On the podium and (albeit temporarily) with the first place trophy.
PICCA Round 8 - Chinese F1 Grand Prix,
Shanghai
(25-26th September 2004)
Shanghai is the headquarters of Uni-President and was the first market for A-Ha coffee. The performance of A-Ha Racing over the weekend of the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix was better than could have been wished for: second fastest in the first practice session; thereafter dominant.
On the podium and (albeit temporarily) with the first place
trophy.
Former F1 driver Alex Yoong was quickest on Friday morning. The afternoon session was delayed and was run at dusk which was great fun. I've not driven in a night race this year so this 30-minute session made up for it! We had a clutch failure in the middle of the session which meant starting the car in gear and then being extra careful with the revs on downshift. The result was three laps in the 2:12s : 2:12.9, 2:12.7 and 2:12.5. Alex was second quickest on 13.2. I had teased him earlier that he should let me be fastest because it was my birthday. How sweet of him to take me seriously!
As in Beijing, this is all that A-Ha Racing's opponents saw in
Shanghai.
The boys - Rolly, Tomy, Antonio and John - changed the clutch and gearbox overnight. The car was perfect on Saturday and pole position came our way. We set it early in the session, on the third lap, and then parked the car - with fresh tyres mounted but unused. As in Beijing last month (and Macau last November), Matt Liddy had flown out from the UK to oversee operations. We've not missed pole position with him on the team. Remarkable.
Second fastest was Rizal Ramli. The Malaysian has been the pace-setter all season, but has had some poor results after racing incidents; his points tally has suffered as a result. In a similar position is Charles Kwan. He qualified a very disappointing seventh after suspension problems with his car. Thailand's C. Nattavude is the master at coming from seemingly nowhere to end-up on the podium and often as the race winner. It's no surprise that he leads the championship points and only a fool would have bet against him making the podium on Sunday.
In the end, Nat took maximum points from Shanghai. On the road I had won the race by 10 seconds from British youngster Jonathan Cocker. However I received a 25 seconds penalty for squeezing Rizal at the start and Jonathan does not score championship points. Charles, almost as good as Nat at salvaging a result (and points), was next up ahead of Rizal who had an eventful race. I was eventually classified sixth behind Darryl O'Young. Nat leads me in the championship by 13 points. Charles is third, just five points behind.
The penalty was obviously somewhat disappointing. It seemed out of proportion with the supposed offence. The other drivers - and those in the media centre - were certainly of that opinion. Nonetheless, the stewards' decision is their decision and my mistake was allowing a situation to happen from which they could make a, perhaps, harsh judgement. That's the lesson: be perfect at all times!
The guests from A-Ha had a great day out and I had the enjoyment of driving all weekend a perfectly prepared car. Those most penalised, really, were the boys - Rolly, Tomy, Antonio and John - who just worked hard all weekend. It was also gutting for the two Matts (Liddy and Baile) whose support and guidance means so much - and most unfairly for Winnie Choy who somehow manages to put enormous efforts into this project despite having little interest in motor sport and a very demanding boss at her 'real' job!