The Red Bull Racing Story: 2005-2012

It's hard to understand how a team can be this successful.

Check out this video from youtube and you will probably understand the Red Bull -team a bit better.

It's quite boring when a team has this much success. Just like McLaren (the 80's and early 90s), Williams (the 90's) and then Ferrari (2000-2004). Specially if it's always the same driver who wins.

Schumacher won almost everything with Ferrari just like Vettel is doing with Red Bull today.

McLaren and Williams always had two great drivers who were equal. And in the end there was one champion. With Red Bull you always know that Sebastian is the better one and not Mark Webber.

Webber is great too but he is not a leader like Vettel and Schumacher before him.

I would love to see Räikkönen or Alonso with Red Bull. It would be much more interesting seeing Vettel fight till the end for all the victories and not getting them on a plate.

Next year is going to be great! Let's hope they don't choose Ricciardo to be the number two driver.

Kimi Räikkönen is loved in Asia

Here is a Gangnam style video with "Kimi Räikkönen" or his driver's outfit at least.
It's funny if you can picture Kimi actually dancing in this video when he is so.. you know.. Kimi.

Kimi has a lot of fans in China and specially girl fans. Why is that?
Do girls in China like blonds from the north or do they just like Kimi Räikkönen?
Or is it so that mostly girls like F1 over there and they choose to cheer for him?

When Kimi comes to the airport in China there is hundreds of girls screaming for him.
No other driver gets this treatment over there so why Kimi? I don't know the answer so I am really asking.
I would understand if he represented an Asian team or engine manufacturer but he doesn't.

Ayrton Senna was also really popular in Japan but that was because of McLaren who used Honda engines back then. The japanese were really proud of the success Ayrton had. But then again Alain Prost drove for the same team but Ayrton had more fans even though they were teammates. Maybe Ayrton was such a big character just like Kimi is today.

I understand that you have to choose another driver to cheer for if your own country doesn't have a driver in F1 but why do they mostly cheer for Kimi? There is nothing wrong with it I am just asking.

I was very excited myself as well when Kimi started in F1 back in 2001. I knew how unexperienced he was when he came to F1. It is quite strange actually because Kimi had competed in only 23 Formula Renault races before F1.. AND KIMI WON 13 OF THOSE 23 RACES! That's crazy!

He started his F1 career almost by accident. Sauber asked the Robertson brothers (Kimi's managers) if they could talk about getting a deal with Button who they also managed at that time. But Button was not available and Sauber really needed a driver after Mika Salo left the team.

The Robertsons told Sauber that he should see this incredible new talent they had found. Mika Salo heard about this and told Sauber that he knows who Kimi is. He is a new star and that he should grab him quickly.
Sauber and Ferrari used to test together back then and they gave Kimi a chance to test with them in Italy.

Kimi jumped in the Sauber and broke Barrichello's lap record after a few laps. A rookie was faster than Schumacher and Barrichello with a Sauber when they had Ferraris! This sounds crazy but it happened.

Schumacher asked "Who is he?" and they answered "It's Kimi Räikkönen a new Mika Häkkinen". Then Schumi looked impressed and answered "He's fast!".

One year with Sauber then McLaren grabbed him even though he had a 3 year contract. Money talks.. Then Ferrari got interested and got him after Kimi had lost several championships because of retirements. Kimi won his first race at Ferrari and became champion at the end of the year.

So if you think about Kimi's story it's easier to understand why he has so many fans in Asia and anywhere else. It's like a movie story! He was poor and started to drive, was a good driver from the beginning and now he is a millionaire world champion.

All great champions have great stories. I must say that Kimi is one of my favorites as well.

But I love F1 and not just one driver.. Even though he is great.

How to watch F1 when you are far away from home

Every now and then it happens that you are somewhere else when you should be at home watching F1. I always plan ahead situations like this so I don't miss anything.

First I have a F1 live streaming-software on my phone that I use in situations where I am sitting on a bus or working etc. Live streaming is good for free practice sessions or saturday qualifying but I could not watch a GP from a stream! I must see the whole thing. I could pay a lot of money just so I wouldn't miss anything.

It's possible to watch GP's from the internet by paying about 5 euros. But this works only if you are carrying a laptop and you have access to the internet. There are also sites that show the GP's for free but there are usually commercial breaks and signing in etc. I would rather pay the 5 euros to see everything without interrupting and with my favorite commentators.

I don't usually have a laptop with me so I try to find bars that show Formula 1 or check if my hotel has channels that show it. For example I saw the last GP in Hong Kong at a bar. First I went a few days earlier to a british pub and asked them if they would show the Grand Prix. The girl at the bar said that she didn't know and asked a guy named Adrian if they did. He said absolutely and I thanked them for the information.

Later I got worried because it has happened before that when I am abroad people always say that they are showing it and then they realize that they don't even have the channels for it. So I found a backup bar for watching F1 just in case the first one didn't show it for some reason.

Sometimes they just say anything to get customers. At Cyprus last year I changed bars twice and the third didn't bullshit me about actually showing the GP. In Turkey they said sorry we don't have the channels anymore and when people started to leave suddenly they said that they had the channels. Why would they do that?! Maybe they wanted to watch something else them selves?

In Hong Kong at the british pub it was a bit different. I went there early to get good seats in front of the big screen TV. But then the bartender asked me if I was there to see "the game". I said that I was waiting for the GP and that they had promised me that it would be possible to see it at that bar.

The bartender looked at me and asked "what GP?" THIS WAS A DISASTER AGAIN! But he offered to show the Grand Prix from another smaller TV without sound next to the front door.

I was not ready to sit there and try to ignore 50 crazy football fans scream next to me while I watch F1 from a smaller TV without sound!

Then I remembered the other smaller bar and ran over there like Carl Lewis! And then I saw a big screen TV showing F1 preview shows. What a sweet sight! The second I walked in to the bar the bartender turned the music off and turned up the volume on the TV. Thank God!

Sometimes they show F1 at hotels or even in your room. In London they showed the GP at our hotel restaurant and in Dubai I could have watched it in my room. Instead I jumped in a taxi and went to Abu Dhabi (taxi's are really cheep in Dubai).

It took me an hour with the taxi and it cost me less than what I paid from my apartment to the airport back at home. The tickets to the GP were about 340 euros. Damn! And I got the cheapest tickets there was!

The tickets allowed you to see the qualifying, the GP2 race (not a part of the GP2 series) and the F1 race. After all of this there was a concert with various artists including Paul McCartney. I just went to see the F1 race cause I didn't have time to go to Abu Dhabi 2 days in a row. The race was the main thing anyway..

The feeling when I saw my first F1 race live was incredible. I felt like a teenage girl at a Justin Bieber concert (only I am a man who likes racing and hates Justin Bieber). "There's Schumi! that's Button! hey Hamilton! Alonso and Vettel!" Unfortunately Räikkönen was not at that race cause it was the 2011 season. But anyways I highly recommend it to all of you F1 fans out there.