DECEMBER 27, 2005

A very quiet time of year

With most of the big players in F1 away on Christmas breaks in the Alps or sunny beaches in the southern hemisphere, it is a quiet time for the Formula 1 world and as a result there tend to be some fairly exciting stories published as Internet sites look for readers.

With most of the big players in F1 away on Christmas breaks in the Alps or sunny beaches in the southern hemisphere, it is a quiet time for the Formula 1 world and as a result there tend to be some fairly exciting stories published as Internet sites (who do not know the team bosses) look for readers.

The biggest story in recent days is that Toyota wants to sign Kimi Raikkonen. And why not? The team has the kind of budget that allows it to spend obscene sums on salaries for Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher and has big ambitions. This is terrific as a lever to convince other teams (such as Ferrari) that it should pay Raikkonen untold millions for his services. The only problem in all of this is that no-one has yet explained why in the world Raikkonen would move from a winning team (McLaren) to a team that has never won a thing. There will, inevitably, come a day when Toyota will start win but until that happens one should not expect Raikkonen to be a visionary. He is much better off for the next contractual period with McLaren or Ferrari.