Saturday, sat at terminal 5 at Heathrow, waiting for a flight - the start to my year always seems to involve disappearing to far flung corners of the globe - so far in the past 4 weeks, I've been to Poland, Korea and today I'm off to the US.
I don't mind travelling and it's nice to see some different parts of the world (albeit for work, which sometimes means I don't see much more than a hotel and an office). Jet lag is unpleasant, but thankfully I'm pretty good at sleeping on a plane. To be fair, I'm pretty good at sleeping anywhere - I think I must be making up for the little sleep I wanted as a baby according to my mum and dad.
I've timed this trip badly though - it's the start of the F1 season this weekend. It's a bit frustrating to be heading off the when it all starts again. As a Fiat fan, some of my allegiance lies with Ferrari (they do have Fiat written on the front after all!), but I like to see the British drivers doing well (my car's called Jenson - there you go!).
Did you know there have been a few F1 drivers who've owned Fiat 500s over the past years? Michael Schumacher did - if it's good enough for a 7 time world champion, then who's going to argue with that? Other F1 owners have apparently included Jarno Trulli, Nick Heidfled, Jean Alesi, Johnny Herbert. I've even seen mention of Sebastien Vettel having an old Fiat 500 among his collection of cars.
Why would anyone who makes a living out of driving cars as fast and hi-tech as a Formula one car want to own something as simple (and lets face it, comparatively slow) as a Fiat 500? Maybe it's a nostalgia thing, maybe it makes a nice change not to drive a car with that many buttons on the steering wheel - who knows. It's nice to think that someone who has the chance to drive something as amazing as a Formula one car would also enjoy something like a Fiat 500.
Well, my flight will be heading off in a bit - time for me to sort myself out for the flight to Chicago. Hopefully I'll get to see some of Q2 and Q3 when I arrive, given the weather issues in Melbourne. Who do I think will do well this season? My automotive head says Ferrari (Fiat), my patriotic head says an Englishman, my practical head says Vettel is in with a chance again. Let's see what happens!
