In this week’s episode of Top Gear, the boys built their own car, a guest drove round the track and they performed a test of an Audi and a Chevrolet.

First off, the guest. I had no idea who this guy was, but apparently he is in some Twilight movie that is quite popular. His name is Michael Sheen, and really, that’s all I know about him. Other than he was in Frost/Nixon and does a good impersonation of Tony Blair, he is also very quick around the track. Even though he didn’t seem to be taking the correct line or driving very smooth, he somehow managed to eek out a lap that was very impressively fast. I believe that the whole lap was won in the second to last corner, where he entered at an unbelievable pace that I have never before seen. Maybe more stars should use that tactic.

In the car test, Clarkson had an Audi R8 V10 on track. He said it was amazingly quick, and it should be. The thing has a Lamborghini V10 in the back that pumps out 520 hp, but it also costs about $150,000. And it doesn’t even look that much different from the V8, except for the little V10 badge on the arches and those horrible looking wheels. Really, those wheels are horrendous and I’m surprised they were approved. Overall, the car sounds good, looks good and goes really fast; but not as fast as the Chevy Corvette ZR1. Though these two cars may not seem like direct competitors, they are actually closer than you might think. For one thing, the Vette has a supercharged V8 that pumps out a ridiculous 638 hp and 604 ft lbs of torque. This means that it is faster than the Audi through the quarter mile and has a higher top speed. It is also surprisingly faster around a track, though you really do have to work at it to make it fast. Also, the Corvette costs only $107,000, and that is a bargain for the performance that you get. However, the Audi is, of course, put together better, will last longer, is faster in the real world, looks better and isn’t made of plastic. Plus, Corvettes have some of the worst seats in the business for being a sports car. Hell, my Subaru has sportier seats that that thing. In the end, the Vette blitzed the Audi around the track, even though it was damp as well. I can’t imagine how fast that thing would be if it had actually been dry.

In the third segment, the boys took a look at building their own electric car and posed the question, “How hard can it be?” turns out, it’s really hard. With Hammond on the chassis, May on the motors and Clarkson (the useless sod) on the body, their work all came together to create Geoff. It turned out to be a big box with a TVR chassis and two batteries for power. The top speed of Geoff was a paltry 10 mph and, as everyone should have seen coming, the boys got into trouble when they clogged up streets, caused slow downs on motorways and eventually left the car alone where it rolled down a hill and into a tree. But that wasn’t the end of the car. They came back in the second half of the segment and remade Geoff as the Thrust Eagle Hammerheadi… or something like that. Anyway, the basic car was exactly the same, with a new bumper and more batteries. They then took the car to the UK proving grounds and put it through its paces. They smashed it into a wall, put it in the side impact machine and performed a drag race with it against tough competition. The car, amazingly, passed all of the tests with flying colors and was given to the auto reviewers at Autocar so that they could test it. Turns out that it actually sucks.

Next week it sounds like they will be making rally cars or something and be figuring out which car company has made the greatest number of brilliant cars. Also, flying caravans; so stay tuned.

It seems there are some news stories flying around the Formula One paddock that may or may not be true. One thing that we do know at this point is that Kimi Raikkonen has decided to take a sabbatical from F1 for 2010 and go to the WRC. His decision is based on the fact that he was pushed out by Ferrari, was too expensive for every other team and couldn’t come to contract terms with McLaren before Jenson arrived on the scene. He has stated that he could return in 2011, but only if he is driving for a team that has a shot at winning a title. This logic also runs through his WRC hopes and he, I assume anyway, will sign with Citroen if he wants the best car. I am on the fence about him going. I was never a true fan of his, but he did bring a really mellow, laid-back, Finnish attitude to the pits that was really refreshing… plus, he could wear a hat like no other. His Kimi-cap fashion was something to see in every press conference. As far as rumor is concerned, there is some speculation going around that Michael Schumacher will actually return for the 2010 season. But the shocker is that it won’t be in a red car with a prancing horse at the front. If he does come back though, he could be pared with Ross Brawn again at Mercedes (formerly Brawn). Eddie Jordan, the outspoken former team owner and BBC pundit, has made it known that he believes Schumi will be back on the grid, but that it will be in a Silver Arrows with Mercedes Grand Prix. Personally, I would hate to see this happen, but it isn’t like Michael can drive for the prancing horse because both seats are filled. If Luca di Montezemolo had his way and gotten the third car he wanted, this would not be an issue, but because that won’t be an option, Schumacher to Mercedes looks like a possibility that cannot be denied. Also, it has come about that, although Schumi renewed his contract with Ferrari, it has nothing to do with the F1 team anymore and is solely focused on the road car division. This leaves his racing wide open and he could be the person to fill one of the two seats that is now open at Mercedes GP because of the departures of both Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. Do I think Schumi will do it? I think he will certainly give it a shot, I mean, he desperately wanted to come back this year and was unable, but his neck injury meant that he had to return to the sidelines. But that will be healed soon, so he will probably give it a good run. Now, do I want Schumi to return in anything that isn’t red and comes from Maranello? Of course not. But that’s the way things work these days. The coming weeks will really tell the whole story, but it is an interesting development and could be one of the biggest stories of the off season if it comes to fruition. Just imagine what Schumacher and Brawn can do with a car that came away with both the driver’s and constructor’s championships last year. It could be a hell of a season if that’s the case. Stay tuned.

