Hello, fellow Steemians!
Just recently I came back to my country from United Arab Emirates, and few days ago, my friend introduced me to steemit (Thank you, once again!), and this post is about one of the best things that happened in my life. I feel obligated to share this unique experience with you, even if it is not happening at the moment.
Rainy Saturday morning is perfect time to write about my first ever Formula One race weekend experience, and how I fulfilled my childhood dream.
I started watching F 1 since I was 9 years old, even if I didn't understand anything about fastest circus back then I could feel special every race day watching one of the greatest rivalry of all time Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher (#KeepFightingMichael). And I still remember history being written at the Belgium GP 2000, when Mika slipstreamed behind Schumacher on the Kemmel straight, Michael went to the left to lap back-marker Zonta, The Flying Finn dived on the inside, to the right of BAR and edged Michael just before the right-hander of Les Combes. Since that day I can prodly say I am F1 FAN!
My friend Milenija and I arrived at Abu Dhabi at Wednesday evening (22nd November) and race weekend was about to begin. It lasts from Friday 24th until 26th of November. After 6 hours of flight we arrived at her sister's place since, she is living in Abu Dhabi for few years now. That night for the first time in my life I tried Camel's milk. We discussed our plans for one or two hours and decided to take some rest, tomorrow we will go to visit just opened Louvre Abu Dhabi, and prepare ourselves for the life changing weekend ahead of us.
Next day we were so hyped about F1 that we couldn't make 4 or 5 consecutive sentences without mentioning or making an inside joke related to F1.
During the evening her sister even said in disbelief with a little dose of despair:
For the first time in our lives, I cannot understand anything you are talking about.
I can only say, well it's nice.
Day One - Friday, 24th November
Racing weekend is about to start! Lets look at the schedule!
So our plan was to manage to get every session, GP3, F2, F1 , pit lane walks and truck tours!
8:00 - Wake up time, we drank a coffee, I checked my e-mail as I was expecting IELTS test results, then I went through some emotional roller coaster that lasted about 10 minutes but in my mind I still had only one thought, well nothing is going to spoil my F1 experience. I couldn't care less, at that moment, about some test that will have a huge impact on my life.
In the end it turned out that I was more focused on getting the race weekend schedule right than what results I needed for IELTS. To conclude, my results were satisfying. When I realized that, grin was all over my face. One great thing happened today, I will get accepted to PhD studies and the greatest thing in my life is about to start.
8:45 - We are heading out, everything is planned perfectly! We are the masters of the Universe, what can go wrong? Well, everything, actually!
We went to the bus station. There are 3 lines that are connected to Yas Marina circuit, but reading the bus schedule was quite difficulty, asking workers at bus station was useless too. After few failures I went for a desperate move and asked a security guard at the bus station, I was surprised but he provided us with very detailed information. Where to wait the bus, which lines we can catch and approximate time of their arrival. At that point we missed two buses already, but we were on the move to the circuit. Standing in the sun on 30+ degrees for quite some time is not a nice thing but it didn't bothers us. More jokes about F1, expectations arising, after 15 years of watching F1 I finally have a chance see my heroes, what are sunburns and some heat compared to that?!
The bus is coming! Another shock! Males and females are separated inside the public transport in UAE, front part of the bus is reserved for women and children and the back of it for men. In this kind of situation we wisely decided to stand on no man's land, in the middle of the bus.
It's about 9:30, we have arrived at the first ring around the track. There are three kinds of buses specialized for transporting F1 visitors- Circular circuit, gateway car park, paddock club shuttle. Now since we are paddock club visitors, one would logically assume that paddock club shuttle is the bus we need.
Well, not exactly, more discordance, chaos and confusion. Driver of the paddock club bus very impudently told us:
Don't enter this bus, go to the one in front (CC bus)
We go there, ask politely, they send us to the paddock bus. Man on the information desk has no idea either.
Go to the first one, or second one... Well, wait a little more. The Paddock bus will come soon.
But it is here, and he is not letting us in, and CC is not going to drive us.
Anxiety kicks in, useless information desks without any map or someone who knows what he is doing would be nice. Quotation from a book "Last Chance to See" by Douglas Adams popped in my mind "If you plan to survive in Indonesia arm yourself with patience". We were not in Indonesia but I did tried to arm myself, not quite successful but it helped.
