Formula 1. A sport I enjoyed watching on TV since 1999 when I saw one of the greatest drivers in the world, Michael Schumacher, who tried so hard to "slow down" to allow his teammate to pull away in order to win the championship and still emerged in front of him despite his “speed reducing” efforts.. and that's after being away from the sport for a few months. My first real taste of Formula 1, witnessing the astounding skill of the worlds greatest driver made me fall in love with the sport. The sport has pretty much been an on screen thing for me.. almost something from fiction. It wasn’t until I got my first taste of the real thing in 2002 – Sepang, which also was the race where my other favourite driver, Kimi Raikkonen, won his first race victory. Seeing all this happen in front of my very own eyes was quite an experience.
Six years on, in Melbourne, I would once again get a taste of the real thing.
Tickets.. Ferrari Cap.. and all set for the Australian Grand Prix!
The 2008 ING Australian Grand Prix. It’s the opening race of the season and was to be the second last to be held in Australia. It’s a unique track, which is actually part of the park itself transformed into a race circuit specially for this event. All these reason are why I simply couldn’t resist coming and almost be a fool if I didn't!
I came to this race together with Richard, Joel and Bryan. It was a super hot day! I think temperatures touched 40 degrees. Well, my video commentary should be more interesting..
Of all the sports cars, I felt that this was the coolest
A prettier view of the Melbourne skyline!
We got there around 1pm. The local V8 touring cars were racing when we arrived. We got a quick glimpse of that and proceeded to an exhibition held nearby. While on it, Joel managed to take a picture with a hot pit babe. I was thinking of one too.. but nah. Why tempt the girl? We continued walking around, watching planes going by and just soaking in the heat.
The race begun at 3.30pm. Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) leads Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber). My favourite driver, Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) was down in 16th Place after suffering mechanical problem during yesterday’s qualifying. Watch the race itself below!
It was amazing seeing these cars racing at their top speeds so near to you. I was easily less than 10 meters away
from them as they passed through the long straights! What was frustrating for me and Richard was as we w alked around, the corners we were at previously always had a crash. Gehh! We should’ve just stay there.
Well, I thought my grand prix was ruined after seeing Kimi slowing down in front of my own eyes (arghh… the pain!), but my fun wasn’t over yet. I got to do what I always seen on television – running on track to make it in time for the podium ceremony. Me and Richard were waiting at the final corner. When the gates open… gosh… did we RUN. And we made it!
Richard was laughing all the way through. It was something he always wanted to do too. Boy, were we satisfied. After the ceremony we spent some time taking pictures around the main straight and peeking into the pit lane. Our friend Richard was a die hard Fisi fan (Force India F1). Even made a shirt after him! Amazzzzingg..
Well, not my ideal result.. quite a nightmare result infact.. especially after paying $68 to hear Kimi engine turn from a V8 to a V6 and seeing him slowing down on the way to the pits … not to mention seeing Barrichello overtake him. Argghh! But it was an awesome experience. Something I definitely wanna do again.
Chris Dyer! Kimi's race engineer. Also Michaels before he retired
Signing off from the 2008 Australian GP
