Valtteri the Valkyrie

So the news was all over the media on Sunday morning that Felipe and I will be racing for Williams in 2015. So far, so good. Being with Sir Frank’s outfit has been a healthy mix of ups and downs, (more downs actually) but now the team has picked up. This can be hugely attributed to the change from Williams-Renault to Williams-Mercedes.

I have settled down very nicely in the team, and the last five years with them have been a whirlwind ride. I can go the lengths of saying that Williams has been my alma mater, with them nurturing me from my raw F3-GP3 days.  Back in 2010 when they spotted something in me and sought me out to be their test driver, I accepted and came along to drive on Fridays. Oh I was such an excited kid back then, to actually get to drive in a V8! Meanwhile, I continued my stint at GP3, with Williams very generously agreeing to it. I couldn’t have made a better decision, as I was then deemed fit to drive alongside Pastor last year.

Posing at the original Parabolica with James and Nigel in the good ol' GP3 days

This year, Felipe is my new teammate, and don’t tell anyone, but I think he is a nice change from a certain Crashkid.  The engineers had literally heaved a collective sigh of relief. The team has reportedly been saving millions as the car is not being shunted in every other session. I have so far spent only a few months with Felipe as a teammate, but he seems to be a nice guy. The fact that he is a veteran can get to his head sometimes, with the ‘other guy’ in any accident with him getting publicly shamed by him more often than not.

Claire taking on the ALS Icebucket challenge

Italian GP

Held at Monza where every other resident is a Ferrari fan(called the Tifosi), the Autodromo di Monza is the fastest race track on the calendar. It has long straights and tricky chicanes, coupled with a double apex right-hander called the Parabolica. In addition to being the fastest, it is also one of the toughest circuits on brakes. It is 3.6 miles long and race distance is 53 laps. Pirelli brought the Orange Hard and White Medium tires to take on their home race.

Friday Free Practice

Okay, so shall we get back to the Monza weekend? Because I am Finnish and I am not supposed to speak more than what is absolutely necessary. Stereotypes, I tell you! Here goes then. The practice on Friday was usual, with a little tweaking here and there. Monza requires the low downforce setup on the car, as most of it is taken flat out. (High downforce setups are used on technical circuits which have complex turns and chicanes, where the ‘down’force keeps the car stuck to the track. Thus you can take turns at a higher speed.- Author) Accordingly, the team brought along some new aero goodies, and we perform some qualifying simulations, some pitting simulations and the long runs. I am pretty much pleased with the long runs, and the wear on the tires was manageable. Our main rivals still look to be Mercedes, blistering quick in those silver meanies.

Qualifying

Saturday dawns warm, and though I am Scandinavian, I do love ambient temperatures. Monza being home to hundreds of Tifosi, I am lucky to be having a few autograph requests. Finnish flags can be seen flying in hundreds around the circuit, but I always get confused if they are for Kimi or me. I would have considered designing my own flag like Lorenzo in MotoGP had it not been an epic failure. I digress. Q1 sees me go fourth quickest on the prime tyres, half a second off from Lewis’s cracker of a lap. Felipe retorts immediately, but comes home 36^th hundred of a second late. So close yet so far, Felipe. In Q2, my compatriot Kimi goes out after making a mistake at the second in his hot lap. I wasn’t surprised, because the Prancing Horse is not prancing that well this weekend. And I am third again, behind Lewis and Nico, with Felipe close behind. Nico bests my provisional pole lap in Q3 by going a tenth faster than me, but along comes Lewis, blitzing his way to pole. So, that’s that. I stand third in the grid positions, with Felipe behind me. It was the same story all through the session, now that I think of it. McLaren apparently has improved, slotting in ahead of the Ferraris and the Redbulls. The thousands of Tifosi look utterly crestfallen with the F14T’s performance, I can atleast make that out. Who says Finns are immune to empathy?

Race

Let me get it out there: Yes, we drivers are always nervous before a race start. But you get so used to the perpetually on-edge nerves that it becomes a part of your demeanour. It becomes you. The fear gets stitched into your soul. Until a point that it becomes mundane.

On Race day, I see hundreds of Finnish flags during Drivers’ Parade (again), and I wave to Kimi’s fans. I am hardly friends with Kimi, but I respect him as a racing driver. Though I don’t really get the fandom. It’s insane. People adore flippant individuals unless the flippancy is directed at them. But Kimi is rude to journalists all the time, and they still adore him. Except a few jackasses like BBC’s Benson.

The grid looks like this: Lewis, Nico, me, Felipe, Kevin, Fernando, Sebastian, Daniel, Sergio, Kimi and the rest.

