|
The Italian
Grand Prix was a missed opportunity. Had I changed onto intermediate tyres
at my only scheduled pitstop of the race on lap 28, I would probably have
beaten Robert Kubica to third place. As it was, I stayed on extreme wets
because we thought more rain was coming and when it didn’t materialise I had
to make a stop for inters on lap 33.
Strategic decisions like this are easy in hindsight, but in the heat of the
moment you’re walking on a knife-edge. The weather was very unpredictable
and we made the wrong call. It was as simple as that. However, had we known
at the time that Rubens Barrichello had changed onto inters as early as lap
16 and immediately gone two seconds a lap faster, we might have thought
differently…
While 14th was a disappointing result, there are plenty of positives to take
from this race. We improved the balance of the FW30 throughout the weekend
and were competitive in qualifying. Given my heavy fuel load, I was pleased
to be fifth on the grid, but I don’t think I did a better job than at Spa
the previous weekend, when I lined up 15th!
From here I’m returning to Monaco for a few days before heading to Jerez for
the final mid-season test session of the year. The focus of the test will be
on next year’s regulations and we’ve got a lot of parts to try, which should
be interesting. Then I’m flying straight to Singapore for the next race.
I’m looking forward to the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix race for several
reasons. Most importantly, I think our car could be quite competitive on the
5.067km (3.149-mile) track because I’m told the layout is similar to Monaco,
where I qualified sixth and was competitive in the race until I crashed. I’m
also excited by the fact that the race is taking place at night because I
think it will bring an added dimension to the weekend.
One of the biggest question marks surrounding the race is what time zone to
stay in. I’ve decided that I’m going to remain on European time because
there’s no point in waking up at 7am if you don’t need to be at your peak
until 8pm, when the race starts. As a result, I’ll be going to bed at about
4am every morning, so I hope the nightlife’s good! I’d better ask the guys
at RBS where to hang out because they hold a lot of PR events in the
city-state. |