Going round the mountain
Modern-day F1 is making its first visit to Mount Fuji this weekend, for round fifteen of the 2007 championship. The venue for this year’s Japanese Grand Prix is unknown to all the teams, as well as most of the sport’s fans, but the ING Renault F1 Team has been preparing intensively for months. The engineers have run numerous detailed simulations on the computers back at base and Friday’s first practice session will be the moment of truth when all that work come to fruition. At the end of a long and difficult season, the team will be hoping to finish 2007 on a positive note.
A fresh challenge
Heikki and Giancarlo arrived in Japan early this week. The Finn, looking to extend his series of six consecutive points finishes, is excited to be racing in a country where he has already gained a large number of fans. As for his team-mate, he will be pushing hard at this new venue. His Japanese fan club is his largest in the world, and although he has been used to racing at Suzuka, he can’t wait to start running at Mount Fuji and to see his fans in the grandstands. After their traditional morning track walk on Thursday, the Renault Boys will be focusing on just one thing: climbing into the R27 and pushing to the limit on every lap!
It will be an early start on Sunday morning, as the race begins at 05:30 in the UK - that’s 13:30 local time! It doesn’t matter if your morning drink is tea or coffee, make sure you’ve got some on the go when the lights go out!
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