Q: WHY A Q&A?
A: Quite a few times during the Silverstone weekend I found myself thinking; “if i only knew this in advance”. Basically, as always with ‘The First Time of Anything’, there were a few things I would have done differently if I only had more information, more facts or more experience.
So, with that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to communicate to all the people who plan to go to a GP for the first time, the things that I would have liked to have known. Therefore i thought the Q&A format would be more suitable.
Q: WHAT WAS DIFFERENT THAN EXPECTED?
A: I would like to highlight three different things that caught me by surprise at my first ever Formula One Grand Prix.
1. The lack of glamour. I don’t know if this was due to the Silverstone circuit or just the glorification from the media. Surely the Monaco GP is a different saga than Silverstone, but I did imagine that the general organisation on any GP would be a bit more spectacular and special.
It was a bit more “just motor racing” than I thought it would be.
If you weren’t prepeared to pay £3.20 per beer; wanted cheesy fat food or weren’t interested in buying merchandise from the teams: you would have almost nothing to do besides waiting or sitting and watching the other events on the track.
2. The enormous presence of sponsors, and mainly Vodafone. Vodafone have literally bought Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. The team merchandise is more Vodafone merchandise than it is a McLaren’s or Mercedes’s merchandise. It’s ridiculous.
They’ve also changed the color of Vodafone, it’s neon orange and not red. On TV it looks red, but in real life it’s neon orange. I’m not to sure that the color on TV is the main and only reason or not. I do find it a bit weird.
Since this was the home GP for Britain’s latest media revenue stream, Lewis Hamilton, the colors of Vodafone were obviously more present than any other, and that might have been why Vodafone felt so dominating. But it isn’t just that. It’s the amount of Vodafone on McLaren. It’s just sooo much. Mclaren has gone from being ‘Bruce McLaren Motor Racing’ to ‘Team McLaren Mercedes’ to ‘Vodafone McLaren Mercedes’. How much do you need to pay to change the initial name of a F1 team?
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes new motor-home is three stories high and is called the “Brand Centre”. First floor is reception area and restaurant, second floor hierarchy; offices and rooms for the two drivers, the third floor belongs to Vodafone.
That’s a big slice of the cake.
3. The noise of a F1 engine. It’s damaging. I have heard they were loud, but I never imagine them being this loud. Especially the first couple of laps, when the gap between each car isn’t that big.
Q: BEST THING?
A: Well, the race (obviously). The atmosphere during the build up and during the race, the noise, the true phase of the cars — mind blowing and truly impressive.
But what added sugar on the cake of my first ever GP visit was the guided tour through the Super Auguri F1 garage and paddok area.
Cookie’s flat mate, Eleanor Roome’s brother, Alastair Roome (photo above), works as a hydraulic mechanic in the Super Aguri Team. So thanks to Eleanor, Alastair and Nick Farnhill (who acually asked Eleanor in the first place), Dez and I got a good insight of how a F1 team works and functions.
A Mega Super Duper thanks to the Roome’s & Farnhill and the Super Aguri Team!
This was the first time I have spent time with anyone within a F1 team, so i had sooooo many questions, and each answer Alistar gave lead to more questions. I wished Alistar and I had a lunch or something before the tour, so that I could have focused a bit more on the actual tour and less on the questions and answers.
Q: WORST THING?
The wait and the distances. It was a bit similar as recording an music album or a music video — you are there for one main reason, but the time spent on that reason is minimal in comparison to the time surrounding it.
Imagine if you are going on a holiday and the flight there will take longer then the time actually spent at the final destination.
I guess it’s a bit like flying short distance. The trip to the airport, the check-in procedure, security and passport control takes longer then the actual flight itself.
After you have been to a race you understand why Bernie Ecclestone realised in the late 1970s that television rights and F1 seemed a good idea.
Seeing a race live and watching it on TV is two completely different things. I would prefer a combination of both, but if I had to stick to one, I would probably choose the Television. But having said that, I will most probably attend another Grand Prix next year… and I’m thinking Monza.
Q: WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY IF YOU KNEW BETTER?
A: 1. Radio. Friday’s free practice and Saturday’s qualifying was almost impossible to follow in detail. The big screen TV’s on site were too far away so you couldn’t read any times or standings. For the race we bought a radio and tuned in to the race commenting radio channel.
2. Earplugs. Even if we had a radio for the race, when the line-up was streched out so that a car was almost always in the corner we were sitting; you couldn’t hear the radio. I had brought my earplugs, but what would have been good is proper earmuffs, so you could listen to the radio without the noise.
3. Do your homework. It’s not enough knowing how each team’s cars look like and who drives for them; you need to know what color the drivers have on their helmet or you won’t know who’s driving past. It’s not as difficult as it sounds, since you only need to know the color of one of the drivers, e.g; if a Ferrari drives past and the helmet is NOT yellow it’s Räikkönen, otherwise it’s Massa.
4. Camera. Unless you really want to, don’t bring a large camera. I brought Willow’s Canon EOS 400D and Tom Hostler had lent me his EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM Zoom lens. Absolutely brilliant. But the photo opportunity isn’t that great on site. The cars are extremlly fast (as you might imagine) and the fences are high. Tom gave me tips and instruction on where to go to take good shots — Luffield corner is a slow speed corner with low fences — but I never made it to there. Early on, due to the discovery of the bad photo opportunities in combination with a huge turnout in audience, I decided to let my head store the photos for this one. I did try every now and again to capture the moments but failed.
I’m quite sure you can go to a GP and take loads of really nice photos of the circuits, the people etc, but not without compromising your focus. So, maybe if I go again and again and again to Silverstone, I might bring a camera, again, and compromise some of the focus towards capturing memories.
5. Other destination. I think a change of scenery would allow for a greater experience. Living in the UK and going the the UK GP gives less opportunity for new experiences. It might be that the trip to another country would cost more money, but I have a hard time believing that they would charge me £3.20 for a can of beer. As well, It’s not that easy to get to Silverstone, so a trip to another country where the circuit is close to where you’re staying, might even become cheaper.
6. Food. We, Derek McKenna and I, stayed at Nilesh Ashra’s house in Milton Keynes. On Saturday night Nilesh made a tasty curry. Now, I wouldn’t suggest you eat spicy curry the night before race day. Silverstone had good toilet facilities, but I wouldn’t take the risk again. The curry tasted lovely, but came out as fast and spicy as it had got in.
