Smog and Kimi in the air

If singer Jukka Kuoppamäki would have born and grown up near the India GP -track, then his hit Blue and White would probably never had born. Here you can't look at the blue sky and the white clouds.

The floating smog cloud from the massive New Delhi metropol is over the area like an umbrella. Since there's no wind or rain the air doesn't clear up.

Nevermind. When I told a reporter buddy who has been to almost 500 GP-races about what I'm writing in my column, he said that there hasn't been a clear sky in Sao Paulo either except during one GP-weekend.

Everyone understands that this is not the air one wants to breathe. Those suffering from a sniffle or a sore throat knows why.

Somewhere someone is burning something since even the air smells like smoke. When I asked McLaren's doctor Aki Hintsa if there is carbon monoxide in this smog, he turned the question to the current driver rumours.

– There's no Häkä (smog) in the air - only Kimi, Hintsa joked.

At least you see Mika ’Häkä’ Häkkinen a bit on television where they show F1-races from year 2000. But the possible comeback of Kimi Räikkönen is still just a rumour.

Although Italian RAI-tv told as their own information that the contract with Williams would already had been signed and that it would be announced in the next race in Abu Dhabi due to the Arab-links.

Most team managers doubt stronger and stronger that Williams money isn't enough to get Räikkönen. According to inside information Frank Williams is somewhere where money is moving.

For an European the hygien is important in India. We can't let the water from the shower inside our mouth and we have to wash our teeth with bottled water.

The F1-people have survived reasonably well the local food- and drinking challenges. A list of forbidden things is not even made since a short list of what is allowed is enough.

McLaren has isolated three from their team after they went and ate somewhere outside the team- and hotel premises. Almost every team has some small inconveniences.

I myself had the courage to try a shrimp salad after seeing Sebastien Buemi eat it two nights in a row and then driving 9th in the practice.

Still going well - thanks to lactic acid pills.

Turun Sanomat, Greater Noida

HEIKKI KULTA

Courtesy: Nicole

Alonso lends support to UNICEF anti polio campaign

New Delhi, 27 October – What can a Formula 1 driver do to help a child? For those who, like us, are used to a certain standard of living, the answer is relatively straightforward: you can give happiness in an overtaking move, celebration for a victory, anger for a mistake. However, for those who don’t have time to think of sport as a form of entertainment, but instead have to fight every minute of the day just to survive, these things matter little or not at all. For these children, who unfortunately are still in the majority, a sports personality can set an example in terms of behaviour and can help them feel closer to something that otherwise would be out of their reach.

It is in this spirit that, over four years ago, Fernando Alonso became an ambassador for UNICEF, making his image available to promote initiatives aimed at helping children in the developing world. It was in this different role that today Fernando took part in a UN campaign against poliomyelitis, which is also supported by Bill and Melinda Gates and Desmond Tutu. Fernando visited the paediatric hospital Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, in New Delhi, along with Hamid Jafari, Project Manager of WHO-National Polio Surveillance Project, K.K. Kalra, the hospital’s Medical Superintendent and A.K.Agarwal, of the Maulana Azad Medical College, where he administered the polio vaccine to a group of young patients: the aim of the campaign is actually to increase awareness among the population of the importance of vaccination against this terrible disease. “The fight against poliomyelitis has made amazing progress in India, to such an extent that the last case was registered last January,” said Fernando to a group of journalists who were present. “There is still much to do, because it is vital that every child has the vaccine so that the disease is wiped out completely from the face of the earth. It is important for me to be here and to do, in my own small way, something useful. Sure, a hospital always brings out strong emotions, usually hard to digest, but seeing the children who, although in a very difficult situation, somehow find a way to smile and to have hope for the future is something that always touches me deeply.”

Source: Ferrari.com