Lots of big news in the world of Formula One today. It has been announced the Jenson Button has signed with McLaren and will be paired up alongside Lewis Hamilton. He has said that it wasn’t about the money and that he is just out to continue moving forward with his career. However, everyone knows that Brawn did not want to pay him as much as he was asking and that McLaren was willing to pay more. Besides the pay increase, he now has a chance to be teamed with another Brit on a British team and he says that was a big reason to make the switch as well. As motivation, there is nothing better than driving for your country, and with McLaren, both Button and Hamilton will be flying the Union Jack, but I still don’t see any way this will work out in the long. This does mean that McLaren will retain the number 1 on the front of the car, and it is also the first time in F1 history that a team has the services of two drivers who were World Champions back to back. There is some speculation that Button had been forced out of Brawn by new owner Mercedes, but it remains to be seen whether that is the case or not. Ross Brawn and Nick Fry have expressed their disappointment at having Jenson leave the team and now have to go with a clean slate of drivers as Rubens Barrichello signed with Williams right after the season ended. The seats at Brawn will be highly coveted though, and the team should have the pace to stay with the front runners, if not be the front runners come the start of the season. More will be revealed as winter testing finally shows up and the true pace of the new cars can really be judged.

The news also means that Kimi Raikkonen is looking for a new place to drive. It has come out as rumor that he has three possibilities. Either he sits out the season, signs with the former Brawn team at reduced income or goes to the WRC with Citroen. There are rumors flying all over the paddock, from people close to him, that he will be in the WRC and contest Le Mans, while others are saying that he will try and shore up a deal with Mercedes F1 so that he can continue racing. Personally, I think Kimi is going to leave F1 behind this season and concentrate on his WRC training. He could possibly make a return in 2011 if all goes well, but his attention is not on F1 right now.

Top Gear is most assuredly back! In the 14^th series opener, the boys went on a journey to Romania to try and find the best road in the world, there was a test between a Mercedes S63 AMG and a BMW 760LI and the actor Eric Bana dropped in.

I think the surprise of the night came when I found out that Eric Bana is Australian! I had no idea that he wasn’t an American actor. Well, I suppose that just goes to show how good he is. Also, he is a giant fan of motorsport and races GT cars regularly. It even came out that he has not taken a movie project because he would rather go racing. His prowess on the track really came through when it came to his lap in the reasonably priced Suzuki Liana. Even though it was extremely wet and even though he missed a gear change, he still managed to put in the fastest wet lap of all time, which is damn impressive. All of his lines were spot on and you could tell from the video that he was going to be fast. All in all, a very good lap from a surprisingly Australian person.

The test round the track that took place involved James, for once, testing out some hot super sedans. The Mercedes S63 AMG and the BMW 760LI both feature huge engines, a 6.2 liter V8 in the Merc and a 6.0 liter, twin-turbo V12 in the BMW. Both make generous amounts of power and torque, but the BMW is faster in both a straight line and around a track. This surprised me because I would have thought that the BMW would have been the softer of the two, given that the AMG is usually thought to be a brutish sort of car, and the BMW 7 series generally isn’t thought to be all that sporty. But the Bimmer was better able to put the power to the ground without completely lighting up the back tires around every corner like the AMG. And though the BMW won the battle, it was still decided that both cars were wastes of time and money because they are overpriced and overpowered and don’t know what they really are. They are supposed to be luxury limos, but also try to be sports cars, and that just dilutes them from being truly one or the other. And I have to say, I agree with their verdict on this one. If I want a sports car, I’ll go buy a Porsche or something and if I want a big luxury saloon, I’ll get a Jag, but I don’t need them to be put together and then pay more than I would for both of them combined with the one car.

