A wet Sunday in Moscow for the fifth running of the Moscow City Racing event, which since 2008 has seen gathered together the best of motorsport in the heart of the Russian capital, saw rain falling on and off throughout the day, sometimes quite heavily.
However, there was plenty of spectacle, perhaps a bit too much in the case of Kamui Kobayashi. The Japanese driver got one of the warmest welcomes from the crowd that lined the 3800 metre track, but he was caught out during his last run of laps by a track made particularly slippery as the rain came down hard at that moment and he ended up in the barriers.
The F60 was badly damaged, much to the ironic delight of the F1 Clienti department mechanics, but they set about their tasks with gusto and in around 20 minutes, they had readied a second car, thus ensuring that Kamui and the Scuderia were able to produce the best possible finale, as the Japanese driver did one final lap of honour against the backdrop of the walls of the Kremlin and St. Basils Cathedral.
It was great to be able to represent Scuderia Ferrari at such an important event, said Kamui when the day was over. For this I would once again like to thank the team and its sponsor Kaspersky Lab. It is important to be able to bring Formula 1 close to the public with promotional events like this: a shame about the rain as otherwise the crowd might have been even bigger. The crash? The track was very slippery and there was a marked bump at that point, which is why I hit the barrier. A shame, but I am pleased the team let me out again after a few minutes.
Of the five Formula 1 teams present in Moscow, only the Scuderia had brought two cars ready to use. When you drive an F1 car on city streets like here in Moscow, with the barriers very close and escape roads reduced to a minimum, the risks of a crash are definitely higher than at a permanent circuit: you need to have a good number of spare parts and even a second car, so as not to deprive the spectators who maybe never have a chance to see at first hand, the spectacle of the highest level of motor sport. This time, the Scuderias choice was very definitely the right one.
