2008 Formula One Season:The Two Ferraris' Story So Far

Ever since the day the new season of Formula One began on 16th March early this year, many F1 fans and myself have thought to themselves a few questions for the season. The questions are, can defending champion Kimi Raikkonen take another shot at the title of this year's F1 world champion? Can he earn Ferrari the constructor's championship title for a second year running? Can he beat the current leading driver's champion Lewis Hamilton for another year in a row?

Well just about many F1 fans, including myself, have correctly guessed the answer, and the answer is no, definitely and obviously. Yesterday's Singapore Grand Prix night race have instantly diminished Raikkonen's chances and hope of retaking the title. Ever since his win in the Spanish Grand Prix back in April, there has been a spontaneously drastic decline in his performance and the only Grand Prix where he had ever scored any championship points was in the German Grand Prix, where he finished sixth place. His finish in the Singapore Grand Prix night race yesterday was so very close he could at least complete the race with four laps left, but for a fourth Grand Prix in a row, failed to finish it in the expected fifth place. This therefore made him currently 27 points behind current driver's championship leader Lewis Hamilton and currently fifth overall in the driver's championship. Now that he is far behind Felipe Massa, he is putting all of his faith in his Brazilian Ferrari team-mate to attempt to clinch the constructor's championship for Ferrari, as Massa is merely 7 points behind leader Hamilton.

Question: Why, in my personal opinion, has he not improve in his performance from last year?

Answer: Because he was COMPLACENT. From my experience, clinching a driver's championship title can take its toll on the driver's champions themselves; usually after achieving one driver's championship title, the defending champion can occasionally suffer a drop in morale, he would not improve for the subsequent season any further in some cases. Clear example of such a case includes reigning world driver's champion Michael Schumacher, who have bagged a total of 7 driver's championship titles until 2004, and in his final two seasons with Ferrari in 2005 and 2006, went into decline due to a state of possible complacency.

"It was a pretty small chance anyhow," the Finn said of his title chances. "I'm not sad for my fifth place but I'm sorry for the team to lose those points. But for sure we'll try to do better next race." My personal opinion states that, though he is mentioned to persevere for the remaining three circuits, I have full confidence that he can at least score some points for Ferrari and himself, provided that he can believe in himself and give off the best that he could, despite the definite statement that he's out of the championship.

Ferrari contender Felipe Massa's disastrous but successful finish in yesterday's Singapore Grand Prix night race did not instigate an accusation between him and the Ferrari pit crew. The Brazilian was ahead of Briton Lewis Hamilton 15 laps into the race, until, when he went for a re-fuel in the pits, he sped off too early and ended up having the fuel hose still attached to his car, forcing the pit crew to frantically arrive to his aid to pry out the fuel hose attached to his car. But that didn't stop him from being penalised with a drive-through penalty for almost crashing into another car while driving away. And that resulted in him joining the race in 18th place and finishing in 13th place. Yesterday's race was, after all, a dark day for the two Ferraris. Massa now merely stands 7 points right behind Hamilton for the driver's championship and a point is all that stands between Ferrari and McClaren in a bid to clinch the constructor's championship title.

Nonetheless, having won five races this season, compared to Hamilton who won four, there is a certainly adequate amount of confidence in myself that Massa would still have sufficient time to catch up with Hamilton in his chance to earn his first driver's championship title.

Question: Can Massa clinch this year's driver's championship title?

Answer: Yes, he can, provided he maintains his calmness as well as collectedness in the remaining three F1 racing circuits. As mentioned before, there would definitely be enough time for Massa to keep his cool so as to keep up with current leader Lewis Hamilton in the bid for the driver's championship.

One point is currently all that stands Ferrari and McClaren in a bid to earn the constructor's championship title, and 7 points is all that stands between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa in the final stretch of the season. The three remaining F1 circuits will take place, chronologically, in Japan, China and Brazil.

Introduction of Myself

Hello, let me introduce you to

The characters, in the show

-"I Dare You" by Shinedown

Greetings to all of my fellow bloggers!

