10/07/2002

Allan McNish reflects on Britain

The British Grand Prix obviously was a race I was really looking forward to. I know that as a driver you have to be able to perform anywhere but there are some places that seem to have a special significance.

When I was a wee child in Dumfries we didn’t get all the races on the TV like nowadays but we used to get Monaco Silverstone and Monza. I remember watching James Hunt win the British Grand Prix in 1977 when I was still just seven years old and that made quite an impression.

I worked with James earlier in my career when he was a Marlboro driver adviser and I was one of their team drivers. In the first round of the F3000 championship in 1990 at Donington I was involved in a nasty accident and ended up unconscious.

The International Trophy at Silverstone was a month later and I had only just been cleared to drive by Professor Sid Watkins. Silverstone was different back then an even quicker track than now and I managed to get pole position. After following Damon Hill for a few laps I went on to win the race ahead of my team mate. It was a very emotional moment for me.

If anyone had told me then that it would be 12 years before I got an opportunity to drive in the British Grand Prix at the same circuit I would have been very disappointed. To say the least! But I’m wiser and more experienced now as well as older and I think it helps you to enjoy the moment even more.

I don’t think I need to say what a personal disappointment it was when I had a clutch problem on the grid and was left stranded. Up until that point it had been a variable weekend. Friday was a bad day for us because Mika was ill and missed the entire day’s practice. And the typically British weather ruined any chance we had of finding a dry set-up for the car.

Having said that we did manage to get a decent balance for qualifying and Mika did well to put his TF102 eighth on the grid our best qualifying performance of the season. I had been equally quick in morning practice but I hit traffic on my best lap.

That cost me two or three tenths of a second. I was almost on a par with Mika in the other two sectors and although there was just 0.39s between us the midfield was so tight that I qualified seven places further back.

It was pleasing to receive such a good reception from the Silverstone crowd and I was deeply disappointed that I couldn’t serve up something to warm them on Sunday afternoon.

Off the track I heard that Toyota Great Britain are very much behind the Panasonic Toyota Racing team. For every race they enter into the spirit of things by decorating the canteen in a Formula 1 style with flags and banners and they even serve up the national food of the country hosting the race! I might even suggest haggis for next year! On race day over 400 Toyota dealers visited the Silverstone circuit cheering us on from a corporate hospitality unit - I am just sorry that we couldn't give them more to shout about.

I think we’re overdue some good fortune and let’s hope it starts at Magny-Cours in a fortnight. Before that both Mika and I will be testing at Monza and concentrating on a set-up for some of the quicker circuits coming up in the later part of the season. After that I will be attending the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK driving the TF102. Panasonic Toyota Racing’s President - and ex-rally superstar - Ove Andersson will also take to the track so it should be a really fun event.