Fetish Found

Do you have a fetish?

Some may harbour one for high stilettos, some dig uniforms, some may even have a penchant for hairy stuff.

But me? I think I may just have discovered what's mine.

The 2007 season of F1 Grand Prix opened yesterday with Race 1 at Melbourne and despite the event being broadcast here at the unearthly time of 0300hrs in the morning, I was up diligently without even snoozing the alarm clock. It's the excitement of what the new era without Michael Schumacher brings, and the anticipation of what the younger lads can do to fill the gap that his absence poses.

But then slowly, I realised it's actually more than this that's roping me into this whole F1 madness.

I found myself plunged into imaginations....a dangerous game.

Of the blazing eyes beyond the visors. The level of concentration. The sheer determination. The edge that will cut through all that stood in the way, physical but more crucially, mental obstacles.

Of course, there are the questions of, "Is he smiling now?"; "Is he frowning?"; "What is he thinking of at this very moment?"

Oh the countless possibilities.

That alone, that suspense, that knowing that all this and so much more is going through the minds of the men behind the wheel, is intoxicating.

Perhaps it's true when they say it's not the looks that matters. Nothing beats the charms of a man who is in the best of his mettle when absolutely nothing else will deter him from his mental tracks.

But really, I'm quite taken in with the look of a face hidden behind the tough persona of a man in a helmet in a F1 race car.

And so, here's a look at what suffocates me in one of those lonely, lonely nights....

Fernando Alonso

Michael Schumacher

Not quite an F1 racer but the mysterious

Stig from TopGear