Back in the saddle (well, the seat)

I know it’s been a while since my last blog (“Why were you not constantly updating us on each and every piece of F1 must-know info?” I hear you cry.  That’s right, I do hear you say that), but I’ve come out of hibernation just before the Australian Grand Prix in just over 2 

weeks.

So much has happened since Vettel crossed the line in tearful realisation that the 2010 Championship was his.  There’s been good news, expected news, pointless news and unfortunately some bad news.

Everyone was touting Robert Kubica’s 2011 to be the one that, although probably wouldn’t seal him the Championship, would guarantee his ascendancy further up the ranks with some outstanding performances in a good, but not quite good enough Renault.

It was really depressing for me and for most other F1 fans, then, to hear that he’d badly severed his hand and fractured his arms and legs in his accident whilst competing in a rally.  As well as being genuinely concerned for one of my favourite drivers, from a selfish point of view it is frustrating to feel like the season won’t be as exciting as it could have been with him in it.

Kubica's miraculous escape

Another unheard of event, in terms of F1 standards anyway, was the news that the Bahrain Grand Prix was to be cancelled with the slim promise of being ‘fitted in’ towards the end of the season.  Whilst I agree with the reasons for the sport not visiting the country this year, I cannot see it being allotted the said space; there are already enough races this year.  Who knows, it could be a slight blessing in disguise; last year’s race was not what the sport needed, although many members of the press wrote the whole season off in advance just from one processional Grand Prix.

These two major headlines aside, the out of season happenings in F1 have been pretty standard.  Testing times are still treated by the media as exact markers of which team will be fastest this year, when in reality they are all on completely different testing strategies, tyres, fuel loads etc.  It’s kind of like timing two runners, one who runs 1000 metres and one who runs 1000 metres with an army backpack on.  What is more interesting is that as at today, Sauber top the timesheets as they did last year.  Look how their year inevitably turned out to be…

And then we come to yet another excellent idea by Bernie Ecclestone who’s thoughts went along the lines of: “I know what – F1 is more exciting when there’s a rare wet race.  Let’s artificially create one with sprinklers.”  This idea has been bandied around for years, with no more than a second thought put towards it.  In many peoples’ opinion, a wet race is exciting because it’s rare.  The feeling of anticipation either when the cars start in the rain or when a monsoon suddenly starts to fall is unequalled in the sport and shouldn’t be diluted down to wondering when Bernie orders the ‘more excitement needed’ button to be pressed.

Still, a cynical part of me wonders whether it’s a PR stunt to gain F1 some tabloid space before the season kicks in.

With the new Pirelli tyres this year, as Bridgestone officially left at the end of 2010, which they have promised will have a much faster degradation, it should be interesting to see which drivers and teams have got used to them the quickest.  Lewis Hamilton is a very vocal critic of the reduction of pace the tyres bring to the car, however there other drivers like Jenson Button who must be rubbing their hands together with glee at the way the tyres suit their less aggressive driving styles.

Still, none of the above will matter when the lights go out in Melbourne on 27 March.  That’s unless there’s an Australian civil war brewing…