First One

It’s been two weeks since the last F1 Grand Prix.

If the tournament is still on, there should be another race today.

But it’s over.

My first season ever of F1,

Yea it’s over.

Pic's from here.

It never occurred to me that the sport would be so awesome. All year long. One cool event led to another, making me just sit perfectly still every week in front of my TV, waiting for amazing drama to come. And I should say, I’m glad I picked this season as my first.

You know how it all began.

Rio Haryanto. The first Indonesian to ever entered an F1 championship, which euphoria introduced me to the world of F1. All local eyes were on the 2016 Australian Grand Prix, Haryanto's, and OUR, first Grand Prix. Only different is, those eyes only lasted for two-three races after that, and kept vanishing from race to race, all because they didn’t see how Haryanto could survive. I, on the other hand, resumed watching—including that time when he stopped racing halfway the tournament, yea, I kept on continuing the series.

Despite the Indonesian racer, I enjoyed the sport as a whole though. You know how it all worked out—of course deep inside I’d pray for Rio’s win but, whatever happened, I’d still adore the tournament at a wider point of view. The top racers were unpredictable, making me smiling to whoever won the race, making me screaming to whoever succeeded in overtaking. From Monaco, Hungary, Japan, Brazil ‘til Abu Dhabi, every single races, which I used to think that, well, what’s so different with a race in Spain and the one in Silverstone? apparently served its own unique drama.

My first year got better when the championship entered the Singapore stage. You know how it all took place—I flew there, made my very first race-watching and abroad-concert debut, found international friends who were also fans of F1. It wasn’t just the experience that sent me to the moon—the race itself, of course, became my main dish. Seeing Rosberg won right in the front of my eyes, cheering just several yards away from my idol Ricciardo, catching each and every single cars I could only see from TV screen before. It was all so random, spontaneous, yet obviously the best decision I ever made.

The thrill went on to its next round, Malaysia Grand Prix. You know what happened—Daniel Ricciardo won the race. After two years of vacuum. He’s my favorite in F1 because, he’s good yet not the best. I don’t pick Mercedes boys as my idols because, they’re just too good. Seeing them winning all the time will kill my mood. So I picked him instead, and when he did it in Malaysia, I was beyond happy for this. Wearing-his-hat-which-I-bought-in-Singapore-all-day-long-the-next-day-after-the-race kind of happy. And knowing that he broke the curse of "No Victories at All Since 2014" right on my first year of F1, what else to request?

However, I wouldn’t say I’m glad I picked 2016 as my first year, if it wasn’t for Felipe Massa and Jenson Button. Because you know the reason—they’re two of F1’s legends. Retired just as I started my F1-watching career. I felt really lucky that I had to see them both on track, despite their poor last performances. And even though I had just known them for 21 races, I could see the quality in them. I could imagine how cool they were during their old days, and I felt the same heartbreak their original fans felt when they finished their last races.

And finally, Nico Rosberg completed the list. You know why—the current reigning-champion, the most constant racer with skills so entertaining, the hope for the next excitement in 2017, that came with his retirement announcement by the end of this season. I couldn’t say much about it. I swear I’m so blessed that I got the chance to see him blasting from race to race, until he finally earned his first ever championship, and decided to end his career as a victor. He’s a true champion. 

I couldn’t ask for a better first season.

It seemed like they conspired to make it great for me.

But now it’s all gone.

And I felt a bit blue because,

Well, it’s my very first F1 binge-watch!

No more seeing the legendary rivals in Mercedes fighting for the best on the front row, no more seeing Rosberg pissing Hamilton, no more seeing Massa and Button struggling, the grid will be a whole lot changed as the drivers are distributed here and there cross-teams, the fights will be much much different. I’m sure.

Ah well, that’s the beauty of sport. People move on. So of course my 22 first racers in 11 first teams wouldn’t be on that exact order next year. But whatever happens, those set of grid I had always seen in 2016, those combinations of initials and colors that had always been associated accordingly in 2016, will always be in me.

Upper pics are from here, here and here respectively.
Lower pic belongs to F1 Twitter account.

Well it’s my First One, yes.

There will be more to come.

But I’ve a feeling that this one,

Will forever be the most fucking

Fantastic One

M&Ms

You might not know but

Ever since Indonesia entered F1,
I kept following the tournament.

For the first round or two, it was still for Rio Haryanto of course. You know, karbitans euphoria. But finishing Chinese Grand Prix on week three, when I found out that Nico Rosberg had won 6 GPs in a row, I began to completely un-biased-ly enjoy the show.

It's apparently fun to see the race. Probably less nerve-wrecking than MotoGP where changes in positions can happen in just a matter of seconds. But Formula One has its drama too. I started to realize the true beauty of F1 when they did it in Monte Carlo. When Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo spiced things up the shortest circuit. I remembered the time I screamed to my TV for what I saw, my subconsciousness told me

"Man, you've never been manlier than this before."

Best race I've ever seen so far, in my debut season.

But last night, another one came to my amateur sense.

Austrian Grand Prix

Pic belongs to F1's Official Twitter Account.

