Picture Perfect!!!

Everything seemed perfect this weekend. Everything seemed promising. There was no ferrari 1-2, there was no schumi dominance, there was an Indain on the track for the first time, Fisichella won a race (on his merit this time). Just as good a start as one could hope for, for the season. With the introduction of new rules in F1 this season the things aren't easy and not easy to anticipate either. TO summerize the major rules changes:

ENGINES
Engines must now last for two races, rather than just one, with any unscheduled change resulting in a 10-place penalty on the starting grid. That will put a premium on reliability. "Every second grand prix is going to be tough, particularly Malaysia
where we'll all be stepping into the unknown," says Williams'
Australian driver Mark Webber. The change is aimed at cutting costs and improving safety through reduced speeds. A two-race engine should be less powerful than one
designed for half the distance.

QUALIFYING
Qualifying will be held over two days, with the final session on Sunday morning. The Sunday and Saturday times will be aggregated. This will mean more action for the crowd at the circuit on Sunday but the starting grid and pole position will not be decided until shortly before the race.

AERODYNAMICS
Front wings have been lifted by 50mm, to reduce downforce, while the rear wings have been brought forward 150mm relative to the centre line between the rear wheels. The diffuser at the rear becomes shallower, at around 40 percent the height of 2004 levels. The changes, intended to cut downforce by about 25 percent to slow
cars on safety grounds, should make cars 'twitchier' to drive and more
spectacular to watch with less grip. "The focus in the factory has been to recover that downforce and obviously it won't be until the early races of the season that we'll see how well each team has done," said Williams' co-owner Patrick
Head. Testing has seen teams experiment with innovative aerodynamic parts,
notably McLaren with a horn-like wing on the engine cover.

TYRES
Tyres must last for qualifying and the race. The reason being that harder, and therefore more durable, tyres will reduce cornering speeds. This means that pit stops will look very different, with fewer mechanics involved as cars take on fuel without tyre changes, and will be less frequent. Tyres can be replaced in the event of a puncture or damage caused by debris, but not at a refuelling stop. Drivers would previously have changed tyres two or three times during a race, after around 70 to 100 km, in carefully orchestrated pitstops. They must now last around 350km.
All drivers will be allowed three sets of the same specification tyres for Saturday and Sunday. One will be used for Saturday practice, another for qualifying and the race while the third set is held back in case of a puncture. "The driver who can look after his tyres best, and has the feel for how to maximise tyre performance over a full race distance, will undoubtedly gain a performance advantage," says Renault's engineering head Pat Symonds. "I think we will see a change in the rhythm of races this year."

Now about the race, Indian rookie Narain Karthikeyan managed to do a decent job by completing the race in 15th position ahead of his team-mate and the running Minardi. He seemed pretty reluctant at the start though and Montiero looked better of the two in the initial stages.

About the front runners, Fisichella drove a perfect race without any mistake and really seems a contender of the driver's championship. However, personally I feel Alonso will end up higher than his team-mate and may even finish at the top of the leader-board.

Barichello managed to gain a few well earned positions through excellent ferrari strategy and so did Alonso. The driver who lost out on a podium position however, was DC who drove well only to end up 4th behind Alonso.

Surprisingly, Montoya did not make any move on anybody throuout the race. I wonder if the original, rash, daring Montoya is replaced by a more diplomatic, calm Montoya. I wonder what is it that these ESPNSTAR people have with Montoya. Heard one of the commentators saying that Montoya finally accepted that he is not the best F1 driver in a press conference and that he stands no chance even to beat his partner Kimi. I think if Montoya really thinks that way, he should have no place in F1 and as always if he has been pressurized to think and most importantly express himself that way, then everything is alright with F1 this year.

Sepang is next in the queue which demands maximus out of the car's engine. It could be one of the reasons why Montoya and some of the other guys did not push too hard may be.

Finally, Schumi as always managed to make another intelligent move. When he collided with Williams of Heidfield, he retired rather than continuing the race so that he may now use a new engine for the next race.

Hope that next race will also be as fun as this one.