Formula 1 Arrives in Melbourne

It's another gorgeous day in Melbourne and the start of the 2013 Formula 1 season is just days away! Making the headlines this past week was Lewis Hamilton, who managed to secure a paddock pass for his beloved dog. No, I'm not talking about Nicole (oooh that was low!) but rather his new best friend and 'chillaxing' partner Roscoe the bulldog. Hamilton and presumably Roscoe landed in Melbourne recently and the Mercedes star couldn't resist posting this beautiful picture on his twitter account

https://twitter.com/LewisHamilton/status/310851216349483010/photo/1 adding that he was off for a 6am run. While not as scandalous as a post about his team mate's telemetry data, surely the revelation that he and possibly the entire Mercedes team are staying at either the Hilton or Crown Casino is enough to warrant a scolding from Ross Brawn. 

Other drivers have also been tweeting about their arrivals in the city or posting photos from their epic voyages to get here. Fernando Alonso tweeted this artistic snap en route to Australia http://instagram.com/p/WsCsy4Qak6/ and Sauber's latest Mexican recruit, Esteban Gutierrez, took part in a predictable photo shoot involving some kangaroos. http://instagram.com/p/Wp9daWOw90/ 

Jenson Button seemed to have the same idea as I did yesterday, enjoying a spot of beach training in the scorching temperatures 

and Nico Hulkenberg expressed his wish to make it past the first corner on Sunday! 

Notably absent from the Twitter posting frenzy was Kimi Raikkonen, who was probably asleep after eating one too many ice cream sandwiches in a first class cabin somewhere over the Pacific. 

Last but not least was Adrian Sutil. Back on the grid this year after being shunned in the wake of an assault conviction, Sutil still seems to harbor more than a little bit of resentment towards one time friend Lewis Hamilton. Last year I reported that when Hamilton refused to testify at Sutil's court case he had also apparently changed his phone number presumably to avoid confrontation with the bitter German . 

Now that the ghost of glassings past has come back to haunt the British driver, it seems that Hamilton is eager to bury the hatchet. "I have emailed Adrian a couple of times" a needy-sounding Lewis stated " I emailed him a while ago because I heard there was a chance he could get the seat. I just said that I had said a prayer for him, that I really hoped he got the seat because he deserved it and that I really hoped to see him back in Formula 1. I also emailed him on the way here as soon as I found out and congratulated him. I haven't heard back from him but I'm sure at some stage we will get to talk." For his part, Sutil doesn't seem quite as keen. "We have no relationship at the moment. I never saw him, I never spoke to him. I will meet up with him but I don't know what will happen." Oh to be a fly on that wall!