The Inside Line - on Marussia’s Timo Glock 15 Jun 2012
Timo Glock is a man who knows the highs and lows of Formula One racing, from podium finishes with Toyota to fighting his way back up the grid with Marussia - and all that after he’d expected to spend his life putting up scaffolding. It’s perhaps no surprise then that the German has quite a balanced outlook on things. Airport lounges annoy him, top athletes inspire him, home and a good steak comfort him, and a certain crash still haunts him…
Q: What keeps you awake at night?
Timo Glock: Actually, nothing really - I am a very good sleeper. (laughs) Only jetlag gets to me - for one or two days - but I think that is the same for all of us at the flyaway races.
Q: If you could banish one thing from your life - for the rest of your life - what would that be?
TG: Hanging around at airports waiting for connections and being told of delays… (laughs)
Q: What’s been your most valuable ‘life’ lesson?
TG: Never give up!
Q: What do you admire?
TG: I admire sportsmen. Every kind of competitive sport: tennis, cycling - everything that has a fighting spirit. I play tennis and cycle myself - as a workout - and I see how much it takes them to be at the top level. Hats off to them.
Q: If you could give your younger self some advice what would it be?
TG: Believe in yourself in everything that you do.
Q: If your racing career ended after this season, what would you do with the rest of your life?
TG: First impulse would be to find another seat in Formula One. Remember the most valuable life lesson: never give up! Should no one in F1 want me, then I would look for a drive in another series. Should nobody want me there, I guess I would start a career as a commentator for a race broadcaster- to be still somewhat connected to racing. But let’s keep our fingers crossed that it doesn’t happen within the next hundred years. (laughs)
Q: What animal best reflects your personality?
TG: I have no idea. I am human so I have never thought about a life as an animal.
Q: What is more important in life than winning?
TG: Being happy enough to enjoy what you’re doing - whatever that might be.
Q: What would you spend your last dollar on?
TG: Probably something to drink - to survive another day!
Q: What is your greatest weakness?
TG: I am terribly impatient. I want to have things happen immediately.
Q: What is your favourite smell?
TG: My girlfriend.
Q: What’s your ultimate comfort food?
TG: A very good filet mignon.
Q: What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a race?
TG: Say hello to my girlfriend if she hasn’t been with me at the race, hug our little dog, jump on the sofa and watch TV.
Q: What scares you?
TG: Sometimes myself! (laughs) If something is out of control and I can’t control it any more.
Q: What feels like home?
TG: My motorhome at the European races.
Q: When were you happiest?
TG: Maybe right now - because there is nothing that’s making me unhappy at the moment. Every day is a good day at the moment. And I hope that this will go on and on and on.
Q: What’s the best advice you have been given?
TG: Fight until the last lap - or, translated into everyday life, fight as long and as hard as possible. That comes from my dad.
Q: Are you the man you always thought you would become?
TG: Far from it. I thought that I would be a scaffolder in my dad’s company - and very likely would have taken over the company by now. But obviously things went in another direction a few years ago and here I am now, driving in Formula One.
Q: What event can’t you forget but wish you could?
TG: The crash at Suzuka in 2009.
Q: If you had to stay in one place for the rest of your life, where would it be?
TG: At home in Switzerland.
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