We entered that CC bus, and here, with mostly Europeans in the bus, gender rules didn't quite work.
After 30 minutes of driving in circle around the track, we get out of the bus at Gate 19, which was about 5-10 minutes walk from the bus station we entered the bus, but no one told us it is that close. At least we found the way to our stands. Security checks, Atmosphere is great, people all around us are here just for one cause. Official merchandises and banners with drivers greet us!
We headed to the paddock club, the tunnel that goes below the track awaits us. Suddenly I felt my skin shudder, and got chills across my spine, then I realized that is the reaction to the roaring sound of GP3 engine whizzing behind the fence in front of us. At this moment I forgot everything that happened that day, IELTS, Sun, useless informational desks. We had just arrived at the track, IT IS REAL, this is happening! I Sped up the pace!
Entering the paddock club, very polite staff are offering us drinks, croissants sweet or salty, whatever you want. We took mineral water and orange juice and headed to sit and see what can we see from our seats. Just above the pit lane, we can see very long main straight stretching beneath us, where the drivers reach 295km/h just before hitting the breaking zone and enter the first corner, left-hander and just a glimpse of the second corner. This will be our home for the next 3 days.
5 minutes later GP3 session finished. We had 30 minutes to explore paddock club, well it wasn't enough.
Wandering the paddock
Fruits, drinks, food, all around you, after busy morning I needed some replenishment. :) We passed VR simulator, and someone asked as very nicely do you want to try yourself with changing tires? Hell yes! Gimme that wheel nut gun. The only requirement was that I can hold the gun with one hand, and so I did. My friend was holding the tire, I pressed the button, wheel nut came off in a blink of an eye, nice guy is putting new tire while i switch rotation side on the gun with one move of a finger, tire is ready, so am I another press to the button, done! Some misunderstanding, delayed press on the taster. Final time: 10.14 seconds (even tho I am sure we finished 2 or 3 seconds earlier :D ). Then we swapped roles, wheel nut off, I remove the tire, I picked up second tire (our kind friend left me alone there) put it, well I missed the axle first time - tire is not going in, second try it fitted, it's on! 20 seconds well, it was two of us and we had some hiccups, we promised to nice guy that we will practice that night at home, and come tomorrow to have under 5 seconds.
Up there, you can try coffee prepared in a hot sand, or ice cream that has texture like a chewing gum. Wherever you look, you can see some driving equipment, toys, pictures, paintings. Nico Rosberg's gloves and shoes. Kimi Raikkonen's suit (Still no gloves and steering wheel tho - pun intended.)
F2 practice session is starting, very colorful cars are heading out and sound is louder than GP3 enginge. The session is finished, 40 minutes to F1 first practice session. More wandering around things to do, things to see - still haven't tried simulators but it is on to do lists. On the other side of the paddock we can see beautiful Yas Marina and buildings that are hosting drivers and F1 teams, people are circulating all around, and we are running up and down to see as much as we can, we tried to smuggle inside that part, but all entry doors are heavily guarded.
15 minutes prior to session, teams are waking up, drivers are showing up and heading to their garages.
Free Practice - 1st Session
Everything is set! 5 Green lights are on, one and a half hour session just started.
Well, if you are one of those fans that complain about engine sound being too low nowadays, I will have to disappoint you, it sounds great. It is just media houses that lower the sound of engines so the commentators don't have to yell (I guess), of course it can be louder, but this is beautiful too!
Milenija, my friend, is a huge fan of Riccardo, she waved him from the balcony above pit lane like a lunatic, and then one move only #3Ric is capable of, he slowed down in the pit lane, weaved his car, and some smoke left the rear tires! Some things you will never forget!
Coming back to engine sound... During the practice sessions 1-2-3 you can differentiate the engine just by its sound Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault, Honda everyone have it's distinctive sound marker. Honda sounding like an old tractor until it hits 3rd or 4th gear when accelerating (Now, I understand you Nando).
During FP1, Bottas tested Halo system, well no comment on that, just a photo.
Pit lane walk!
When session ended we headed to the meeting point for our pit lane walk, on the way there I saw bunch of guys washing used tires?! Never thought of that as a possibility.
We started our pit walk, Sauber F1 Team kindly welcomed us with the roaring sound of their 2016 Ferrari engine. While we are looking around and shooting photos, everyone in the teams except is working very hard to find the best car set up for the race and qualy!