On to the main event now. In what can only be described as a hair-brained scheme to find a road they could have simply gone to right off the bat, the boys traveled through the country or Romania in search of the Transfagarasan Highway. This is the highest, and most dramatic paved road in the country and looks very similar to the Stelvio Pass that they visited a few series ago. Of course, it wasn’t just about the road though. The cars that they brought were supposed to be the best grand touring roadsters in the world, and so Clarkson brought an Aston Martin Volante, Hammond showed up in a Ferrari California and James brought a Lamborghini LP560-4 Spyder. They then bickered and did what they do best by driving around, getting lost and competing in challenges that don’t really settle anything at all. Of course, since they were in Romania, it was only natural that they should see a ton of Dacia Sanderos. For those who don’t know, James is obsessed with this car. He feels it is a cheap car with no frills that is actually pretty good. So, Clarkson bought him one. And, as happens with all their gifts, you just knew that it had to get ruined somehow. This time, a large semi-truck backed into it and completely destroyed it after James had parked it “conveniently.” I know it was set up, but it was still great to see, because I think that James actually did like that car. After that, the boys followed May and, of course, got lost out in the Romanian countryside where James had a fender bender with his Lambo. But, after all of that nonsense and tomfoolery, they finally reached the road, and it turned out to be an epic thing. Clarkson even commented that the road was a combination of all the best corners of all the best race tracks in the world, and there is no greater compliment than that.

Overall, the episode was a good one for the start of the series and it can, hopefully, only go up from here. I wish I knew what was coming up on the show next Sunday, but they did not tell the audience. I’m assuming that it will be a big surprise. I will say that the one car I am hoping to see on this series is the new Noble M600. I want to see what it can do around the track, because it is supposed to be devastatingly fast.

Some quick Formula One news is on tap for today before I get to the main Top Gear article. It seems as though Jenson Button is poised to make a move to get into the McLaren cockpit alongside fellow Brit, Lewis Hamilton. This is potentially huge news, as Button and Hamilton would make basically an all British team, while this would ruin Kimi Raikkonen’s chances of getting into the sport next season. With the McLaren seat filled, there would be no other team on the grid willing to pay the amount of money that the 2007 world champ wants. I don’t know whether or not to say that this is a good move for Button because, as we have seen with Fernando Alonso, a title winning driver moving to McLaren with Hamilton is a risky move that could just take points away from both drivers. The only real reason that Kimi won in 2007 was because there was no number one driver for McLaren that year, and both teammates took points away from each other, allowing Kimi to sneak up and snag the title in Brazil. Frankly, I’m surprised Button is thinking this way. I know that there is more money involved, but wouldn’t you rather be on a team where you are the number one driver instead of simply Lewis’ teammate? If it were me, I think I would be satisfied being the number one driver of a team who has Ross Brawn at the head of it, even though I would be paid less, the money made is still a lot. In fact, his salary at Brawn is still over four million pounds per year, though that is two million less than McLaren is willing to pay him for his services. So, does he say “Show me the money!?” or does he stick it out with Brawn and try to make it two in a row? I wouldn’t be surprised either way, but I would hate for him to join McLaren as it would instantly make him the enemy.

A couple of items caught my eye today. First, the Brawn GP has been bought out by Mercedes and will be branded, from now on, as Mercedes Grand Prix. As for McLaren, that team will be phased out, sort of, and will eventually become an independent team, much like Brawn was last season, with Mercedes supplying engines, but totally sovereign from them. Brawn (or Mercedes Grand Prix) will then become the actual factory backed team from Mercedes. Does this mean, then, that McLaren will be forced to the sidelines and won’t be as competitive as they have been previously? Of course not. In fact, I believe this gives McLaren even more motivation to beat the factory cars, as the new customer set up. Plus, the real rivalry is still McLaren vs. Ferrari. Brawn can have their little Red Bull spat, but everyone knows that McLaren vs. Ferrari is where it’s at.

