It may sound really cheesy, but covering the Austrian Grand Prix for Richland F1 has probably been the best experience of my entire life.
I can’t believe how quickly it has all flown by; it doesn’t feel like I have spent four days at the Red Bull Ring. Sunday was a busy day but, as with all of the others, I enjoyed every second of it.
The day kicked off with another 5:45am alarm. Luke and I left plenty of time to get ready but once again, we didn’t need it and could have probably spent a little bit more time sleeping. We made it to the circuit in good time, having avoided the traffic by travelling earlier than most.
I had a few pieces to get up in the morning but it was rather quiet in comparison to the previous days. I posted a quick piece on Daniel Ricciardo’s reaction to his qualifying result and also transcribed some clips from Saturday’s media sessions, specifically focusing on the proposed standing restart rule change.I was then given a truly incredible opportunity.
The lovely Katie Tweedle from Red Bull Racing – she is their head of communications – kindly gave me a tour of the impressive Energy Station, as well as (amazingly) the team’s pit garage. It was great to have a look around their spacious motorhome.
Katie also introduced me to Ricciardo, David Coulthard and Christian Horner, which was nice. I wished the former luck for the race but it clearly didn’t help that much. After looking around the Energy Station, we then moved on to the "Tree House".
On the paddock level is where team members prepare the Pirelli tyres, with two pods on either side of this area for repairing and storing parts. We then moved into the garage where she went through all of the areas at the back of the garage – including the refuelling section, the composites section and the computer rack, where engineers and members of Renault sit and monitor the data from the cars.
As I turned the corner, I was confronted by two RB10s that were being worked on by mechanics. It was incredible to see the cars without their bodywork, seeing the V6 Turbo power-unit and also learning about the team members. It was a fantastic experience and was a great insight into the team, so a big thanks to Katie for that. Watch out for a piece on the tour on Richland F1 soon!
I then returned to the media centre, where I watched the GP2 race while working on a few pre-race pieces. These included a warning to drivers from Charlie Whiting about exceeding track limits and the starting grid. The race swiftly approached and to be honest, I was a little nervous – as well as very excited.
It felt quite strange that the grid was forming just to the right of me and I couldn’t wait for it to get going. All eyes were on the two Mercedes drivers at the start, with Nico Rosberg moving up to second and Lewis Hamilton jumping to fourth despite lining up in ninth place on the grid.
The top four all battled closely in the opening stages, before Felipe Massa lost the lead at his first pit stop. Rosberg moved to the front, with Massa falling to fourth place. Hamilton was third but completed a great move on Valtteri Bottas to move up to second.
Daniil Kvyat became the first retirement after a problem with the right-rear of his car and Sebastian Vettel exited the race a little while later, following an earlier issue that put him one lap down. At the front, the two Mercedes drivers pulled away in the second half of the first Austrian Grand Prix since 2003.
Rosberg took his third win of the year, but Hamilton’s recovery drive meant he finished just 1.9 seconds behind his team-mate by the chequered flag. It was great to see Valtteri Bottas scoring his first podium. I knew he would score a top three result this season and it was a well-deserved result.
Massa was fourth and just didn’t have the pace to challenge, with Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen completing the top 10. I was actually quite happy with my race report for Richland F1, although adding the results took a little longer than I would have liked.
I was very busy after the race completing a few story articles, gathering quotes and transcribing. I managed to hear the views of Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, as well as getting pieces up on the two McLaren drivers, the Toro Rossos, Bottas and the two Mercedes racers, as well as the usual reaction round-up.
I am so, so grateful to have been given the opportunity to work in the F1 paddock – as I have previously said, this has been the aim since I started writing. So a big thanks to Luke Smith, as well as Octane Photographic’s Leanne Boon who did all of the driving, was great company and produced some incredible photographs.
I put a lot of pressure on myself prior to the trip but I really feel I proved that I can do a good job, and I was really happy with all of my work. During the race, I had to pinch myself once or twice. It was brilliant to be able to look away from the TV screens and monitors, out of the huge media centre windows and see the cars actually racing. That was brilliant.
It was - as I said before - the best experience of my life and I learned so, so much. I can’t wait to cover my next race now! Hopefully you have enjoyed hearing my stories from the paddock and taking a more behind-the-scenes look at a race weekend from the perspective of a journalist.
