AT&T Williams F1

I drove a Japanese GT car at Sepang in 2005, so I knew the layout of the track prior to last weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. But it still felt like a new circuit when I was in the FW29 during Friday’s first practice session because everything happened so much faster! Overall, I was pleased with my performance in the cockpit. Until I spun, my lap times were coming down steadily and I think that I gave the team some useful feedback. But the car’s balance was a little oversteery from the beginning and I pushed too hard under braking for one of the corners and I couldn’t hold the rear of the car, so I spun. I managed to keep the engine running, but a software problem stopped me selecting first gear, so I had a long walk in the heat and humidity back to the pits. Although I will be testing for the AT&T WilliamsF1 Team at Barcelona in a couple of weeks, I am not due to drive the FW29 at a race weekend until the Friday of the Canadian Grand Prix. That’s because the GP2 Series kicks off in Bahrain next weekend and I don’t want to be jumping between an F1 car and a GP2 car on the same weekend. I’m very excited about the GP2 Series. In winter testing I was consistently fifth or sixth quickest and my hope for the early races is to maintain that level of competitiveness. I really like GP2 car and the DAMS team seems to have found a good set-up, so I’m looking forward to the first race on Saturday afternoon. The Bahrain International Circuit isn’t new to me because I raced there in the Bahrain Formula 3 Superprix in 2004. It’s not a difficult circuit to learn because it has a straightforward stop-go layout, but there are some interesting sections like the quick chicane, so it’s fun to drive. I’m expecting the weather to be hot and not dissimilar to Malaysia. We had a couple of rain showers during practice when I was there in ’04, but I think that’s unlikely to happen this weekend because we are entering Bahrain’s summer season. But it would give us something to think about, wouldn’t it?