The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : F-1 season on a fast track

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Friday, Mar 09, 2007
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F-1 season on a fast track

PARIS: No Michael Schumacher. A laid-back Kimi Raikkonen in bright red. Fernando Alonso and Ron Dennis together.

Add to that Formula One cars raising awareness of environmental issues, a first black driver and, of course, new rules.

This year's F1 season, which begins on March 18 in Melbourne should be a lot different than the season that ended last October in Brazil when Alonso won his second straight title and Schumacher said goodbye with his record seven titles.

Alonso has won the F1 title for the last two years for Renault, which also won the team championship. Now the Spaniard takes the prestigious No. 1, signifying him as champion, to McLaren.

``I do want to win more world titles; this is my aim during my career. To win one may have meant you had the best car that year, to win two I feel is a great achievement,'' he said on the team website this week. ``But to win another, all the big names in the sport and the drivers we remember won three or more world titles.''

Three-time champions

There's a very short list of three-time champions in Formula One: Jack Brabham, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Jackie Stewart, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost and, of course, Schumacher.

Alonso has a string of ``youngest'' records already — youngest to gain a pole position, win a Grand Prix and take one and two titles — and hopes to become a three-time winner shortly after turning 26 in July.

After years with the flamboyant Flavio Briatore as mentor and team boss, Alonso finds himself with a different-style boss — McLaren's controlled and analytical Ron Dennis, who is anxious to return to the top.

Dennis' McLaren team has not won a team title since 1998 and a driver's championship since 1999 with Mika Hakkinen. Raikkonen came close in 2003 and 2005, but with Alonso coming to the team it was inevitable he would be driving elsewhere in 2007.

When Schumacher finally quit, Raikkonen moved to Ferrari. Seeing the usually reserved Raikkonen — nicknamed ``The Iceman'' — in loud Ferrari red seems strange. But he was ready for a change — he was winless in 2006 after gaining seven victories, equal to Alonso, in 2005. This could be the year of the return of Ferrari, which last won anything significant in 2004. AP

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