It was quite an emotional rollercoaster ride actually writing the book, to be honest. I had to go back through all the feelings of when I was like Tom Ingram [BRDC Stars of Tomorrow karting star], struggling for every penny, when nobody wanted me. To then win world titles off the back of that is very special.
Q:
And nine months spent living in a caravan too I understand..?
AP:
Yeah, it was nine months here at
Silverstone. I wouldn’t do it again, but at least I did it. It was a very special time and I have very fond memories of it, but I would never do it again!
Q:
You mentioned Brno earlier, which was obviously the latest World Touring Car Championship round. It didn’t exactly go according to plan, did it..?
AP:
Not at all, no; it was really bad. Brno was tough; it was a difficult weekend, I was carrying a lot of ballast and we didn’t perform particularly well. We qualified well, but sometimes you have these weekends and you take it on the chin. Hopefully you can be determined enough to turn it around, and I don’t think the championship is by any means over, so I’m going to work really hard to try and improve my performance for Estoril.
Q:
There was good news, though, for another
BMW driver in Brno, Alex Zanardi. You must have been very pleased to see that..?
AP:
Yeah; if there’s one person other than me that I’d like to win a race, it’s Alex. It was a very special day for him, and obviously good for BMW with the manufacturers’ points as well. That meant it wasn’t such a bad weekend in all, but obviously I want to try and improve the team’s performance and try and get onto the championship trail again, which is really what I want – another title.
Q:
Looking back over the first part of the 2008 season, what are your overriding feelings so far?
AP:
I think it’s complicated. When I look at the situation as it is at the moment, it’s a number of things that are contributing towards our pace not being good enough. It’s not just BMW struggling – it really is that the regs aren’t suited to us. We’ve lost standings starts and now have rolling starts, we’re carrying extra ballast, we don’t have a sequential gearbox, the tyres don’t really work on a rear wheel-drive car – I could go on and on and on.
