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Yes, things are much better this time around in Melbourne, Australia. The Quantas Australia Formula 1 Grand Prix 2010 saw Jenson Button of McLaren Mercedes taking the chequered flag, Robert Kubica of Renault taking second and Ferrari's Phillipe Massa coming in third. But the good thing was it rained and there was racing instead of a procession of cars. This fact played a real part in Button's victory as he gambled on an early tire change from intermediates to full race slicks very early on. It wasn't like Bore-rain, where I almost fell asleep while watching the telly. It had the racers maintain their track position lap after lap. It had overtaking this time unlike Bahrain, the rain in the early part of the race. As it was a wet start, entertainment happened from the start. Car crashes and all. Pole Sitter Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing had a decent start, as did Felipe Massa from fifth splitting the Red Bulls (who started in pole and in second) by Massa. Fernando Alonso who started in position 3( P3) dropped back. Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button got into a predicament as Alonso closed the door at the corner. Michael Schumacher got nudged and his front wing damaged (for which he had to pit). Button lost ground as he took avoiding action and cars passed by. A Toro Rosso (Buemi) headed for the gravel as the Sauber driven by Kamui Kobayashi which lost a front wing on the way to Turn 3 pitched him right into the barriers, then his car bouncing off across the track and taking out both Nico Hulkenberg and Sebastien Buemi. Three car casualties and not even one lap completed the Race Director Charlie Whiting called for the safety car. You see, rain makes entertaining racing. It was Jenson Button's decision for a very early pitstop (lap 6) that allowed him to win. After deciding that the intermediate tires were not doing well for him, he came in for slicks and it nearly cost him as upon leaving the pits, he lost control and went straight on turn 3. Two laps later almost all of the front runners came in for slicks with the exception of the Red Bulls which seemed okay on intermediates. Sebastian Vettel's seems to have gotten into an unlucky streak of starting on pole and then the car letting him down. In Bahrain, engine trouble was the cause and this time, the brakes had locked up and he ended in the gravel. The reliability of the Red Bull in question. Lewis Hamilton of McLaren also had bad luck and bad team decision. McLaren, had decided to call for a tire change without consulting the driver and according to Hamilton, this cost him a podium finish. Maybe it was down to inexperience on Hamilton's side and a bad mistake by the team. As some said that as driver he would have a choice to say 'no' to his race engineer. Even an experienced team like McLaren can make bad decisions. On the point of bad luck, Hamilton tangled with Mark Webber not once, but twice, the second time costing him to end his race at P6 instead of P5 and Webber a front wing and getting P9 with a possibility of a penalty at the next race in Sepang. Nico Rosberg of Mercedes Petronas capitalizing and getting P5 instead. It was fun. Even at the tail end of the race Michael Schumacher on the last 10 laps had overtaken two cars clinching P10 for the last point scoring position. Rain equals unpredictability in Formula 1 and this is a good thing. Maybe we don't need the Gatling Guns, batterin rams and missiles after all. Just add water to the race track instead. Sepang would be equally fun if it rains. I just hope it does not rain till all racing was stopped like last year. Results 1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h33:36.531 2. Kubica Renault + 12.034 3. Massa Ferrari + 14.488 4. Alonso Ferrari + 16.304 5. Rosberg Mercedes + 16.683 6. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 29.898 7. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 59.847 8. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1:00.536 9. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 1:07.319 10. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:09.391 11. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:11.301 12. De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari + 1:14.084 13. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 2 laps 14. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps Did Not Finish Glock Virgin-Cosworth 41 Vettel Red Bull-Renault 26 Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 25 Sutil Force India-Mercedes 12 Petrov Renault 10 Senna HRT-Cosworth 5 Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1 Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1 Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1 Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1

So you're a Formula 1 driver for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro and you have the option of a company car. What do you choose? Fernando Alonso, a two time world champion and now a driver with Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro basically chose something not red and not a Ferrari. The Spanish driver had chosen a Maserati GranCabrio over Ferraris like the cabriolet Ferrari California or Gran Turismos like the the 599GT or even the 612 Scaglietti. Maybe after driving a Rosso Corsa coloured (that racing red) Ferrari for work Mr. Alonso has decided to go for something less flamboyant and more comfortable yet still within the Fiat Group but still without a fixed roof like the Ferrari he races for a living. Of course a Fiat 500cc would technically suffice but that would be too underwhelming for a world champion. So the GranCabrio with its elegant cabriolet fixtures, a darker shade of Grigio Granito (granite grey) for the exterior in combination with two-tone upholstery which is a combination of Pearl Beige and Bordeaux leather and a matching a soft top of the same shade is the champion's choice. A good choice of car (and colour) if you want to maintain some anonymity. It is luxurious yet understated as it won't turn as many heads as a red Ferrari, even with its top down. I love the looks of the hardtop GranTurismo version. It has taken Maserati a few years to develop it into a soft top but I have to say that this cabriolet version is a worthy addition to the Maserati stable. The Maserati GranCabrio is a Maserati with Pininfarina coachwork and has near supercar performance. The GranCabrio has a V8 engine of 4.7 liters and 440 hp with a 6-speed automatic transmission. Maserati says it can do 175mph with its canvas (only, no hard top) top up and does the 0-100km/h sprint in 5.3seconds. As I said, the 0-100km/h figures is only near supercar performance but as its a cabriolet it won't matter most people buy cabriolets to cruise top down at some seaside holiday resort at less than ballistic speeds. I suppose the additional 100kgs that was added when engineering the GranCabrio from the GranTurismo had blunted the acceleration a little. Although the hardtop wasn't very light in the first place as it weighed 1890kgs. Anyway, according to Maserati's media spokespeople, Mr. Alonso was particularly impressed by the space offered by the GranCabrio, perfect for four adult passengers. The GranCabrio is in fact the first four-seat convertible for Maserati. I noticed that most racing drivers always choose sensible cars to drive when they're not on the track. The late great Senna had a R107 500SL convertible as a daily driver instead of a out and out fire breathing monster. So I gather it is the same with Fernando Alonso. The Maserati GranCabrio is being marketed throughout Europe starting in this month of March. Expect to see them in Singapore sometime soon. But expect to see Fernando Alonso in Sepang within the next few weeks driving his usual workhorse instead of this Maserati.

