Saitiria

Abu Dhabi: the Last One of the Season

Irina — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:26:03 +0000

It started with a scary accident involving Michael Schumacher. When Vitantonio Liuzzi’s car hit his, Michael had a narrow escape, but emerged from it apparently unharmed.

A safety car was deployed at once, and lasted for several laps, since the fuel spilled from the two cars took a lot of time to get cleaned up. After the re-start most interesting thing happened in the pit stops.

It’s because of the pit stops that our Vitaly found himself in front of Alonso – and finished 6th, a great result for him. Alonso, thus robbed of his title (Vitaly fought off all his attempts at passing) was probably as mad as hell at my compatriot, but I’m glad for Vitaly. He deserves to stay in F1, and he has proven it. Lewis also made me happy by finishing 2nd. Of course, I knew that his chances at becoming the World Champion were slim this year, and especially before the last race, but he fought till the end.

Goodbye till 2011, Formula 1! As always, we are looking forward to your return.

Another boring GP: Brazil

Irina — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 07:10:29 +0000

Dry races tend to be boring, even with a safety car deployed. This one was no exception.

Michael is improving his perdormance a little – hopefully his 2011 season will be less disappointing. Lewis has almost lost his chances to win the championship – though miracles do happen. Vitaly will probably lose his place in Renault for the next year.

Sad. But with only one race to go, the fans’ thoughts slowly drift toward the next season. And we hope to leave all our disappointments, whatever they might be, in 2010, to take out hope with us to 2011. But it doesn’t mean I don’t look forward to Abu Dhabi. I do.

Korea: it was a crazy début

Irina — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:08:49 +0000

First delayed for ten minutes and then stopped with the red flag for another 45 minutes, the race might never take place at all. The combination of torrential rain and approaching darkness made it a big question whether it would be run after all. I nearly gave up and went out.

Thing is, that morning I woke up to a broken video board in my home PC, which I needed to do some important and urgent things. And that evening we were expected by long-time friends to pay a visit we also couldn’t postpone. In between, hubby and I were to cash some money from one of our credit cards, buy a new board, install it… and yes, watch the Korean GP. A day is not really long when you need to squeeze so much into it, and when the GP lasts three hours instead of the usual two, it’s no fun.

But just as we were about to leave home, the announcement came: the race will be resumed in ten minutes. And it was worth it.

Not at first, of course – when all cars just go slowly behind a safety car, what’s the excitement in it? But the safety car left finally, and the interesting part began.

Colliding cars, cars running into tyre walls, cars with blown up engines – this race had everything in it. I wasn’t overjoyed, of course, when Vitaly Petrov hit the tyre wall and smashed his car beyond any hope – but at least nobody could call the first Korean GP boring. And Michael is finally starting to improve his performance – well, probably due to all the retirements, and yet…

The driver of the safety car has definitely earned his pay for this year and the next one, as well. I’ve lost count of the times he led the race.

Result? More intrigue. Again we won’t know the champion’s name until the very last race.

Japanese GP was interesting…

Irina — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 18:31:46 +0000

…but not exactly joyful. Lewis is swiftly losing his chances at winning the title this year; Michael just drives for pleasure. And what happened to Vitaly is absolutely unbelievable – especially the penalty he received after the race for causing an “avoidable” accident. Dear sirs, if this was an avoidable accident, please define an unavoidable one.

The race itself was quite eventful though, and fun to watch. What makes those wheels come off? Isn’t the eight engines for the season rule too tough to follow? Adrian Sutil’s engine shouted that it was.

The safety car always adds to the unpredictability of every race in which it is deployed, interfering with the teams’ strategies – and this GP confirmed it yet again. At least – unlike many others – it never attempted to put me to bed!

With three races to go (assuming Korean GP will yet take place) the intrigue of the championship strengthens. I just have to see the end of it!

Singapore: disappointments continue

Irina — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 17:48:58 +0000

Once again Lewis didn’t finish – though this time it wasn’t his fault. Once again Michael failed badly at the same time confirming again his reputation of a very rude driver. Once again Vitaly didn’t get any points.

The safety car was deployed twice during the race when broken cars stopped in the most inconvenient places blocking the racing line. The final lap added more drama when Heikki’s Lotus blazed like a torch. There was no firefighters in sight, so the brave driver had to put out the fire himself. He’d almost succeeded by the time a firefighter finally came running to help him.

Despite being quite eventful, the race nearly put me to sleep – F1 races do tend to have that almost hypnotic effect either due to their sound or due to the way the cars go round and round that Mulberry Bush. I feel that effect rather seldom, but my husband falls asleep nearly every time we watch F1 together. This time I managed to break the spell by drinking a cup of cold yoghurt.

The results, as I mentioned above, were quite disappointing to me, but I always watch F1 races regardless of the results. So I did this time, witnessing Kubica’s marvelous overtakes, the fire of the final lap and everything else there was to see.

