First of all, I would like to congratulate the new members of my organization, the Union of Journalists of the Philippines-UP Diliman. They are (in no particular order to avoid people to formulate any speculation): Roland Guia, Melanie Pinlac, Rosanne Chua, Kat Pascual, Steph Raymundo, Rona Cappal, Rey Talaoc, Darlene Ramos, Erica Ramayrat, Care San Antonio and Martha Teodoro. Pasensya na kung may nakalimutan ako.

Now, here's the good part, I would officially record my first blog entry in my new blog of course so here it is:

If Hollywood created "The Scarlet Letter", Formula 1 is experiencing the "Scarlet Fever" thanks of course to the dominance of the Marinello, Italy-made Ferrari car of German hero Michael Schumacer.

This season, Schumi proved once again that his throne as king of Formula 1 will be retained for one more year as he gained his 7th drivers championship by getting the top spot in 15 of the 17 grand prix this year. His dominance also helped Ferrari to win its fourth straight constructors champioship trophy.

With this dominance of the scarlet-donning Ferrari, racing afficionados wonder whether any team in Formula 1 can match the technology Ferrari has developed for the past four years. We will remember that in 2002, they were using the Ferrari F2000 car and by 2003, they already had their Ferrari F3 car. Ferrari mechanics claim that the newer car performs better in terms of horsepower and fuel tank capacity. Also, the aerodynamic front downwing of a Ferrari F1 car were curved in such a way that downfroce will be achieved greater.

But of course, with the great innovations, you must have a great driver. Ferrari has no problems with that. Schumacer is at the moment the best Formula 1 driver ever (Record: He has more wins and driver's championship than any other driver. He has seven and his closest rival is Juan Manuel Fangio who won 5 titles in the 50's. The late Aytron Senna has more poles than Schumi with 65). He is good when it's sunny and believe it or not he is better if it is raining. He is known to be the "Rainmaster" of Formula One. To prove his dominance, he clinched his 2002 trophy with 6 races left, his 2003 trophy with 5 remaining and he bagged this year's trophy with 7 races remaining. No wonder he is also the highest paid F1 driver today at around $33 million. For sure, all teams are dying to acquire his services once he takes off his scarlet uniform for the last time. The sad thing is that it might not happen. It was even Schumi himself who commented that he will continue to serve Ferrari even though he isn't a driver anymore.

There is something in Schumi that there isn't in any F1 driver today: the ability to communicate. He can easily say to his engineers that one of his rear tires is busted or if his gearbox is malfunctioning. As for the other drivers, his presence alone is frightening. I just can imagine how Fisichella or Button would feel everytime they are being chased down by Schumi.

What's amazing is that rarely does Schumacer push his car to the exremes. He might not record fastest laps very often but its his knowledge of the circuit and his tactics that makes him fly above the rest. He often cruises laps in relatively slow times especially if he has already notched up the victory (must be something he has learned from Jackie Stewart).

On the other hand, with this dominance of Ferrari, television ratings of Formula One dropped significantly due to the predictability of results. Fans feel that they need not watch races on tv live for they are almost sure that either Schumi or Rubinho (Rubens Barrichello) will bag the race. On this light, a number of advertisers are starting to pull away from lower-performing teams and try to transfer to better teams. Thus, revenues of the former decrease while its the other way around for the latter. Even merchandise like t-shirts and banners are dominated by Ferrari.

This year, the F1A formulated a plan that could generate back audience interest to formula one. Drivers can only have one qualifying lap so each of them must give their best. Also, championship points are awarded up to the 8th place finisher making the race better. The plans might have been great but as we see Ferrari once again wreck other F1 teams, only time will tell when "Scarlet Fever" will end.