On the other hand track marshals had some free time, and they were very friendly and talkative!
45 minute pit walk had finished so fast. We were heading back to our rooftop. Everything was ready for FP2. Again, we go to the backside to see the teams and drivers and all the organization behind the scene. Someone caught my eye from the distance, it was Mark Webber, I came a closer and saw 3 legends of Formula 1: Jackie Stewart, Damon Hill and Mark Webber, accompanied by Simon Lazenby.
At that moment Iceman came out, on his way to the track. FP2 is about to start.
Free Practice - 2nd Session
Sun is setting on Yas Marina circuit, we took a beer and enjoyed the evening!
During FP2, Hartley (Torro Rosso) lost control just in front of us in turn one, spun and became a passenger, my heart rate suddenly jumped watching that tense and unpredictable moment, will he hit the wall or not?! He missed it by few centimeters and headed back to the garage for further inspection, but he also left the tire marks that can be seen on the photo below.
Red lights were on and the session was over! But the day was not over yet. We headed out to the track. Three trucks were waiting for us. We had a guide leading us through every corner strategy and explaining DRS rules (like we need that?!).
First day was finished.
Day Two - Saturday, 25th November
Second day of the race weekend started easy, we knew the buses and routes and easily got to the circuit. But from different side of the track. So, we asked a security guard how to get to the paddock, and he gave us very concise explanation and instructions. Later, during our stay and wandering in Abu Dhabi and Dubai it proved out that the best way to get some information is to ask security guards, do not search informational desks!
Again on the entrance to paddock we were offered drinks, croissant, almost everything is the same like the first day, except one thing, there is a jazz band playing for us!
Free Practice - 3rd session
FP3 has started!
Most of the teams went for one or two hot laps, and then switched to race simulations, Sauber included.
To fight the sun and heat to lots of sunshades and parasols were up, but since it was very windy that day, there was a small problem on the track, uninvited guest arrived. Virtual safety car was up.
Green lights were on again! But, cold tires and high speed don't go hand in hand in corners which Hulkenberg experienced in first corner locking up front left tire (luckily for me it just happened at the right time to shoot one of my favorite photo)
Pretty soon the session was over, and drivers went on the starting grid to practice their starts for the race, and then headed back to the garage.
Farewell Massa, once again!
We were preparing for another pit walk!
Pit lane walk
Well, second pit walk was quite special, all around the engines were roaring, engineers from all teams are under their cars fixing something. I managed to take a photo with a Ferrari staff, and with some help I got the insiders photos, Security guy took a photo of a medical car that was inside the garage.
Heading back past the Renault garage I had a little chat with their engineer, 22 years old Jack, this was his 2nd year on the move(he also worked 2 years back in the factory), He travels 21 country per year. Well, after some friendly conversation I asked also for a Renault steering wheel from 2016 that was circulating inside the are for Renault's guests only. Guess what?!
Behind the steering wheel there are 3 paddles on every side - clutch, gear shifters and "setup mode" shifters.
We said goodbye to Jack and headed for some lunch and in no time it was time to watch F2 race and then Qualifying session.
Well, for lunch we had salad starter and for the main dish we could chose between cod, lamb fish or beef steak. Followed by dessert and red wine at that moment.
After the lunch and when the F2 race was finished. Everything was prepare for the peak of the day
Qualifying session!
Just before the start there was Al Fursan airshow, with crazy and skillful acrobatics.
Qualy session was interesting and hard to watch, since from every side there is a car incoming, below you, in pit stop, just ahead entering the first corner, far away on the beginning of the straight exiting the last corner. Everyone is trying their best to get into the Q2, and later on get the pole position.
This session was clean and without any incident. Order at the end of the day was: Bottas, Hamilton, Vettel, Ricciardo, Kimi...
Once again, we took a glass of champagne, wandered around and went to the meeting point for a truck tour.
I managed to get so close to sauber garage
Once on the track you can notice tire marbles all over the track.
And just few corners ahead we saw retired car being towed away by the marshals.
With the great feeling we left the track, preparing for tomorrow race, simulation all the outcomes. The title has been decided but Raikkonen and Ricciardo were fighting for 4th place, and whoever is in front will be fourth. We were expecting great racing, and hoping for a special start.
