A topsy-turvy year

Not since Michael Schumacher has any one driver thoroughly dominated Formula One. In the seven years after he won the last of his seven world championships in 2004, five different drivers have emerged triumphant. Four of those titles were decided in the last race of the season and one in the penultimate race. It was that close.

But, when Sebastian Vettel scorched to his second successive victory last season in the manner he did — winning 11 of the 19 races and sealing the championship with four races remaining — it did, albeit in a small measure, bring back memories of the Schumacher days.

So, when seven different drivers split the first seven races of the current season among them — for the first time in the history of the sport — it came as a pleasant surprise. Where Red Bull was expected to further its dominance, it looked like a level playing field. There were maiden victories for Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado and German Nico Rosberg as well. What led to this churning at the top?

From the Red Bulls’ outlawed exhaust blown diffusers to their unreliable alternators, from the Ferraris’ lack of pace to the McLarens’ problems on and off the track, there were reasons aplenty. Add to this, tyre manufacturers Pirelli, who returned last year after a two-decade long hiatus, dishing out a new compound that nobody could come to grips with.

The teams found it extremely difficult to handle the Pirellis and it even led to claims from Schumacher that the tyres are like ‘driving on raw eggs’. The new tyres no doubt made for exciting races at the start.

Red Bull’s own problems meant that in the first 13 races, they won just three and more importantly Vettel just one. “It’s pretty much as we feared before the season started,” Adrian Newey, Red Bulls’ chief technical officer told Autosport. “Having explored exhaust blowing technology quite heavily for two seasons and then having that taken away hurt us quite a lot. Probably more than other people because we had been exploiting it for longer.”

While it took them till the Singapore Grand Prix in late September to find a way around, it was the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso that surged ahead at the start. He won three out of the first 10 races including a storm affected Malaysian Grand Prix and a perfect start-to-finish triumph in Germany.

But once Red Bull found the fix for the diffuser problem, there was no catching Vettel. He claimed the next four races and came roaring back into the title race. For Alonso, however, the qualifying performances started to drop and the Ferrari was always forced to play catch up to the much faster Red Bull.

All this, by no means, suggests that it was essentially a two-horse race. Kimi Raikkonen, returning after a two-year gap and driving a Lotus, raked up points in all but one race. With his victory in Abu Dhabi, when he became the eighth driver to register a race win this year, he ran the top two close till the last few races. Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren was remarkably quick. But his blow hot blow cold performance — four victories coupled with five retirements — meant that the man who was in with a genuine chance mid-way through the season faltered towards the end.

The Red Bull, in spite of being the quickest, had to grapple with reliability issues throughout. Vettel’s chances were wrecked twice by alternator failure — the fault which also ended Mark Webber’s race in the United States Grand Prix. On the other hand Alonso’s car was not so quick. But reliability was its forte as Alonso steered it in majestic fashion to ensure that Vettel didn’t go too far ahead.

Arguably the most topsy-turvy of all seasons had to end with a finish befitting it and so did it. The last three races again threw up three different winners and to add to the excitement, neither Alonso nor Vettel were among the victors.

In what can be described as a testimony to his incredible driving skills, Alonso, in spite of neither qualifying in the top three nor winning any in the last 10 races, was just 13 points behind Vettel going into Brazil. But, it just wasn’t enough. At the end of it all we had the youngest ever triple world champion in Sebastian Vettel.

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Federer' Wimbledon homecoming

On the eve of the men’s singles final at this year’s Wimbledon championships, the British were hoping for a historic double. A certain Jonathan Marray was aspiring to become the first Brit to win the men’s doubles title since 1936. Yes, the same year in which Fred Perry — you know who — won the last of his and Britain’s three singles titles at Wimbledon, the burden of which Andy Murray was carrying into the men’s singles final.

Standing between Murray’s and Britain’s apparent date with destiny was 16-time Grand Slam and six-time Wimbledon champion, Roger Federer. This year’s final was more intriguing than the previous ones for the after effects the outcome would generate, than the match itself. Should Federer win, he would equal William Renshaw and Pete Sampras for the all-time record for men’s singles titles at Wimbledon. He would also tie Sampras’s record of 286 weeks at No. 1. Should Murray win, he would send the region into a sort of frenzy last witnessed after England won the 1966 football World Cup.

