Sunday June 22 The French Grand Prix

We had a very busy day on Sunday. I’m going back through my memories and recapping. We woke up early in order to beat traffic into the track even though there wasn’t a whole lot going on at the track early. It made sense, thee just wasn’t great desire to wake up early!

It was raining pretty hard when we awoke, with the knowledge that that could make for interesting race conditions we went ahead had another great breakfast and headed to the track. By the time we got to the track with our rain gear and eager race day energy the rain had stopped but thankfully the day was overcast and there was not much sun to deal with.

We enjoyed the GP2 race, and a Porsche Super cup race before the pre race activities for the F1 race occurred. The Drivers parade was really cool, they had each of the teams with the drivers in the same car, and the cars were old models of the make of the car they drive. The cars were mostly from the 1920’s or so, there was a super old school Honda for Button and Barichello, and etc etc. They all were drove around the track and cheered and they waved to the crowds. Some cool things from the drivers’ parade:

The race corner workers ran out to meet the drivers, some shook hands with them as the cars went around their corners, others gave them their hats and the drivers signed them for the workers, it was a very nice moment to see the drivers and the workers interact. Something you don’t usually get to see.

Another cool thing was the car that Lewis and Heikki got to drive, it was a two seat and so they couldn’t have a driver so Heikki drove it, it had a HUGE steering wheel and just looked hilarious driving around the track in this car!

Race day is always more “real” then pre race days. When I’m sitting in the bleachers watching a qualifying or practice sure it’s exciting, but the feeling of the actual real race day just is electrifying. Can’t explain how or why, just the cars seem louder and crazier!

Magny Cours was very much like Mid Ohio, in the middle of no where or in this case the Middle of France, instead of the Middle of Ohio. And surrounded by countryside. It was a great track, and we had awesome seats. There was no moments of the race other then the start that we couldn’t with our own eyes see a car on the track, and many times the end of the pack would be going by, as the lead cars would be coming back around. Made for great viewing enjoyment.

We had a pair of binoculars with us that we used to view things, like detail on the tv that was in front of us, and in the row ahead of us in the bleachers there was a 4 or 5 year old kid who was watching the race with his dad. He was entertained for the first 20 minutes or so of the race, but after that he started to get bored. After we had used the binoculars to our amusement I decided he would also probably enjoy using them. And likely his dad would be glad for his kid to have a distraction so he could enjoy the race. So we gave the binoculars to the kid and he and his dad were immensely grateful. They kept the kid entertained for quite some time, and made the race more enjoyable for the dad. Really it’s the little things, and it was nice to make the experience enjoyable for two other people just by sharing a set of binoculars we got for free from Autoweek!

My few comments about the race; it was nice to see Lewis Hamilton trying too hard and it NOT working. Yes, as you all likely already know I’m not a Lewis fan. Oh well. Ferrari started out on pole and pretty dominated form there for the whole race, since there was no safety car periods, there was no way for the rest of the cars to catch up. Kimi had some car troubles, we didn’t know exactly what but caught something about the exhaust or the manifold, it wasn’t debilitating enough to cause him to leave the race, but enough for him to loose the lead to Massa and have Massa on pole (though I’m not a Ferrari fan I do like Massa for his demeanor and how he is always trying to be a nice happy guy). Otherwise sucked for Alonso that he was driving a little too hard and had to give up a position to Piquet, but at least it was for the same team. Finally Piquet gets a point! Sad times to see Force India still just at the back of the pack, but I guess budget wise I can say Honda is more pathetic to be at the back of the pack with Force India, who only has a fraction of the budget as Honda.

After the race we all gathered at the van to head back to the Chateau, many of the roads were blocked off to make traffic flow easier while leaving the track, somehow we got mixed up/lost leaving the track, and since there were barricades up and no way to turn around we ended up taking a VERY long route back. The time I would have liked to use for a nap and relaxing we were in the got to see a lot of the French countryside, very lush and big rolling hills; got to look at the bright side of the situation as opposed to thinking we were cooped up in the van for probably 2 hours longer then we needed to be!