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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 Nürburgring 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. |
