AT&T Williams F1

Although I finished outside the points today, I was much happier with the performance of my FW30 than I was in either practice or qualifying. I started the race from the pitlane because that allowed me to add some downforce to the car and it was much more competitive as a result.  

The conditions were pretty treacherous at the start of the race because I was running at the back and the visibility was very bad. The best thing I could do in those conditions was sit quietly for the opening 10 laps and not make any mistakes. Then, when conditions had improved and my fuel load had come down, I started to push harder.

By lap 16 I was up to 15th place and I made my only pitstop of the race on lap 31 from 10th position. The timing of my stop was perfect because by then it was clear that intermediate tyres were the way to go and I then tried to be as consistent as I could until the end of the race. My only major incident came on lap 49 when David Coulthard drove me off the road at Parabolica. Luckily, there was no damage to my car and I was able to carry on until the end.

All eyes are now focused on the next race in Singapore, F1’s first night race. I’ll be at the factory later this week to learn the track on the simulator, but before then I’ve got two days of testing to do at Jerez. It’s the last mid-season test of 2008 and we’ve got a lot of 2009 parts to try. Should be interesting.

See you in Singapore!

Kazuki