Iceman in the land of sand

Abu Dhabi sprung the eighth different F1 winner this year. While most eyes would have been on the championship contenders Vettel and Alonso, Kimi inherited the lead from a hapless Hamilton and drove through the checkered flag with consummate ease. He did no harm to his "iceman" reputation in dismissing comments from the pit with a nonchalant "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." He held off Alonso and in that showed that he still is one of the better handlers of the wheel on the track. The difference between the top two in the world championship race is now down to ten and it is almost certain that we won't know who will wear the crown till the season ends in Brazil. Lotus would hope that this gives the whole team a lot more belief and results in the coming season. The constructor's title is almost in the Red Bull bag with the gap between them and Ferrari being 82 with only 86 on offer. There were first turn incidents as usual with the Force India lead man Nico colliding with Bruno Senna. The team has been in middling form this season and with the principal in dire straits with this flying ways and Hulkenberg departing, it would take a miracle for them to better their performance next year.

The stage is set for the year end ATP tour finals at the London O2 arena. With Rafa being a casualty of struggling knees, the rest of the field is gearing for some top notch action. Murray and Novak are in the same group and would renew their rivalry that is starting to look like the one to replace the Federer-Nadal duopoly. Roger is the two time defending champion and would hope for some more success in the dusk of his incredible career. Do any of the others stand a chance? Tsonga and Ferrer have upped their games and are always contenders but their minds are still a tad behind the big four when it comes to the clinch. Round robin format always offers a little bit more drama and hopefully this year end tussle would be another cracker.

The BPL is again shaping into a two horse race with the red devils and the blues going neck to neck. MU carved out a facile 2-1 win over the gunners with RVP on target against his former club. Chelsea need to maintain the steam to avoid getting upstaged by the other Manchester power houses. Arsenal are again having an up down season and unless Wenger loosens the purse strings, its difficult to see how he can challenge the big boys.