What time is it? No… really? We are already at the circuit and we are arguably late. At 7 am! We had to queue to get in. We had to get a bus to get here. From a park and ride. At the other end of the A43. After an hour’s drive for picking up Cerb. After an hour and half drive from Stoke…. Yeah, I was up early. But not as early as it could have been. I did the drive from Stoke last night and stealth camped in the Birmingham suburbs. As you can tell from this blog entry, I survived un-stabbed.
Getting to the circuit we entered full sheep mode and followed the crowd. We aimed for Vale and found a nice patch of grass, one set of camping chairs back from the barriers. I dunno how early these guys were, or even if they camped here all night, but we had a spot. We could see the exit of Stowe all the way to the breaking zone into Vale.
Our choice of locale was immediately vindicated in the formula 3 race with a spectacular crash right in front of us. One driver had a little slip, bobbed the guy next to him who in turn crashed into the guy beside him. The first guy managed to drive away with little damage to his front wing. But the other two went spinning across the track and crashed heavily into the barriers. This left a load of debris on the track and oil that needed clearing.
Having been issued surprise wristbands upon entry to the Vale general admission area, we found out that once the race started no one would be able to join us. Mum, Dad and Zoe therefore quickened their plans to arrive at the circuit. This did not suit dad who, at 71, is not able to move as quickly as before. But grumbling and cursing, he arrived with them and secured entry, barely in time before the wristbands ran out. And by this time, the grassy green hillock we had arrived to find, was lined with camping chairs. This is where all the camping chairs in England come for their summer holidays, it seems.
Just as we settled in, the heavens opened and the promised rain poured out all over us. It was intense and sudden. One moment we were watching the formula 2 cars and the next, everyone on the grassy hill was scrabbling for umbrellas, rain coats and ponchos. The poncho Cerb brought, turned out to be the way to go. It covered his whole body from head to shin when standing and when sitting it also engulfed his entire chair and bag, keeping it all completely dry. I’d opted for my full dog walking waterproofs and a big umbrella, so I was almost completely dry, apart from the river of water falling from the umbrella in front of me, directly onto my lap. Mum and dad had plastic overcoats that did a reasonably good job but poor Zoe had brought a standard “waterproof” that turned out to be as waterproof as a haddock’s handkerchief. But as intense as it was, it was over in 20 mins and then we had glorious sun. The brilliant sun, coupled with some road sweepers, warmed and baked us and the track nearly dry, in nearly a short amount of time.
The F1 cars now paraded around the track and lined up on the start grid. A few cars decided to immediately pit so they could change tyres. It was still pretty wet out there from the earlier shower and some more rain was forecast for the middle of the race. They must have had a plan, but it now included starting from the pit straight. Still, we had 3 Brits in the 3 front positions on the grid, giving everyone hope for a Brit win today.
As the red lights went out they were off and immediately jostling for advantage. Luckily the front runners all got around the first corner without incident and started setting the pace everyone had to chase. I won’t regale the whole race, because honestly I can’t remember a play by play, and you can watch it on TV. It was a really good race overall, but one bit that stuck out to me was that Hamilton wanted the win really bad. He overtook his Mercedes team-mate Russel which didn’t make much sense to me. Why risk an overtake when they were comfortably defending the top positions? Then Cerb told me its because in Mercedes, race directions give pitting priority to the lead team member and Hamilton wanted that decision on his terms. In the end he pushed it to the last moment as the mid race rain came in and meant Russel had to stay out another lap longer on (presumably) dry weather tyres.
This was in stark contrast to the Redbull team who had about 10 seconds between their drivers and chose to send both into pit on the same lap. They are the fastest team at pitting and demonstrated just how quick they are with 2 cars in quick succession. It was a bold move and clearly paid off because both cars were now on wet rubber and able to keep on the race pace. It was really interesting to see the different team tactics and I think this really helped the Redbull team during that part of the race.
As the laps flashed by we were lucky enough to see some daring overtakes on the entry to Vale. It was crazy to be so close to these incredibly fast cars that seem to go around corners like they are on rails! But we could also keep up with the whole race because just across from us, there was a huge TV screen presenting the commentary and live video from around the track. We knew, therefore, that entering the last few laps we would get a Brit on the podium and of course it was Hamilton.
Zoe and I had packed up our chairs and bags and wandered over towards the track gates. Vale is the only admission area that get track access at the end of the race and regulars knew this. We politely stood as uncomfortably close to one another as possible, like practising to ride the London underground in rush hour. Except here, when the “Doors Opening” was allowed, we all took off running with bags on backs and folding chairs in arms, off the grass, onto the track and across the gravel trap. This really slowed everyone down, sprinting in hiking boots is not easy, especially in high tech gravel designed to sap energy as quickly as possible. Zoe fell behind and Top Gear rules observed, I mercilessly carried on without her. She would have to find her own way to the fenceline. From here I had a direct view of the podium as the race winners were announced, collected their trophies and sprayed each other with champagne in the traditional celebration.
Grand Prix over and I’d lost everyone; Parents and Cerb, abandoned at the chairs, Zoe, sacrificed to the crowd. I wandered around on the track for a while to get some photos before making my way back to the stands. Everyone was swarming, like an angry bees nest, pushing slowly and methodically for the exits. Circumnavigating the track, I found my way to the entrance and conspicuously sat on top of a block of concrete. I shared my location on Whatsapp and sat back and waited for people to turn up. I’m tall and walk with purpose so I was sure I got there first and everyone would have to leave by this route. My plan worked and after a while, everyone turned up and we said our goodbyes before Cerb and I stood for 2 and half hours waiting for a bus, back to my van, to drive an hour back to Birmigham and then another hour and half back home…. I was smashed, but it had been a tremendous day!
