Earlier on today, the Internet suffered a nuclear meltdown when images emerged of Formula 1 returnee Kimi Raikkonen peddling at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia.
As his preparation to take the Lotus seat vacated by Robert Kubica / Nick Heidfeld / Bruno Senna continues, the Finn utilised the session to reacclimatise himself to the rigorous and violent nature of not-quite so modern Renault R30.
That Raikkonen should make his track return on the 30th anniversary of Niki Lauda’s comeback for McLaren can be seen as either a fortunate coincidence, or a neat marketing scoop.
Should it be the former, then all well and good – coincidences happen from time to time. If they didn’t, the world would be a rather odd place full of no surprises.
If the date was specifically selected to fall in line with Lauda’s return, then a marketing angle was missed. In saying that, this morning’s “Kimi Fever” may have rendered that tactic irrelevant anyway.
For now, here’s a brief video released by Lotus. Raikkonen, who famously says little, predictably did not say much in the feature.
How terribly nice, although one must admit “The Return of a Legend” is probably a tad over the top…
