Melbourne GP Weekend- 30th March and 31st March 2006

Alrighty people, since I can't seem to get my head around doing my uni work (which I seriously have to start on soon...*I love procastinating!!*), I shall go into a narrative of my first ever GP...namely the Melbourne GP 2006...

So where should I start...

Thursday, 30th of March 2006

Well, I hardly slept much the previous night...I was so enthused and pumped for the F1 experience that lay at the horizon. I left Perth at 8am which wasn't too bad and reached Melbourne at 14:30 to catch up with two of my friends Leenz, and PJ (who came down for the GP all the way from Singapore)...Our hotel was a bit dodgy (esp. the toilet which had serious flushing problems), but such things seemed minor at the time. Melbourne itself was alive with the F1 vibe drifting everywhere...Fans decked out in their team's merchandise, souvenir shops bursting with people, posters promoting the race and F1 fever in general was everywhere...a true paradise for someone like myself. Have never experienced anything like it before...Usually, its a "Oh, you are an F1 fan? Isn't that like cars just going around in circles??" Damn...some people just don't get it!!

Had a real good time that day...Was my first time in Melbourne and I really loved the place. The F1 Official Program said that there wasn't much F1 stuff happening on track that day (seemingly they were wrong, coz some of the F1 drivers, such as Ralf Schumacher were giving autographs...Leenz was so pissed!!), so we didn't go to track but went about Melbourne city. Then in the evening, on our way back to the hotel, Leenz caught a glimpse of something happening down at the Hugo Boss store on Collins Street and so we went along coz Hugo are the official sponsors of Team Mclaren Mercedes and we were kind of hoping to catch Kimi Raikkonen there too...Turns out that Kimi wasn't there, but David Coulthard was!!! I dunno what the hell he was doing there!! True he's like an ex-Mclaren driver and all, but you hardly think that he would be there at an event like that, instead of Kimi or Juan who are current drivers for the team...It was good though...He gave an interview or two and I swear that I saw him applying lip balm...totally unexpected!! After that he just casually walked down the street with his girlfriend Karen Minier...shocking, probably coz I've always thought that F1 drivers were just not completely ordinary people...A limousine pulling up in front of the store would have suited my imagination a bit better...

I think after all that excitement with Hugo Boss and DC, we headed out to St. Kilda for a nice dinner and an even nicer glass of champagne...

Friday, 31st of March 2006

Was really looking forward to this day as it would be the first time I'd see an F1 car. We went out to the practice sessions...OMG!! I loved the cars and their associated V8 sounds made me feel warm and fuzzy...There is nothing like seeing an F1 car in person...TV images don't do them enough justice...the damn things are so fast that I caught only blurs of the cars on camera...Even on videocam, you can just see them whizzing past...So cool though hey!!

The key moment for me in the entire day was in the first practice session when Michael came out for a lap. I cannot describe the emotions I felt then. My heart was seriously pounding as he came down the main straight and passed by us (we were in the Fangio grandstand right in front of the team pits and the start-finish line). I'll be honest with you...I love Michael a lot...I don't think he's cute or anything...(Kimi and Ralf are more serious contenders in that category), but I think he's looking fantastic at 37 and that he is a fantastic driver...I've seen him drive in the crappy Ferrari's of the late 90's when his car would break down every other race...I've seen him drive in conditions which have earned him the title "Reinmeister"...I have seen him lose the World Championship in 1997, 1998 and 1999 and boy! didn't those hurt!!! Anyhoos, to see him drive in the flesh was a surreal moment for me...It rekindled all my admiration and awe for the man...I am a true Ferrarista or whatever it is you call Schumi fans...

After the practice sessions, Leenz, Pam and me went totally wild buying merchandise...I spent such a lot of money that day!! Damn!!

Another observation I made at the race track was that there were soooo many people, even though it was only practice...and that most of them were decked out in Ferrari gear :)

For an in-depth breakdown of our activities/more first-hand accounts of the GP, visit pjlifesucks.blogspot.com and blogabtnothing.blogspot.com