going to be humid. It would be even hotter in the cars and it would be desperately uncomfortable. Staying calm, clear-headed and sharp, capable of making decisions under extreme stress and pressure was going to be an important part of the weekend’s work.
When I got off the plane, I felt sick with the heat. It was so humid that everything steamed up – my sunglasses, the car – everything! I arrived pretty early in the week because the race was on a Friday. I wanted to be ready in every way. I was collected from the airport by a driver and taken in a nice big car to the Mina A’ Salam hotel which is absolutely gorgeous.
It smelt beautiful and I could not believe my luck. I had to take a boat to my hotel room. It was a little Abra and I was filled with a kind of excitement, a confident feeling of anticipation mixed with a few nerves. The whole place, the whole experience was just fantastic and I wanted to go out and complete the picture with a great job all weekend.
I woke up in the morning, got out of bed and, there I was, on a beach. I could see the sea. It felt a bit like Guernsey again and I definitely drew something from that. I also had a lovely 7-Series BMW given to me for the weekend and so, for me, the whole experience felt a bit special for the first time. I had gone from living in a caravan to being treated to nice hotels and luxury cars. And, I have to say, it was great!
Dirk may have been leading the championship and I am sure everyone expected him to win, but that takes no account of me. I am such a determined so-and-so. I never give in. And there, in that hotel room, with that car and that view, I felt so much energy. So I enjoyed myself – and I went out and won my first major international title.
We, BMW Team GB, were a one-car team. That in itself was a disadvantage when it came to a lot of the races because we could not do the slip-streaming, by using a team-mate for tow, like others did. But it was not the end of the world. I knew how strong we could be from the year before and I was not intimidated at all by the opposition. We had finished 2003 very strongly and all through 2004 I was convinced I could achieve my goals.
I started the season pretty competitively. I was up there, not dominant by any means because teams had been testing all through the winter – before I had even negotiated my contract – but still pretty sharp. Compared to the previous year when I was learning my way at that level really, I started winning much earlier.
Then, of course, the ‘success ballast’ came into play. The more successful you were, the more ballast you had to carry in the next race. It was a ploy by the series administration to try and keep the racing close and exciting and in its way it worked. But I never felt it was fair. It just meant that if you did your job and you were the fastest, once you proved it and started winning they tried to make sure you could not win any more!
That was not my only problem though. I remember feeling like I was a marked man that year. And it was only because I was fast and successful. People were already starting to get quite cold with me and I guess it came from the political pressures that were created by massive expectations generated by the big factory teams. Obviously, there was some tension among the teams and the atmosphere was getting a bit harder, a bit more serious; more tense, I suppose. In the first year, everyone was patting me on the back (I ended up as the only BMW driver after race one at the end of the first year in the final race at Monza). Then, after that, the affection seemed to dry up. I was no longer just a driver in the pack, but a threat to some people’s self-appointed intentions, in terms of racing success and titles.
There were no more pats on the back. I guess Lewis Hamilton had to go through a similar sort of experience after his brilliant rookie season in Formula One with McLaren Mercedes. When you have proved yourself, everyone else says: ‘Ok, now really prove yourself because we are the big boys and we bounce back…’ I do not know how personal it was, but in some ways I was still a bit naïve and less experienced than these guys. I understood the sport, but all the politics was a bit of a new thing for me. So, I did what I knew best – I got on with it, I put my head down and I worked and worked at everything.
I had some good wins that year. I won at Magny-Cours, Hockenheim, Brno, Donington and Oschersleben. The key moment during the season was reaching a point, about three-quarters of the way through, when I was in with a really serious chance of winning the championship. At some stages I was leading, at others I was behind, what with the extra weight and the reverse grids (the finishing order of the top eight drivers was reversed after the first race at each meeting for the second race).
I was always there in the mix. The year before, I had come from way behind and almost stolen the title right at the end, but this time I was one of the main contenders all season. I was loving it and I was pushing hard.
I had earned my position to be there, fighting for the championship, and there was still a really good chance that I could win it. Dirk did his job well but in Oschersleben it did not work out for him. I was quicker than him in qualifying, I made a great start in race one, got ahead of him and made sure I put two cars between us before going on to win. Then in race two, to put it bluntly and honestly, I was driven off the road!
I was crashed into and it seemed like the fairytale story was not going to happen – or was certainly not going to be allowed to happen. I know that, to many observers, it seemed that the other drivers had decided among themselves that the small guy was not going to win the championship.
I was an underdog who had put together a really good season, but I was not what they wanted to be declared as a champion. I felt I had earned my position, but a few drivers decided that it was not what they wanted (maybe for the credibility and prestige of the series) and a few teams had decided that it was not what they wanted either – and it was just sour grapes. It was not just in Oschersleben that this kind of thing happened either.
I was driven off the road in a few places point-blank that season. Maybe it was just one way of giving a newcomer a warm welcome to a series…However, Dirk gained eight points on me in that second Oschersleben race, leaving him with one hand on the championship, 12 points ahead going into Dubai.
It was all rather difficult for me to understand then. It was, I suppose, just a part-manifestation of the politics that go with a big manufacturer series like that when there is a lot at stake and there are a lot of big name drivers with their reputations on the line. It is not personal at all and I have never once lost my faith in the integrity or the honesty of any competitor, but I do think that it does show there is more to motor racing than often meets the eye.
For example, after I won the title at the end of the season in Dubai, Dr Mario Theissen gave me a present – something that I was delighted to receive. It was a chance to drive the Williams BMW Formula One car. It was something I had always wanted and it proved to me that for all the tension between the racing teams, the BMW people were very appreciative of my efforts and supportive of my career.
That was when I first met Sam Michael and the other Williams guys and they were really nice. I could tell that they had watched my season, but they knew it was just a test for a Touring Car driver, nothing serious. What they did not know is that I had been in the gym since I knew I was testing, working out every day. I was very determined about the test and immediately I showed my speed. So that one chance turned into lots more tests the following year and I am very proud of that. That was a great moment for me to choose to go the touring cars route and then still end up with a little job in Formula One. I achieved another of my own dreams that way, thanks to Dr Theissen and BMW.
But I digress; back to that glorious day in Dubai. After everyone had calmed down a little and the celebrations started to wane I went back to my hotel room and said to Jo: ‘Our life is going to change.’ I thought at the time that it would change and I would become a big name, a big personality that was well-respected in British sport.
But that just did not happen immediately. It was a bit of a surprise to me because
