William's Alexander Wurz making a pit stop on race dayThrough the years, I have grown to enjoy F1 races during the course of my work. This past weekend seems to be the most enjoyable to date. Our clients were enthusiastic about F1 and it made hosting them at the Paddock Club all the more exciting :-) Also, the new line up of drivers for the various teams has made watching the race very interesting.
There were many memorable moments at this year's race ...
Saturday, 7 April 2007
We were at the Williams suite, where international chefs were flown in to prepare the buffet spread of local and western foods ... where free flow champagne, wines and my favorite orange juice were served ... where AT&T Williams F1 team Nico Rosberg (left) and Alexander Wurz gave interviews, signed autographs, and greeted the guests.
F1 racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart also made a pit stop special appearance to greet the guests. A PR man indeed!
While everyone was tired at the end of the day and could not wait to return home, an enthusiastic client decided to stay back to visit the F1 Paddocks. We went down and waited for "sightings" of F1 drivers.
Initially, the whole exercise seemed futile as it was sweltering hot (39 degrees) and everyone, but the drivers, was chilling out at the driver's and crew rest areas. But after about 5 to 10 minutes of walking up and down the Paddocks and deep perspiration, we spotted Adrian Sutil of Spyker and got his autograph. That was the beginning of the most productive F1 experience for fans like us!
We bumped into Ralf Schumacher of Panasonic Toyota, Nick Heidfeld (right) and Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber, David Coulthard and Mark Webber of Red Bull, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa of Scuderia Ferrari, and ...
This year's Malaysian Grand Prix champion Fernando Alonso and runner up Lewis Hamilton of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.
It was absolute "coolness" meeting these guys up close. Such moments made all the preparation leading up to this year's F1 worthwhile.
Sunday, 8 April 2007
For the first time, my gaze switched from TV screens to pit lanes to the track, watching in anticipation as a string of cars blazed past. Eyes were glued to the screens as the McLaren and Ferrari teams battled it out for the top positions.
Apart from the video clips of Williams driver pit stops, I marveled at the talented F1 rookie Lewis Hamilton (left) as he became the most exciting F1 driver of the season! His maneuvers to overtake the Ferrari drivers from his starting position at 4th place landed him a well-deserved 2nd place at the podium after his team mate and champion Alonso. (You can read more about it here!)If I could describe my life in seasons, I would say it's spring going on summer - where flowers are blooming, the skies are true blue, and the bees are buzzing!
5 comments:
wah! wow! cool! looks like you had a great time :)
hey michele! got to your blog via margaret's! makes for interesting reading! have a good week! ai-may
Overall, yes, I had fun. Although, in all honesty, my team and I did feel like we had our little F1 race on the side bending our backs to accommodate our target audiences/clients of sorts. In conclusion, it was exhausting and rewarding at the same time.
Ai May, thanks for visiting :-)
I still owe you one (or two) for getting me Nico Rosberg and Alex Wurz's autographs. And Jackie Stewart's too.
I did offer to take a photo of you and Jackie Stewart, though, but I can understand why you turned it down ... now that I've seen the pictures of you and the *young* drivers!
If ever I go again ... I'll have to be more brave and jostle my way to get autographs and pictures too.
:)
You passed up a chance to have your picture taken with Jackie Stewart??? OMG!!!!
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