What's Motivating Kimi?

I'm wondering what the real reason is behind Kimi Raikkonen signing for the Lotus (nee Renault) team next season. Does he really believe he will have a chance of winning races or is he just going to be there to collect a cheque?

Since leaving Formula One at the end of 2009, Kimi has had seemingly half-hearted attempts at Rallying and NASCAR Trucks. Obviously neither of these though satisfy his desires, hence the return to F1.

Raikkonen showed incredible promise in the early 00's driving a Sauber. Somehow though that potential wasn't fully realised when he went to Mclaren and his title for Ferrari in 2007 is better remembered for how Lewis Hamilton managed to lose it rather than how Raikkonen won it.

I think a moment that sums up Raikkonens commitment better than anything else was the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2009. Heavy rain had caused the race to be stopped and while the rest of the drivers were still on the grid Kimi was seen by millions of TV viewers to be eating an ice-cream dressed in his shorts and T-shirt. There was still a possibility at that time that the race might be restarted. You'd expect a driver of that stature, well actually any driver who has the opportunity to drive a Formula One car, to be prepared to restart the race until there is definitely no chance of it going ahead. 

Then There Were Six

In 2012 all the F1 World Drivers Champions since 2000 will be competing in Formula One. They are Michael Schumacher (1994-5, 2000-4), Fernando Alonso (2005-6), Kimi Raikkonen (2007), Lewis Hamilton (2008), Jenson Button (2009) & Sebastian Vettel (2010-11).  

The Head Master

Sad to hear that Patrick Head is ending his involvement with Formula One as from the end of this season. Apparently he will still be working for Williams but nothing to do with the racing team.

In the thirty years I have been a fan and follower of Formula One Patrick Head is one of the characters of the sport that has always been there. Back when I started following F1 in 1981, Patrick was arguably at the peak of his brilliance. The Williams FW07B he had designed had just won the previous years championships (both drivers and constructors) and it's successor, the FW07C, was in the running for both titles until the last race but in the end had to settle for just the constructors. In 1982, the fourth incarnation of the FW07, the normally aspirated model D won the drivers championship in the hands of Keke Rosberg despite being considerably underpowered compared to some of it's turbocharged rivals.

As the years progressed, Patrick Head seemed to move from being chief designer to being more a technical director, helping to keep the many complex facets of a modern Formula One design team synchronised. He also took on the responsibility of leading the team for much of the 1986 season after team founder Frank Williams was seriously hurt in a road accident. All through the years though he was always a presence in the Williams garage. Other designers like Adrian Newey came into the team and produced vehicles as brilliant as Heads earlier designs.  Patrick Head though was always there, one feels he was having the final say on what a Williams Grand Prix car was going to look like when it hit the track. He was also often quite frank in interviews and wouldn't be afraid to criticise the performance of one of his drivers, you felt though that he appreciated and respected a driver who would do his cars justice.

Despite being a hard taskmaster, I can't think of any controversy surrounding Patrick Heads career. He has always played to race and raced to win. 

Is Anyone Ready To Overtake Red Bull?

So the Red Bull team finish the 2011 Formula One season as they begun, by dominating a race. Will they be able to keep up this superiority next year. One wonders if there are any other teams ready to give them a genuine fight for the title in 2012?

In previous years, sometimes towards the end of a season there will be signs from a teams performance that though they haven't had a good season that year they will potentially be at the sharp end of the grid in the following season.

At the end of 1997 Mclaren started to show some pace after several mediocre years. Mika Hakkinen led in Britain and Austria before being sidelined with mechanical issues and then David Coulthard won in Italy before Mika won the last race of the season at Jerez. That year they were a team clearly on the ascent, and this was followed by titles for Hakkinen in 1998 & 1999.

In both 1985 & 1991, Nigel Mansell had a good second half to his and his teams season, following them up by almost winning the title in '86 and finally triumphing and winning the crown in 1992. Likewise Alan Jones preceded his championship year by being the class of the field also in a Williams towards the end of 1979.

Red Bull themselves showed their intentions by outpacing the Brawn team after the first half of their 2009 campaign. Since then they have been pretty much stuck to the top of the race results. Mclaren have shown moments of promise this year but you wouldn't bet on them, or anybody else, leaving Red Bull in their tracks in 2012.

Seb & Nige

So Sebastian Vettel has set a new record of 15 pole positions in a Formula One season. This surpasses the previous record of 14 set by Nigel Mansell in 1992. Nigel though had just 16 races in which to achieve his record which mean't he was on pole for 87.5% of that seasons races. Seb has had 19 events to achieve his tally of 15 pole positions, a hit rate of 78.5%. So both drivers now hold records for the amount of pole positions in a season, both of them quite remarkable.

Rather Jacarepaguá

This weekend sees the final Grand Prix of the season at the Interlagos circuit in São Paulo, the track that has hosted the Brazilian Grand Prix since the early nineties. Personally I used to prefer the Brazillian Grand Prix when it was held at the Jacarepaguá circuit in Rio De Janeiro.  I thought the Rio circuit had a very good layout, the start/finish and back straight both seemed to offer passing opportunities and though it was flat I found the corners quite interesting. Formula One cars looked good going round the bends there.

I find Interlagos is too short for a Grand Prix circuit. It doesn't have that many turns and it just seems too brief and simple, not challenging enough for Formula One drivers. It also has few overtaking areas. The main start/finish straight is mainly a large bend and though in theory overtaking should be possible, it rarely seems to happen there. The pitlane entry is another area of concern, there is a tragedy waiting to happen there, it almost did in 2003 when Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso had massive accidents at that part of the track.   A few years back some advertising boarding was left hanging perilously over the main straight when it came loose from a gantry during a race.  I just get the feeling that safety concerns are maybe overlooked when it comes to Interlagos so to insure there is a Brazilian Grand Prix on the F1 calender.

I wonder why Rio lost the Formula One race. Probably at the time, the early nineties, Ayrton Senna was the local hero from Sao Paulo and there was commercial as well as popular interest in getting the race moved to Interlagos. I still think that Jacarepaguá was a better venue for modern Grand Prix racing, certainly safer and arguably more exciting.

Mixing Sport & Politics

I was happy to read today that Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed that the Bahrain Grand Prix will go ahead in 2012 despite some public protests in that country. Every country has a large percentage of the population that are unhappy with the government, that is part of life. Because there is a minority who wish to show their resentment by resorting to violence doesn't mean everybody else's lives have to stop. Why punish the motor sport fans in Bahrain by taking away their Grand Prix when they have done nothing wrong?

Unfortunately sport getting involved with politics and vice versa is nothing new, sadly the only people who suffer are the sportsman and the sports fans. Politicians and political activists are only interested in using sport as a means to get their message across. They have no genuine interest in the sports they are using for their own political gains and once they have achieved their goal they will no doubt lose any interest they may have briefly had.

Sportsmen and sportswomen are generally non-political, apart from the occasional loudmouth, most keep quiet about World affairs. That is how it should be. As a fan of sport and motor racing in particular, I want to see exciting races, I don't care about the politics of that country. Maybe if I was concerned I wouldn't want to see a race take place in China. Britain has seen rioting in recent months, why not drop the British GP until we are sure the underlying problems that sparked these unrests have been sorted out? Maybe the animal rights groups might want Spain to stop hosting their two annual races until they abolish Bull fighting? I'm sure I could find a reason not to host a race in every country currently on the F1 calender if I put my mind to it!

Despite not being a particular fan of the Bahrain circuit, I will be cheering when I see Formula One cars race there in 2012.