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Monza test day 1

The summer testing ban came to a close today as all ten Formula One teams descended on the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza for a three day test.

Hot off the heels of Valencia's debut Grand Prix which saw Nico Rosberg claim a point for the team, Nico was once again back in action for the first day of testing. Under hot and sunny conditions at Italy's famous track, Nico set the third quickest time of the day behind Massa's Ferrari and Kovalainen's McLaren with a 1:23.461 while covering a total of 60 laps of the 5.793km track.

Dickie Stanford, Test Team Manager, Williams F1:
“Nico Rosberg opened our three day test at Monza today. It’s been a productive day, with the team concentrating on set-up evaluations ahead of the race here in a couple of weekend’s time. We experienced no major problems and Nico will continue testing tomorrow.”

Nico's European GP Column

The European Grand Prix was an enjoyable weekend. The new Valencia street track was interesting and challenging to drive and our FW30 was reasonably competitive from the outset. To finish eighth, my first points’ finish since Turkey, was a nice reward for everyone at AT&T Williams.

It was exciting to visit somewhere new, although the engineers must have felt they knew the track pretty well by the time they arrived because of all the set-up simulations they’d carried out at the factory. Overall, we felt pretty well prepared for the race, but there was still some apprehension ahead of Friday’s first practice session and I think that was the same up and down the pitlane.

From a driving point of view, the track was great and I really want to congratulate the organisers for doing such a great job. Many of the corners were faster than I expected and the walls were never far away, so you had to treat the track with a lot of respect. I still managed to learn it quickly and I thought my second fastest time during Saturday’s final practice session was a reflection of the good job we did all weekend.

I was pleased to make Q3 for the first time since Canada and I raced well from ninth on the grid to bring the car home eighth. The ambient temperature was more than 30 degrees on race day, which resulted in cockpit temperatures of more than 40 degrees, but the heat didn’t pose a problem to me and I was able to drive what felt like qualifying laps every lap.

From here I head to Monza, where I’m testing for two days this week, before heading to Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix on 7th September. I love Spa because it’s a long, flowing track with some challenging fast corners. Due to its location in the Ardennes, however, there isn’t much to do in the evenings and I won’t even be able to watch the Olympics on TV! Ah well, there’s always internet poker..

We have a few developments coming for Spa, so let’s hope that my return to the points in Valencia was the start of a series of strong finishes to end the season.

See you soon,

Nico