- Alonso rules Bore-rain So the inaugural Formula 1 race of the 2010 season at Bahrain had ended with Ferrari doing a one-two double whammy finish, making Fernando Alonso's maiden run in a Ferrari a very successful one for him. Of course the very unlucky Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull was leading for most of the race but close to the end lost power due to the exhaust manifold suffering from a crack. Imagine that. A manifold crack automatically makes a F1 race car lose something like 20 to 30 bhp and the chances of winning a race straightaway becomes slim. I did not bother watching out for the rookie teams Lotus Racing, Virgin Racing and Hispania Racing. After noting that most of them were easily 6 seconds off the faster cars pace during Friday and Saturday I somehow knew that they would all feature at the rear and I wasn't rooting for any of them making an upset. I actually couldn't be bothered whether they finished or not because the whole race was not that interesting even when the cars started losing their fuel and gotten lighter although I was quite pleased that both Lotus' managed to finish (officially that is). The race was supposed to be an eye opener, a fabulous start to a new season filled with suspense and drama plus four world champions dueling it out. The oldest being the seven time world champion 41 year old Michael Schumacher showing that he's still competitive by grabbing sixth place. But somehow after watching the whole race I still feel that there is not enough drama in F1. The only drama that somewhat interests me was the fact that there was some controversy in some teams' double diffuser which took advantage of the small gap which was required for the team to stick the starter motor at the rear of the cars. However, the FIA will clear up all questions by the next race and things will be back to normal after this. Schummi: "It's the start and then after it is just sort of go your pace and not do mistakes," he told the BBC. The new rules now state that there shall be no refueling throughout the race and only tire changes, with everyone required to use both compounds in the race. There is also a ban on traction control whereby the driver's right foot is effectively the only traction control they have. Which is a good thing as it would separate the real drivers from the half baked ones. But when the actual race happened, I still noticed that it was still pretty hard to overtake at Bahrain and the ultra skillful drivers were passing people during the pit stops or just lapping slower cars. Now add the fact that the cars have double the fuel load, they run like bloated whales for the first 20 or 30 laps and nothing really happens till after the cars lose all those fuel in their tanks. So basically watching this year's F1 was still like last years F1, not much overtaking and not much track drama even with all the new rules. Even ESPN has called Bahrain, Bore-rain. Heck, even Michael Schumacher said it was good fun but rather boring. That's what he told the BBC post race. I wonder how things would be for the next race (Australia, 28th March). Maybe we should add 20mm Gatling guns to the side pods or get rid of the front wing and put a battering ram in its place so that things become more interesting. If you can't overtake, shoot 'em or ram 'em out of the way. Mad Max meets F1. Now there's a race that'll be mighty interesting, but rated R for excessive violence instead of a PG13 rating.

Who would've known that a weekend of karting could bring about so much woe? I went for a karting session over the weekend. To be honest, it was my first time. I was both excited and a little apprehensive about stepping into one those little karts. It offered no protection of any sort. The hot engine is just less than 8 cm away from your right shoulder and sputtering engine oil. Your bum is about an inch off the ground and in the case of the karts I was driving, the accelerator and brake pedals were rickety. They weren't even bolted to the chassis! Despite those concerns, I stepped into a kart anyway. Barely 2 laps into the session, I had a collision with another kart. As far as I could tell, I had overtaken the kart at the previous corner but when I attacked the next corner, I felt a strong tap to my rear wheel. The next thing I see is a girl flying out of her kart and landing on the hot tarmac. My heart sank when I saw her flying in air in slow motion. I stopped my kart immediately to see if I could render any assistance. And what I saw was pretty bad. The poor girl had road rash all over and her hands were torn open pretty good. All this from a little kart going about 50kmh. This goes to show that a kart might look like a toy but it can be deadly dangerous. The girl was lucky that she was wearing a full face helmet when she flew off the kart and hit her face on the road. This could've ended way way worse than it did. A note to anyone attempting karting. Take it easy the first few laps and always overtake safely. Any dangerous maneuvers can cause injury not only to yourself but to the others around you. Here's a little example of how bad things can get...