Too many things happened yesterday. From Rio Haryanto gained his best position ever -12th place- before an incident put the whole circuit in major rearrangement, to Sebastian Vettel's ironic car breakdown in lap 20s despite the fact that it was his birthday, to Felipe Massa and some other drivers having to leave the race unfinished when entering the last 10 laps.

There are some good news as well. Like Rio's Manor Racing teammate Pascal Wehrlein that finished in 10th place. It was a big stepping stone for a minor team like MRT. In fact, it was their first point ever in the tournament so reaching the end of the race, they were like all hysterical and exaggerated. It was so funny seeing the big drivers took it easy receiving their big wins, while these newcomers celebrated like crazy for a mere last position. But that's no wonder. Because it was, something really big. And hopefully this could make Rio fired up too.

However, the biggest drama, of course, happened during the fight on the last lap. Two Mercedes boys Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were after each other for the first place, resulting in a disappointing collision between them. It was so unfortunate. The crash sent Hamilton to the first place in the podium, but Rosberg had to finish fourth due to some severe damage on his car. On some level people took it as Hamilton's unwillingness to let Rosberg win, so those Germans booed him pretty bad during his podium speech.

Phew.

Now that's the "true beauty" of Formula One I told you about. You got 22 drivers, each of which has the same chance to serve one hell of a great, unexpected performance. The top ones can fall with no further ado, or retire on lap 65 out of 71 -that sucks!- while the underdogs can suddenly be only stones away behind the pole.

So unpredictable. It's like, eating M&Ms off the pouch. You pick one, and whatever color you get, you'll enjoy it anyway because it offers the same damn delicacy.

No preference, no differences in taste.
Anybody can be your main entertainer.

The celebration for first position, and celebration for tenth.
Both pics belong to F1's Official Twitter Account.

Well, Mercedes and Manor.

It's obviously a great weekend for both of them.

But now, can you spot something pretty ironic?

That the one which ended up in the first place, on some level didn't enjoy their victory. Meanwhile the one which ended up in the bottom, celebrated and made it like they won the whole series.

Life's weird sometimes.

Even in the sweetest moments,

It can still go nuts

The Foolish Ones

It's been pretty confusing to be Indonesians lately.

Between pride and disappointment, it all mixed up.

Like tourism. I'm pretty much head over heels with my country right now as Indonesia keeps attracting the world with its natural charm. Yet on the same time, our internal harmony is on jeopardy. The race and religion issue is getting too much and I'm this close to... You know, stuff you religion freaks don't want to hear.

This makes me realize how low-educated my fellow citizens are. And how trash their talk is. No I'm not going to discuss the topic of "race and religion" no, oh God, I've had enough. I want to talk about something else. That also shows how poor Indonesians' mindset is.

I want to talk about Rio Haryanto.

Pic's from here.

The first ever Indonesian in Formula One.

Okay I need to set things straight here: I ain't some bandwagon fan -or what you call in Bahasa as "karbitan"- who starts to track Rio's journey ever since he made it into F1. No. I've been exposed to him long ago, as he is on the same age with me, and I've always had this jealousy—I mean, I've always had this MAJOR SUPPORT for people my age -I once brought up Neymar and Sam Smith to this blog, you can look it up. I've known him far before 2016, unlike most Indonesians do, so no, I'm not that kind of spontaneous groupie.

Back to topic.

Today was the Race Day for Australia Grand Prix. Yesterday was the qualification and as you might knew, Rio had some incident that forced him to start from the last position today. And as you might as well knew, many Indonesians whom are mostly clueless about the racing world and stuff, started their trash-talk galore.

Saying that it's an unnecessary thing done by Rio, cursing about how reckless that poor guy was, self-observing that this was a super bad start for Indonesia and could not be good for the future, this shit, that shit, oh man! Shut the fuck up already!

You guys wanted somebody to lift the dignity of Indonesia? Rio stepped up. You guys wanted something fresh to clear up your minds from the negative vibes that has been all around the nation lately? Rio delivered a very good news. You guys made this really nice support so he could finally get the money and made it through the event, and now you think that it can give you the courtesy to mock him? You guys are such a disgrace, really.

"Seriously, people, you need to keep your uneducated mind and mouth shut. All you can do is just talk, and talk, and talk more nonsense crap, yet you know barely nothing about the race!" -- Vicky Amin, 23, furious on some level.

Last night I watched an interview on local TV station, featuring one of Indonesia's racers. She described a comprehensive rules and regulations about Formula One, and stated that such incident is common and more racers will do the same thing throughout the tournament, even worse things could possibly happen. So really, it's not that big a deal.

Remember, he's the only Indonesian in F1 now.

Plus, he's like, the only Southeast Asian.

Oh better yet, the only ASIAN.

And you, you got nothing.

Nothing but your trash mouth.

I'm not here to defend Rio -well, okay, I'm here for that too, a bit. I'm writing this more likely to emphasize on how upset I am with Indonesian citizens today. Especially the ones roaming about the internet.

They're just too fool, too lazy to dig up the complete facts that they get too carried away already with just unnecessary details. It's like, sometimes I think we're really not ready for such freedom in information exchange...

Well well, that's too much to think.

Let's just now forget about them assholes.

Obviously, F1 is not for

The Foolish Ones