It would be great to see Finland represented again in Formula 1 - but not by Kimi Raikkonen. Much more appealing is the 22-year-old who should also be the favorite to win this weekend's Formula 3 Grand Prix of Macao - but might find himself hindered by F1's regulations.
Valtteri Bottas won this year's GP3 Series (very similar to F3 but with races on F1 support program). Last November in Macao he was the quickest Mercedes-powered driver around the famous street circuit - visibly and audibly so in the mountain section. Unfortunately, those with Volkswagen engines seemed to have an advantage on the track's long straight past the casinos on the sea-front.
This year the motors are closer, but Bottas will likely miss the first practice session on Thursday having landed only in the morning from F1's "young driver training" in Abu Dhabi. With testing in F1 prohibited between the first race of the season and the end of the year, the three-day event was the only opportunity for the Williams team to evaluate Bottas - who has been the team's test driver since 2010. With the teams already at the circuit for last weekend's Grand Prix, it is certainly cost effective to have a test session in this way. But there's a knock-on effect for aspiring F1 drivers.
In past years, with testing unregulated, the teams took on test drivers to help them with the huge amount of car development. Often they would do thousands of kilometers in private test sessions before their first Grand Prix. This is how Sunday's winner, Lewis Hamilton, was able to make his F1 debut in 2007 and outscore his teammate, already a double world champion, Fernando Alonso.
Today even those nominated as test or reserve drivers sit idle apart from occasional "straight line" aerodynamic runs and hours in simulators. So it's hardly surprising that team bosses so infrequently choose a fresh face - preferring to stick with what they know and using "experience" as the excuse.
Bottas will be hoping Williams think this time as it did when a young Jenson Button got his chance with the team in 2000 - especially if the Finn can go one better than Button managed at Macao and take the top step of the podium.
Back then, Jenson was not able to grow the kind of moustache he sported in Abu Dhabi (where he finished third, behind Alonso) in support of the Movember prostate cancer charity. His blond hair means it also doesn't now stand out like the most famous F1 'stache - that previously worn by the 1992 champion Nigel Mansell -or the one your columnist is carrying this month. Go to http://mobro.co/MatthewMarsh to see it - and show your support.
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