Nico's Notes from Japan
02 October 07
The track conditions at Fuji Speedway were unbelievably bad in the race. There were rivers flowing across the track, there was standing water everywhere and the car aquaplaned the whole time.
The situation was made worse by the lack of visibility. The spray made it difficult to see where other cars were around you, and I think that’s why there were so many collisions throughout the field during the race. There were times when I couldn’t see more than 10 metres in front of my car on the pit straight and I had to use reference points on the side of the track to work out the distance to Turn 1.
Had I been able to start the race from sixth position, which is where I qualified, the spray wouldn’t have been so bad. But the 10-place penalty following my engine change on Saturday morning meant that I lined up 16th, right in the middle of the pack.
In the end I retired with an electronics problem, making this the first race since the Nurburgring in July that I haven’t scored any points. Various systems failed, such as the traction control and the consistent gearshift mechanism, which made the car impossible to drive in the conditions.
As for the Fuji Speedway, I thought it was a great track. The long straight gives it a unique character and there are many challenging corners. Sector one has a couple of quick corners, sector two has a good overtaking opportunity into the chicane and sector three is slow and technical.
It was easy to over-drive the car through sector three, particularly through the final turn where you wanted to get a good exit onto the 1.5km pit straight. You had to be very patient with the car.
The more I go to Japan, the more I like the country. The Japanese people are very polite and they have a lot of respect for each other, which is quite different to life in Europe. They also love Formula 1 and their passion for the sport is infectious. Many fans stayed in the grandstand opposite the pits until it was dark each evening, just watching the mechanics working on the cars. That doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world!
Japan is also the home of karaoke and I went with several people from Williams’ marketing team to a karaoke bar in Tokyo before the race. We had a great time and I sang two songs: Yellow Submarine and Karma Cameleon. The guys told me not to give up the day job!
There is no time to rest prior to this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. I’m writing this column from Hong Kong, where I flew on the Monday morning after Fuji for an Oris and then RBS event. I then fly to Shanghai on Thursday.
I like the Shanghai International Circuit. It’s one of Hermann Tilke’s best tracks, with lots of challenging corners. The FW29 should be competitive there and I’ll be looking to get back in the points, that’s for sure.
Until next time,
Nico
The situation was made worse by the lack of visibility. The spray made it difficult to see where other cars were around you, and I think that’s why there were so many collisions throughout the field during the race. There were times when I couldn’t see more than 10 metres in front of my car on the pit straight and I had to use reference points on the side of the track to work out the distance to Turn 1.
Had I been able to start the race from sixth position, which is where I qualified, the spray wouldn’t have been so bad. But the 10-place penalty following my engine change on Saturday morning meant that I lined up 16th, right in the middle of the pack.
In the end I retired with an electronics problem, making this the first race since the Nurburgring in July that I haven’t scored any points. Various systems failed, such as the traction control and the consistent gearshift mechanism, which made the car impossible to drive in the conditions.
As for the Fuji Speedway, I thought it was a great track. The long straight gives it a unique character and there are many challenging corners. Sector one has a couple of quick corners, sector two has a good overtaking opportunity into the chicane and sector three is slow and technical.
It was easy to over-drive the car through sector three, particularly through the final turn where you wanted to get a good exit onto the 1.5km pit straight. You had to be very patient with the car.
The more I go to Japan, the more I like the country. The Japanese people are very polite and they have a lot of respect for each other, which is quite different to life in Europe. They also love Formula 1 and their passion for the sport is infectious. Many fans stayed in the grandstand opposite the pits until it was dark each evening, just watching the mechanics working on the cars. That doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world!
Japan is also the home of karaoke and I went with several people from Williams’ marketing team to a karaoke bar in Tokyo before the race. We had a great time and I sang two songs: Yellow Submarine and Karma Cameleon. The guys told me not to give up the day job!
There is no time to rest prior to this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix. I’m writing this column from Hong Kong, where I flew on the Monday morning after Fuji for an Oris and then RBS event. I then fly to Shanghai on Thursday.
I like the Shanghai International Circuit. It’s one of Hermann Tilke’s best tracks, with lots of challenging corners. The FW29 should be competitive there and I’ll be looking to get back in the points, that’s for sure.
Until next time,
Nico
Posted at 12:00am on 02 October 07
tagged with nico.