Day 3 - RACE DAY! 26th November
Sunday morning - We woke up, a little bit late, accusations who overslept more, and who is to blame were inevitable. But we left to the track without breakfast or coffee, we will get it there. Everything is delicious it is a win-win situation.
We new our path, all the buses and everything that is not depending on was perfect like a clockwork. And we arrived a little bit earlier so we stumbled upon a great wooden sculpture of a racing car while we were waiting drivers to show up in the F1 FANZONE.
I also bought myself this beautiful Daniil Kvyat shirt, come back to us Torpedo boy!
The wait paid off very fast, on the stage Johnny Herbert and a lovely blonde were hosts and drivers started coming up, conversing, answering questions just a few meter in front of us, few of them were very, very kind to come down and sign something for us, a booklet, entrance card, or specialized card Red Bull gave us just for this occasion. Big thanks to Lewis, Danny, Ocon, Ericsson and Wehrlein!
I was really disappointed by a Ferrari, which was the only team that didn't send their drivers, but their test driver Giovinazzi. Given their sloppiness they somehow deserved the end of championship like it happened. But it would be even crazier experience if the final race was title decider.
Heading to the track we had some spare time and decided to take a free fall jump from a 46 meter high platform on a crane just before lunch and Formula 2 second race.
The menu and food was great again, lobster salad starter; swordfish, salmon or beef steak for main dish, and apple pie or baklava with ice cream for dessert. We were happy that we skipped breakfast :D
Pit lane walk
Time for the last pit lane walk approached.
Well that morning I had a thought, I saw everything yesterday, held the wheel from last year, there is no way it can get better than that. Once again, nothing goes by plan here.
As we entered pit crew was practicing pit stops!
down the road we were collecting marbles from previous race - here is one catch.
Driver's truck parade was in progress and another great thing happened inside the pit lane, out of the Force India garage come out, his highness, Sir Jackie Stewart!
Truck parade was finishing, I took a good position on the entrance to the main straight and waited for my all time favorite driver, did he look at me? did he waved me? I will leave that to you to decide :)
the last pit walk was over, and we headed back to our favorite spot for watching. But we also took some photos on the way!
Cars were coming to the grid and preparation for the race has stared.
And once again, few minutes before race we had opportunity to witness great airshow by Al Fursan!
Everything is set, One red light signalizes there is less than one minute left until the installation lap.
Lights out, and away we go!
From our great position I recorded the start - just for the corner, and enjoyed myself the great getaway by Bottas, followed by Hamilton and Vettel, who locked up in the first corner.
For the first ten laps or something like that you just wait for the train of fastest cars to come by you and then wait for another minute. But it is manageable to catch everything except radio coms on the the big screens.
as time passed by and the race progressed one can get thirsty near the track.
even if it was race without any action and it was arguably very boring. Near the track it passes in no time, so pit window opened. Nico Hulkenberg from Renault (which was just beneath us) had a 5 second penalty, and there was a glitch with getting off his right rear tire, see, it happens to the professionals too. :)
After they finished their job these guys could relax a little
On 21st lap, Riccardo tucked the barrier a bit and had to retire - with a problem and explanation "something is weird with a car" with Kimi inheriting the 4th place both on track and championship race. Later on Sainz had to retire as his tire fell off in the pit lane exit tunnel.
As the pit window closed and there was no chances for overtakes at moment of the race coming to an end. We left our first corner place and headed out to the start/finish line to witness celebration and donuts!
Few laps later Valtteri Bottas crossed the finish line and grabbed his 3rd formula 1 win! Closely followed by his teammate and 4th time world champion Lewis Hamilton, and Sebastian Vettel had to settle for third place.
So we just sat down to think and discuss about everything that we experienced during the weekend. And beneath us teams were rolling their cars on the pit lane with their scorched tires.
We didn't forget to try the simulators! We just left it for the closing of our incredible maiden Formula One Paddock experience.
And one last photo for goodbye.
I hope next season with Renault upgrades more teams will be competitive McLaren Renault, Renault and Red Bull to to bring the battle to Mercedes and Ferrari. And to these two teams I hope they bring another great year with great rivalry! More than a month after the race, I still get flashes and memories every day! I wish all of you in this year to visit a race of your liking and enjoy it like I did!
I hope you enjoyed this report, or some kind of a personal diary.
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