iWitness in Istanbul - Friday

Posted on Saturday 29 May 2010 and tagged with iwitness.

Frank Williams and Patrick Head aren’t in Turkey this weekend, but they both want to keep up to speed with events trackside. To facilitate this, our title sponsor AT&T has rigged up some teleconferencing facilities in the motorhome and after today’s practice sessions, CEO Adam Parr and technical director Sam Michael were able to give Frank the low down face-to-face.

Williams F1 has made it into London’s most famous department store. The team launched its Williams F1-branded powerplate in Harrods today, just two weeks after the Power Plate pre-launch at the Monaco Grand Prix. What next? Williams golf clubs in Harrods too? Watch this space...

Remember Rubens’ spectacular shunt in Monaco? After crashing at Massenet on lap 31 he threw his steering wheel out of his FW32, only for it to be dragged under Karun Chandhok’s car for half a lap. It was eventually dumped by the side of the track at the exit of the tunnel and, amazingly, it’s in tact and will be used again later in the year. A good thing when you consider it costs £40,000!

There were nervous glances around the McLaren brand centre last night when Lewis Hamilton arrived at Istanbul Park sporting a couple of earrings. Would they be allowed by the FIA, who, a few years back, stopped Christian Klien from wearing an earring on safety grounds? Luckily, confirmation was forthcoming today that the governing body had no issues with the rings – bling is officially permitted in F1.

Oh, and happy birthday to our iWitness reporter - Ed.