I’m really looking forward to going to Macau with the Carlin team. I raced for the team at Misano in World Series this year. It was my first time in a World Series car, my first time working with the team, even my first experience of a pit stop! But I worked really well with the team and my engineer, and managed to win both races. It was an unbelievable weekend. When it came to making the decision about going to Macau, I felt that Carlin were the best team. They have a great reputation in F3 and a good record at Macau. The team have been front runners nearly every year, and of course they won in 2001 with [Takuma] Sato.
To get ready for the race, we tested at Pembrey this week, which was really helpful in getting to know the engineers and mechanics. We tested with the Macau set up and it went very well. I’m confident that we will have good pace from the start of the race weekend.
My experience testing an
F1 car won’t help me at all when I get to Macau. There are absolutely no comparisons between an F1 car and the F3 car I will be driving there. The only advantage I will have is that I’ve raced at Macau before.
Now that I’m driving in
Formula One, and I’m German, people are starting to talk about me being similar to
Michael Schumacher. But any comparisons between me and Schumacher have been made up by the press. It doesn’t put any extra pressure on me. The pressure to do well comes from within, because I want to win every race. Being compared to Schumacher doesn’t add to that, I find it quite silly really.
Anyway, back to Macau. This event means a lot to me and I will certainly be going for the win. Having lost out on the F3 Euroseries championship this year, I feel even more of a need to win at Macau. To win there with Carlin would really end this chapter of my career on a high as I go to concentrate on my new role with the
BMW Sauber F1 team.
