AT&T Williams F1

The European Grand Prix was one of those crazy races. With only 13 finishers, I would have stood a good chance of scoring points had I been there at the end; as it was I retired on lap two.

Rain started to fall as we accelerated away from the grid and it got heavier during the course of lap one. I was on the hard tyre, which made it difficult to get heat into the rubber and my FW29 was sliding around a lot. I made contact with Rubens Barrichello midway through the lap, but made it back to the pits to change tyres. The rain still wasn't falling hard, so we decided to put on intermediates. But, as I accelerated out of the pits, the heavens opened. The track conditions were awful and on the approach to Turn 1 I hit a river running across the track and aquaplaned off. I was a passenger. As I came to rest in the gravel, the engine stalled and my race was over.

While I was very disappointed to retire from my home race, on a track that I know so well, there was some good news for Williams. My team-mate Alex Wurz came fourth, giving the team some valuable points for the Constructors’ Championship.

Away from the races, I've had a busy couple of weeks since I wrote my last column. After the British Grand Prix, I went straight to a test session at Spa-Francorchamps for my first experience of the track in an F1 car. It was pretty awesome, I must say, and felt a lot quicker than my last visit there in a GP2 car in 2005. The weather wasn’t great when I was testing, but even in the wet the track is awesome because the corners are still very quick. I really enjoyed driving there, except for one scary moment when a technical problem caused my rear wheels to lock at the exit of Blanchimont at 310kph (193mph). I was really lucky to stay on the track and not hit anything.

From Spa I returned home to Monaco to do some training, before heading to the UK for the Williams summer barbecue. It was a great occasion because it gave me and my girlfriend Vivienne a chance to spend time with the guys in a relaxed environment. Everyone brought their families, so it was a good family occasion. There were things for the kids to do during the day and then a party in the evening.

I then returned to the South of France and went to my parents’ house near Marseille. I continued my training programme, but took time out on Wednesday to watch the Tour de France, which passed nearby. The peloton was very colourful, but I was a little disappointed by its speed. I expected them to be quicker than they were, but I guess you have to pace yourself when you're covering 3,000kms in three weeks!

Looking ahead, I’m testing at Jerez this week and I’ll then focus my attention on the Hungarian Grand Prix on 5 August. It’s a physical race because the temperatures can be very hot there, and it’s also a race where qualifying is vital because it’s so difficult to overtake. Let’s hope I can have a better race there than I did in Germany!

Until next time,

Nico