KIMI RAIKKONEN
Race Day, 2013. I think most of us that are interested in open-wheeled racing were waiting for today. A hard day for me because the 12 Hours of Sebring was broadcast until 5 AM and then the opener of Formula One started at 8 AM in my time-zone. Ouch, but I was happy to see it and reasonablely happy with the outcome. It was a long day for these guys because they had to qualify in the morning due to heavy rains on Saturday.
Former World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen, who last year I said it would be just a matter of time, won today's race. A two-stop strategy was the clincher because Alonso's car was faster and closing in at the end. Fernando Alonso glided into second. Sebastian Vettel, who started out on the pole position, came in third. Three former World Champions on the podium. I hope that Raikkonen stays in the mix all season.
They started the race one driver short, well, three actually if you count the missing HRT team. Nico Hulkenberg from Sauber was unable to start due of problems with the car that were uncorrectable before the race.
Drivers of note for this race are Felipi Massa and Adrian Sutil. Massa drove a steady race and ended up in 4th. Kind of picking up where he left off last year as his year got better and better. Sutil, who had missed the 2012 season, started in 11th and ended up in first a couple of times. Still having another pitstop knocked him out of that. After that stop he appeared to be having tire trouble and everyone was passing him. He ended up in 7th, but if the race had been longer he would have been out of the points. He was one of the last to get a seat this year and I am glad that Force India saw fit to bring him back.
On to Malaysia next week and the start of IndyCar in Florida.
photo credit: © 2013 autosport.com
