Autograph Hunting Outside The Paddock: Part 2

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, this year at the Australian Grand Prix I took the opportunity to try and meet some of my favourite Formula 1 celebrities at the exit of the Melbourne paddock. After discovering an area that most fans weren't even aware of and befriending a group of autograph-hunting enthusiasts, one who looked like Heinz Harald Frentzen, I was fortunate enough to meet and greet some of the paddock's big names. Still, after almost an hour of autograph hunting, I couldn't help but wonder if I would ever catch a glimpse of Ferrari race drivers Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.

I asked 'Frentzen' about the big name drivers and he replied that it was unlikely that we would get a glimpse of them in our present area. "Cars drive them right up to the paddock gates." He explained "Right in front of the autograph stands. Sometimes they stop to sign things, other times they just walk straight in. In any case, you don't want to go there because it is a mad house when somebody famous turns up." I was slightly disappointed  "What about on this side of the road, can we stand right in front of the gates?" 'Frentzen' shook his head "They'll never let you stand there, not a hope."

I'll admit that initially I was discouraged from the area that seemed even more impossible to get in to than the spot that I was already in, but as the minutes wore on, 'Frentzen's' words of warning morphed into more of a challenge or dare. I decided to spend a little more time where I was for the moment, after all if it ain't broke, why fix it?

My persistence paid off almost immediately as Sebastien Buemi walked by us and Lotus team principal, Eric Boullier followed soon after. He was looking as smug as ever and I couldn't help but chuckle at the weird photo that I ended up taking of him. It was a close-up of Boullier's signature expression and all of the guys thought that it was hysterical when I showed them.

"Who do you want to see the most?" I inquired during a brief pause between celebrities. "I wanted to see Damon." one of the guys replied in a dejected tone. "I don't think that he wanted to see us though." The third  member of the gang started laughing "Heinz Harald here wanted to see Jenson!" I had mentioned the Frentzen resemblance earlier. "Oooooh Jenson...friend! Jenson Button friend....Jenson...friend!" The group exclaimed, copying an scene from one of my favourite cult British shows "The Inbetweeners".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNPUbLHk9oE We all laughed uncontrollably, these nerds were awesome!

"Is that Fernando?" 'Frentzen' remarked, gesturing up the road. In the distance I saw two figures cloaked in red and indeed one of them bore a strong resemblance to Fernando Alonso. I began to get excited and nervous, I never thought that one of Formula 1's biggest stars would simply stroll up to the paddock minus a massive entourage and fanfare. In his modest state, Alonso looked almost mortal. Only his fantastically groomed eyebrows appeared to be super-human. All of the autograph hunters retreated "We're going to leave him alone." one of them explained "I don't want to get on his bad side."

I took a deep breath and approached the Ferrari driver, after all what was the worst that he could do? "Fernando" I asked politely "Can I take your picture please?" He looked me up and down with a puzzled expression as though he was trying to figure out who I was, what I was doing there and if my level of fanaticism could compromise his safety. After a moment he agreed, adding "Just one." He seemed very preoccupied and not in an especially talkative mood. Still, he obliged me before disappearing into the paddock, presumably without greeting the masses of fans who had turned up just to see him. I didn't hold it against him though, as I said yesterday, being a Formula 1 driver means you get hounded everywhere you go, even when having dinner with your family. After a while I can see how that level of exposure would grate on your nerves.

After my brush with Fernando Alonso I decided that it couldn't possibly get any better, I had heard rumors that Stefano Domenicali was already in the paddock and now most of the drivers and team personnel had joined him on the other side of its secure gates. I bid farewell to my companions, who had been a great source of information and entertainment, and began to walk towards to zebra crossing that would take me back to reality.

When I reached the crossing I noticed that lots of media were still lurking by the paddock gates and a man wearing a Ferrari team uniform stood nearby paying close attention to the road. 'Frentzen' had warned me not to even approach this area but I figured that at this point I had nothing to lose and strode up to the man in the Ferrari uniform "Are you waiting for Felipe?" I asked in Italian. The man turned around, shocked to hear his own language. "You're Italian!" "No" I explained. "Sono Canadese." He smiled and then looked a bit confused. "If you're Canadian, how do you speak Italian and why are you here?!" He had so many questions "Your Italian is amazing!" he beamed. We talked politely for several minutes, looking on in amusement as Nico Rosberg arrived and was mauled by journalists, before he revealed that he was indeed waiting for Felipe and his entourage.

