Zen of Tofu

Lewis Hamilton has persisted, and followed his rainy win in Britain with a fantastic win from pole in Germany this weekend. Go Hamilton! Now Lewis leads in the driver’s standings with 58 points over Felipe Massa’s 54 points. Kimi Raikkonen had a tough start, trying to find proper brake balance for his car which seemed to change depending on how much fuel was on board, but he finished sixth and is a respectable third in the driver’s standings.

The next race is in Hungary in two weeks, and I’d like to see Lewis capture another checkered flag to compliment the Union Jack on his McLaren-Mercedes.

written by tofu \\ tags: F1

Final exams are over, Summer weather is in full swing, and sports are just about the only thing to watch on television. The tube has been quite bland lately in terms of sitcoms, reality shows, and even news! The only exciting things to watch have been the NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, and the occasional F1 races and sessions.

Go Boston Celtics! Even though my country’s team is in the NBA playoffs, I still want to see the Celtics take the championship. The ideal NBA finals would be Lakers vs. Celtics, and that means I want to see the Spurs knocked out very soon. I just can’t stand their team ever since David Robinson retired. Duncan is cool, but the rest of the team are just guys thinking they’re clever.

I’m not a huge fan of hockey by any means, but it makes for good television with the fast pace, violence, and high-scoring games as per the rule changes. Overtime is always exciting too. Out of all the teams, I want to see Colorado win it one more time with all those veterans (Sakic, Forsberg, Foote, Smith).

The F1 season is still young and Ferrari is starting to show their dominance with Kimi Raikkonen showing why he was champion last year. He’s driving quite brilliantly and his teammate, Massa, isn’t too far behind. McLaren on the other hand is clearly lagging behind technologically, because their cars seem to be not as quick despite the abilities of their drivers. BMW Sauber on the other hand are making a strong showing, and challenging Ferrari in the standings, but not always on the time sheets. Tomorrow is race day in Spain with Raikkonen at pole position and McLaren drivers down a few spots of the starting grid. Let’s just hope Hamilton can pull some magic out of his helmet!

P.S. You guys should check out YouTube and search for the “Friday Night Project”. It’s absolutely hilarious! Watch out for Alan’s topical barometer!

written by tofu \\ tags: F1, NBA, NHL, TV

It was an almost infallible performance by Lewis Hamilton this weekend, as he clinched his first win of the F1 season in Melbourne Australia. The heat was intense and the mechanics of the cars were put to the test, and boy was it a wild race!

Out of 22 cars that started the race, only 7 cars finished the race. None of which were the Ferraris who were left hanging their heads low at their engines and differentials that were the problem for them all weekend. Somehow with a very twitchy car, Fernando Alonso managed to finish 4th after F1 newcomer, Sebastien Bourdais’ car failed him with just three laps to go. I believe he was still awarded points and he definitely deserved them after driving with some of the best. Finishing in second and third were Nick Heidfeld and Niko Rosberg, respectively, who both drove great. Sadly both Hamilton’s teammate, Heiki Kovalainen, and the only driver to test Hamilton, Robert Kubica, had disappointing finishes despite how well they raced. A race full of yellow flags and safety car appearances plagued Melbourne track, and left a lot of work to be done before the end of this week where the teams will be racing in Malaysia.

Hamilton was simply brilliant and consistent today, and I’m rooting for him all the way! It was really something to see the sole British flag being raised between the two German flags behind the winners’ podium. It was also refreshing to see the finishers actually excited and happy to be on the podium. I hope the enthusiasm stays high this season, because I’m sure these drivers all have great personalities but don’t get to show it when they’re flying 300mph down a straightaway.

written by tofu \\ tags: F1, Motorsport

I just saw the advert on TV for the first F1 race of the season this year in Australia next weekend, and I’m very excited! The biggest change this season is Alonso’s return to Renault, and speculators are unsure if this is on a good note with Renault’s crew chief.

My picks for the F1 championship this year is the current champion, Kimi Raikkonen, and Lewis Hamilton. Seeing how cool Hamilton was on Top Gear, just makes me even more of a fan. This guy is seriously fast and it’s completely natural to him! He put up times on the Top Gear track in the wet, that were just 0.2 seconds slower than the Stig. The Stig is no slouch as we all know, and it’s the best mystery ever to leave his identity concealed.

I hope Kimi has a solid season as well, and that he keeps Massa in his rear view mirrors, but in the end I want Lewis to continue his dream since his story of how he got into the F1 is so inspiring. Not only that, but he’s even received much praise from the legend, Michael Schumacher, who I speculate will come back to the F1 just to whoop Alonso’s butt again.

written by tofu \\ tags: F1, racing