Nico's German GP Column

Posted on Tuesday 22 Jul 2008 and tagged with nico, germany.

The pace of the FW30 was better at Hockenheim than at either of the previous couple of races, so it was disappointing to come away from my home Grand Prix in 10th place. I haven't scored any World Championship points since Turkey and it's not a drought that I'm enjoying!

The race was still good fun though because there was so much going on in the middle of the field. A clutch problem meant I got bogged down at the start and lost a place, but thereafter I had some good dices. After the Safety Car period, I had a great time racing with Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso; no-one gave an inch, but it was good, clean racing.

While the result wasn't what I wanted, at least I wasn't the last German home. The five German drivers - me, Sebastian Vettel, Timo Glock, Adrian Sutil and Nick Heidfeld - had a bet prior to qualifying in which we agreed that the lowest-placed German in the race would have to do a forfeit. I'd agreed to cook for the entire AT&T Williams team in Hungary, but it's Timo who's going to have to get to work after his crash. I think he said he'd clean the Toyota motorhome!

From here we go to Jerez for a four-day test session this week. We've got several new parts to try ahead of the next race in Hungary and I'm told we're going to get another run on next year's slick tyres as well. It's important to gather as much information as possible from the '09 rubber because so much of a car's performance comes from how it uses its tyres.

As for the Hungarian Grand Prix, I think our car will suit the Hungaroring. So far this year we've been competitive on high and low downforce tracks, and we've struggled on the medium downforce tracks. The Hungaroring requires high downforce and it's also a good challenge for the drivers because many of the corners are inter-linked; if you make a mistake in one corner, you can still be paying for it several turns later.

The expected heat of Hockenheim didn't materialise last Sunday, so it will be nice to race somewhere where it's almost guaranteed to be hot. Since the inaugural Hungarian Grand Prix in 1986, it has rained only once, in 2006. The heat makes the race quite physical. Not a problem for me.

Wouldn't it be nice to score some more points?

See you there,

Nico