Aug.18 (GMM) Following the second consecutive week with no testing or grands prix on the schedule, F1 drivers will now be gearing up to return to their cockpits at the new Valencia city circuit this weekend.
The grid's twenty race drivers enjoyed the so-called August break in a range of different ways -- from lying on a luxury yacht, to simply swapping their normal single seater for a different form of motor racing.Fresh from his debut podium in Hungary, for example, Toyota's Timo Glock travelled to the famous Laguna Seca circuit in California, where he won the 'Race of Legends' at the wheel of a Toyota Scion against famous names including Johnny Herbert, Patrick Tambay and 1980 world champion Alan Jones.F1 veteran David Coulthard simply took in the atmosphere from the Brno paddock for the Czech round of MotoGP.At the other end of the scale, championship leader Lewis Hamilton has been recharging his batteries by jetting around the world with his pop-star girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger.The pararazzi first snapped them, along with the other Pussycat Dolls, at Los Angeles airport, and subsequently out and about in London and Spain.At the latter location, the McLaren driver's summer break ended on a low when thieves snatched one of his bags as he checked out of a five-star hotel.Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen had an altogether quieter August off the back of his Budapest breakthrough; organising a fun kart race but also just catching up with his family in his Finnish home town of Suomussalmi."It was my first time back in Finland for quite a long time," he said.Ferrari's Felipe Massa similarly headed home, to Sao Paulo, while Force India racer Giancarlo Fisichella put his feet up on his yacht with his family.Williams' Nico Rosberg, meanwhile, was training hard in the Swiss Alps.On a typical day, he would spend hours ascending on a mountain bike before swimming in an alpine lake. "I am really enjoying it," he insisted to Germany's Bild newspaper.Thoughts have also been spared for the weekend's Valencia circuit; the first F1 race ever on the streets of the Spanish port city."I think the whole of formula one is very excited about going to Valencia," said Honda driver Jenson Button.
