Nico's British GP Column

Posted on Wednesday 09 Jul 2008 and tagged with nico, britain, silverstone.

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Although we expected Silverstone to be a tough track for the FW30, it had more potential than I was able to demonstrate during qualifying. A freak rear suspension problem in Q1 resulted in the car bunny-hopping through all the slow corners and I qualified 18th, which was the first time this year that I haven’t made it into Q2.

After we’d replaced the necessary parts on Saturday night I had to start the race from the pitlane, but my goal was still to finish in the points because I knew it would be a wet race. We set up my car for the conditions and I managed to overtake a lot of cars early on and, were it not for a crash with Timo Glock on lap 39, I would have achieved my goal. The impact with Glock broke my front wing and cost me more than 60s once I’d pitted for a new one.

I fought back through the field to finish ninth, less than a second behind my team-mate Kazuki Nakajima. It was the fourth successive race in which I’ve failed to score points, which is frustrating, but I’m sure my luck will turn when we go to tracks better-suited to the FW30.
 
After the post race GP Party appearance in front of a huge crowd of fans, we left Silverstone and headed to London with my friends who had been following my race weekend. We had a nice dinner, a good laugh and then visited some of  the famous London nightlife. Such a great night, but brief, as I had an early meeting scheduled at the Williams factory the next morning. Soon I was on the road back to Grove again...

Hockenheim should be a better track for us and I’m heading there this week for two days of testing ahead of the German Grand Prix on 20 July. It’s my home race and I really like the track, so I’m looking forward to racing in front of my home fans.
 
I have excitement of a different kind planned for next weekend, however, when I head to Moscow for a demonstration run in last year’s FW29. I’ve never previously been to Russia, so I’m very much looking forward to it. It will be something special to drive a Formula One car through Red Square.

See you at Hockenheim,

Nico

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