The second bit of news is a little embarrassing for the Prancing Horse from Maranello. This past weekend, Ferrari held a little get together in Valencia known as the Ferrari World Finals. It featured a parade of Maranello’s finest and even introduced Fernando Alonso to the Spaniards as the newest Ferrari Formula One driver. However, the Ferrari California that was driven by Luca di Montezemolo ended up being beached in a sand trap, as he either forgot how to drive, or simply felt that the car could get closer to the crowd without being stuck. Whatever his inclination, it was a mistake and the baby Ferrari became stuck in it. Here are a couple of videos of the little snafu that must have been one of the most embarrassing moments for him. I hope that Fernando isn’t thinking this is a great way to start his Ferrari tenure, having the boss beach him in his own country. Oh well, this could only really happen to Ferrari couldn’t it. They seem to be full of miscues lately and this is probably just the start of many more to come.

Well, it is now official. Top Gear will be back on the TV this Sunday!!! W00t!! Normally, this would call for me to actually recap the final two shows of the last series, which I totally did not do and forgot all about and meant to do but other stuff got in the way and blah blah blah. Long story short, I may end up doing that eventually. But for now, I will try to focus on this series and give a verdict on how the first episode went on Tuesday next week. So stay tuned because there is actually something to watch on TV over the weekends while the long wait for the next F1 season.

Although this blog has become mostly about Formula One, that wasn’t what I set out to do with it. Well, now, after many posts about F1, I have a new topic (although it also involves F1). A few months ago, I was in a little principality you may have heard of called Monaco. This is a place of glitz and glamour and the cars and the city did not disappoint. I arrived there on a day that started out raining extremely hard, but as we pulled into the principality, the skies began to clear and the sun briefly shone through. The main reason that I wanted to go to Monaco was to walk the Formula One track that has become so famous. You may have watched it on TV, seen it in a movie or even played it in a video game, but unless you go there, you cannot believe how close to the buildings these guys get to drive. The second reason I wanted to go to Monaco was to see all the great cars these super wealthy people drive. As the day started with that aforementioned rain, I was not expecting too much, but I was surprised at what I did see.

We parked waaaaay up at the top of some hill that I probably couldn’t even find again. Luckily, we had a GPS system with us and it really came in handy. As I said, we parked way up the hill, as Monaco is sort of built into the side of a mountain (or at least some very tall hills). This leads to the city being a bevy of apartments, all built right on top of one another. Another thing this leads to is lots of stairs; thousands of them, in fact. However, we had another stroke of luck in that we parked near an elevator. Because the town is built so vertically, they have elevators that you can use to go up and down throughout the city to get to your destination. This not only saves time, it keeps you from killing yourself trying to climb up all those stairs. As it happened, we came down an escalator that opened up onto a street with a view directly toward the harbor. And again, as luck would have it, this street also contained the Formula One store and the Ferrari dealership. How fortuitous is that?

Obviously, I had to check both of them out. First, we took a trip inside the store. This place has everything…almost. Other than an actual car being inside the store, they had helmets, suits, an engine, exhausts, wheels and models galore! The walls were lined with models and hats and actual racing suits. I have been in other Formula One stores before, and though the one in Toronto comes close, this one is right in the heart of the action and is the place to go if you want some great merchandise. I will say that the one in Toronto has a very awesome Ayrton Senna helmet, but this one in Monaco is actually in Monaco! You can’t go wrong with that. I wish I had taken pictures of the inside, but I never thought to do so. I have this one of the outside, and the address is 15, Rue Grimaldi, should you ever be in the neighborhood. Originally, I wanted to get a car model or something that would be very Monaco-ish from the store (like a Michael Schumacher Ferrari F1 car), but all of the stuff they had – surprise, surprise – was really expensive. I ended up looking around the store and just taking it all in and then leaving to go explore the town with my dad.

The next stop was the Ferrari dealership just down the street, toward the harbor. This store had pretty much everything, bar an Enzo. Outside, in the rain, was a new California, a 599 GTB, a couple of 360s  and even a rare (in that it didn’t sell very well) 456. Inside the showroom was a 430 spider as well as an F430 Scuderia. This car is unbelievable to look at and the interior is pure racing car. Welds out in the open, no carpets, upgraded seats, Alcantara all over the place; a true beast of a car. I snooped around here for a bit and then we moved on down toward Port Hercule.

