Something Looks Familiar

This afternoon I was once again in the waves of ennui and surfing the internet trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my Sunday while feeling guilty of having to skip mass again and while also waiting for my wife to come home.

Emails checked. Multiply.com updates checked. Friendster.com scanned – not much friends in friendster (isn’t that an irony?). Favorites list scanned back and forth. Lurked forums done. Emails rechecked again for the nth time in just a couple of hours. Thankfully I’m free from mouse to keyboard ratio recording or I could be sending red signals to the ergonomics guru of our company.

Not really knowing how to bail out of my PC’s chair which is getting claustrophobic and butt-hot while I move the mouse aimlessly, I suddenly realized I was looking at Formula1.com’s interview with the recent winner of the Canadian grand prix, Robert Kubica. Having watched this last race’s replay (I was at work when it was shown live), I must admit that it was one of the most exciting I’ve seen so far this year. It was one for the books of fame and for the books of unfortunate events, which by the way F1 races will always be – even the famous Michael Schumacher has its own share of fame and shame.  This is the race wherein Lewis Hamilton rear-ended Kimi while on their way out of the pit lane - which brings the conspiracy theorists like me raise an eyebrow out of suspicion.  Hmmm.

Robert Kubica of course wasn’t one hypocrite not to accept the fact that he felt more hope when these two leading drivers crashed. It was not only his day to win but it was his day to lead the drivers’ championship with 42 points. After all, his consistency during the past races eventually paid off and June 08, 2008 became the day for him to be in the middle of the two drivers in the podium for the first time. It was the day BMW claimed the most coveted win of every races. It’s the day their sponsors have been waiting for…and wait, something looks familiar in the picture. Ahhhh…our company’s logo.

I’ve got used to seeing Mclarens and Ferraris (Renault, of course included) exchanging top positions for years that it took me until now to realize that right beside BMW’s logo is Intel’s. It may have something to do with the fact that Intel’s Philippine site is closing this year that I forgot to cheer my heart out when the whole BMW team was cheering and savoring the huge champagne during the awarding ceremony.

BMW and Intel’s win may have been late to be fully relished especially for us working for the latter, but as they always say, “A win is a win”. Now I don’t know if I’d be celebrating next time if BMW takes the 1-2 position once again. Hopefully yes.

Go BMW. Go Intel. Greetings coming from a Ferrari fan.

***

Frankly speaking, i never thought the BMW guys behind have any chances of winning a 1-2. Now, I stand corrected. Taken on April 2007 in Suria KLCC.

Day 3 (The Hottest Race)

This is the day! This is what we came for.

With my red shirt on and my wife donning a white shirt with a bicycle print on it (a bad sign?), we readied and waited for 11 am. It’s our shuttle’s pick up time (we paid a return trip to and from Sepang, which costs us RM100 each). We will be on our way to Sepang F1 Circuit for the much-awaited race. We will be sharing the ride with other hotel guests – a German father & son, Indian couple, & a Filipina with two of her sons.

The trip took us a couple of hours before we reached the area. The road to the circuit was jam-packed with cars, taxis and buses. On that day, almost all roads lead to F1. And with the blistering sun worsening the wait, other cars had to pull over to cool off; Others had to roll down their windows, as air-conditioning seems futile. Good thing we had a proud Malay driver giving us insights of their race track, making us more eager to get out of the van and have the race started in front of us.

Despite the confusion and uncertainty of our time of arrival, the sight of uniformed fans (also stuck in traffic) wearing the dominant red Ferrari, blue and white BMW, & yellow and blue Renault team shirts gave me goosebumps all over. It’s race day indeed.

Eventually, we arrived at PC3. This is where we had to take an approximately 100 meter-walk to the C3 entrance. Along the way, we sprayed ourselves with sun block lotion – a must on this hot event. Our ticket is free seating (or standing), which makes it more compelling to do so.

After another hour of waiting (and watching some of the pre-race programs), we finally heard the roar and whine of the F1 cars during the pre-warm up lap. I was shooting a video and was about to say a couple of insights & introduction, but the excitement and delight of seeing the cars drove by got me teary-eyed and felt a lump on my throat. In the end all I can utter is “Finally!”.

As the Star Sports hosts on TV would say, “…the five lights illuminate…the lights are out…the race is on…”, the race started with the two Ferraris on the front row. Unfortunately, it changed all so quickly that by the time it passed turn 8 which was at our right, one of the Mclarens already started gaining some distance from the two Prancing Horses. At this point in time though, we actually didn’t care yet. The rhythm of the 20 cars passing in a blur in front of us is just music to our ears and pure spectacle to our eyes.

By the middle of the race it became clear who is winning this one. It was a bit disappointing to see our favorite team trailing behind the two Mclarens that at some point I heard my wife shouting an cheering for another team. She’s turned into a double agent.

At the end of the 56 laps the race winner, in order, was Alonso, Hamilton and Kimi.

After the all the finishers were done with their victory lap, the crowd at C3 started packing up (and sadly, leaving most of their thrashes behind). It is pointless to stay, the awarding ceremony is out of sight. The Mclaren fans holding their flags up high, the Ferrari fans down. My wife didn’t care anymore. No point crying over spilled milk. She actually posed in front of a couple of team flags as souvenir for this race.

We met up with the rest of the Duta Vista guests at PC2. The Indian couple’s the lucky one this time. Their team won and somehow, we had fun reviewing the race while our van was crawling at the traffic once more.

We arrived at the hotel by past 8 p.m.

Next: Day 4 (Chow Kit & The Monkeys)

Finally! F1! Fast Cars…

Finally! F1 Sepang Tickets at last!!!!!!! (Pardon the exclamations, but it’s been our much awaited event for this year).

Since my wife and I fell in love with this fast paced sport, we’ve been dreaming to see it live. So last year I was thinking that if ever we’d have to get out of this country for a vacation together, it would be the best place and time to do so. I just don’t know if she’s been thinking that way too or even ahead of me. I just know she’s been dying to see either Michael Schumacher or Kimi Raikkonen in person, win or lose. And eventually when I blurted out “we need a vacation abroad”, there was no contest, no protest – F1 Sepang is it. Disneyland is out of the picture.

And today, after a couple of months since we purchased the tickets online (and doing some blunder on the transactions) and after all the anxiety of waiting for it to be delivered, it’s now in our possession, in pristine condition. Those guys (esp. Muna) at malaysiangp.com did a very good job.

Sepang, here we come!!!