AT&T Williams F1

Lap times were quicker today than they were last year and I think the main reason for that is down to the tyres. In 2007 we had a few issues getting temperature into the harder compound, but this time around both compounds are performing well.

We made a few changes to the balance of my FW30 today and found some lap time as a result. But it’s only Friday and I don’t want to read too much into the times. We now need to examine the data and see what improvements we can make before tomorrow.

Away from the racetrack, the traffic jams in Shanghai are dominating most people’s thoughts at the beginning and end of each day. Will the journey from the hotel to the track take 40 minutes, or an hour and forty? The only other race where it’s anything like as bad as this is Turkey, where you have to cross the Bosphorus in each direction. At least we’re given police escorts there to try and smooth our journeys; here the traffic is so bad that having a police outrider would make no difference.

Still, it’s better than staying in one of the hotels near to the track…