Nico's Notes From Brazil
23 October 07
Career best in Brazil
What a brilliant way to end the season! Fourth place was my best finish in Formula 1 and the five points that came with it cemented my ninth position in the drivers’ championship and the team’s fourth position in the constructors’ championship.
The race was a lot of fun because the balance of my FW29 was good throughout and I had several exciting battles. We adopted an aggressive strategy, which resulted in my middle stint being 31 laps - one of the longest of the race. It made it very tough on the tyres, but we managed to make it work.
It was also good to beat both BMWs because it proved how much progress we have made with the FW29 in the last few months. I had a good scrap with Robert Kubica in the closing stages: first he overtook me, then I overtook him with three laps to go.
We had a good party on Sunday night, which is pretty easy to do when you’re in Sao Paulo. There are lots of good places to go out in the city, so we had a few drinks, ate lots of beef and did some dancing.
There was a lot to celebrate because, overall, this has been a good season for ATT Williams. The FW29 was a good car from the outset and it allowed me to show the world what I can do behind the wheel. I qualified inside the top 10 at 11 races and scored points on seven occasions, so I’m quite happy with how things went.
The readers of F1 Racing Magazine voted me “The Most Improved Driver Of The Year”, which means a lot. You never stop learning as a driver, so there are still areas where I can still improve and I will look to make another step forward over the winter.
For now, though, I’m going to take a short holiday. I don’t yet know where I’m going to go, or with whom because most of my friends are in the middle of their university terms. When I get back to Europe I’ll see who’s around and then make a plan.
The first test session of the winter takes place in the middle of November, so that’s when I’m next scheduled to be back in the car. With the banning of traction control (TC) in 2008, every on-track kilometre between now and Melbourne will be vital because there is a lot of work to do. I drove the car without TC at a test in September and found that there wasn’t much difference in the performance of the car over one lap, on new tyres. But over a long run, there was a big difference and we need to work hard over the winter to maximise the performance of the tyre.
My result in the Brazilian Grand Prix has given ATT Williams a lot of momentum; let’s hope we can carry that through to the start of 2008.
