![]() On the podium after our one-two in Korea last year.ĭietrich has been great for me It’s not always easy for him to have his finger on the pulse with absolutely everything because he’s extremely busy. He’s been through a lot in his career – the biggest highs and lows personally, and I respect that. I believe there’s a lot of respect between us and I certainly have a lot for him. He was one of the first guys to speak to me in parc ferme after the Malaysian GP this year. ![]() I can’t talk highly enough about him, really. Adrian is very driven, he’s an inspiring guy to work with and he’s a real beacon for the team, too. I’ve seen him when we’ve been beaten fair and square – and it’s not something he enjoys – and I’ve also seen him when we’ve finished one-two, and his reactions are sometimes not very different. People might see him as quite a shy guy, he’s not a profiler, but he’s a bloody competitive guy. I’ve worked with a lot of people but Adrian’s ability to execute what the driver needs and what the car needs is just phenomenal. He’s by a million miles the best guy I’ve ever worked with in terms of understanding a racing car. In fact, I didn’t even realised that it was about to expire last year because we’ve never had to question one another.Īdrian is a big reason why I continued in F1 for as long as I did. I’ve had a contract with him for longer than my F1 career and I’ve never had to take it out of the file to review it. I was disappointed about Singapore ‘08 and how that was played out but I can only judge him on what he’s done for me and he’s always been straight up and down and extremely consistent. Even up to a few months ago he was still pushing very hard, but by that time I had made my decision. ![]() I don’t talk to him often, to be honest, but his last goal was to get me the Ferrari seat, which was very close. He’s been incredibly loyal and has always boxed my corner when needed. He was a supporter – as he was of lots of young drivers at that time.Ī lot of people probably wouldn’t put us together in terms of how they might see us but I can’t say a bad word about what Flavio’s done for me. He would always come to see me on the grid in F1 and I would always say hi to him. Emotions were obviously very high at Le Mans and in the end we had a bit of a tricky parting when I wanted to go and do my own thing but it never affected my relationship with Norbert. ![]() Norbert was probably the most human side of that whole programme. So we didn’t actually do that race but I did a test and that started my relationship with Merc. ![]() ‘All due respect, Norbert,’ I said, ‘this is going to be difficult’. This is six months after I’ve been driving Formula Ford. I remember I had just got out of the shower in the two-up, two-down Annie and I had in Aylesbury when the phone rang and it was Norbert, asking me to drive the Mercedes sports car in the 1000km race at the Nurburgring the following weekend. I had just won the Formula Ford Festival, so I went over with a card and asked him to keep an eye on me. I bumped into Norbert at the Australian GP in 1997. I’ve touched on a few of these people in my stories over the past week, but there are some others that made their mark: There are so many people that have been an integral part of my journey, on and off the track, that it’s impossible to mention them all. ![]()
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