iWitness in Valencia: Sunday

Posted on Sunday 24 Aug 2008 and tagged with iwitness, valencia, europe, sunday.

Remember on Friday how iWitness wrote about Kazuki getting mistaken for former F1 driver Takuma Sato? After today’s race, in which Kazuki hit Fernando Alonso on lap one, he was thinking of leaving the track wearing a t-shirt printed with the words, “Yes, I am Taku!” Just in case there was a backlash from jingoistic fans.

“Thanks for coming!” No, it wasn’t Patrick Head booming an instruction; it was Christian Mendez, AT&T Williams’ motorhome manager. Christian bought a megaphone from a street vendor in Valencia on Saturday and used it to wish friends of the team a fond farewell after lunch on raceday. Nothing if not polite, old Christian…

Account Manager Phil Kennard hasn’t been in Valencia this weekend and he won’t be in the office next week either. No matter: we like racers at AT&T Williams and Phil is away racing on the high seas around the UK. Last Friday he raced in an 18-foot Skiff Euro Cup event in the Solent, while next week he’ll be in Exmouth racing in the RS400 Class National Championships. Good luck!

Lewis Hamilton has revealed that Spain almost had two drivers in today’s European Grand Prix. “I had the ’flu when I arrived,” said Lewis, “so I had fevers pretty much every day. I also had quite a big problem with a spasm in my neck, which kind of nearly lead to me not racing this weekend.” Had Lewis been unable to race, McLaren’s third driver Pedro de la Rosa would have stepped in, joining compatriot Fernando Alonso on the grid.