Pre-Season Update 2: The final car release

Greetings Internet,

Life here at blog HQ has been rather interesting over the past few weeks since the last outburst, I have been on stage once more - not on my local facility but on a much larger scale, in the world premier of 'Thief of Time' in Durham. Naturally of course making it past the auditioning stages was nothing short of miraculous, considering the calibre of the people I was under the lights with, it was only a small part. But it could be seen as the largest scale performance I shall be involved with, so from that perspective it seems a lot more impressive, and of course the rest of the cast truly were - the character of Myria being an exceptional highlight. But as the lights have gone down on that experience and the prospect of a mighty quantity of lines waiting in the wings, it is time to get on with things here in this corner of the internet while there is still time, and before my mind gets completely obliterated by the amount of words it may have to recall in May. A performance which there are plans to take it out into the world, in the first ever theatrical tour - what interesting times we live in at the moment.

So before I go off on another nostalgic rant about the fleeting times in front of an audience, something that I'd forgotten how it looked given the dwindling theatre populous - it is time to redirect things back to why this part of cyberspace exists, besides a space for me to rant to myself in complete isolation. For the second pre-season testing session of the year has started in the rather sunnier climes of Barcelona, whatever sun is anyway, seems a lot like an mythical concept in the northern reaches of this part of the world. Therefore I shall use this cue to cover the remaining points before having to put the site in order before things kick of in Australia.

credit to F1Fanatic.co,uk for the image

The first order of business is that the final car release of the 2013 season (well the penultimate release, but we'll get to that later) has been announced, the Williams FW35. From the initial pictures it would seem that the team have bought their car from IKEA and forgotten to add some of the parts in the box. Because there is a distinct lack of bodywork and anything of a mechanical nature at the rear of the car in front of the rear wing. It looks a little flimsy back there, and exposed to being hit by Frenchmen driving black and beige cars, however at least the front of the car looks a lot more substantial. Which considering that Maldonado will be driving this car this year, and will be the end of the car he'll be ramming people with. I'm not too sure whether it is the image and filtering, but the metallic, reflective colour looks rather decent, a little different to the plain matte finish of last season. I find this car a little questionable in terms of design, and piloted in one seat by a lunatic, and an unknown quantity in Valtteri Bottas in the other. But the mid-field battle is starting to look even more interesting, with the team of pure darkness - Sauber, Torro Rosso - who are armed with the sharpest nose ever, and Force India who are auditioning for Di Resta's friend for the season. Speaking of which...

Will Di Resta be lonely for much longer

After Marussia caught up to Caterham in the Jerez test, the loneliest place on the grid - aside from the cold and solitary darkness of blog HQ - is the Force India garage. Because still at this stage the Scot has no friends to sit in the other car on the other side of the stall, the list of candidates has fluctuated immensely under the pressure of media speculation throughout the winter. But now as the teams arrive in Spain at Catalunya the list would appear to have been shortened to two candidates who will be driving the car during the test. 

• Adrian Sutil - Sutil has been with the team since the Spyker days and has had moments of great speed and ability - but went missing from the world of F1 after he beat up some people in china, because apparently that is not the done thing to do in nightclubs - whatever they are anyway. He is now in the list for a return alongside...
• Jules Bianchi - A GP2 graduate and part of the Ferrari driver development program, and was released from testing duties with the red team in favour of Pedro De La Rosa. It was assumed the move was to pave a way for Bianchi to get the space in Force India to gain track experience with an mid-grid team. Because that is where all the fun is.

In weighing the two up, we have one driver with a proven record and was on course to take major points in Monaco 2008 if Raikkonen hadn't binned him from 4th at the chicane. Sutil is quick, but is prone to moments of madness, bouncing of all kinds of people in the opening race in Korea in 2010. Although the idea of putting him on the same grid as Maldonado and Grosjean does have a certain air of anticipation for some mayhem from time to time. While on the other hand we have an unknown quantity of Bianchi, who has been quick in the support categories, but the competition there is as financially biased as it is in the main game so making an assessment is not really possible in comparison to Sutil. Of the two I know who I'd want in the squad, and think it would make for a more dynamic mid-pack race.

I mentioned another car release

As some of you may know, the blog has it's own vehicle, for pottering around the tracks before the race, in a largely un-viewed illustration video. As it is the beginning of a new season it would be nice to unveil the new car for the year - the successor to the Minardi PS05 used throughout 2012 - with the odd exception where other cars stood in. This season I have stepped things up a little, actually finding something a little more competitive than a back row contender...

 This 2013 car is a 2009 Red Bull - so in theory it should be a lot faster than the others that the blog has been using so far, will that make a difference on the lap times and general driving ability that any preview videos will demonstrate. Well perhaps not, because It'll still end up in the barrier, shedding wheels in a myriad of different directions. This car - was one of the first cars that the German bloke decided to name, the launched RB5 chassis used in testing was given the name 'Kate'. So that gave me an idea, it would be nice to name the 2013 car something other than 'the blogmobile'  as that has lost the novelty factor - I have a couple of ideas, but I think I shall open it up to the floor to see if anyone has any better ones. There may even be bonus points in it for anyone who does come up with something interesting. So while that is decided, this is farewell from me here in the darkened corner that is Blog HQ.