We all get done with the works; grid positioning check, warm up lap check. Now it is a long wait for the five red lights to go out, at Charlie Whiting’s disposal. And they do go out. And I am still waiting. I see the backs of many cars zoom by, and in Monza it’s a long run to Rettifilo and the first chicane.It costs me dearly. It takes me some time to recover and ask on the radio what went wrong. By the time I do that, I was down in 11^th place from 3^rd. Dang, even Kimi goes past! Woe unto wheelspin and cold tires! Elsewhere, Hamilton gets a launch sequence wrong and is 4^th before the first lap was done. Felipe jumps at the opportunity and goes past him. Apparently, Kevin has rocketed from his fifth grid slot and has occupied the second spot behind race leader Nico by then. What a shame for Ferrari to be beaten in their own backyard by longtime rival McLaren too. From my cockpit, I can see the red(and white) Ferrari of Kimi, and Force India’s Hulk a little bit ahead of him. In the next two laps, I watch him take on the Force India before the Parabolica, and it’s a neat move. I am not content just watching a master doing his act, and I want a bite from the pie too.  I try at the infamous Parabolica, but Hulk’s too far off. Well, Rettifilo does it for me too, and I get past him in the next lap. OVERTAKE 1 done. Now I am 10^th, with the Kimster looming large in my helmet.

Meanwhile, Marussia’swunderkid Chilton has taken too large a bite of the sausage kerbs at Roggia and has flown into the barriers. Yellow flagged sector for us and race over for Max. Hamilton also benefits from the Rettifilo god and takes Massa for second. Now he can chase Nico, and I can write in peace about my own race. Kimi, as I said, was looming large in my face, and after giving a weak-hearted resistance he gives up on 9^th place. The Tifosi groan. OVERTAKE 2 done. I am now in clear air, with the Fernando-Sergio pair a bit up the road. Some laps in clear air and I close in on the battle for the seventh grid position. This is going to be tricky as both Sergio and Fernando are aggressive defenders, with the former resorting to extreme crash-prone tactics to defend his position as well. I gather up some ERS and bullet down the outside of Perez into the first chicane. OVERTAKE 3 done. I am getting the hang of this now. A few laps go by. I get closer and closer to Fernando, and this is going to be pretty easy it seems, with that dog of a Ferrari that he is driving. Sure enough, I zoom past him on the pits straight with DRS assistance and some good old slipstreaming. OVERTAKE 4 done. I am now 7^th.

I am now running Jenson in. Guess where? Yes, Rettifilo I love you! Marry me! I do a repeat on the outside approaching the twin chicanes. Jenson is mince and I’m 6^th. OVERTAKE 5 done. In next couple, I take Seb for 5^th place. OVERTAKE 6. At Lap 18 the team inform me that Seb is the first one to box. I still have some life to squeeze out of my tires, and after a couple laps around Monza, I rope in Kevin into the first chicane and pass him for 4^th. OVERTAKE 7. Ah, back in clear air again. The guys tell me Felipe is 13s ahead. Behind me, all the guys start pitting for new pair of boots and I am wondering why the team isn’t calling me in. Someone surely could have achieved an undercut. They pit Felipe first, as is the custom. A lap after that, I get the call to come in. As I exit, I meet Seb on the pits straight and I am too polite to him. He goes by, and taking advantage of my slackness, Kevin zooms past too. In the confusion, I bite my lip and Sergio says thank you very much. He also is ahead of me now. Sloppy outlap, Valtteri! I buck up and get the place back from Sergio on the next lap at my dear Rettifilo. I swear, I am going to call my son that! Sergio gives me some hell, but I am way past him by next lap. OVERTAKE 8.

Oh meanwhile, Nico has run straight into Rettifilo and used the escape route to emerge. Twice since I quit talking about him. That was all the nerves that Lewis needed, and currently he is leading after the stops. That turn is quite the hot place I tell you. Alonso parks there halfway through the race. Oh Tifosi, I feel for you guys.

It is déjà vu all over for me in terms of cars to be overtaken. I have taken Sergio over twice, and now Kevin is all over my front wing. I try to get past him at Rettifilo again, but he doesn’t give me space like last time. I get bounced into the runoff area and lose a few tenths. Damn you, Dane! I can see why Kimi doesn’t like you. Next lap, Rettifilo disappoints again. I try at different places. Roggia, no.Rettifilo again, no.Roggia again, no.Rettifilo again, YES! Hail the outside line. OVERTAKE 9. I am now 5^th. Don’t ask me how. Seb is next up for fourth place. The engineers tell me Kevin was given a stop-go penalty, and I wonder why. It was aggressive defending, yes. Pushing me off the track, yes. But it hardly warranted a stop-go. I rope in Seb again and make an easy pass on him again for 4^th place. OVERTAKE 10. Clean air again and a teammate in front. Talk about déjà vu. With 11 laps to go in the Italian GP, I am 18 seconds behind Felipe. I push a little to clear my rear, and cruise to the finish. Honourable mention to Daniel, who comes up from 11^th to 5^th.

Lewis won, congratulations to him. In hindsight, this was the best chance we could’ve had to challenge the Mercs for the win, we definitely had the pace. And the Tifosi had to be content by watching and revelling in the happiness of their ex-Ferrari man on the podium. Who speaks fluent Italian and has an Italian passport. It was fun to watch. Peace out, and this was Valtteri Bottas.

The Tifosi make for a lively spectators when you are not on the wrong side of them.