Each day spent vertical is a blessing goes a saying and so, it’s a nice feeling to see another year roll past and a new year roll in. Birthdays and new year days are times when one feels happy for just having made it through all the tests and turmoils that the previous year saddled one with.
Year 2010 promises many changes and challenges, on the work front, on the personal front and even on the entertainment front. At work, I’m gearing up for new responsibilities as I’ll be personally looking over a yet to be formed team which will focus on bleeding-edge R&D in HPC. On the personal front, I hope to continue to be regular at the gym and get into a much better (read as leaner and meaner!) shape. I also have a sneaky suspicion that my single days are now in extra-time, an end seems to be somewhere, just around the corner. On the entertainment front, my all time favorite Formula 1 driver, Michael Schumacher is back! This time around, instead of the familiar red livery of Ferrari, he will be donning the silver of Mercedes. I have always rooted for Michael and largely, because of Michael, Ferrari. I loved the professionalism demonstrated by the Ferrari crew, race after race, coming good even when the chips were down.

The period following Michael’s retirement was a tough one for a Michael fan. There were so many occasions when one could not but feel ‘If only Michael were to be around, things would be different!’ but one moved on. I loved the way Felipe Massa took on his much more highly reckoned teammate Kimi Raikkonen and came out winning, time and again, be it the scorching qualifying laps or the race starts (where Massa time and again grabbed positions, even if he didn’t start on the front). This year, it’ll be tough as a supporter for I’m torn between rooting for Massa/Ferrari and Schumacher/Mercedes but I think that one can root for more than one driver/team at the same time. May the best combination win!

This year’s Formula 1 season also sees some brand new names, both in the teams and amongst the drivers. Campos, US F1, and Virgin are the new names while Lotus makes a comeback into F1. Last year’s zero-to-hero Brawn GP are now Mercedes GP. Bruno Senna (nephew of the great Ayrton Senna), Lucas Di Grassi and Nico Hulkenberg are the new drivers with confirmed drives while the late surprise sprung by Toyota last season, Kamui Kobayashi is expected to get a drive in one of the new teams. With more teams and drivers than ever before, the rules have been radically changed too. The new points system awards points to the first ten finishers in 25-20-15-10-8-6-5-3-2-1 instead of the older eight points winners in the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 format. This year also does away with in-race refueling, forcing drivers to drive around with a full race-load of fuel in their cars, significantly affecting strategies and outcomes. Formula 1 has changed and tinkered around with rules several times in the recent past, some changes being more successful than the others, one of the worst rules in recent times being the one-set of tyres per race rule which backfired horribly.

It remains to be seen how exciting the sport would be with the new changes, but the season promises to be full of excitement with the spotlight on being able to see Michael in action alongside the current F1 ‘heroes’. Will Michael kick butt in this innings too? He sure would try! That’s for sure! It’s now just a 69 day wait!