Port Hercule is the port that is so famous because of all of the gigantic yachts in the harbor during the grand prix. These yachts in these photos are just little things compared with what shows up on that weekend. It really is amazing that there are so many wealthy people out there who can not only live in Monaco, but be able to still afford to eat, let alone own a boat that is larger than my entire house!

Of course, right next to the port is the front straight of the actual track. Right on the street that all the cars drive on you can see the grid positions where they line up every year. It’s an amazing thing that an entire city/country can be shut down just for a bunch of cars to drive at ludiculous speeds through the town. At the corner of the first turn, called St. Devote, there is a large statue of a car drifting through that turn. Then it is up the hill toward the casino and the square. This hill is so much steeper than it appears on the television, it’s hard to get across in pictures, but it is like walking up stairs without the benefit of steps. And when you get to the top of the hill, it is a completely blind left turn that seems to go on forever, until you get into Casino Square.

And what a square! If you love to watch cars, this is one of the very best places in the world to see supercars up close and personal. There are two good reasons for this. The first is that the casino attracts many high rollers of course, but the other reason is that the Hotel de Paris is right next door. This is where high rollers stay, racing drivers sleep and celebrities frequent. Outside of the hotel, there were approximately 8 Bentleys waiting to take people wherever they wanted to go. And pulled up in front of the casino were multiple Porsches, Ferraris, an Aston Martin and an Audi R8. In fact, as I walked up to the Casino for the first time, I saw a convertible SLR McLaren leaving the scene. It is one of the many cars in the world that I wish I could have gotten a picture of, but, alas, I was not fast enough.

Going on from here, you take a right turn around the mirror in the middle of the square and head down the hill to Mirabeau. This is the corner where Lewis Hamilton crashed in qualifying for the 2009 GP. I took these pictures of the hairpin from his crash spot. Here you can see just how much of a drop in road height there is from the top of this spot to the bottom.

Once you get down there, you take a succession of quick right hand turns and enter the spectacular tunnel. I walked the entire track, and at the end of the tunnel, there was construction, but that didn’t stop me from walking out near the traffic and continuing on. Another car that I missed taking a picture of, mostly because I didn’t want to be hit by it, was the new Lotus Evora. Once you are down here, you are literally right next to the port again. While there are barriers blocking the cars from splashing into the ocean, or crashing into multi-gazillion dollar yachts, it is still only about five or 10 feet from the actual marina. Then it is a left around Tabac and then the quick piff-paff of the swimming pool. Once you are past the pool, you can see right down to the Rascasse restaurant and corner. This corner is famous for a couple of reasons. First, it is a famous restaurant, but also, it is where Michael Schumacher “lost control” of his Ferrari in trying to lock out pole for the 2006 race. Just about where this white van is sitting is where Schumi parked his car. SUCH HISTORY!

From here, the cars blast through Antony Noghes and back onto the start-finish straight. The lap is one of the coolest things you can do in Monaco, because it only takes a couple of minutes (barring any unforeseen stopping to ogle cars) and is a great way to get a sense of the history of the track and to feel just how close they actually come to buildings and spectators. We then took a look at the Automobile Club of Monaco. Since we were not members, we only went into the doorway to see the trophies and the names on the plaques, but behind one of the windows are three formula one engines for all to see.

Unfortunately, we did not spend the night in the city (expensive much?) and moved on. But before we did, I figured that since I would probably never be back to the city, I we should stop back at the Formula One store that we went in earlier. I already had something in mind that I wanted, and luckily, I got there just before they were about to close. In fact, about five minutes before they were about to close! I ran in the back and grabbed a hat. In all the years I have been watching Formula One I have never owned a Michael Schumacher hat, so I grabbed the final edition of his world title winning hats and took it up front. The woman that worked there was kind enough to answer my questions as well. The main one being, “Who is that in the picture?” She then rattled off names like Jarno Trulli, Sylvester Stallone, Sebastian Loeb and more that had all been pictured inside of the store. There were pictures of many people up there, all of them very famous racing drivers or celebrities. This store has a lot of history in it and should be on your list if you are a fan of motorsports and are in Monaco. With this track now crossed off my list, I have been to seven Formula One circuits around the world. Monaco is a beautiful place to visit, and should certainly be on your list of places to visit if you love F1.

