What a way to make a living - Working ten till seven, a glimpse into Bottas' busy schedule
Published by Christine
With another three week break in the racing schedule, Williams dispatched two of their driver lineup - Valtteri Bottas and Susie Wolff - to visit the team partners in Qatar. A whistle-stop tour of the technology park was completed, along with plenty of promotional duties. Bottas was particularly open about how much PR work they had to do, the Finn posted a picture of his day's schedule via his Twitter profile for everyone to see.
I was intrigued by the schedule, partly out of surprise that this level of detail wasn't yanked off the social network instantly, and partly because the day is planned out to such fine deadlines.
Formula One is, for the most part, a well-oiled, highly organised machine, and it shouldn't surprise me that a promotional day can see a driver working for nine hours that have been split into handy five minute chunks. I am quite jealous of the level of detail this goes into, and wish I could have one of these created for each day of my life.
| 10:20 | 10:50 | Arrive at Airport and clear immigration. |
| 11:00 | 11:30 | Transit Airport to Aspire Zone. |
| 11:40 | 11:45 | Change into Williams F1 Team technical tees and caps in Torch Hotel (if not done so before). |
| 11:45 | 12:30 | Lunch at Torch Restaurant. |
| 12:30 | 12:45 | Transfer to Dome VIP Entrance. |
| 12:45 | 13:30 | Tour of the facilities, with Williams film crew in attendance. Stopping for a PTC (piece to camera) for each driver. Media following taking photos. |
| 13:30 | 14:00 | Interviews with sports journalists and local media in auditorium. Open media session at tables. |
| 14:00 | 14:15 | Session with Aspire Academy students. Drivers answering questions prepared by Williams in advance on stage with microphones. |
| 14:15 | 14:30 | Q&A session with students, drivers answering questions asked from the audience. |
| 14:30 | 14:35 | Photo op with students on stage, holding 10 Golden Rules for Road Safety certificates. |
| 14:45 | 15:15 | Transfer Aspire to Museum of Islamic Art. |
| 15:15 | 15:20 | Golf Buggies waiting to take Williams personnel to main reception of Museum. |
| 15:20 | 15:30 | Meet Museum VIPs in main reception. |
| 15:35 | 15:55 | Tour of Olympic Museum. Media photographers in attendance to take pictures. |
| 16:00 | 16:30 | Photo op with local school children in front of F1 car. Drivers signing caps and autograph cards and giving them out to Youth Company children. |
| 16:30 | 17:00 | Williams drivers leave main reception and head to ramp in golf buggies outside building for photos in front of harbour and deliver messages to camera. |
| 17:00 | 17:30 | Transfer to QSTP (Qatar Science & Technology Park). |
| 17:30 | 18:00 | Filming and photography of drivers outside main QSTP building. |
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Filming and photography of drivers in WTCQ (Williams Technology Centre in Qatar) driving simulator. Eat snacks pre-ordered in to WTCQ. |
Notably, promotional duties may have continued beyond 7pm, but the lower third of Bottas schedule was missing from his snapshot.
The visit included a glimpse at some 3D models of how the building at the Qatar Science & Technology Park will unfold, as resources and infrastructure continue to build up there. After the event, Bottas spoke of how the area has changed.
The first time I came here was in 2010 and since then, year by year, I see things moving forward quickly so it is really nice to see how fast everything is being built up here. I am very impressed about the things that Qatar Foundation is investing in and pushing for.
- Valtteri Bottas
Meanwhile, Wolff spoke of how inspirational it was, and how inspiring she tried to be, talking to the kids they met along the way.
We were at Aspire yesterday and I think the kids here have an incredible chance in life to have such a great start, to see so many different sports. I said to those kids yesterday, whichever sport you enjoy the most – do it, do it well and to the best of your ability and dream big.
- Susie Wolff
That's right, people. Dream big. Or in five minute chunks, anyway.
