AT&T Williams F1

That was a good race for me; I drove aggressively from 11th on the grid and got the maximum from the FW30 on every lap. Given how close the front of the mid-field is this year, I was pleased to finish eighth and bring home another World Championship point for AT&T Williams in the Constructors’ Championship.

I enjoy racing at Istanbul Park. The track is a great challenge, both technically and physically, and that makes it very satisfying when you get it right. It’s one of only three tracks on this year’s calendar that runs in an anti-clockwise direction (which puts extra stress on your neck) and it follows the contours of the land: the blind crests make it exciting to drive and you definitely don’t want to be racing on a full stomach!

With this year’s race being held in May, as opposed to its traditional date in August, the ambient and track temperatures were much cooler than we’ve seen in the past. This presented problems for me on and off the race track.

Off-track, it meant that I needed to turn on the heating in my motorhome in the middle of the night because it got really cold; on-track, the cooler temperatures meant we had to work a bit harder to get the tyres up to temperature. We weren’t affected as badly as some other teams, but it was an area that we had to focus on throughout practice and qualifying.

I was disappointed not to make it into Q3 in qualifying because that’s my aim at every race. There were a couple of things that I wasn’t happy with on my car and I missed the top 10 by the smallest of margins. Still, that meant I could choose my fuel load for the race and run the optimum strategy.

One of the many strengths of the FW30 is that it has very good traction away from the line. This advantage was exaggerated at Istanbul Park, where there’s a big difference between the clean and dirty sides of the grid, and starting in 11th – on the clean side – I was confident that I could gain a few places.

My reactions when the lights went out were good and I overtook David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli at Turn 3. Already I was ninth. I was then alongside Nick Heidfeld and I had the momentum to pass him, but he was forced wide, which pushed me onto the grass. I kept my boot in and managed to keep David and Jarno still behind me and settled for ninth.

Heikki Kovalainen pitted on lap two, which moved me up to eighth, and from then on I raced Coulthard and Trulli to the flag. I drove every lap as if it was my last and the guys in the pits gave me two great pitstops. Good job, everyone.

Now, though, it’s time for something a little different. We’re off to Monaco next for the jewel in the F1 crown, which also happens to be my home race. I enjoy racing through the streets and Monaco has traditionally been a good track for Williams – and Rosbergs. My dad won there in 1983 and I’ll be pushing hard this year to score more points.

Until Monaco,
Nico