A couple of days ago it was officially announced that Toyota has dropped out of Formula One. The automaker came into the sport only seven years ago and since then has produced a handful of good results and zero wins. The company was hoping to secure its first win this season, but after some hopeful qualifying results, the race results never transpired. The auto giant threw a lot of money at the sport, but could still never get the ultimate result that it wanted. This probably goes to show that racing in Formula One has a lot more to do with the people that are in and around the team, rather than simply having a ton of cash. The company has cited the economic downturn for their dropping out and now join Honda as the next big manufacturer to leave the sport.

What this means for Formula One is that there are no more Japanese manufacturers in the sport. In fact, there will be zero Japanese presence after Bridgestone leaves after 2010. This is a bad turn for a sport that prides itself on being a “World Championship” (even though there isn’t a round in the largest auto buying market in the world in the USA, but whatever Bernie). Plus, with no Japanese automakers on the grid, there will probably be zero Japanese drivers. Takuma Sato was always backed by Honda, and he is no more, Kazuki Nakajima was backed by Toyota and probably won’t have a seat and newcomer Kamui Kobayashi – though very impressive in two races – is most likely also going to be without a seat.

And at the end of next season, after Bridgestone leaves, there will really be zero Japanese contingent, other than the race at Suzuka. But the big draw for that crowd was to come out and cheer on their countrymen and the cars they drive, but they probably won’t get a chance to do that.

Luckily for the sport, Renault has decided to continue on, despite the controversies of this year. It is always good for the sport to have big names there so people can root for them against a rival team. Imagine what the sport would be like if there was no McLaren to battle Ferrari, or a… well I guess that’s kinda it now isn’t it. Of course there will be other battles, but you won’t have a Honda vs. Toyota race or a BMW vs. Mercedes race anymore. Now you will have a Campos vs. USF1 race, which though it may be entertaining, will most likely not be for any points. More stories are bound to come up over the course of this winter break, and there are only 100 days left until the first round of the 2010 season starts in Bahrain.

Brawn GP has a seat open. Rubens Barrichello is moving to Williams next season to be alongside the rookie Nico Hulkenberg. This basically means that Brawn GP’s seat will be filled by Nico Rosberg. I think I may have even said as much a couple of posts ago.

This arrangement is even better confirmed by the fact that Brawn have also made it clear that Kimi Raikkonen would cost them too much; and considering that he wants $30 million for a drive, I would think most teams are not willing to sign him. I didn’t want to make this all about Kimi, but that’s what he would like, so here I go. Kimi is self-centered and doesn’t care if he drives in F1 next season or not. I know this because he has it in his contract that he can go rally driving during the season. This was not a problem for Ferrari, but McLaren – the only viable team for him now – say that rallying is not an option. But he maintains that he will be allowed to go rallying because he isn’t removing it from his contract. Personally, I say that if Kimi wants to have rallying in his contract, then go drive a rally car. Don’t get me wrong, Kimi is a good driver, but only when the mood strikes him. He didn’t care about the last two seasons because there was nothing to play for. If he doesn’t go out and win in the first couple of races, he becomes disinterested in the rest of the season. Case in point, he could have easily had a point or two in the last race if he would have just tried a little harder (look at Kamui Kobayashi for that) and gotten Ferrari third place in the Constructor’s title. Instead, he celebrated his final race for the famous prancing horse by driving around the track in a lowly 11^th for most of the race. If he doesn’t see the prize at the end of the stick, then he ain’t going to be interested in doing anything. For that reason, I think that the move to get Alonso into the car is a good one. As much as I am not a big fan of Alonso, I do think that he is better prepared to help the team get back to winning than Kimi. Raikkonen should really just take his $20 million from Ferrari that he is going to get and go listen to his stereo with the stone speakers and drive his little Suzuki through the forests. It would be more relaxing for him to drive that car, and he could then go out and party in a gorilla suit more often if he really wants to. Just the fact that he is getting $20 million from Ferrari after the season, then has the balls to want $30 million for a drive is outrageous. Plus, this doesn’t even take into account the sponsorship money that he pulls in (of course, that’s assuming that Mr. Self-Centered actually shows up for those things – which he probably won’t) and that is probably a couple more million right there. All in all, I think that Kimi has had his run in F1 and is just as sick of it as many other people are now getting of him. So please, go and leave the racing to people who actually care about making their cars and teams better and stop driving.