That time of year….

It’s that time again. That time where the excitement starts to build. That time we all feel optimistic… this year it will be different…. this year it will be exciting….we study the specification changes, the driver changes, we follow the twitter feeds, the internet forums. We welcome back former champions hoping that they still have the edge that they had in their prime, we hope that teams that had a slow car last year will be competitive and that drivers that made mistakes last year will be sharp this year.  It all builds, right up to the moment that the cars line up on the grid, poised, pulsing, thousand of tiny horses begging to be let loose….. and then….. the red lights go out, the engines wail and then………… disappointment as  we watch two hours of high speed traffic. We try and get excited about strategy, we look forward to the pit stops for a change in leader, but in the end it’s the same…. every year…

Yes, my love of cars includes a love of F1. For better or for worse I have watched every race I could, since I was a small child. I started as a Nicky Lauda fan in those exciting Prost / Lauda  / Maclaren TAG turbo days. Then he retired and my loyalty shifted to Prost, until a young Brazilian joined the fray…. Ayrton Senna was a true legend and watching him race was amazing (I recently subjected The Wife to the Senna movie in the hope that she would understand my passion a little, and I think it helped). After Senna it was Schumacher and then Mr Lewis Hamilton….

Now in my first paragraph I was being a little unfair. That is the way it was for all too many years, but not the last couple. Last year in particular featured a couple of exciting races where it was impossible to take your eyes off the TV. Maybe DRS ruined the racing or maybe it added to the spectacle, but I think a lot of the edge came from having so many exciting talents on the grid. Vettel is a fantastic driver, Lewis had a “growing” year last time out but showed glimpses of his raw speed. Button isn’t the fastest but he has great race craft and extreme consistency. Alonso is a great driver but lacked the right car last year.

Hopefully this year it will continue to improve. Maybe Schumacher will find his form, Alonso will have the right car, Lewis will get his emotions under control and maybe Vettel will actually reveal some weakness this year….. maybe.

and maybe I will be feeling that crushing disappointment on Sunday when they start the race in Melbourne…. it’s funny, all of us England Football fans go through that same roller coaster ride every two years… but we can talk about that this summer 😉