AT&T Williams F1

Alex Wurz suffered a wholly frustrating weekend in Spain. We caught up with him once he'd returned home and had time to reflect on the weekend’s events. You must be so disappointed, Alex. You had a frustrating qualifying session caught up in traffic and then went out on the first lap of the race following an accident with Ralf. What do you take away from weekends like that, if anything? At the end of the day, you have to move on and not let it get into your head. There's not much more to say about it really. Your wife, Julia, was in Spain. It must be nice to have her with you to give you some support? It's always nice if I am with my wife, after all, I married her because I want to be with her. But she was actually in Barcelona because of her work in the first instance. You have two little boys. They weren't in Spain with you, but I bet they're hugely proud of having a Dad that's a Formula One driver? I am hugely proud of my two boys. Right now, Felix is aware that I race cars and he likes the Williams blue, but he kind of likes the Ferraris as well! Charlie, my smaller one, is too young to get it and somehow I have the feeling that it would make no difference to him, which is perfectly fine as well. Your physio, Robyn (the only female physio in F1), took part in the Bull Ring (an iron man-esque contest organised by Red Bull for all F1's trainers) at the weekend and did pretty well. Did you give her any tips, particularly on the karting element? Yeah, she's a tough cookie, Robyn. I didn’t have time though to go and cheer her on as I had some sponsor commitments that I had to do at the same time. If the race distances had been longer and not just sprints, then she would have really shown the boys what being fit is all about! Away from the driving and de-briefing sessions, what other commitments did you have this weekend? A race weekend is quite stressful in a way. As a driver, you have quite a few commitments to handle for the sponsors, partners and the media so there's not much time to relax really. This weekend, I did about two solid hours of interviews, a press breakfast, four paddock club appearances and two motorhome dinners. That’s normal and has to be fitted in around engineering de-briefs and, of course, driving. But then that’s just part of the game. Barcelona is a favourite city of yours, isn't it? What do you love about it and did you have much time to go out and look around over the race weekend? It's a super cool city. Every time I go there I find new and fascinating things. The people are very open and, if you like art, then it is a very refreshing place to be. There are quite a few restaurants, bars, galleries, museums and other cool places to hang out. A favourite is Tibitabo, a fun park on top of the mountain. It has a super view and the kids love it, and I do too! Where would you recommend people visit in the city? Well, I would suggest one explores the whole city. It all depends what you want really. I usually go where my friend Pedro de la Rosa sends me. He knows the best places. But, for kids, it's clear that you have to go to Tibitabo, oh, and to the science museum. What are your plans ahead of Monaco? This week, I have to test. I'm looking forward to it and I hope the weather will be good. At the weekend, I will do some training sessions to get the final few percent out of mind and body for Monaco. Apparently, there's no wind forecasted at the weekend, which is a shame, because I would loved to have gone kite surfing. Instead, I will just spend more time on quality training. You mentioned you're testing next week (at Paul Ricard), what would be your typical day at a test session? I wake up at 7am, have breakfast, then meet at 8am with the engineers. After a warm up, I'll go flat out until the lunch break. The lunch break is about 20 minutes during which I have to eat and rest, rest is actually a de-brief with the team about what happened on the track in the morning. The afternoon is flat out again until 6pm. I then have 10 minutes to rest before a long de-brief. At 8pm I eat and then have a 40 minute massage. After a final chat with the engineers, I go to bed. Monaco is the next race on the calendar. You haven't raced there for a while, you must be pretty excited considering it's your 'home' GP? I love the Monaco race track. It's a bit crazy to race F1 cars in such a place, but the more crazy the better, as far as I’m concerned. The whole town turns a bit nuts in fact, which is ok for the one week of the GP, but usually it's so quiet in Monaco. It’s a strange week, so many people come down. Rich, poor, stunning, modified, nice, arrogant and some 'normal' ones! The mix and contrast of people is pretty spectacular. Your Quickfire Round... Strangest question you were asked? Do you know where Mark Webber is. Funniest question? I didn't get asked any funny questions in Barcelona, a shame really. What was the weirdest thing someone told you? Someone came up to me and told me that his small toes are twisted in different directions on both his feet. I did not ask for this information, but the guy obviously had to tell someone! Who was the coolest person you met? I met a few pretty ladies, but no one really cool, I'm afraid. What was the best thing that happened to you? Monday morning sunrise! What was the nicest thing someone did for you? In Barcelona? Well, I guess Ralf intended to be nice to me by lifting off on the exit of turn 10, but it ended ugly.