Before I knew what was happening, a Ferrari pulled up and my new companion sprung into action. As the door swung upon, a thin figure with a large nose stepped out. It was Nicolas Todt, son of Jean Todt and Felipe Massa's manager. Nicolas surveyed the area with scrutiny before greeting the man in Ferrari uniform. Soon afterwards, a short middle-aged man stepped out. It was Felipe Massa's father, Luiz Antonio Massa and he seemed to be in good spirits. Finally, out came Felipe Massa himself, grinning and waving, the Brazilian was ready to face his public. I was in complete and utter awe, you wouldn't think it to see him on the television, but Felipe has an almost magnetic quality about him.

"We are leaving now." My Ferrari friend explained "I understand, good luck for the coming year." was my reply. "Ciao Grazie!" He exclaimed waving at me before disappearing with Felipe into the daunting swarm of cameras and screaming fans. It was complete and utter insanity.

Almost instantly a yellow-clad security guard was in front of me. Without my Ferrari entourage, I was a sitting duck. I smiled in acknowledgement, the time had come for me to leave. As I walked back towards the zebra crossing, I glanced over my shoulder. Felipe was surrounded; signing pieces of paper, shaking hands and answering questions. From a distance he looked like a modern-day warrior, except instead of deflecting enemy fire, he was fending off his adoring public.

The time for photographs was over but I was satisfied, I didn't need any more pictures. Funnily enough, of all of the interactions that I had this weekend, the ones that I will remember most fondly were the moments that I spent laughing with my gang of autograph nerds and the brief time that I spent speaking to my new Ferrari friend.

In my opinion, these are the experiences that are worth waiting for. After all, an autograph can be bought, but memories are priceless.

Jerez Day Two: Deja View

Michael Schumacher made the headlines today after he topped the timesheets on the second day of testing in Jerez. The forty three year old German comfortably outpaced his closest rivals, albeit in last year’s Mercedes. The Brackley-based team have yet to launch their latest challenger and spent the day evaluating Pirelli’s 2012 tyre. When asked if Mercedes would be a championship contender this year, the seven-time World Champion conceded “I don’t think we can realistically achieve a championship car immediately from where we started last year, we have to build our way there.” After being coaxed out of retirement just over two years ago, Schumacher will no doubt be wondering exactly how long this building process is expected to take.

The quickest of the 2012 cars was not surprisingly Red Bull’s RB8. Mark Webber strung a series of consistent laps together in the morning, before eventually lowering his time to 1:19.184. Although it is still early days, it does appear as though the World Champions have once again produced a front-running car, with the RB8 demonstrating that it is fast right out of the box.

The opposite can be said for Ferrari, who underwhelmed for the second day in a row. Although the team maintains that they never expected to set a blistering pace in Jerez and according to their twitter feed “the stopwatch means relatively nothing today”, they surely would have preferred to end the day in higher than 7^th position. America’s ESPN reported that the F2012 looked ragged at the Spanish circuit and even Felipe Massa admitted that the new car was going to be a lot of work. “It’s a brand new car and it’s not like the cars that we’ve had in the last few years, even to start with. So it’s a lot more work, it’s a car that you need to try a lot more things with as well.” Still, the optimistic Brazilian is sure that Ferrari is up to the challenge, adding “Obviously, there is still a lot to do, maybe more than we had expected before we started, but we are definitely not scared of hard work!”

Fernando Alonso will carry on that hard work tomorrow when he takes the wheel of the F2012 for the first time. The Spanish icon will surely be fired up and keen to put on a spectacle in front of his home crowd who will show up en masse to support him. I have no doubt that he will grab the headlines in his country’s newspapers regardless of what time he sets in the new Ferrari.

