The end of a sensational season!

Well it has ended. As fernando alonso crossed the chequered flag to hand the constructors to his team, the 2005 season came to a screeching halt. Whew! What a season. Of course, ferrari fans would have been waiting in a constipated frustration for the season to end. But it was the best season f1 could have got and at the right time. One more season of scarlet victories and i would have stopped watching f1!. The renault, underdogs before the season were flawless throughout the season especially the fernando combination worked like magic. After the surprise at australia, the renault proved that it was no freak victory by consistently reaching the podium. Fisichella missed out on the pie partly due to poor strategy, misfortune and what he called "car being tuned for fernando's style". If i have to pick the best races of the season i would choose imola, suzuka and monte carlo. Imola was a screamer in the last few laps. Schumi was at his best there. It was a nail biting race. In terms of incident filled and exciting race monte carlo was awesome with a number of over taking maneouvers. For that matter monte carlo always is exciting although a slow race. Suzuka coming at the fag end of the season threw a great race. Kimi was simply spectacular charging up the field. His final lap overtaking of fisi was awesome! Apart from this the season had some interesting races and some drab ones. Add to that a wierd indianapolis farce, we have a complete season. Michelin screwed up big time in indiana and with talks of one tyre supplier their future is under threat. But it must be said that michelin cars performed better in most of the tracks and we could see on more than one occasion, bridgestone tyres letting their teams down. Ferrari were on the receiving end on more than one occasion.

Ferrari's rude shock this season will have them pouring money, brains and effort into capturing their leadership the next season. Mclaren wont be behind. For a change, they might want to make their cars run the distance. Its high time kimi started winning championships or he will be another case of extremely talented sportman under unfortunate circumstances. it will be interesting to see renault's response next season. They have been excellent this season with the last race showing how much they could have pushed had they wanted to. It had been a really synchronised and strategic effort from them. But can they repeat it. Mclaren and ferrari are giants and they will be wounded giants.

There is a lot of shuffling in the driver line ups but not as exciting as the previous years shuffle that had people moving everywhere. Barri is moving. At last! He is going over to honda. Rifts were very evident when barri complained in the middle of the season that he was being asked to play second fiddle. Massa will have the oppurtunity of driving for the ferrari in a real race the next season. This will be an acid test for him although he has been with them before. No longer can he say that he didnt have the firepower at his disposal. Schumi will play his last season and will want to give it a 110%. He would definitely not want to end his career in a season like the one finished. Man thats bad for any sportsman!


Teams that dissapointed were BMW williams , honda and even toyota to a certain extent. Toyota promised so much at the beginning of the season but were not able to match the improvements of the Mclarens and the renaults. Truilly fizzled out later in the season and ralph promptly crashed at turn 13 ;) Sato! The man was outrageous. His performance was pathetic and was also involved in a couple of very stupid accidents that made a fuming truilly remark that the "man was dangerous". He should be out! But money speaks in f1! Talking of money, no amount of sponsorship could probably give narain a drive the next season. I am not saying that he was bad but he is still not upto the level. He showed his class in tricky conditions and very sporadic driving but one must accept that at the end of the day monteiro was better.

Honda would be looking to improve the next season atleast for their much overrated jensy. Button is good driver, agreed but the way they are fighting over him makes you feel that he is a prodigal driver. I dont see him as such. Barri would be joining him and honda will need to pull their socks together.

BMW will have a drive after having bought sauber. Hopefully things would get more competitive. There is a possible 11th team entering the fray next year and things hopefully will heat up.