Nico's Malaysian GP Column

Posted on Tuesday 25 Mar 2008 and tagged with nico, column, malaysia.

The opening two races of the season have been an emotional rollercoaster for everyone at AT&T Williams. We left Australia riding the crest of a wave: I'd just celebrated my first Formula 1 podium and the FW30 had proved itself to be a competitive car.

Yet, in Malaysia, we endured an uncompetitive weekend and a full analysis of why that was is currently going on at our Grove factory.

Our biggest problems at Sepang were tyre-related. We couldn't get Bridgestone's medium and hard compounds to generate grip on the circuit's new asphalt, despite the high track temperatures. It seems as though McLaren suffered a similar problem to us, so we weren't an isolated case.

The result of this problem was that I qualified 16th. I was actually quite pleased with my best lap in Q2, but the lap time wasn't there and I had to keep my expectations for the race in check. I thought 10th place was realistic if I could make a good start, but that hope went out the window on the opening lap when I crashed with Timo Glock and had to pit for a new nose.

In the end, I finished 14th. My team-mate Kazuki Nakajima came home 17th, so, on a positive note, the team demonstrated 100 percent reliability for the second consecutive weekend. We must now look ahead to Bahrain, where we have to get our season back on track.

Bridgestone are taking the same compounds to Sakhir that we used in Australia, which is good news. We also have a few developments coming on the car as well, so I can't wait for the race weekend to start.

Prior to the race, I'm returning to Monaco. I thought about spending the next week or so in Dubai, where the weather would be hotter than in Europe, but I've decided to head home. I feel like I've been away for a long time and the weather in the south of France isn't too bad at the moment, so I can do some training outside.

Until next time,

Nico