As on Saturday we passed the F1 Village and did more or less the same things as the day before, with the exception of a wonderful discovery we made: the Kangaroo TV, which consist in a small portable TV, that not only offers you the possibility to view the general broadcast, but also each driver's on-board camera, as well as race position and stats...and all that for free! You only had to give your credit card number so in case you lost the TV, you had to refund the 300€ value. A risk that worth it, as with that extra info you are fully informed of what’s going on each moment. And you only had to do a 5 minutes queue!

So after that I went to my grandstand, which on Sunday was a different one, located in the main straight, in the boxes exit. A good place to make videos of the start and the cars coming from the pits, as well as the cars following the trail of the front one in order to overtake him at the end of the straight. The latter was specially relevant in Porsche Supercup and even more in GP2, where I could see 3 cars going side by side! I wish we could see that in F1...but I’m afraid that until aerodynamic rules are changed this won't happen.

Let's go back to the race. GP2 is very exciting, probably with more racing skills and fighting excitement, but still doesn't make me feel as having a favourite driver or team to support till death. The start was kind of spectacular, and the noise they made was quite big, almost at the level of F1.
So finally Pantano won, while Hamilton, despite a short run off, did a great move up to second place. Piquet, the other Championship contender, had a serious mistake and only managed to finish 6th, after having reached before the 3rd position.
After that race, it was the turn for the Porsches, which, as you have read in the first part, were very spectacular, and it was lot of fun and a great opportunity to get loads of multimedia stuff.

Afterwards the real action was close to beginning: the F1 race, the main objective for the spectators. But before the race, all of the preparations had to happen, with special remark for the Drivers parade. It consisted of a lap on a special truck saluting all the spectators. I personally would have preferred that each driver went on an old classic convertible, as they do in other circuits, but this wasn't bad either. The thing was to see the drivers closer than ever, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Many other preparations got underway after it, but nothing special at all (music bands and so).
That was till 1:15pm, when the cars exited the pits in other to get into their grid positions. This was quite interesting as the drivers trained the start procedure, but each driver did it on a different way.

The grid had the usual action that means a lot! There is no big difference from what you can see on TV.

2:00pm, the time of action. The mechanics are on the sides of the track, the drivers are revving up the engines and... go! . The formation lap is on. The last opportunity to practice the start and to keep the heartbeats controlled. Increase the tyre temperature, check all is ok.... the drivers finally occupy their places. All the fans are up, almost jumping. The lights begin to turn red and...now!

Kimi gets a good start, both Ferraris struggle, as the BMWs have a blistering start; Heidfeld passes Michael on the outside, as Kubica does the same with Massa. What a spectacle! Many other fights are going on, but I can only concentrate on the BMW Sauber drivers. Then all of a sudden I realise that after the 1st corner many positions changed: the order is now Kimi, Schumi,...Kubica!!!, Heidfeld, Massa...

Now Nick is defending from the Brazilian’s attacks. Some time after, the leaders begin to pit and finally Kubica becomes the provisional leader!

The other 'explosive' moment was Alonso's car blow up. So surprising, as the Renault is known for its superb reliability. Suddenly most of the grandstand began to applaud (even me, but for very different reason: Kubica was now in podium position), because it gave Schumi a big boost. Half of the Renault fans began to leave, as it was a really bad scenario for them.

You probably know most of the other things that happened. I just can say that I did not sit down for an instant, I was so nervous. I got a bit confused and disappointed with Heidfeld's drive through ( after I acknowledge that it was due to speeding in the pit lane), but still happy for Kubica. When he crossed the finish line I was very excited, almost jumping, but i got a death fright when his car stopped just in front of my tribune, and jumped out of the car. He at first asked the marshals to quickly help him move the car, but as he was ignored, he went to the rear and kissed the engine cover. Then the marshals went to celebrate and congratulate his maiden podium. That calmed me down.

Now it was the time to follow the tradition at Monza: invade the track!

We ran as fast as we could to where the podium was. In fact a friend has told and shown me that we appeared on TV (a Ferrari fan with a big flag and me with a blue BMW cap and a bimmer flag). Nice!

The podium celebration was great, especially when Kubica was given his prize, and the champagne 'war' was also very emotive. I was almost going to cry of happiness...

At the exit, the Renault fans were crestfallen whilst the Ferrari and BMW fans were celebrating and waving their flags. That was the case with me, and due to that, a Polish woman asked me to have a photo with her, as I had full BMW equipment hehe. And that was the end of the Monza experience...

What a great weekend! I shall never forget it.

Photos at http://www.f1network.net/boards/read/s491.htm?936,7707218,7707265#msg-7707265 

I hope you have enjoyed this series of reports and remember to visit a Formula 1 GP soon!

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon