Schumi, Ferrari, Mercedes and Liquid Oxygen..

Raabert:Boss? Is kaa kyaa kare boss?
Boss(Loyan):Raabert! Is pille ko liquid oxygen me daal do. Liquid ise jeene nahi dega, aur oxygen ise marne nahi dega.

I understand why the Scuderia family had to sign Alonso. We had been missing you for the past three years. We felt a little bit lost. We wanted some one who could be our anchor. Who could motivate us. Give us a sense of purpose. Who could push the car development. Who could give 1.25X if we gave him to work with X. In short, we were looking for your clone.

And we got one. Fernando's work ethic and motivation skills remind you. His career path looks the same too (you won 2 championships in Benetton, he won 2 in Renault, which is practically the same team). You came to Ferrari when you were achieving your peak powers, he is doing the same.

And the family had to look for some one who can lead them for a lot more years to come.

Now, you are 41 years old. Have nothing left to achieve or prove. But, you never drove for record books. You became a Formula 1 pilot because that is all you could do. That is all you can think. Who can forget those unforgettable seasons of 96,97,98 when we could not win the titles? You gave your everything and extracted performance from the car that was not humanly possible. Who can forget those countless days that you stayed in a modest apartment on the Fiorano test track and kept testing the car from day break to dawn,all in the pursuit of finding that elusive 0.1 second performance gain? And as the night fell, you jumped in to your road car, drove to the nearby pizzeria, ordered for every one in the team and had a marathon debrief session on the day's testing activities.

The team felt they owed you. The people of Maranello felt you were one among them. They even made you their honorary citizen. The Tifosi world wide were rejuvenated. And we achieved glory. What a glory it was!! You broke all the records in the books. Stupid columnists started complaining that Formula 1 was becoming boring (especially in 2002 and 2004) when you started dominating like never before in the history of sport.

But you had to retire one day. That day came in 2006 when you decided that you did not want to quit the sport when you are not in the possession of peak powers.

For the next three years, you didn't know what to do. You sat on the Ferrari pit wall some times. You helped in their road car development. But, there was some emptiness. You tried your hand at 2 wheel racing. You attended one or two carting events and events like race of champions. You either won them or came runners up (almost all of them).

Then the opportunity came in the form of Massa's injury. When our president called you to substitute, it did not take you 5 minutes to accept. You started exercising and testing like crazy. But the injury you sustained falling from a bike was deemed to be too dangerous to let you drive at that time. You were shattered. Tifosi were shattered. We had really been looking forward to your come back.

Now, the opportunity came knocking again. How could you say no to Ross Brawn? Remember, Mercedes might have helped you become a driver when you were young, but it was Ferrari that gave you all the glory and immortality..

A Tifoso is some one who sticks with the team irrespective of how the season goes. We had many bad patches before and we had extremely good ones too. But, what you are doing now puts us in a dilemma. What should I do? What should I feel? When I wake up at 5:30 AM to watch the race, who should I support? You are a member of the family. But, you are driving for the rival.

So,here are my rules and the Tifosi might banish me for doing this.
--I know that Scuderia will be there for ever. I also know that this is your last hurrah.I will support you even if iI kills me to oppose Ferrari.
--The support is strictly for you and you alone.
-- I don't care for Mercedes team or brand. They are second grade and can never aspire to be what Ferrari are.
--The moment you quit, I will support who ever is driving for Ferrari..

Now, go and have fun on the track. Hope to see you get 100 victories and may be a title too..