Suzuka is to please (or displease) me in exactly fourteen days. Until that day, I’m back to my daily routine called life.

Monza brought me little joy

Irina — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:58:50 +0000

Lewis broke his car almost instantly – need I say more?

Well, this circuit is usually associated with high speed and high expectations. Speed was okay this time too, but as for expectations, I’m not so sure. There was little show in it.

Vitaly Petrov couldn’t do much starting from the 20th position after his penalty; Michael wasn’t all that brilliant either. As the race went forward without any notable events, I had to struggle against aproaching sleep. The only interesting episode was the start, but it was immediately followed by the upsetting event I mentioned above. Apparently Lewis still can’t keep a cool head when he sees Fernando so close to him.

What’s left? To wait for Singapore and hope for the best.

Spa: Eventful

Irina — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:14:20 +0000

When Vitaly Petrov made it from the 23rd position to the ninth within the first lap, it was great. When Michael Schumacher did something very similar, it was great too. But, like many times before during the season, it was Lewis Hamilton who brought me the most joy: he won and became the leader of the championship once more.

Small rain at the start didn’t make anyone to switch to either intermediate or wet tyres, and soo the track was dry again. A few collisions took place, the one between Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button being the most notable. Button, the innocent victim of Vettel’s manoeuvre, had to retire from the race at once: with a hole in his radiator he wouldn’t have gone far.

Vettel received a drive-through, and so the race was lost for him. Somehow I didn’t feel sorry for the guy. It’s not the first accident his aggressive driving style has caused, and it won’t be the last.

Lewis never gave anyone a chance to get ahead of him. Not even during his pit-stops. Despite the rain and all the safety cars. Splendid. Go, Lewis!

Landscape Design in Gelendzhik

Irina — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 08:43:11 +0000

As I mentioned many times in my previous posts, my daughter Janna and my parents returned from the Black Sea where they spent two weeks in a resort town of Anapa. During their stay they went to many excursions, including one to the neighbouring town of Gelendzhik, also a very popular Russian resort. There they went to a safari park and to the main city park. On the photos taken in the latter I saw marvelous samples of landscape design.

My knowledge of landscape design is purely theoretical, of course – as a copywriter, I had to write a few articles on the topic (in Russian) for a website my boss is promoting. That’s how I gained my knowledge of the subject. I used photos from their portfolio to decorate my articles, and so got hooked: the beauty of some photos was irresistible. But there was no masterpieces like these:

These beautiful views are just one reason why I just have to go to Anapa next summer. I need to see this beauty with my own eyes…

Janna and Dinosaurs

Irina — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:44:33 +0000

Janna’s friendship with dinos has long history – even when she was much younger than now, books about these prehistoric reptiles were among her most desired gifts.

As I mentioned in several previous posts, she has just returned from Anapa – a resort town at the south of Russia – where she was having fun accompanied by her grandparents. The set photographs they brought home contained a couple of pics of Janna and lovely dinos, one of which had nearly eaten my darling.

Of course, when I say advertisements announcing that several more dinosaurs would arrive at Saratov soon, I knew I’d take Janna there. So I did last Saturday.

I don’t know what they are made from – some kind of plastic, papier-mâché or anything else. It didn’t matter to us. They growled like real things and moved their heads. Janna was especially attracted by their huge eggs.

Of course, these photos are just a tiny part of those we took at the exhibition – wish I could include them all in one blog post, but it would be too long!

Hungarian GP

Irina — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:06:42 +0000

A week after the exceedingly dull German GP this one was more eventful. Until the safety car was deployed I felt a bit like falling asleep, to be honest, but when some parts lying on the track prompted the safety car, I quickly woke up. The mess in the pits with loose wheels flying around and cars colliding because of the errors of the mechanics… that was definitely something to see.

Soon the race resumed its normal course, and the main question was whether Webber would lose much over the fact that he wasn’t called to the pit box when everyone else was. Our commentator Alexey Popov predicted a complete failure… well, he was wrong. Webber could stay long enough on his soft tyres to gain advantage over everyone else and eventually win. Vettel received a penalty for violating a rule that had never been broken, and was visibly angry about it after the race, making me suspect that he fell a victim to team orders.

Schumacher showed the worst of him in his battle with Barrichello. Some of his fans are not too happy about the ten place grid penalty Michael received for the next race for his not very gentleman-like treatment of the former team-mate – but let’s face it, it was indeed dangerous. Barrichello yelling on team radio actually wanted a black flag for Michael – guess he received a real shock, but won the battle for the 10th position and the point that goes with it.

Michael, I love you, but you were really rude this time.

Lewis retired, but Vitaly brought me some consolation when he came the 5th – the best result in his career. Go Russia!

Now a long break before Belgium. Belgium is never boring.