A high pitched thundering sound could be heard approaching. There’s nothing quite like seeing your first Formula 1 car of the day. You know it’s coming, it’s getting louder and louder. In the distance you can see spray being lifted into the air but it will never prepare you for the explosion of noise, speed and colour as it hurtles into view...
The dedication of a Formula 1 driver is absolute, or for that matter any top athlete. The single mindedness to achieve their goals and their dreams to be the best in their chosen discipline requires the sort of dedication that most normal people can’t quite comprehend. But spare a thought for the fans, the people whom without, many top sports wouldn’t exist.
After my 13th race yesterday at the British Grand Prix, the Formula 1 fan requires similar dedication to appreciate the sport they love. Well, maybe that’s overstating it slightly, but dedication is what you need for the day or weekend you go to see man and machine at their sporting peak. It’s more than worth it.
Waking up at 2am after a mere two hours sleep is not the best start to a day, being dropped off at Romford for the coach ride to Silverstone at 3am is even less appetizing but many Formula 1 fans will be in similar situations over the course of the year, it’s what they do.
Sleep deprivation is all part and parcel, and the battle to stay awake during the day something of a challenge. However, traffic was kind on the way up and we arrived at the circuit trouble free at around 6.30am. We came into the circuit at the old start finish straight, looking at the map of the track our seats at Stowe corner were half way around.
We walked slowly, stopping off for Bacon baguettes, looking at the various stalls, being very impressed by the new facilities Silverstone have built up over the past year, the new pit buildings looking superb. It was a fairly crisp morning, but soon started to warm up as we found are seats. At 8am the grandstand was barely full, but we were going to have an excellent view as the action kicked off with the first support race of the day.
The support program of GP2 and GP3 are where you’ll find many of Formula 1’s future stars plying their trade although they are a bit hit and miss in terms of excitement. The cars are smaller, a lot quieter and don’t offer the same intensity that you find from the main event. However, as soon as the races start the day begins to speed up.
It’s not long before you’re looking up into the sky at the Red Arrows performing another great display which seems to never change, but tradition is good sometimes. At 12.15 the rain came. I’d been praying for rain from the beginning of the day. Partly because my neck was beginning to burn and partly in a hope that with the track damp, the Red Bulls wouldn’t run away with it. It seemed to come like a tidal wave on the far side of the track soaking it. Here at Stowe we got a fairly light shower, but it set up the race nicely. A Formula 1 fan doesn’t mind a little bit of rain if it’ll spice up the action and you’ve remembered your waterproof.
As the Red Arrows finished, it was 12.30pm. A high pitched thundering sound could be heard approaching. There’s nothing quite like seeing your first Formula 1 car of the day. You know it’s coming, it’s getting louder and louder, but it never quite prepares you for the explosion of noise, speed and colour as it blasts into view sending vibrations through your body, your ears on the edge of tolerance. Nothing compares to it as a spectacle.
One by one the cars shot down hanger straight into Stowe testing out the conditions before eventually lining up on the grid. This is perhaps the longest part of the day. Between 12.45 and 1pm when the cars start their formation lap seems to take ages. It’s the time to start fighting off the nervous tension before the start, shake off the last vestiges of tiredness, make sure your camera still has enough battery and set it for high speed unless you want a lot of pictures of empty track.
I looked at the screen opposite our grandstand. Mark Webber on pole position led them off to form up the grid, this is when the tension builds. Over in Europe this is when the entire crowd would be up on their feet searching for the best possible view, here at Silverstone it was all reassuringly British, everyone remaining firmly seated, but the cheers as they slowly made their way to the start competed with the engines.
They were all lined up, we could just see the end of the start finish straight, the two Hispania cars at the back of the grid were in view but we turned to the screen. The lights came on one by one, the engine note rose to a shriek, and then they were off and a minute later they were shooting down Hanger straight into view for the first time at racing speeds. Twenty-four powerful finely crafted angry machines being controlled by some of the greatest pilots on earth raced towards us at approaching 190mph down to 120mph as they controlled the cars on the edge of adhesion through Stowe. The machines fighting to be let loose, but their pilots sublime in their reactions to control the beasts. Amazing.
