Kazuki's Monza Blog: Saturday

Posted on Sunday 13 Sep 2009 and tagged with kazukia-nakajima, blog, monza, italy.

Qualifying wasn’t so good for us today. We knew it would be tough because our FW31 doesn’t perform well in low downforce trim, and so it proved. The grid was very close – only one second splitting all 20 cars in Q1 – and you only needed to be off by a very small amount to be at the back.

From 17th on the grid I will have a tough race, but I’ll give it my best shot. I’ve got a lot of fuel in the car for the start and my plan is to do a one-stop strategy. The only question mark in my mind is how the softer option tyre will hold up over half a race distance, but you’ve got to speculate to accumulate in this business.

On the PR front, I had an interesting photoshoot to do today. Philips sent some of their new wireless headphones from Japan and they wanted a picture of me wearing them. So there I was in the motorhome, with all of the team’s VIP guests watching me, pretending to listen to music, while holding up the cardboard packaging of the headphones. I think I heard a round of applause at the end, which was a bit embarrassing…

Weather check: more rain again today. Next time I come to this place, I’ve got to bring my rain coat…