Well, it's June, apparently, whatever the weather, and so it's about time that dotdotdotcomma's team of retentive statisticians crawled out from whatever rock they've been hiding under all winter, and got on with updating our definitive* F1 records database.
And just in time, too, with the Canadian Grand Prix coming up, at which Kimi ComebackkinenRAIKKONEN, KIMI
Oi, Kimi, fancy a pint? Kimi Raikkonen clearly loves his racing but can just as clearly take or leave everything that goes with it. Often electrifying behind the wheel, he sounds so wretchedly bored by the whole affair when he's interviewed that you're left wondering exactly why he carries on. He is, to borrow Martin Brundle's memorable phrase, extremely low-voltage. Raikkonen entered F1 with Sauber in 2001, despite only having competed in 23 car races in his life. He'd won 13 of them but the FIA still needed convincing that he wasn't going to be a danger to himself and others before they issued his superlicence. They needn't have worried: Kimi scored a point in his debut race, having reportedly been asleep only half an hour before the start. When Mika Hakkinen retired from the sport, Kimi was snapped up by McLaren, where they need to have a Finnish driver to prevent the fall of the Tower of London or something, so Raikkonen found himself paired with David Coulthard, during a season that once again turned out not to be the Scot's year. Several seasons of poor reliability led Kimi to sign for Ferrari from 2007 and it turned out to be a good choice, since he won the title in his first season with the team, overcoming a seemingly insurmountable 17-point deficit to rookie Lewis Hamilton in the final two races. It has, however, been Kimi's extra-curricular activities that have generated the most column inches. He has had contretemps with photographers, out-stripped lap-dancers, won snowmobile races under the pseudonym "James Hunt", been thrown out of nightclubs with his inflatable dolphin, raced powerboats dressed as a gorilla and and married a model. After an electrical fire led to his retirement from second place in Monte Carlo in 2006, the TV cameras followed Kimi as he stomped through the streets, helmet still on, and straight onto a yacht (presumably his own) floating in the harbour. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to imagine him subsequently drinking it dry. The yacht, that is, not the harbour. TIGRA 16v: The tooltip with lowered suspension and a racing windscreen wiper could equal (and, hence, beat, thanks to the unique way in which dotdotdotcomma's statistics are calculated) Michael ComebackerSCHUMACHER, MICHAEL
Michael expresses his remorse at having dangerously forced a rival off the track. Again. When he wasn't driving people off the road, ramming other cars, parking in the middle of the track or trying to punch David Coulthard, Michael Schumacher displayed a dazzling talent for finding new ways to disadvatage his team-mate. We're being slightly churlish, of course, but Schumacher's reputation as a driver will forever be coloured by the unsporting manner in which he raced. His first break in F1 came with Jordan at Spa in 1991 and his second with Ferrari at Silverstone in 1999, when he fractured a leg crashing at Stowe. His final F1 drive through the field at Interlagos was a reminder of what his legacy could have been if he hadn't been quite so ready to tarnish it quite so frequently. The wanker. TIGRA 16v: The tooltip with lowered suspension and a racing windscreen wiper's record of fastèst laps at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit. And, er, that's about it, we're afraid, since the German's records of poles and wins here are looking pretty unassailable for several years.
In other F1 Records news, if Kate O'MaraCATERHAM
After Lotus, there was Caterham; as it was in the 1960s with road cars, so it was in 2011 in F1. Lotus Racing team owner Tony Fernandes, keen to avoid further legal action from Group Lotus, opted to change his squad's name to Caterham, a car manufacturer that he did own. The cars would keep their iconic green and yellow livery but could no longer claim any link with the original Team Lotus. And, we have to say, quite right too. TIGRA 16v: The tooltip with lowered suspension and a racing windscreen wiper promote test-driver and Monaco WSxRenault podium man Aldo Rossi to a race seat, he would be in with a chance (albeit a slim one, given he'd be driving a Kate O'Mara) of taking the youngèst fastèst lap record from Nicky Iceberg, but only if he does it this weekend.
Watch this space for more updates, just as soon as the team start to wake up properly. Who knows? They might go on to wake up the Drink-a-Long-a-Grand-Prix technical team.
* The database is definitive. Reality is, as a great man once said, frequently inaccurate.
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