iWitness in Melbourne: Sunday

Posted on Monday 28 Mar 2011 and tagged with iwitness.

You only get one Formula One debut and Pastor Maldonado’s family didn’t want to miss it. Supporting the AT&T Williams driver this weekend was his father, also called Pastor, and his stepmother. Unfortunately, a technical problem ended his race, but all three Maldonado’s loved their first trip to Australia.

One of the other debutants wasn’t so lucky. Paul di Resta’s father, Louis, who played such a key role in kick-starting his son’s career, wasn’t in Melbourne for the race. He has a fear of flaying and he couldn’t face the long haul from the family home outside Edinburgh to Melbourne.

One minute’s silence was held prior to the start of today’s race. The drivers stopped discussing strategy with their engineers and gathered at the front of the grid, where they bowed their heads and remembered those who lost their lives in the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan. AT&T Williams has carried a message of support for the Japanese people on its FW33s all weekend.

Red Bull Racing might have won the Australian Grand Prix, but they refused to splash out on two birthday cakes for David Coulthard and Alan Webber. Today was Coulthard’s 40th and Webber Snr’s 64th, but they were made to share a cake. Has tech boss Adrian Newey decreed that all spare cash be spent on the car?

Email to a friend