Portugal GP

It’s been 10 days since the last GP at the Nürburgring, and I’m eager to get racing again this week in Portugal.

I’ve packed a lot in since Germany, starting with Canadian Thanksgiving Day on the 12th. It was a chance to kick back and relax, in a London version of the usual family get together in Toronto. My girlfriend surprised me with a proper Thanksgiving feast – including recipes from my Mom (!) – so it did feel a bit like home.

After that I was up to Grove for a few days in the simulator, and then some fitness training before yet another round of Coronavirus tests. In any downtime I’ve been re-watching episodes of Modern Family – it still cracks me up!

This weekend’s race is at Portimao, a track I drove once a few years ago at a test day. I remember it as a very technical circuit with so many steep elevation changes it feels like a roller coaster.

In F1 terms it’s a big unknown. Nobody in the championship has raced there before. And while it looks great for driving, how it will be for racing isn’t clear.

All the drivers are heading there with little in the way of reference points, data or knowledge, so we’ll explore and see what works. The pressure is on to get acquainted quickly, but as we saw at Mugello and the Nürburgring, these circumstances can create opportunities for advancing up the grid, and I’m hoping that will work in my favour.