weekend with both their drivers finishing & Rubens kicking off his championship campaign. A strong 6^th place for Rubens. He just showed that in a very low down force circuit why he is so highly rated.

A totally pointless day for Toyota despite a double finish. They will be hoping to better their fortunes in the coming races.

The highlight of the weekend was the chip-of-the-old-block, Nico Rosberg putting in stunning laps all weekend & qualifying 6^th in the qualifiers. Nico in the Williams Toyota team was one of the drivers who could have changed the results, but was not to be. Nico was putting in stunning laps despite setbacks of having to change his nose. He kept driving that so close to the barriers throughout the weekend & if there was a title for on-the-limit-driving then he would have been the winner. He seemed to push his luck a bit too far; as he entered the swimming pool complex he had a scary accident that ended his race & changed the race for quite a few.

Fisichella in the Force India F1 car became the second most experienced active Formula 1 driver with 200 starts. An incredible achievement regarding that only 6 others have managed to go past 200 start mark. His record weekend was not so record s he had to change his gearbox causing him to start at the back of the grid & finally retire.

One driver who had impregnable determination & concentration was Adrian Sutil in the Force India car. He had driven the race of his life in his short stint in F1 till he was forced to retire 7 mins to checkered flag. He was totally inconsolable in the pits when his race had ended so tamely. At the start when everyone was concentrated at the front of the order, Adrian had a fantastic start overtaking 7 cars! & in Monaco where overtaking is almost impossible. He was on a single stop strategy making up places others around him pitted. What would have boosted his morale was the voice from pits telling him to race the two scarlet red Ferraris he was splitting.

The safety car after Nico’s crash meant that Kimi was ever so near to overtaking him. Both drivers were pushing very hard. As luck would have it, Kimi lost control of his car at the very same point where DC had crash tested his Red Bull car on Saturday. The car snaked around & wound up into the back of Adrian’s Force India car. It was in the pits where he came to change his tail they found that his rear suspension had broken & ended his race.

Ferrari’s fortunes changed faster than a roulette wheel in any of the many casinos decorating the street circuit in Monaco. They had a wonderful & dream start to the weekend with a 1-2 start on the grid. Then after Lewis’ brush with barriers a 1-2 seemed to be destined but was not to be. The Ferrari party was stopped by not any car but by race stewards who found that the reigning world champion’s car didn’t have all its wheels fitted within the stipulated time before start of race. Kimi was slapped a stop & drive penalty. After this the Scarlet team seemed to play one wrong card after the other on the table. Kimi clipped his nose after the penalty so had to pit again unexpectedly. Massa who was leading the pack with impeccable driving delayed his breaking by a split second. Consequence he ran off into one of the escape routes conceding race lead to Robert Kubica in BMW. After that it was a catch up game throughout…

As Kimi joined back with the third new nose to his car after ending Adrian’s race, he raced Hekki who had managed to come up to the last point scoring position. Both Finns were trading fastest laps & Kimi almost managed to overtake but Hekki defended pretty well in turn helping his teammate.

The race at Monaco was an extended race which lasted 2 full hours. At the end of which the checkered flag was waved giving Lewis his second win ahead of Massa & Kubica.

Now the points table show Lewis 3 ahead of Kimi & Massa fast catching up just a point behind his teammate. Ferrari still lead the constructors championship.

In fifteen days time is the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal which like Monaco has not been a favorite hunting ground for Ferrari. F1 getting more interesting as the season progresses.

Till then drive safely.

Sultan of Istanbul – Massa!!!

Massa has made a habit of winning the Turkish GP. On Sunday Massa drove a perfect race from pole to make it three in a row at Istanbul Park, Turkey. After Schumacher, it is Massa who has registered 3 wins in a row in a circuit.

The build-up to the Turkish GP was not all rosy 15 day gap between Barcelona & Istanbul races saw a lot of action go on off the track. There was sad news from Japanese team, Super Aguri as they announced their retirement. They would be missed as a racing outfit by new, upcoming drivers & engineers if not by the podium. Anyway, as is said in Japan Sayonara Super Aguri!!!

