Fernando Alonso: Blue is the colour

Narain Karthikeya’s F1 sojourn, an Indian debut, started satisfactorily but ended in a wrecking crash at Shanghai.

BEFORE: Five seasons of Ferrari domination led to rule changes which may have led to Schumi’s downfall. Especially the one limiting tyre changes. And Renault, with a fast and reliable car, had seen Trulli —their only winner of 2004 —exit, and Fisichella enter. Alonso was labelled ‘‘promising’’

AFTER: The realignments on the podium in 2005 were followed by a change of managerial guard as Minardi, Jordan, BAR and Sauber were replaced by Toro Rosso, Midland, Honda and BMW. More spectacularly, Alonso signed off 2005 with his astounding announcement of a move to McLaren in 2007.

SURROUND SOUND: Auto racing went nationalist with the grand introduction of the A1 series, where Team France followed in Renault’s footsteps to notch an eight-win streak before Neel Jani, a half Indian racing for the Swiss, snapped the record run. Meanwhile, F1 grappled with a potential breakaway series threatened by five carmakers from 2008. And, unlike Schumi, Valentino Rossi didn’t let go of his title in the Moto GP.