Nico's Canadian GP Column
11 June 08
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The FW30 was competitive in both Monaco and Montreal, yet I’ve come away from both races without scoring any points. That’s very frustrating for me and everyone at AT&T Williams because we’ve slipped to sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship as a result.
Until lap 19 in Montreal, I was having a fantastic race. I passed Fernando Alonso into Turn 1 at the start and was running comfortably behind Kimi Raikkonen in fourth place when I – like all the guys ahead of me – peeled into the pits during the Safety Car period.
The boys gave me a good pit-stop, but unfortunately I ended up hitting Lewis’s car in the much talked about pit lane exit collision. It wasn’t a big impact because I barely felt it in the cockpit, but it was enough to dislodge my front wing and necessitate another pit-stop the following lap. That effectively ended my chances of getting a good result, although I battled my way from 17th to 10th by the chequered flag.
As a team, we have to put the obvious disappointments of Canada behind us and reflect on the good points, of which there were many. For example, we improved the car a lot during the course of the weekend, despite tricky track conditions that resulted in the asphalt breaking up in a couple of places.
In first practice, which was damp, I was 11th fastest; in second practice (in the dry) I was eighth and in the final practice session on Saturday morning I was the fastest of everyone. I started the race from fifth place – my best grid position of the year – and I set the fifth fastest lap. A lot of what you’ve just read is positive and we should be encouraged by it.
I’m now heading to Barcelona to test some updated parts that we will use at the French and British Grands Prix. Aerodynamic efficiency is vital at both tracks because of their mix of high and low speed corners, and after two disappointing results in Monaco and Montreal the goal is to get back into the points as soon as possible.