Coming back to the race, it was an eventful one. Not in terms of yellow flags or crashes, most of the drivers made it thru to the chequered flag. Massa as expected made a clean start but his team mate did not have such a good one.

Kimi choose to take the inside line to turn one. Hekki on P2 also choose the same. Both came close to their comfort zones & had a slight bump. While Kimi lost a bit of his front wing, Hekki suffered a puncher to his left rear tyre which meant his race was ruined & had to finish at a poor 12^th. Kimi choose not to change his nose so drove the race a bit subdued.

While characteristically most teams choose a 2 pit stop at Istanbul Park, Lewis went in with an aggressive 3 stop strategy. Thou it didn’t pay him much; he was satisfied & found his way back to the podium.

The only other big incident of the race was of Fisi in the force India car crashing into the back of Kazuki in the Williams car. DC for a change gave way to a much stronger & faster McLaren car of Hekki to pass him from the inside. Thanks a lot DC. We had a better race. Maintain this throughout.

BMW seemed to have a mixed day as they struggled to get the tyres to optimum temperatures. Both BMW drivers finished with points against their names. It was really good to hear the BMW engineers tell Kubica that they are racing Lewis, but so happened the BMWs finished 17+ seconds behind the podium finishers. Says something about their confidence in the car & driver! Nick on the other hand qualified on Saturday in 9^th so he did well to get up to 5^th.

Renault as always had a good race in comparison to the car they are having, courtesy Fernando Alonso. He too finished in points in 6^th place. His team mate had an average race & that is where the car actually belongs.

A great weekend for the RBR Renault team, both Webber & DC finishing 7^th & 9^th respectively. First time this season they managed to qualify to Q3. A good day for the Toyota team, they managed a double finish too.

A special day for Rubens Barrichello as he recorded most starts in F1 history, 257!! What an achievement. He has come a long way since he started racing 1993. 15 Yrs of F1 what a legend. Take a bow Rubens. Honda like all other teams had a good outing today with double finish.

STR Ferrari team had a not so good day. Bourdais caught one of the bumps at a turn & saw his race ending in a tame way. His teammate Vettel didn’t have a good day either as he finished last.

So the points tally at the end of the day show Ferrari 19 points clear of BMW & a further 2 points off McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship. In the Drivers’ standings it is still Kimi 7 points off Massa & Hamilton. Kubica & Nick are in strong 4^th & 5^th positions.

All in all a great race to watch out for at Monaco in 15 days time. Till then & now Drive safely.

Ferrari all the way...

A very good start to the European races for the scarlet red Ferrari with Kimi & Massa making it a 1-2 finish. It was a race marred by safety car sessions at regular intervals. Only 13 drivers were able to finish the race. There were a couple of engines smoking causing retirement & one long was due to Hekki ramming into the tyre barriers.

On Saturday, Massa was all set to take pole position when Alonso came up with a magical performance just stealing at the very last seconds, but his Spanish party was short lived as Kimi stole the pole position with impeccable driving on the limit.

Kimi was on a new engine & Massa on same engine as the one he raced in Bahrain. After turn one it was the two Ferraris ahead of Alonso. Lewis had a very good start & moved up one place ahead Kubica.

By the third lap Kimi had opened a very good lead but was to be undone by a Safety car. This saw the retirement of Sutil & Vettel. A very good start for the other Renault driver Nelson until he went off the track & then a collided with Bourdais. This marked the retirement for both these drivers.

The double world champion who came up with a super qualifying effort was everything go up in smoke courtesy the smoking Renault engine. Reliability taking a toll. He put up a very brave smiling face in front of his home crowd.

McLaren had a huge scare as Hekki rammed front on to the tyre barrier. This was not due to any driver error but was due to mechanical failures. He managed to give a thumbs up to the concerned crowd as he was stretchered off and after initial examination in the medical centre revealed no major injuries beyond concussion, he was airlifted to a Barcelona hospital.

BMW had a mixed day Kubica finishing in fourth & Nick had hard luck today Safety car causing the pit lane to close. Nick was low on fuel and could have caused the car to stall due to no fuel. He was brought in to be refuelled. This meant he had to serve a 10 second stop & a drive thru.

