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Britain: SPARKY Silverstone - Part 3
By Nick Sparkes
July 13 2005
My final day at Silverstone would be the most important, as it was race day! To make it even better, the sun was out and the party atmosphere was continuing. Here with my final part of my first F1 experience, I knew anything was possible come the afternoon and the possibility of a Jenson Button podium!

Fans flock for Jenson

 

I've mentioned a lot about Jenson Button in my reports, and I will continue to do so here. After a difficult first half of the season, which lead to B.A.R only leading Minardi in the championship, and Jenson Button not even scoring a podium (to keep), made me wonder if the support for Jenson, which was seen at last years British Grand Prix, would be repeated. Well, I was proved wrong. Come race day the fans had flocked in their B.A.R Honda/Jenson Button wear and were proudly carrying the St Georges Cross around with them on their backs. It was a sight only recreated at England football matches, or back in the days of Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell. I’m sure Jensen’s Qualifying performance helped; a near pole position and the first Britain on the front row in ages, must had dragged the remaining Button fans from under the gutter. Yet, our man had our support, and wondering around the outside of the circuit you could only make out the sea of Jenson Button and B.A.R logos, which travelled as far as the eye could see. The fans had flocked to Silverstone for one man, which made me very proud to be British!

 

Toyota is once again top Promoter

 

I have always been impressed by the attractions that the teams put up to grab your attention whilst wondering around the circuit. As usual Toyota killed everyone’s stone dead, their massive stand, simulators, merchandise table and full size replica Formula One car wasn’t repeated by any other manufacture. This gave me an excellent opportunity to get some pictures of the car, as well as the other attractions surrounding it, like the Toyota girls and drivers helmets. In terms of advertisement and promotion, Toyota have put the hard work in and in my view has paid off, if you attend any form of motorsport event in the future and Toyota are competing, their stand shouldn’t be too far away and is well worth a visit! 

 

Not the thriller I was expecting, but it sure was a great race!

 

My viewing space for the Grand Prix would be the view coming from Club, then braking hard into Abbey. This had the added benefit of a Television screen and a clear view of the cars, which wasn’t disturbed by fence wires. Watching the cars on their formation lap was amazing, as only a few minutes later they would be racing for real. Watching the start on the large Television, you could hear them get off the line even if they were a quarter of the circuit behind you. Once Montoya took the lead from a brilliant start the crowds were cheering as he entered Abbey, air horns sounding whilst the rest of the field slotted into place behind him.

 

As the race progressed there was little overtaking, only a near collision between Jacques Villeneuve and David Coulthard sent my heart racing for half a second, before it settled down again. I felt this was more to do with the new regulations than the circuit itself, and to improve overtaking you need to give the cars grip and the driver’s confidence that they’re going to make the corner. Yet just seeing the drivers working hard, and come the end of the race struggle for grip (especially the cars which had been badly set up) was a joy to watch, although I’m sure the drivers would feel otherwise.

 

In away I was pleased to see Montoya take the chequered flag, the crowd were proud of his days work and his opening lap was the platform for his first McLaren victory. Jenson Button brought his B.A.R home fifth, a race which should had ended on the podium but the car just wasn’t capable of challenging the front-runners. But all in all, a great race!

 

Pacing Toyota

 

The largest disappoint of the whole weekend was Toyotas struggling pace come race day. Jarno Trulli couldn’t stop moving backwards, and even lost out to his teammate Ralf Schumacher. After another strong Qualifying, the car failed to delivery on the day and not for the first time this season. Grip has been the blame throughout the year, and again was the course of Jarno’s disastrous race. To walk away from a weekend, which had so much promise with a single point, isn’t the sort of form you would expect from a team with such aspirations as Toyota. There were more rumours in the paddock of Toyota’s ‘B’ spec racer making its debut in a couple of months time, I feel this would be an improvement over the struggling situation Toyota find themselves in, but if it happens is yet to be announced.

 

Thumbs up!

 

Driving home in the passenger seat after a weekend that I had, left a great big smile upon my face. I will remember the experiences that took place for the rest of my life, and the nature of the Silverstone racetrack and facilities are ones to be proud of. I will highly recommend Silverstone as one of the places to watch a Grand Prix from, and look forward to many more years at “The Home of British Motorsport”.

 

The ball doesn’t stop for Toyota

 

So another struggling Grand Prix bights the dust, and the next race is another home event as we return to Germany in 2 weeks time. This was the scene for Toyota’s TF104B last year, yet we aren’t expecting a fresh Toyota to be leaving the garage this time around.

 

Time will tell if this year’s machine is any good during a race distance.

SPARKY: Part 2                                                    
Totally Silverstone Pictures

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