The long, cold, winter off-season

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It's only been a week since the final Formula 1 Grand Prix of 2017, but it already feels like an eternity until the first race of 2018 in Melbourne.

In the meantime, this picture from former F1 driver Alex Wurz pretty much sums up our feelings about the days, weeks and months of off-season inactivity stretching before us. He was on his way to go karting with his family only to find that Mother Nature had her own ideas.

"We wanted to go karting today," he tweeted. "I guess it will be PlayStation GrandTurismo Sport instead. Another day where my kids will beat me."

Poor Alex! He has three sons by his wife Julia - Charlie, Felix and Oscar - and they're clearly a chip off the old engine block when it comes to competing on four wheels.

The Austrian driver himself was active in Formula 1 between 1997 and 2000 with 52 races for Benetton. He was subsequently test and development driver with McLaren, and subbed for an injured Juan Pablo Montoya in the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix. Wurz subsequently took up a test role at Williams and was rewarded with a full-time race seat in 2007.

Since retiring from F1, Wurz has become best known for his successful sportscar career with Peugeot and latterly Toyota. He's competed in nine Le Mans 24 Hours races and won the event twice.

He announced his retirement from competitive racing in 2015 after two decades behind the wheel. Now he only has to worry about his sons showing him up on the local karting track - when it's not covered in snow, that is.

In the meantime. it's a mere 113 days or so until the lights go out in the sunshine and heat of Australia...

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.