‘Party Mode’ for Vettel’s Ferrari in Australian GP
with Mercedes unable to dominate and Ferrari consistently responding. The fastest lap came from Red Bull, Ricciardo evidently spurred by the gut-punch. Then Fernando Alonso took his pumpkin-coloured Mclaren to fifth place ahead of the garrulous Max Verstappen, thus teasing a season that could have several anthems blaring for many a driver and team.
Vettel’s victory delivers the most classic of champagnesoaked combinations — German anthem followed by Italian anthem — that will always evoke Michael Schumacher and his five successive Ferrari championships. Vettel and Hamilton, with four titles apiece, are gunning for (an overall) Number 5 this year, and this generation’s bragging rights.
What, meanwhile, of this generation’s sights? We must respond to the new halos, those horseshoe-like protectors meant to shield drivers, that also make on-board cameras appear hideous.
My fear is that they may impede a driver exiting a burning car, though we are assured modern F1 cars are likelier to crumple than burn.
Unsightliness aside, the spectatorial concern is that it has become dashed difficult to tell teammates apart. We used to do this by the customised colours and designs of helmets, but they are barely visible beneath the halo. Perhaps that’s the answer: let drivers zing up their halos at will. Let’s have horseshoes with personality. Give everyone a party mode.
Australia 186/5 in 20 overs (B Mooney 71, E Villani 61, P Vastrakar 2/28) beat India 150/5 in 20 overs (J Rodrigues 50, A Patil 38*, M Schutt 3/31) by 36 runs.
RAUT DROPPED
NEW DELHI : Opener Punam Raut was dropped from the 15-member squad for the four-match ODI series against England. The matches will be played on April 3, 6, 9 and 12 in Nagpur.
Squad: Mithali Raj (captain), Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Dayalan Hemalatha, Veda Krishnamurthy, Devika Vaidya, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, Sushma Verma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad.