Hey guys!
Hope you all had a lovely weekend- I did 🙂
We were up so early (6am on Saturday and 7.30 today) to get up to Silverstone in time, but it was fab. In brief, Saturday we had “roaming seats” which meant we could sit anywhere there was space, so we watched practise sessions and then the qualifying in one grandstand (luckily it was covered as it tipped it down!)- it was great, the cars were so noisy (I had earplugs though phew), but it was freezing cold! I think I shivered for the whole day. As soon as you went down to the ground it was fine, but up high it was windy. We also saw some other cars racing (in a different stand just to mix things up a bit), and Jenson and Lewis having a little chat on the vodafone stage after qualifying.
Today there were a few things before the race, but we had seats (in an open air stand) so we did not have to get there as early. It tipped it down with rain once we were in our seats, but we had dressed for the rain and brought an umbrella, so we were OK! It did stop before the start (although Jenson and Lewis did ask for rain yesterday as they would have stood a better chance I think- we were in two minds- rain makes for a more exciting race, but then we would have got wet!). We saw the drivers go around on the back of a lorry, the Red Arrows did about 30 mins of awesome amazing stunts, and then it was race time! I won’t bore you with the race, as I am sure you would have watched it if you were interested. But I have never been to one before, and I was wondering how I would get on, as you can only see part of the track (and we could see the start of the pit lane too). Normally when you watch it on TV they tell you where everyone is, so I did think I might get a little confused. There were big screen TV’s showing the feed just as it comes on BBC, and when the cars were not near you could hear the commentary. Andy listened to the radio (on an mp3 player) but I wanted earplugs instead, but I did manage to follow what was going on. There were some exciting overtaking moves, and I was loving that the crowd were cheering every time Jenson or Lewis went past- loads of clapping and air horns and stuff! I had not thought about it before, but you know at a football match the players can hear the crowd, but in those cars with all the noise (and seriously, it is so much louder than on the TV, so much more high pitched) there is no way the drivers can hear, so I did not know if there would be any cheering during the race, just at the end. But it was great! 🙂 Andy was trying out his new fancy camera (one of those digital SLR ones) so no photos from me I am afraid!
What was not so great (but cannot be helped) was the awful traffic coming home today! The park and ride bus took an hour to get us back to the car park, and then the motorway, urgh, no idea what went on there.
Anyway, it was a brilliant weekend. And I have one question (Ferarri fans need not apply)- Jenson or Lewis?
I am for Jenson Button all the way- a few years ago (maybe 5/6?) one of my friends gave me an official photo of him as a birthday present, as I was rather taken by him! Andy even teased me that if I met him I would be even more star struck than when I met Mickey and Minnie Mouse (and yes I was an adult at the time too). 🙂 But I love having two Brit drivers in the same team, and I was still cheering on Lewis when he did some fancy handbrake style turning stuff in front of the grand stand to celebrate at the end! 🙂
I’m with you on Jensen as well 🙂
It sounds like you had an awesome weekend!
Jenson or Lewis? That’s like asking me to choose between chocolate and peanut butter! I rate them both for different reasons: Jenson because he’s been in the sport for far longer, and endured a lot of stick from the media about being a stereotypical British ‘wonderboy Loser’ in the early days, only to rise from the ashes as it were and display true commitment and perseverance (plus he was in a second-rate car/team when he first started) But how can anyone not be impressed with all that Lewis achieved in such a short amount of time? I’d say Lewis wins for raw talent but Button has more dedication perhaps?
Thanks for the recap too: I’ve always wondered what watching a Grand Prix live is like. Although it’s a shame about the weather…but it is a tradition that it always rains at Silverstone!
My Dad has followed F1 since the sport’s inception and I had to watch it every Sat/Sun too on TV when I was a kid because…well, you know, it was either that or actually get outside in the fresh air and DO something 😉 But then I became interested too. Ah, Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell, those were the days 😉 I can never spell the latter’s name though.
xxx
I think that Jenson is a bit more mature with his racing, and will still overtake and keep on, but has a more level head. I think Lewis is a little more rash, but probably because he has not been racing for so long. Yeah I suppose it has to rain really- it is England in July after all!
So glad you had a good time. Hubby had a fab tine with his dad but they are both shattered (they had general tickets so were standing and walking around all day). I had pub lunch roast and kept warm and dry all day 😉
I’m glad you had a great weekend. I know nothing about F1, but I remember seeing Jenson on top gear and thinking he was quite hot!
Yeah he is!!!
That sounds like such an exciting weekend! I’ve never been into racing before but since watching Senna i’ve wanted to learn a little bit more about it 🙂
I don’t know about who i prefer out of the two of them, but i do know that in college one of my friends was going out with a boy who won the same youth racing award as they both did a few years ago (i wonder if she’ll end up a millionaire WAG!?).
Yes Senna was so good! I did like racing before but that made it all come to life more in a way
WOW sounds amazing!! I’m definitely a Jenson girl! Mainly cos he is so darn CUTE and I saw him on Top Gear once and he was HILARIOUS! 😀
Sounds like an amazing day! Did you see Prince Harry? Apparently he was there too.
Sounds like a fantastic day out. I’m very glad it didn’t rain on you all day though as I’m sure that would have been pretty miserable.
I think getting out of race tracks is always the worst bit. We only go to bike racing so it’s mainly bikes to get out but even that is manic. We’ve learnt over the years to just go get food when the racing ends and to not even attempt to leave for at least an hour or even more.
Rosexx
Emma- and Jenson does triathlons and apparently at the last one he did, his 10k time was 37 mins something! Crazy!
Yeah Prince Harry presented the trophy so I saw him on the big screen.
Rose we did think about doing that, but in the end the queues for food, toilets etc were so long, so we headed home (although very slowly!).
Oh and Lewis is from Welwyn so our local paper loves to do articles about him!