AT&T Williams F1

The US Grand Prix weekend was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for AT&T Williams. We felt really confident on Friday because the FW29 handled really well in the opening two practice sessions, but the performance slipped away in qualifying. I glazed the rear brakes, which didn’t help the situation, and I lined up 14th on the grid, my worst starting position of the year. I then drove a great race, only for it to end in disappointment. I was running in sixth place, well clear of Jarno Trulli, when an oil leak caused my retirement with just four laps of the race remaining. It was so frustrating because everyone in the team had done a great job; we’d driven the perfect one-stop strategy until that point. It will go my way another day, I’m sure of that. Looking at the positive aspects of the Indy weekend, the FW29 is getting better all the time. We were competitive in the race and we have a lot of developments in the pipeline that will help us to maintain that level. We’re heading to Silverstone this week for an important three-day test, where we will have lots of new aerodynamic parts to try. I fly straight to England from Indianapolis. I’ll spend Wednesday at the AT&T Williams factory in Grove, debriefing about the US Grand Prix and discussing future car developments, before heading to Silverstone where I’ll be driving on Thursday. I’ll then head home to Monaco at the weekend. It was a long trip in North America, but I had an interesting time away from the racetrack. Between the two races I went to Chicago, where I took in a sightseeing tour and did some training on the beaches of Lake Michigan. I learnt a lot about the ‘Windy City’ while I was there, and the most interesting stories usually involved the gangster Al Capone and Wrigley’s. I never knew, for instance, that Wrigley’s manufactured soap before chewing gum. As for Indianapolis, it’s a fun city. The shopping’s good and it has some of the best steak restaurants in the world. Or that’s what I thought until Saturday evening, when my beef arrived swimming in butter… So that’s how they get so much flavour into it! I think that’s cheating and I don’t like to eat so much butter with my food. Several people asked me whether I’d like to race in the Indy 500 one day and the answer is no. It’s undoubtedly a great race and it has a lot of history, but it’s too dangerous for me. They have a lot of big accidents. Looking ahead to the French Grand Prix, I really like Magny Cours. It’s an interesting track to drive, with several fast sections, and I’ve always gone well there. I won the second GP2 race at the track in 2005 and was quick last year in F1, although an engine change forced me to drop 10 places on the grid. I’ll be looking to recapture the points I lost at Indy. See you next time, Nico