The F2012 is Finally Here

I decided not to go to Maranello today after all. The snow seems to be getting worse there and I heard reports that some trains were delayed and even stopped near Lodi yesterday. The last thing that I want to do is spend my entire day on a train! It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but I know that I will most certainly end up in Maranello next month (probably not during a blizzard) so I will hopefully be able to make up for this disappointment then.

My boyfriend sent me an amazing link yesterday after hearing that the car launch had been cancelled. http://motorsportrants.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/f1-ferrari-e-la-neve-nel-79-porto-fortuna/ The picture shows the launch of Ferrari’s 1979 Formula 1 car. It was Gilles Villeneuve who braved the icy conditions on that particular winter day as only a Canadian could. Being Canadian myself I have to say that although the current snow is pretty thick, it should definitely not be enough to bring a town like Maranello to its knees. I always marvel at how Canadian cities can keep running efficiently at temperatures as low as -40 degrees Celsius and yet in Europe even a small amount of snowfall can create chaos; closing shops, cutting power and grounding flights. It seems as though both Ferrari and Europe could do with some more Canadians during times like these.

Even though the launch itself was cancelled, Ferrari did release the first photos of the F2012 this morning. http://singleseater2012.ferrari.com/english/web/#/home After studying the predictive drawings in Autosprint a few days ago and seeing the launch of the new McLaren MP4-27, I was confident that the new car could still be attractive. Sadly for those of you who love to see beautiful racing cars, the new Ferrari features the stepped nose that was first noticed on the Caterham CT01. The good news is that thus far, ugly seems to be the norm, with Force India’s new VJM05 also sporting the awkward look which has been described by some of the media as being platypus-style.

Stefano Domenicali, who has already expressed his opinions on the F2012’s beauty, stated “Actually, it’s not really so pretty from my personal perspective but this is a value that doesn’t count in Formula 1.” The Ferrari team principal was also keen to highlight that the team has tried a different approach this year. “I've asked in a change in approach in the design of the car and apparently what we can see from the car that we have launched just now is it's for sure very different. It's a different approach both from the mechanical point of view and also from the aerodynamical point of view. So that is for sure something that it seems that we have achieved, but I will be happy only when I will see that this car will be competitive. Domenicali needs the F2012 to be competitive this year after a string of disappointing seasons. Despite repeated denials that his job is in danger, many tifosi have unfairly used him as a scapegoat over the past few seasons and it would be wonderful for the F2012 to silence both his and Ferrari’s doubters!

Fernando Alonso was full of praise for Ferrari when he was interviewed before the unveiling. “I believe in the skills we have here in Ferrari. We have two months to get ready before the first competition. We have to fight for the title and try to get as many points as possible. We really want to be right at the top of the ranking.” Alonso will hope to erase the painful memory of Abu Dhabi 2010 and solidify his status as the tifosi’s darling by taking his first World Championship for Ferrari this year.

Felipe Massa, who could be starting his final season for Ferrari in March, is upbeat about the F2012’s prospects. “Let me tell you that it looks really, really aggressive. This was part of my dreams. I know there was quite a lot of brainstorming when it comes to the new car. We always wanted to develop new models so I am impressed with the new car. We start in a few days and I’m sure the championship will be stunning and very competitive.” Massa will need the Scuderia’s latest championship contender to be competitive right from the start of the season in Melbourne if he is to have any chance of fending off Ferrari hopefuls like Sergio Perez and Jules Bianchi. With the cancellation of the car’s planned Fiorano shakedown, the little Brazilian is scheduled to be the first man to drive the F2012 when the team begins testing in Jerez this Tuesday.

In my eyes at least, the F2012’s first real test will come when Red Bull’s latest challenger is revealed to the world on February 6^th. With Adrian Newey on board and the Red Bull RB7 being the class of the 2011 Formula 1 field, there is every reason to think that the Milton Keynes-based squad will once again this year be the one to beat. Some light may be shed on the potential of the F2012 when it can finally be compared to the Red Bull RB8. Until Monday we will all have to carry on speculating and even then there will likely be a few surprises on the Australian Grand Prix weekend which begins March 15^th.