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It’s official: Lewis Hamilton is leading the World Drivers’ Championship. He finished third in his debut race in Melbourne, followed by three consecutive second-place finishes in Sepang, Bahrain, and just about an hour ago, in Barcelona. That, my friend, is a kind of performance that many could only dream of achieving. The commentator said that we were often told to ‘manage our expectations’ and not pile too much pressure on the 22-year old British rookie (similarly echoed by Bernie Ecclestone). But if he goes on finishing in the podiums like that, it’s rather difficult to ‘manage our expectations’!

(Acknowledgment: Image courtesy of F1-Blog.co.uk)

I say what we’re looking at here is a champion in the making, because his performance so far has been no less than mind-blowing. Today’s race also saw the retirement of Kimi Raikkonen due to mechanical failures - what a disappointment, but that’s motor racing. Tough luck! Massa was top-class, having started from the front of the grid and went on to win the race, his second consecutive victory. ESPN Star Sports had been erratic today - I don’t know about the earlier part of the race (was in Italiannies for dinner) but the Chequered Flag programme was plain crap. There was no coordination at all.

Anyway, I have said this before and I’m going to say it again: F1 is getting more and more exciting with each completed race - something we haven’t seen in a long time. And I daresay that Lewis Hamilton contributes at least 75% to the excitement. He makes it seem all too easy to finish in the podiums, and in doing so he makes everyone go “Wow!”.

By the way, here’s a quotable quote by Lewis Hamilton:

I compete against my brother on the new PS3 F1 game and he’s very competitive. He likes to be a McLaren driver, so I am Kimi Raikkonen. I can’t wait for the new game so I can be myself!

Lewis is also considering moving to Monaco, home to many F1 legends. Ah!

In fact, it may even appeal to any motorsport junkie. We had Remp-it (loosely associated with the term “Mat Rempit”, coined specially for illegal motorcycle racers) some time back. That movie, Remp-it, was about a group of people who was involved in illegal motorcycle races - which itself is a real-life nuisance in Malaysia. Later this year, we will have a new movie based on drifting on four wheels. Here’s the trailer uploaded by a YouTube user yesterday:

The trailer of Impak Maksima (”Maximum Impact” in English) begins with cars zipping and drifting around the KL city center at night. The city roads are pretty flat, and wide too. I wonder if they had attempted to film in Genting Highlands. There are some funny fighting scenes as well - most notable one would be the 360-degrees spinning kick. It’s abit of an overkill (read: unnecessary), but nicely executed nonetheless.

Among the stars of the movie is Tengku Djan’s heavily modified red rear-wheel-drive Proton Waja. That’s probably the only rear-wheel-drive Proton Waja in the world. A yellow AE86 is thrown in as well, otherwise it’s not ‘drift-racing’ anymore. This is of course thanks to the Japanese manga, Initial D, from which the AE86 gained immense popularity despite its age. Other cars in the trailer include Nissan Skyline, Cefiro and Sylvia.

Will the movie impress the Malaysian Censorship Board? Since Remp-it could pass, I believe Impak Maksima will, too. I may even make my way to the theaters to catch it. Here’s a quote taken from the trailer:

Orang nak main kereta, lu pun nak main kereta! Lain kali kalau tak ada duit, jadi Mat Rempit aje lah!

Impak Maksima… coming to a theater near you!

This weekend’s race is going to be exciting. Wanna know why? A rookie will give the seasoned racers a run for their money. No he’s not Lewis Hamilton. He’s been lapping the Sepang circuit faster than Kimi Raikkonen. He’s none other than the guy in pic:

But I’m a big fan of Kimi so I hope Kimi will be able to keep up with him.

Ok seriously, the simulation was awful. The pedals were out of place, and the cockpit could barely fit a cockerel - what more someone like me. The steering was made out of plastic, and the audio was bad. Worst of all, you don’t actually need to step on the brakes when you take the corners, cuz they had the ‘driver-assist’ kinda thing turned on for every participant. Whutteheck. That took away 99.9% of the fun. And no I didn’t win any big prizes that day. It was just for fun. To play, all I gotta do was answer a questionnaire. The prize for the fastest lap time was F1 merchandise… some jersey (football, I guess), and F1 cap. My facial look damn serious right? Tension weh… a group of people were standing nearby watching from a huge plasma screen.

As for this weekend, I say Kimi has an advantage in the Ferrari - the car is so reliable and Kimi is just too quick. Previous, the McLaren couldn’t take Kimi’s beating, and the car often suffered mechanical failures. The Ferrari is just the opposite. We all know how reliable the Ferrari cars can be - coupled with Kimi’s talents, I can’t see how he won’t win the championship this year. And my guess is that Alonso is still trying to adjust in the new car, new team. But all eyes will be on his teammate, Lewis Hamilton - because he really had a great run in Melbourne. Could’ve been luck, could’ve been the skill. In any case, he’s a popular man this week. He’s my age only 22 (a year younger than me, my bad!), by the way - that makes him the youngest dude on the track.

Narrowband’s predictions: Kimi will have another podium finish :p

[Updated@Sunday, April 8th] Man, Lewis Hamilton has just moved up a couple notches in my book (and the Drivers’ Championship, too). That wheel-to-wheel thingy with Felipe Massa’s Ferrari was awesome. It was truly F1 racing at its best. The Ferrari was clearly the quicker of the two cars, but perhaps Felipe could’ve been more patient and prolonged the attack a couple of laps more. In any case, Lewis was definitely top-class today, especially after having finished third just a fortnight ago. I thought it was funny he actually apologized to Felipe - because it wasn’t at all his fault that Felipe went off course. Well as for Kimi, given the circumstances, he must be contented with the third-place finish. My predictions came true, although it could’ve been better.

In terms of the Constructors’ title chase, I think it’s going to be difficult for Ferrari if both the McLaren cars keep finishing top-three. Felipe went from hero to (almost) zero this weekend, effectively allowing McLaren Mercedes to extend their lead in the Constructors’ Championship. The real star of this weekend, is yet again, Lewis Hamilton - without a doubt. Now that we’re moving on to the third race of the season - the first after Michael Schumacher’s retirement - I must say that the sport is getting pretty exciting.

I hate it when some people really think that they are above the law (or are the law, for that matter).

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