Following Wednesday’s road trip to Germany, today was my first day at the Hockenheimring for the 2014 German Grand Prix.
It all kicked off with an 8:30am alarm, before leaving for the media accreditation centre in Hockenheim to collect my second F1 press pass.
We then headed to the track and arrived in the media centre at around 11:30am.
It was already very hot, with the clear skies bathing the Hockenheimring in sunshine. After signing in and finding a seat that wasn’t reserved, I got ready for the day ahead. The media centre at the track contrasts heavily with the one I worked in at the Red Bull Ring.
It is situated at the far end of the paddock, just behind the Caterham motorhome. It is a large room with a cafeteria to one end and rows of TV monitors, chairs and tables. You do have to pay for Wi-Fi, which is a little annoying, but overall you have everything you need.
Well, apart from a window – unlike in Austria when we were on the top floor of the main grandstand, with fantastic views of the track. After grabbing some lunch, myself and Luke Smith (F1 writer for NBC Sports and my boss at Richland F1) headed to Force India to hear from Sergio Perez, who believes it will be a strong weekend for the team.
I then went over to Sauber to see what Esteban Gutierrez had to say about the weekend ahead. It was then time for the FIA press conference. Kimi Raikkonen, Kevin Magnussen, Nico Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg, Adrian Sutil and Sebastian Vettel were all in attendance.
The big talking points were Raikkonen insisting that he is fully fit after his British Grand Prix crash. Several drivers shared their thoughts on the FRIC ban, while Sutil admitted that the Sauber C33 is a “diva” to drive.
As the press conference was going on I wrote a piece on Nico Rosberg’s helmet design, as he was forced to change it after football’s governing body FIFA got involved. Then I was off to Romain Grosjean’s media session, before hearing from Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo.
The popular Aussie was on great form. When asked what the secret is with his RB10 in comparison to Sebastian Vettel’s, he replied: "I give mine a kiss, every night, with tongue."
He was also asked about the FRIC system, joking: "We will have to FRICking see... you were waiting for that one."
Then it was time to transcribe some of the audio from the media sessions and get the pieces up on Richland F1.
We left the track at around 6:00pm and got to the hotel an hour or so later. The journey took a little longer than expected as every road seems to be being worked on in Karlsruhe at the moment!
Overall, it was quite a successful first day in the Hockenheimring paddock and it will only get busier as the weekend progresses. Tomorrow first and second practice will take place, as well as GP2 and GP3 sessions. I will try and keep you updated on my F1 adventures on this blog when time allows, as well as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
It was already very hot, with the clear skies bathing the Hockenheimring in sunshine. After signing in and finding a seat that wasn’t reserved, I got ready for the day ahead. The media centre at the track contrasts heavily with the one I worked in at the Red Bull Ring.
It is situated at the far end of the paddock, just behind the Caterham motorhome. It is a large room with a cafeteria to one end and rows of TV monitors, chairs and tables. You do have to pay for Wi-Fi, which is a little annoying, but overall you have everything you need.
Well, apart from a window – unlike in Austria when we were on the top floor of the main grandstand, with fantastic views of the track. After grabbing some lunch, myself and Luke Smith (F1 writer for NBC Sports and my boss at Richland F1) headed to Force India to hear from Sergio Perez, who believes it will be a strong weekend for the team.
I then went over to Sauber to see what Esteban Gutierrez had to say about the weekend ahead. It was then time for the FIA press conference. Kimi Raikkonen, Kevin Magnussen, Nico Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg, Adrian Sutil and Sebastian Vettel were all in attendance.
The big talking points were Raikkonen insisting that he is fully fit after his British Grand Prix crash. Several drivers shared their thoughts on the FRIC ban, while Sutil admitted that the Sauber C33 is a “diva” to drive.
As the press conference was going on I wrote a piece on Nico Rosberg’s helmet design, as he was forced to change it after football’s governing body FIFA got involved. Then I was off to Romain Grosjean’s media session, before hearing from Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo.
The popular Aussie was on great form. When asked what the secret is with his RB10 in comparison to Sebastian Vettel’s, he replied: "I give mine a kiss, every night, with tongue."
He was also asked about the FRIC system, joking: "We will have to FRICking see... you were waiting for that one."
Then it was time to transcribe some of the audio from the media sessions and get the pieces up on Richland F1.
We left the track at around 6:00pm and got to the hotel an hour or so later. The journey took a little longer than expected as every road seems to be being worked on in Karlsruhe at the moment!
Overall, it was quite a successful first day in the Hockenheimring paddock and it will only get busier as the weekend progresses. Tomorrow first and second practice will take place, as well as GP2 and GP3 sessions. I will try and keep you updated on my F1 adventures on this blog when time allows, as well as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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