Kazuki's Column from Montreal

Posted on Tuesday 12 Jun 2007 and tagged with kazuki, column.

Montreal was a weekend of new experiences for me. It was my first visit to mainland North America and it was my first time at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. I enjoyed both experiences very much. First the track. In many ways it reminded me of Monaco because the asphalt was very slippery and the walls were very close. To be quick you needed to use the kerbs a lot, but you didn't want to use them too much otherwise they would catapult you into the wall. I had one near-miss at the final corner, otherwise my practice session on Friday morning ran smoothly. I spent the first few laps of the session learning the track, after which I worked on car set-up. As more rubber went down during the session, the grip levels improved and I was able to take some wing out of the car. In total I completed 30 laps and ended the session in 17th place, just 0.1s slower than Alex [Wurz]. Driving the FW29 in low downforce trim was a very different experience to anything I had previously experienced. There was less grip than I was used to and the car was quite unstable under braking. The rear slid around a lot, and it took a few laps to get used to that. As for the rest of my Montreal weekend, I had a good time. The grand prix took over the city and there was a great atmosphere, both on the streets and at the racetrack. In a way I wish I could have spent more time in the city after the race, but with the US Grand Prix taking place next weekend everyone in the AT&T Williams team had to fly straight to Indianapolis. I'll be driving during Friday practice at the Brickyard, but I won’t stay to watch the race. I'll fly back to Europe after qualifying to prepare for the Silverstone test the following week. Life's pretty busy at the moment, but I’m enjoying it very much!