Kazuki's Monza Blog: Thursday

Posted on Friday 11 Sep 2009 and tagged with blog, Kazuki, monza.

I had the rare privilege of driving a Formula One car during the testing ban last week. Don’t worry, Max and Bernie, it was nothing illegal: I was driving a couple of old cars from Williams F1’s historic collection and it was fantastic fun.

I was at Silverstone for a partner day with AT&T Williams and drove two cars. First, I got behind the wheel of an FW29, the car in which I made my grand prix debut at the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2007, and then I drove the FW18 that Damon Hill drove to world championship success in 1996.

It was very special to drive the FW18 because it’s such an iconic car. I grew up watching it on television and was very disappointed when I didn’t get the chance to drive it at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier in the year. It was everything I imagined it would be: fast, nimble and it probably had more torque than a current F1 car, thanks to the V10 Renault in the back. The only bad moment was when I stalled it trying to leave the pit garage!

Now, though, I’m back in the FW31 at Monza, the fastest track on the F1 calendar. It’s always exciting to race here because it’s so fast, and the atmosphere is unlike anywhere else on the calendar because the Tifosi are very enthusiastic. I cannot tell you how much I want to finish in the points this weekend, but it will be hard against the KERS-powered cars because our car doesn’t perform so well in low downforce trim.

But I’ll be giving it my best shot!

Catch up with you tomorrow.