July's Driver Diaries

Posted on Tuesday 05 Aug 2008 and tagged with driver-diaries.

3 July: both drivers head to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. Kazuki makes the short journey from his home in Oxford; Nico flies in from Monaco.

6 July: Nico and Kazuki are introduced to Justin Lee Collins, presenter of cult TV programme The Friday Night Project. In the wet-dry race, Kazuki comes home in eighth place and Nico ninth, before Nico attends the post-race party at the track. He then drives to London to spend the evening with friends.

7 July: both drivers head to the Williams factory at Grove for an engineering meeting. Nico then flies to Frankfurt ahead of the Hockenheim test.

8 July: Nico drives the FW30 at Hockenheim, while Kazuki plays host to Japanese F1 broadcaster Fuji TV in Oxford. He shows the TV crew his flat, before having lunch near Magdalen College, part of Oxford University.

9 July: Nico continues behind the wheel at Hockenheim; Kazuki flies to Frankfurt.

10 July: Kazuki takes over driving duties from Nico for the final day of the test. Nico returns to Monaco.

12 July: Nico flies to Russia for the Moscow City Racing event. The journey takes four hours longer than planned when he is grounded in Minsk while visa issues are sorted out.

13 July: Nico drives last year’s FW29 around a 5km track in the Russian capital in front of hundreds of thousands of people. “This has been a really fantastic event,” says Nico. “I think there is real potential for Formula One in Russia.” Nico then returns to Monaco.

16 July: Nico and Kazuki head back to Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix. While Kazuki relaxes in his hotel, Nico plays football for the F1 Allstars against a team of German celebrities. Despite his best efforts in the midfield, the team is defeated 8-6.

18 July: Nico plays a game of poker against Bernie Ecclestone and various other F1 celebrities in the paddock. Robert Kubica wins, Nico loses 100 euros.

19 July: having enjoyed his poker so much the previous evening, Nico goes back for more. Again, he doesn’t win…

20 July: a fraught German Grand Prix seeing Nico finish his home race in 10th position, with Kazuki back in 14th. Nico then returns to Monaco and Kazuki to the UK.

22 July: Nico heads to Jerez for testing.

23 July: Nico gets behind the wheel of the FW30, taking over from test driver Nico Hulkenberg. At the end of the day he returns to Monaco. Kazuki, meanwhile, flies from the UK to Jerez ahead of driving duties tomorrow.

24 July: Kazuki tests at Jerez.

25 July: Kazuki tests at Jerez, before flying back to the UK.

26 July: Kazuki heads to Birmingham in the UK to take part in a softball competition with some Japanese friends; Nico stays in the south of France to train.

30 July: Both drivers fly to Budapest ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Nico plays for the F1 Allstars in another football match and this time the team draws 6-6 with a Hungarian Allstars XI.

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