Some people loved the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, a race of rubber in which tyre strategy was king. And for the analysts, there was a lot of fun to be had tracking margins between drivers, keeping an eye out for emerging battles with a view to predicting just who would wind up on the podium. The casual fan is likely to have enjoyed themselves, with the twin DRS zones creating a festival of overtaking that ensured the Shanghai race was anything but processional. But for those who fall between the two camps, a lot of the action on Sunday afternoon felt rather artificial, with drivers hanging back until they were in the position to pull off a DRS-enabled pass. There was action, but it didn’t feel much like racing. Thank goodness, then, for Kimi Raikkonen and his decision to spend Sunday afternoon attacking people around the outside of Turn 1. The Iceman had some ground to make up in Shanghai this year, after a depressing end to the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix that saw the Lotus driver lose what looked like a sure podium in the closing stages of the race when the pit wall tyre gamble didn’t pay off. Lotus had elected to keep their driver on a two-stop strategy, and it was working well for the team until lap 47, when Raikkonen – in the process of being overtaken by a freshly shod Sebastian Vettel – slid off line and onto the marbles. Before he was able to return to the track, he had been passed by seemingly half the field, dropping from P2 to P12. This time around Lotus were taking no chances, and Raikkonen’s three-stop strategy saw the Iceman claim the podium finish that was so tantalisingly close twelve months ago. But for Kimi, a racer through and through, those sorts of considerations are immaterial. What makes the Finnish driver so special – other than his unique approach to the media – is the way in which he doesn’t seem to care about any result that’s not a win. For Kimi, it’s about what happened on track between lights out and chequered flag, not what’s happening in the standings. Which isn’t to say that the Iceman isn’t a competitive animal – far from it. But what fires up the Iceman is good racing, ballsy overtaking, and a battle or two. Collecting a drivers’ title at the end of a season of wheel-to-wheel action on track is simply the cherry on top of a very delicious ice-cream sundae. The stats fans among you might be amused to learn that – according to F1 stat man Sean Kelly – Kimi is a shoe-in for the WDC this season. The last four times a British prime minister has died, the F1 drivers’ title went either to Lotus or to Renault, the Enstone-based team that grew out of Lotus. We’ve now got the Lotus name back at Enstone, so Kimi is a sure thing. Apparently. It’s certainly a neat little factoid to repeat down the pub, but I’d hesitate before betting the family silver on it this early in the season…
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Tue Apr 16, 2013 12:48 pm
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