Indian Win At Spa!

It was a stunning Sunday for India at the famous Spa-Francorchamps Grand Prix circuit and quite naturally the sight and sound of a car and team with the name of the country embedded in its title had qualified on pole and thundered away to a fantastic second place result. No one, not even within the 2009 F1 crowd could have seen this coming but Giancarlo Fisichella in his Force India VJM02 was mega. He surprised everyone by first finishing fastest in the Q1 segment and repeated this when it mattered the most – in Q3 as well, to claim the team’s first ever pole position, and his fourth career pole as well.
 
It did seem that this could have been a one lap fluke but you don’t do one lap flukes in two sessions, a fact the world wasn’t to know till the race unfolded on Sunday. The smart money was on Trulli, Heidfeld and Kubica to be challenging for victory with Kimi Raikkonen and at best a strong finish in the points was what Fisi and Force India could reasonably hope for. In fact that was also the sentiment echoed by team patron Vijay Mallya who said “We are not greedy for a win but a strong points finish and maybe a podium would be nice.”

The doughty Fisichella made a fine getaway from pole and while mayhem raged behind him in the opening laps, on this fast natural road course Kimi made the KERS-equipped Ferrari count. Probably the circuit suited the Ferrari best this year and what was surprising was that he used KERS to first go past Rubens Barrichello and then Robert Kubica before the Safety Car came out. On the re-start, he used the superior thrust of the KERS-aided Ferrari to first close in and then pass Fisichella on the run upto Les Combes. From there on the real test of character, for both Fisi and the Force India car began.
 
Everyone thought Kimi would run away but surprisingly Fisi hounded him every inch of the way, lap after lap as the duo gradually began to pull away from the pursuing pack. The Force India race strategy was also impeccable as was their pit work and Fisi matched Kimi all the way around, finishing just 0.939 seconds behind the scarlet car. It was an amazing result, for no one could have placed even a penny on Force India doing well but for this result one had to look at the new aero mods the team got at Valencia and these have truly changed the car, making it on an average 0.6 to 0.7 seconds a lap quicker than what it was earlier capable of.
 
Of course while everyone has rightly congratulated Force India on its superb podium, Fisi was both happy and unhappy with the result. He quite clearly was unhappy at the fact that he could have won the race had he managed to pull a bit ahead at the start and as the race showed, Kimi even with KERS was unable to romp away from him. Fisi’s happiness at being second gave immense joy to a team which had given him a new lease of life in F1 plus also joy at putting a great nation’s name on an F1 podium. This was one of those times where mixed emotions ran as fast as the top two cars at Spa.
 
And yes I did mention about an Indian win at Spa which was almost overlooked by the majority. I am obviously referring to Tata Consultancy Services, one of Ferrari’s top technology providers which ran to victory on Kimi’s Prancing Horse. This was the first win by a car and team which had Indian inputs aiding them in their success apart from a monetary or an ownership angle. But then helping the likes of Ferrari and Ducati among many others to achieve efficiencies resulting in success is something which TCS is renowned for.
 
Now the scene shifts to Monza and who can bet about another Kimi-Ferrari vs Fisi-Force India skirmish? Lets hope this time, like as at Spa it is fast and furious and results in wins and podiums unlike as at Monaco in 2008 and Barcelona this year.