Hello everyone!
My flight to Korea’s going to provide me with my first real downtime since winning the Formula Renault 3.5 Series on Sunday.
It’s just been crazy busy since then, but most definitely in a good way! It goes without saying I’m happy to have won the championship, it’s been a great season and I’m delighted for the likes of Marussia Motors, my backers, and my team, Carlin, but to an extent I’ve been too busy to really take stock of everything and enjoy the moment.
For example, after Sunday night’s award ceremony, I flew back to England as I had to not only pack to get ready to join Marussia Virgin Racing at this weekend’s Korean Grand Prix, but I also had to move out of my apartment!
My schedule’s been so tight the last few weeks that this hadn’t really registered with me until I was faced with the task of packing up. Thankfully I didn’t have too much stuff to take care of but it’s definitely something I could have done with later and not in the whirlwind of winning the championship and preparing for another long-haul F1 trip.
These are all ultimately happy issues to deal with. The final race weekend at Circuit de Catalunya could have turned out quite different, there was drama all the way on Sunday. That said, I went into the weekend feeling pretty good. The Barcelona track’s always been a good one for me. My goal was really to treat every lap over the weekend like a qualifying one to make sure I finished ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne. If I did that then I would win the title.
We worked hard on race set-up runs as well on Friday practice but I knew Saturday’s first qualifying session would help set the tone. The car was great, it was well balanced and I managed to go out and get the pole. The race itself then was as close to perfect as you’re going to get. I made a great start, kept the lead and from there I was able to pull out a very comfortable gap from everyone else behind me, winning the race by 21 seconds.
I could only control my own race and that’s what I did but with Vergne taking second, I only held a nine-point lead heading into Sunday’s finale. That said, it was certainly my most satisfying victory of the season and the largest margin of victory by a driver this year. My goal all along was to ensure I won the Saturday race as I knew it would put the onus on Jean-Eric for the Sunday. He’d have to beat me to have a chance of winning the title for himself.
I made a small mistake in Sunday morning’s qualifying and that probably cost me the two-tenths I needed to take the pole but I ended up on the front-row, which wasn’t a disaster with Vergne back in fifth. I dropped to third into the first turn but was feeling good when all of a sudden I was hit hard on my right-side. It definitely caught me by surprise and then as we continued I saw that it was Jean-Eric who had hit me.
We touched again approaching the second turn, which finished off my car, I couldn’t turn right due to a track-rod failure. I was then hit by another car on the left-side – all in all the first few turns didn’t lack any drama!
I was gutted to get out of the car and then see Vergne still going round behind the safety car. It soon became pretty evident though that his car had sustained some major damage of its own and he dropped out of the points and eventually into his own retirement.
It’s not necessarily the way I had hoped to the seal the championship but at the end of the day, these things are about more than just one race, it’s your performance over the whole season and I’m definitely happy with that!
The prize for winning the championship is a test in the Lotus Renault GP R31 Formula One car next month in Abu Dhabi at the ‘Rookie Test’. I hope to turn some heads there and look forward to sharing the experience with you!
Take care.
Robert Wickens
@robertwickens
www.robertwickens.com
My flight to Korea’s going to provide me with my first real downtime since winning the Formula Renault 3.5 Series on Sunday.
It’s just been crazy busy since then, but most definitely in a good way! It goes without saying I’m happy to have won the championship, it’s been a great season and I’m delighted for the likes of Marussia Motors, my backers, and my team, Carlin, but to an extent I’ve been too busy to really take stock of everything and enjoy the moment.
| |
| Photo: Renault Sport |
For example, after Sunday night’s award ceremony, I flew back to England as I had to not only pack to get ready to join Marussia Virgin Racing at this weekend’s Korean Grand Prix, but I also had to move out of my apartment!
My schedule’s been so tight the last few weeks that this hadn’t really registered with me until I was faced with the task of packing up. Thankfully I didn’t have too much stuff to take care of but it’s definitely something I could have done with later and not in the whirlwind of winning the championship and preparing for another long-haul F1 trip.
These are all ultimately happy issues to deal with. The final race weekend at Circuit de Catalunya could have turned out quite different, there was drama all the way on Sunday. That said, I went into the weekend feeling pretty good. The Barcelona track’s always been a good one for me. My goal was really to treat every lap over the weekend like a qualifying one to make sure I finished ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne. If I did that then I would win the title.
We worked hard on race set-up runs as well on Friday practice but I knew Saturday’s first qualifying session would help set the tone. The car was great, it was well balanced and I managed to go out and get the pole. The race itself then was as close to perfect as you’re going to get. I made a great start, kept the lead and from there I was able to pull out a very comfortable gap from everyone else behind me, winning the race by 21 seconds.
| |
| Photo: Renault Sport |
I could only control my own race and that’s what I did but with Vergne taking second, I only held a nine-point lead heading into Sunday’s finale. That said, it was certainly my most satisfying victory of the season and the largest margin of victory by a driver this year. My goal all along was to ensure I won the Saturday race as I knew it would put the onus on Jean-Eric for the Sunday. He’d have to beat me to have a chance of winning the title for himself.
I made a small mistake in Sunday morning’s qualifying and that probably cost me the two-tenths I needed to take the pole but I ended up on the front-row, which wasn’t a disaster with Vergne back in fifth. I dropped to third into the first turn but was feeling good when all of a sudden I was hit hard on my right-side. It definitely caught me by surprise and then as we continued I saw that it was Jean-Eric who had hit me.
We touched again approaching the second turn, which finished off my car, I couldn’t turn right due to a track-rod failure. I was then hit by another car on the left-side – all in all the first few turns didn’t lack any drama!
I was gutted to get out of the car and then see Vergne still going round behind the safety car. It soon became pretty evident though that his car had sustained some major damage of its own and he dropped out of the points and eventually into his own retirement.
| |
| Photo: Renault Sport |
It’s not necessarily the way I had hoped to the seal the championship but at the end of the day, these things are about more than just one race, it’s your performance over the whole season and I’m definitely happy with that!
The prize for winning the championship is a test in the Lotus Renault GP R31 Formula One car next month in Abu Dhabi at the ‘Rookie Test’. I hope to turn some heads there and look forward to sharing the experience with you!
Take care.
Robert Wickens
@robertwickens
www.robertwickens.com