Today was race day! How exciting. As it turns out Jenson was on pole position, hurray for the Brits! I left in no hurry as it was fairly early and the F1 wasn’t until late (race actually started at 5pm) I quadruple checked my tickets today, after yesterdays fiasco.
Entrance to Sepang Circuit
I got to the track uneventfully. It was about 11am. Lewis Hamilton was making an apperance at the Mercedes Benz stand outside the grandstand area at 1.30pm. I thought I’d hang around to see that rather then wait on my stand 6 hours for the F1 race to start. There was the 2nd Formula BMW race at 2pm so hopefully I could still get back there in time to see that.
I looked around without doing much at all. There was an automotive museum I went it, lovely cold air con in there! Most of it was British cars. Proton is Malaysia’s biggest and oldest car manufacturer started in 1985, so they don’t really have any classic cars (although a company now does cars in the classic style there).
There was an LG stand (sponsors of F1) so I had a play on a few touchscreen mobiles there. I’ve used an LG touchscreen button’d phone before, hated it and vowed to stick with plain old buttons for now. The phones they had on display were much nicer then the old one I played with before though, so maybe I’ll consider one in the future. I swear I have the oldest mobile in Malaysia everyone else seems to have a phone less than a year old here.
Just before 1 I thought I’d head over to the Mercedes Benz stand to wait for Hamilton, I doubt he’d be doing autographs just say a few words about todays race and be done with us. Some people had been waiting at the front since 11am when I first turned up. It started to rain a bit then it let off. It was half 1 when he was due to turn up and the rain came down heavily so under the big tent was getting a bit crowded. 15minutes passed (the time Lewis was due to leave after speaking to us) and people were getting a bit restless, I’d be happy enough with an announcement that he wasn’t coming, at least we can all move on then.
Another half hour passed and a lot of people started to leave, I thought I’d wait though, although was a bit annoyed I was missing the BMW race that I could hear on in the background. Finally an annoucement was made that he wouldn’t be coming due to the rain. The McLaren paddock was about 400M from this stand I don’t see why the rain stopped him. A few people threw some rubbish at the Mercedes SLR on display and stormed off. I headed towards the bus and went to my standing area.
F1 drivers on parade lap
It was about twice as busy as yesterday. I got a similar position to sit down as where I was yesterday. There was 2 Scottish blokes in front of me and a couple of Germans to my right, more Germans joined them, and again, and again. There was about 20 in the end. Nearly all of them, and the Scotsmen stripped their tops off to bathe in the sun.
The drivers did their track parade so the crowd waved. Someone in my area shouted a profanity towards Hamilton for not showing up earlier, I had to agree and most people in my area found it amusing.
The national anthem was played and most of the crowd stood up for it out of respect which was nice to see. Preperations was on way and the race begun.
F1 race before the downpour
A few laps in and the rain started coming down. I didn’t move, I was just as prepared for the rain as I was the sun with my umbrella, the Germans (who went from white to red in the sun) ran underneath the trees for cover. The Scottish men just stood there not knowing what to do. You’d think out of all of us, the Scots would be the best prepared to deal with the rain.
The rain went from bad to worst and was torrential. 3 of the Germans just took their tops off and just stood closer to the track in the rain, the Scots had retreated underneath trees and even I started getting pretty wet under my umbrella, the waterproof jacket as a groundsheet was collecting the water too so I was getting wet from all directions. I got my stuff together and decided to head under the trees.
A big red light came on from the centre of the track. Race suspended. It was as I was walking up to the trees I noticed the gate that seperated my uncovered area to the covered section had been unlocked and people was moving in, so I decided to head that way too.
Wet spectators
I got through the crowd and under cover. A man by the stairs to the covered area started laughing at me (as I was soaked). Being English I completely understood this humour and just laughed with him. I found myself a place to stand in the middle. Some people started to leave as the rain looked like it was going to last a while and F1 races don’t go over 2 hours, so if it got to that point then it really would have ended.
I dried off a bit and it went from stale to quite nice without the cars racing. Human spirit came out in the crowds. I heard cheering to the right. A Finnish man decided to strip down to his boxer shorts and wrap himself in his national flag and go running in the rain. He fell over, much to everyones amusement.
Another 10 minutes later and some bored women just in front of me got up and started waving toward the crowd in an attempt to get a mexican wave going. Once people realised what was going on we got it going, it went half way across the stand, then the other side seemed to see it. The next attempt was fully successful and the wave went right to the end, everyone clapped and was certainly cheered up, suddenly Formula 1 just didn’t matter anymore, no one cared it was cancelled and just joined in the fun.
In the section I came a English group of people wrapped themselves up in plastic sheets and went sliding down the hill. This was applauded too and they continued to provide amusement for the rest of the crowd.
The time came to an end and the race was over. Oh well, I didn’t care much as it was nice to be part of this crowd, glad I didn’t pay for a grandstand ticket thats for sure. I wasn’t even sure who won I thought it was a Ferrari but walking back to the start entrance (didn’t bother with bus this time) I heard the British National Anthem; Button won the race so I was pleased with that anyway.
Getting to the start and the light started to go. I went in a portaloo to go to the toilet, I was glad to be a man at this point in my life, it was pitch black and not very pleasent, but when nature calls, you got to go!
There was a Jamairoquai concert on with free entry to F1 attendee’s. I delayed going to this at first but couldn’t get a bus so thought I’d go anyway. I heard what I thought was Jay Kay introduce himself 2hours late whilst waiting for the bus. I never got to see Jamiroquai it was some Asian DJ on, the field this was hosted in was extremely muddy and I was pleased to have boots on, a few others were in sandals and sinking ankle deep into the mud, it was very festival like. I didn’t stay long and went back for a bus about 9pm and got on ok.
Of course it was the wrong bus and I did yet another lap of the circuit before heading home.
{ 3 comments }