A mixed day for Williams team as Nico had to retire on the start-finish straight with an engine failure. Nakajima brought home points as a consolation. A similar story for Honda as Button came in strong 6^th position while Rubens had to retire.

Story for the Red Bull Racing team was no different with Webber coming home in 5^th position DC of late has been having crashes with drivers trying to overtake him from the inside. Guess the race stewards have to have the incidents investigated.

Fisi & Rubens had a slight collision in the pit lane. This caused the nose of Honda car to come apart & ended Rubens race. Fisi went on to finish the race but not before the Force India car had a good duel with the BMW of Nick for more than 5 laps. He had put a similar performance in Bahrain.

Trulli took the last points available while his team mate made it a double finish for Toyota team.

So at the end of the race all the points mean Kimi extends his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 9 points ahead of Lewis. Just one point each separating the 2, 3, 4 places. Ferrari take lead in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of BMW.

So the stage is set for another intriguing race in two weeks time at Istanbul park, Turky.

Till then & now drive safely.

Redemption after disastrous start…

Massa took a determined and much-needed victory at Bahrain today to kick-start his season ahead of Kimi and the two BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld in a race that had plenty of early action. Kimi played wingman bringing home a One-Two finish for Ferrari. Kimi was on the same engine that he used at Malaysia, second race on same engine meant he had to take more care of the engine. He drove a champions' race just a few seconds behind team mate Massa.

Kubica took pole for the first time ahead of Massa, Lewis and Kimi but the Pole's glory was short-lived as Massa clean beat him off the line to take the lead in turn one. There was action behind as Lewis slipped down to tenth and Heikki challenged Kimi for third throughout the first three corners, eventually yielding to the Ferrari. By end of Lap3 Kimi blasted past Kubica in turn one to set up a Ferrari one-two.

There was more action down the order as Lewis found himself behind former team mate Alonso and clipped the rear of the Renault, destroying his front wing. Ron Dennis almost banged his head on the pit counter in frustration as Lewis bounced off the back of Alonso; a racing error that effectively ended the competitive weekend for him. Lewis pitted at the end of lap three, rejoining at the back of the field.

Lewis seemed to be struggling with his McLaren's handling and was not making any progress down in 18th. Lewis made it up to fourteenth as everyone else pitted around him and overtook Fisi for thirteenth in turn one after a very fierce battle that lasted for more than 5 laps. At the end of the same lap Lewis pitted again to find himself behind the Force India car at the end of the race.

A special day for Force India Team as they move a step closer to achieving their dream. Both Fisi & Sutil completed the race for the team & one could say, if they continue the form shown in Bahrain, surely they are always present to grab points if the front runners have a bad day. Fisi had another good fight with the Honda Car of Rubens. He came very close to overtaking only to find the car not good enough yet.

Timo Glock, in the other Toyota car had some nervous moments defending his place from Alonso. Alonso was furious as he could not find a way past the Toyota car. Renault have a lot of work to do before the European races start in Barcelona. Hope testing there helps them. Last time round Alonso famously said that he had brought a few tenth's to McLaren team. McLaren have two new drivers in their lineup & Pedro doing the testing. It seems evident now.

At the back, Button lost control down the inside of the hairpin and slid into the side of David Coulthard, losing his front wing and pushing them both temporarily off track. Button pitted for repairs but eventually retired with too much damage to continue. Before the DC-Button incident button set the fastest lap of the race. Button found out that DC is not a very generous driver as did Massa in Malaysia.

Before the first set of pit stops both Ferraris were trading fastest laps. What would have been more humiliating for Lewis than being lapped by both Ferrari cars.

Heikki ended up fifth for McLaren, taking a mere four points for the team. Another good run for Trulli taking sixth for Toyota. Mark Webber claimed two points for Red Bull in seventh ahead of Nico Rosberg, getting Williams back into the points with eighth. All these points mean Kimi takes the lead of the drivers' championship & BMW for the first time are leading the constructors' championship.

Next race marks the start of European races. Home race for Alonso. He will want to put on a good show. Ferraris after the One-Two finish will want to continue their good run. BMW will look to defend the constructors' title they are leading. McLaren, I feel will bounce back. So all the makings of a great fight.

Till then & now drive safely.