But alas, what could have been a double delight, turned out to be just a doubles delight. Jonny Marray won the doubles title while his more illustrious compatriot faltered. Andy Murray, who before the start of the final was thought to have found a way to land the coveted title, still seemed a work in progress at the end of it all.

Federer was coming into this tournament having not tasted success at a Grand Slam since 2010, when he beat Murray to win the Australian Open. He was written off with every single failure to win a Grand Slam though he always made it to the business end of the tournament. He was even reduced to a silent spectator to the great rivalry that was unfolding between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

But here he was, just a month short of his 31st birthday, back at the helm of world rankings, with 17 Grand Slam titles to his name and a seventh Wimbledon in his kitty.

Where will this put Federer in the pantheon of greats? Right at the top? Critics might hold his inability to beat Nadal on the red dirt at Roland Garros, even as Nadal has beaten him on his beloved grass, against him. But to win a Grand Slam at nearly 31 — the first since Arthur Ashe to win Wimbledon after 30 — when fitter and younger legs were testing and exploiting his endurance was no mean task.

The run-up to the tournament clearly belonged to Murray. But ultimately it was Federer who emerged on a high. Stats and trivia ranging from the absurd ‘The last Brit to win a singles title at Wimbledon was Virginia Wade in 1977, also a jubilee year and 2012 is also a jubilee year’ to a more relevant ‘Murray is only one of two active players to possess a better head to head against Federer’ were thrown in. But Murray hadn’t beaten him when it had mattered the most — finals of the 2008 U.S. Open and the 2010 Australian Open.

However, under the prevailing circumstances, it was more likely, that Murray’s start to the final would be passive. To hang in there and wait for the openings. But it was he who started on an aggressive note by breaking Federer in the very first game, displaying the same qualities that helped him work his way up through a tricky draw.

He hit hard and hit deep and hurried Federer into his shots. He forced Federer into committing way too many unforced errors and won the first set — his first success from 10 attempts at winning a set in a Grand Slam final.

However, the tide turned decisively in Federer’s favour in the latter half of the second set, when Murray missed a crucial break point. It would have given him a chance to serve for a two-set lead. In the most familiar of places, Federer would have found himself in the most unfamiliar of situations. But it was not to be. Federer held on, he broke and won the set.

Then came the rain. Ideally the delay should have helped Murray. To regroup and reassess. But once the match resumed under the roof, Federer thrived and after just the first few games, it seemed that he sensed victory.

He chipped, chopped, sliced, served and volleyed, though the last two hardly came as a combination. He went for the lines with the sort of confidence that had eluded him since the ignominy he suffered at the hands of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at last year’s Wimbledon when he lost after taking a two-set lead. The turnaround was complete and this was the Federer of old, the one that Djokovic encountered in the semifinal.

On the contrary, it wasn’t the Murray of old. Even as a belligerent Federer ran around Murray’s backhands and second serves to go on the offensive, the battered and bruised Brit clung on. He worked harder than ever and came closer than ever but still fell short, plunging the entire nation into a sea of despair.

So where does this leave Andy Murray? “I played better this time in the final and that's the main thing,” said Murray after the match. “It was my first time in a Wimbledon final, I’d never been there before. So I’m still improving, still playing better tennis, trying to improve, 

which is all I can do.”

Murray now has the Olympics ahead and then the U. S. Open. He would go into these knowing fully well that he is now closer to the top three than ever before. As for Federer, he will be back in Wimbledon, three weeks from now to win the elusive Olympic singles gold.

The Federer of 2012 will never be the player who won three slams each in three calendar years in 2004, 2006 and 2007. He won’t be his former invincible self either. The No. 1 ranking may still change hands a couple of more times before the end of the year. But at the end of this year’s Championships, he looks to have put an end to the long drawn debate. He might after all be the greatest of them all.

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