Formula-1 Fever

Many people become addicted to post-its. Their work areas become psychedelic shrines to the memory aids, forming a tapestry of household chores, e-mail reminders and special events– lest you forget your significant other’s birthday! My personal indulgence is a folder of text files composed in notepad. I formed the habit around august last year to capture my memory flashes over the almost 3 decades of my life to provide fuel and inspiration for my b-school essays. This was in turn inspired by one of my favorite Businessweek Journals from Stanford alumna - Sucharita.

My favorite file is the “dream-job” list. Although very personal, I would say that my dream-jobs reflect the shallow and more stereotypical single male fantasies, which revolve around women, money and fast cars; from Marketing VP of Gucci based in Milan to VP of Racing Development of the Mercedes McLaren racing team. This weekend reminded me of the longest entry on my list – Formula 1 Driver.

In the nascent days of Formula 1, Ayrton Senna dominated the scene. He epitomized the wild days of motor sport, becoming the most prolific icon of motor racing and a deity among modern fans. Fans and foes alike vicariously relished dark seedy tales of the virile Brazilian partying the night away with super-models before race day and subsequently decimating his opponents on the tarmac the following afternoon. Most recently, Michael Schumacher has become the poster-boy of the F1 circuit. Clinical, precise, articulate, arrogant, leadership, are all words that describe his legacy. The sport has mimicked its franchise driver. F1 has now become a sport of focused professionals whose diet, fitness regime, meditation and practices are now a multi-billion dollar business. The square-jawed, clean-cut, alpha-males now enjoy salaries and perks between 1 to 20 million dollars a year catapulting them into the highest paid professional athletes in the world barring a few exceptions. Winning his seventh title last year, his F1 dominance is reminiscent of Michael Jordan’s career as a Chicago Bull.

Last weekend, my passion for Formula 1 racing was renewed. This season promises to be the most competitive and exciting in the past few years. Formula 1 was cast into a snooze fest over the past three seasons by Ferrari’s dominance of the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championship. Schumacher, Barrichello and company dominated qualifying and race-day not only with superior machinery a year ahead of their competitors, but also with their surgical precision as F1 drivers. This resulted in numerous Ferrari 1-2 podium performances, and the associated arrogance therewith.

During the past two weekends of the 2005 season, the tables were turned in Melbourne-Australia and in Sepang-Malaysia. Renault who seemed promising last season, sprung to the fore winning the last two races. Last year’s black sheep Toyota, who arguably had the largest budget in F1 for the past two years came into their own as legitimate top contenders. Perennial favorites Mercedes McLaren and BMW Williams had solid performances. Finally, Red Bull Racing gave the finger to Jaguar after Jaguar pulled funding from the team due to poor showings last year. Noteworthy was the fact that RBR pulled this off with exactly the same car and team as they used last year.

Sunday was my turn to host the revolving F1 office ‘party’, and the race did not disappoint. The youthful Spaniard, Fernando Alonso was the runaway winner, however, the real battle was in places 2 to 9. There were three major adrenaline-spiking highlights during the race. The first, when the three drivers, Giancarlo Fisichella– Renault, Mark Webber – BMW Williams, and Nick Heidfeld – BMW Williams, side-by-side hurtling down at 200+ mph into a second gear turn daring each other to brake the earliest. No driver was willing to give up position, and the scene ended up in a low speed crash on the turn between Fisichella and Heidfeld, retiring both drivers. The second, when Ralf Schumacher, who came under criticism last year from his old team BMW Williams decided to take his replacement to school in an overtaking maneuver in his new seat as a Toyota driver. The last, which was especially tasty for my fellow Ferrari detractors, was watching the Barrichello’s Ferrari being lapped by a Toyota…twice.

What I especially like about Formula 1 is the level of professionalism that the sport exudes. Although I’m a fan of soccer, basketball and football leagues across the world, I think that the modern athlete should take note. No wife-beating, drive-bys, cop assaults or similar scandals to deal with. The drivers who put their lives on the line every fortnight all exhibit the qualities of quintessential role models and consummate leaders. For example, after winning his second drivers’ championship in a row, Schumy bought Rolexes for his whole pit team out of his own pocket! Lavish gifts are optional, but recognition for the little people who contribute to your success is crucial to team building and esteem. These drivers sit in fireproof suits for 2 hours in 52 deg C temperatures, losing in excess of 10-15 pounds of body weight and fluids over the course of a 2-hour race, yet still manage to sit for a 30 minute press conference and represent themselves, their teams and their country with dignity and class. I think my longstanding dream-job will be on my list for a long time to come: Formula 1 Driver.