Nico's Bahrain GP Column

Posted on Tuesday 08 Apr 2008 and tagged with nico, bahrain, column.

I have mixed feelings after the Bahrain Grand Prix. On the one hand, it was good to finish eighth and come away with another World Championship point, but I can't help feeling a bit disappointed because we could have achieved more.

If my race had gone according to plan, I would have troubled Jarno Trulli for sixth place, which would have been a good result. My long-run pace was similar to Jarno's throughout the weekend, but my chances of beating him were ruined when Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso collided immediately behind me on lap two. Their shunt allowed Mark Webber - who was on a free fuel strategy, having qualified 11th - to sneak into the points and then passed me due to his strategic advantage.

The performance of my FW30 was also compromised during the race by a strong wind on the back straight. We set the gear ratios for the weekend during Friday practice, when there was less of a wind, and I found myself hitting the rev-limiter early whenever I was in the slipstream of another car.

Despite all these niggling problems, it was a relief for everyone at AT&T Williams to be back inside the top 10 in qualifying after the disappointment of the Malaysian Grand Prix two weeks ago. The improvement was mainly down to the tyres because we experienced none of the grip problems in Bahrain that we suffered at Sepang. I was the only driver in the top half of the grid to start the race on the prime tyre, but I was able to run at a similar pace to the cars on the softer option rubber during the opening stint.

Away from the racetrack, I enjoyed my time in Bahrain. I've always enjoyed going there, since I won the GP2 Championship at the Bahrain International Circuit in 2005, and this year was no different. My father was there too and we stayed in the Ritz Carlton, which is a beautiful hotel and is a really relaxing environment. The majority of the other F1 drivers stay there too.  

I got to meet some interesting people over the race weekend too. Eric Clapton waved the chequered flag at the end of the race, but he watched qualifying from the AT&T Williams pit garage, which was pretty cool. Then I saw loads of people on the grid, such as Macy Gray, Frankie Dettori and Rory Bremner.

We now have a three-week gap in the calendar. This week I'm going to do lots of training at home in Monaco, then I'll head to Barcelona next week for a four-day test session of which I’m driving two days. We have various mechanical and aerodynamic upgrades to try, all of which we hope will give us more performance.

We will give those new parts a baptism of fire in the Spanish Grand Prix the following weekend. Let's hope we can score more points in the race.

See you in Spain,

Nico