It was two and a half months ago when I wrote my previous blog post! Sebastian Vettel had just won his third consecutive world title and the season 2012 was over. Now we are slowly but surely moving towards the F1 season 2013 which I´m really impatiently looking forward to!
The very first winter testing session in Jerez is about to be completed at the moment. It´s absolutely too early days to say anything certain about the performance of the cars. This year different teams have different looks in their car in terms of the nose. Lotus was the very first team to unveil their brand new challenger and the E21 was introduced with the step on the nose. The technical director James Allison said that they might use a vanity panel to cover the step if they find a solution which would improve the performance of the car. I like this attitude. Formula 1 is about performance of the car, not about the looks of it! Red Bull instead revealed their RB9 with a modesty panel that covers the "letterbox" on the nose but the panel doesn´t cover up the step on the nose due to extra weight. The new McLaren looks very similar to last year´s car. I find the new Sauber most innovative-looking with the different sidepods. Williams is the only team which hasn´t launched their new car yet but they will bring it to Barcelona for the second testing session later this month.
Different teams have run different programmes on the first test days. You can´t say anything about the fuel loads that the teams have run on. Some teams have collected data on both soft and hard Pirelli tyres and the others have used only the hards. Many teams have had technical failures during the first testing days. Mercedes for example had frustrating two days due to different kinds of technical issues like a rear brake failure which caused Hamilton to crash into the barrier. Ferrari also had an engine failure today. Red Bull have avoided technical failures so far and the new RB9 with the lovely purple colour on the sidepods has proved to be reliable. But the development of the new cars has only just begun so these teething problems are perfectly normal and no conclusions can be made at this stage.
Although the pecking order of the new cars is still a total mystery there are a couple of things that can be said out loud. First of all, the new F138 seems to be much more competitive than the F2012 was at this time of last year. Lotus also seems to be in a better position now than they were at the beginning of last year. They missed three full test days due to a severe chassis issue last year. According to both Kimi and his team-mate Grosjean the E21 feels very promising.
I´m absolutely delighted that Valtteri Bottas got the race seat at Williams for the upcoming season! He definitely deserves the seat and I´m sure the Finn will seriously challenge his Venezuelan team-mate Maldonado! Another Finn Heikki Kovalainen was not so lucky. He lost his seat at Caterham to Giedo Van Der Garde who brought a great deal of money to the team. This is such a shame as Heikki is considered extremely skillful and talented driver by many team principals and other drivers. Due to economical issues Formula 1 needs pay drivers but on the other hand the race seat should be deserved due to the driving skills instead of money loads! However, pay drivers seem to be there to stay. It´s not that they would be BAD drivers but due to them there´re MORE competent drivers who get knocked out of the sport...
Kimi Räikkönen has been number one news both here in Finland and in Germany this week but not because of the first testing session but instead of splitting up with his wife Jenni. The couple has moved to different addresses which has been huge news. Actually I don´t understand the huge fuss about this because unfortunately it´s no news today that people split up and marriages end. And especially when we´re talking about celebrities. It seems to be more like a rule than an exception that the celebrities´ marriages don´t tend to last. And I can´t see why people would love to identify themselves with sad stories like this. I mean I personally would love media to tell a story of a couple who have had difficulties and setbacks but still fought and made their marriage to work! Where are those stories? You can´t find them in the media. But one thing that I´m absolutely sure about is that Kimi won´t let his private life issues have an effect on his performance on the track! What happened to Hamilton, won´t happen to Kimi. No matter what the Iceman went through in his private life I´m sure he will be ace behind the wheel of the E21!
I´ve missed Formula 1 hugely during the off-season. Life is imperfect but Formula 1 action makes it even a bit more perfect! The season 2013 is a whole new chapter in the book of Formula 1. Like Vettel has said, in spite of the three consecutive drivers´ and constructors´ championships also Red Bull will start from zero again. But I have to say I have a very good feeling about the RB9. In addition to the new purple colour which makes the car look almost sexy the speed definitely seems to be there. So looking forward to miracles that can be done by Sebastian Vettel this year...!
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