Kazuki's Japanese Blog: Thursday

Posted on Friday 02 Oct 2009 and tagged with kazuki, blog, japan, suzuka.

It was great to walk through the main gates of Suzuka this morning. I love everything about this place: the layout of the track is fantastic and the atmosphere is superb. There’s a new grandstand opposite the pits this year, which should be something special on raceday when it’s full of people.

The Japanese fans are very passionate about F1. Often they’ll wait around at the track until late at night to see what’s going on in the F1 paddock, or to get an autograph, and that makes them quite like the Italians – except, of course, that they’re much more reserved.

I arrived in Japan on Monday and went straight to Tokyo for a PR event with RBS. It was a very interesting day because I visited the Tyler Foundation, which cares for children with cancer and their families. I found it very humbling to witness the bravery with which these kids fight the disease, and the work that the foundation does is remarkable. The least I could do was donate a few items to an auction that raised £10,000.

They all wished me luck for the weekend, so I’d better get the job done and score my first points of the season! I’ve completed many laps of Suzuka in the junior formulas, but I’ve never driven an F1 car around the track and I think that’s going to be something special. The Esses at the start of the lap, Spoon, 130R – they will all feel fantastic and very quick. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for tomorrow is rain, so I might have to wait until Saturday to get some dry laps, but it’ll be worth the wait.