You Want to Be Great? Choose Your Pain
There is a price to pay first
Barcelona, 29th September 2002.
Telefonica World Series by Nissan (pre-F1 racing category). Warm-up session on race day. As I drive past the main finish line on my last lap I hear my engineer cheering over the radio. I had ended P1 for the session. On old tyres.
That was a sweet end to a terrible season. I started strong that year, qualifying P2 and finishing on the podium alongside Frank Montagny and Ricardo Zonta (both later became F1 drivers) on the opening round, but then it all fell apart. I was even out of a ride for some races mid-season. Then I managed to make my way back for the last few races, going from strength to strength and peaking at the Barcelona warm-up session.
Coming up to that race I felt uneasy, as if something was out of place. I had dropped out of college and I had left home, antagonising my parents in the process. I was resenting the many hours per day of necessary physical conditioning (which to me felt like a chore). And I dreaded living on a racing track for more than 250 days a year.
The pain was not worth it anymore, I was not willing to go through the struggle associated with becoming a F1 driver.