I understand that it's like FINALLY that I have managed to successfully create my own blog at this point of time, and I know what it feels like to have a blog to be created so pretty late. I think that blogging should be a pretty fun thing to do as according to world statistics, there are over 112 million bloggers around the world as of December of 2007. Therefore, I felt that it is about time that I have a blog of my own to be created.

To start of with, let me explain a few things about myself.

My name is Rashid Sadiq bin Saifuddin(born November 10, 1990), a blogger who resides in Singapore, in other words, I am a Singaporean. I am a Malay by race and a Muslim by religion. Being a Muslim is one thing for sure that most people around me understand, due to the nature of my full name. Though I am a Malay, many people, including my friends, who have been revolving around me have continuously commented that I look like a mix of many ethnicities and nationalities, which is actually true that I am. Allow me to explain in detail my ethnic make-up as well as some aspects of my life like my educational journey as well as my interests and hobbies.

Firstly, my father is Malay both paternally as well as maternally, though his grandparents, to be precise my paternal great-grandparents of course, has a little bit of Indian ethnicity on both sides, which in short pretty much makes my father of mixed Malay(75 percent) and Indian(25 percent) ethnicity. My mother, on the other hand, is of Chinese descent on her mother's side and Malay descent on her father's side, though her father, to be precise my maternal grandfather too had Javanese roots. This in short pretty much makes my mother of mixed Malay(50 percent) and Chinese(50 percent) ethnicity. This makes me five-eighth Malay, one-quarter Chinese and one-eighth Indian. Pretty complicated, isn't it? To be a little more explicit over my ancestry details, both my grandparents on both sides are Muslims, though my maternal grandmother was a convert to Islam several years before she married my maternal grandfather. Both my paternal grandparents are naturally born Muslims, and so were my parents. I have two siblings named Sarah and Rashad, both of whom I care for very much, and I am the oldest among my siblings. I am honestly proud of my mixed ethnicity and I hope that everyone appreciates this.

Secondly, let me explain my educational journey as well as certain qualities about my school life. I began primary school in 1997 at Anglo-Chinese School(Primary), where I graduated from in 2002 after completing and passing my Primary School Leaving Examination(PSLE) in Primary 6, with two B grades and two C grades. Though my PSLE results were sufficient for me to be posted to the school which I have applied for as my first choice, which was Anglo-Chinese School(Barker Road), my results were only able to put me into the Normal (Academic) stream. Though a little disheartened as I may have seemed during that time, I was given the opportunity to learn at a slightly slower pace than the Express stream students and achieve and give off the best which I can. I took my Normal Level(N Level) examination in Secondary 4, and did expectedly well with two Grade 4s, two Grade 3s, one Grade 5, one Grade 1 and one Grade 2. A result of three best subjects(including English) with six points have satisfactorily made me able to continue to Secondary 5 to take the Ordinary Level(O Level) examination. When I first entered Secondary 5, I realised the big jump there was from the previous year, and I realised that Secondary 5 was the time to buck up and do the best I could. I studied thoroughly for the O levels with the hope that I could achieve sufficiently satisfying results. When the O level results were released early this year, I was satisfied enough to see that I was at least able to enroll in a polytechnic course, with three B3s, three C6s and one D7. With about 20 points for my for my L1R5(because of CCA points), I was able to enroll in the polytechnic course of Interactive Media Informatics to achieve a course diploma, which I hope to do so when I will complete my final year in 2011. Though I may seem to maintain a serious and tense expression in school life, I am generally a nice person who wants to get along well with people. I am also proud of my educational journey which I have had so far.

Thirdly, my hobbies and interests include surfing the Internet, video gaming, watching television programs, such as soccer, Formula One racing as well as entertainment shows like MTV and E!. I would watch these shows whenever I am free, such as weekends as well as school holidays. I am also into music such as rock, pop and hip-hop, rock of which is my favourite of the three. I enjoy rock music very much due to its groovy nature as well as it's a common favourite among teenagers like me.

Thus, this ends all the details about myself, and I hope to express more in the near future given the opportunity to.