A few thoughts on the main happenings of the race: Fernando Alonso raced impressively at Silverstone, whether or not this was down to the banning of the off-throttle blown diffuser is up for debate, but it doesn’t take away from a fine performance. Yes, he lucked into the lead when Sebastian Vettel’s pit stop went wrong, but he didn’t panic when Hamilton overtook him, kept it calm in the wet conditions as he waited for his tyres to come to him and then unleashed some amazing pace to claim his first win of the year. He looked ecstatic and it was thoroughly deserved.
Vettel extended his championship lead and was brilliant in the mixed conditions at the start, again using his ability to make use of the tyres better than anyone else in the early stages. However, it started to fall away after his second pit stop, and once he’d found a way past Hamilton through the third round of tyre changes after an intense scrap, Alonso had long since disappeared. In the latter stages, it was exciting to see Mark Webber close him down, but he managed to keep him at bay to record his equal lowest position of the year. Second...bit ominous.
Mark Webber failed to hold onto his pole position at the start and despite some moments of great pace, he somehow managed to find himself down in fourth, before overtaking Lewis Hamilton as the McLaren driver saved fuel. He charged down his team mate and came close to overtaking but couldn’t make it work. Webber needs to finish ahead of his team mate soon, just to give him the belief he can still actually do that.
Michael Schumacher’s recovery drive after he’d hit another driver again, this time Kamui Kobayashi, was excellent. If he stopped clashing with people he’d be doing a lot better, because more often than not he’s had better race pace than his team mate Nico Rosberg and should have easily finished in the top 6. Still it was great seeing him slice past Jaime Alguersuari into Stowe and eventually finished 9th behind Nick Heidfeld.
Alguersuari completed the top 10, showing another measured performance to enhance his reputation. Again qualifying wasn’t great, but as the season progresses his race performances are very good indeed.
It was a shame for Jenson Button who almost lost a wheel as he exited the pit lane due to being released too early before the wheel nut had been attached. Disappointment for the fans, but at Stowe he made the crowd cheer after coming around the outside of Massa and holding him off on the run down to Club corner, a beautiful piece of controlled aggression, he had potential for a podium.
Many people seem to think you don’t see much when attending a race but you do. Usually you’ll have a screen opposite you, but also the live track action allows you to follow battles throughout the race which TV won’t be showing. For instance the fantastic battle between Nico Rosberg and Sergio Perez in the Sauber lasted for the whole race. Perez in particular was impressive as he held onto the Mercedes driver for lap after lap, coming close to passing a few times, although it wasn’t highlighted much in the coverage.
You also missed Lewis Hamilton finish his race with a doughnut at Stowe, spinning his car around to the delight of the crowd. It was a frustrating race for him, he looked like he may have challenged for the win at one point, but lack of fuel slowed him towards the end, but he had some great battles with Alonso and Vettel. However it didn’t compare to the last lap challenge of Massa.
Hamilton was being caught at several seconds each lap, by the last circuit Massa was right on top of him. As they dived into Stowe for the final time, he darted to the right coming into Club corner and for all the world looked like he’d made it stick as their cars clashed. Hamilton wasn’t finished though, he cut back to the inside and was alongside Massa pushing him wide and crossed the line 0.024 ahead to secure fourth, the crowd loved it.
After the race we made our way back to the coach, having walked onto the track at Club corner and down the start finish straight along with several thousand other people, it was a fantastic atmosphere.
As soon as we sat on the coach sleep overtook everyone while we enjoyed the traffic home. It had been a long day, but a great one. These titans of sport had put on a great show, and like leaving a great concert our ears were ringing, but this was to the sound of the thunderous roar of engines; a great day.
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