Here are all of my other blogs:
The day kicked off with another 5:45am alarm. Luke and I left plenty of time to get ready but once again, we didn’t need it and could have probably spent a little bit more time sleeping. We made it to the circuit in good time, having avoided the traffic by travelling earlier than most.
I had a few pieces to get up in the morning but it was rather quiet in comparison to the previous days. I posted a quick piece on Daniel Ricciardo’s reaction to his qualifying result and also transcribed some clips from Saturday’s media sessions, specifically focusing on the proposed standing restart rule change.I was then given a truly incredible opportunity.
The lovely Katie Tweedle from Red Bull Racing – she is their head of communications – kindly gave me a tour of the impressive Energy Station, as well as (amazingly) the team’s pit garage. It was great to have a look around their spacious motorhome.
Katie also introduced me to Ricciardo, David Coulthard and Christian Horner, which was nice. I wished the former luck for the race but it clearly didn’t help that much. After looking around the Energy Station, we then moved on to the "Tree House".
On the paddock level is where team members prepare the Pirelli tyres, with two pods on either side of this area for repairing and storing parts. We then moved into the garage where she went through all of the areas at the back of the garage – including the refuelling section, the composites section and the computer rack, where engineers and members of Renault sit and monitor the data from the cars.
As I turned the corner, I was confronted by two RB10s that were being worked on by mechanics. It was incredible to see the cars without their bodywork, seeing the V6 Turbo power-unit and also learning about the team members. It was a fantastic experience and was a great insight into the team, so a big thanks to Katie for that. Watch out for a piece on the tour on Richland F1 soon!
I then returned to the media centre, where I watched the GP2 race while working on a few pre-race pieces. These included a warning to drivers from Charlie Whiting about exceeding track limits and the starting grid. The race swiftly approached and to be honest, I was a little nervous – as well as very excited.
It felt quite strange that the grid was forming just to the right of me and I couldn’t wait for it to get going. All eyes were on the two Mercedes drivers at the start, with Nico Rosberg moving up to second and Lewis Hamilton jumping to fourth despite lining up in ninth place on the grid.
The top four all battled closely in the opening stages, before Felipe Massa lost the lead at his first pit stop. Rosberg moved to the front, with Massa falling to fourth place. Hamilton was third but completed a great move on Valtteri Bottas to move up to second.
Daniil Kvyat became the first retirement after a problem with the right-rear of his car and Sebastian Vettel exited the race a little while later, following an earlier issue that put him one lap down. At the front, the two Mercedes drivers pulled away in the second half of the first Austrian Grand Prix since 2003.
Rosberg took his third win of the year, but Hamilton’s recovery drive meant he finished just 1.9 seconds behind his team-mate by the chequered flag. It was great to see Valtteri Bottas scoring his first podium. I knew he would score a top three result this season and it was a well-deserved result.
Massa was fourth and just didn’t have the pace to challenge, with Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen completing the top 10. I was actually quite happy with my race report for Richland F1, although adding the results took a little longer than I would have liked.
I was very busy after the race completing a few story articles, gathering quotes and transcribing. I managed to hear the views of Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, as well as getting pieces up on the two McLaren drivers, the Toro Rossos, Bottas and the two Mercedes racers, as well as the usual reaction round-up.
I am so, so grateful to have been given the opportunity to work in the F1 paddock – as I have previously said, this has been the aim since I started writing. So a big thanks to Luke Smith, as well as Octane Photographic’s Leanne Boon who did all of the driving, was great company and produced some incredible photographs.
I put a lot of pressure on myself prior to the trip but I really feel I proved that I can do a good job, and I was really happy with all of my work. During the race, I had to pinch myself once or twice. It was brilliant to be able to look away from the TV screens and monitors, out of the huge media centre windows and see the cars actually racing. That was brilliant.
It was - as I said before - the best experience of my life and I learned so, so much. I can’t wait to cover my next race now! Hopefully you have enjoyed hearing my stories from the paddock and taking a more behind-the-scenes look at a race weekend from the perspective of a journalist.
Here are all of my other blogs:
- Wednesday - http://bit.ly/1imrITS
- Thursday - http://bit.ly/1l7NOcn
- Friday - http://bit.ly/1ytxxUB
- Saturday - http://bit.ly/1qAID7I
No comments:
Post a Comment