Pandemonium

Those of you who know me know that I am a true F1 fan since I was a kid. These few last years, the F1 offers an incentive called Alonso. He is a great pilot and, to top it all, he is Spanish.

My husband changed mobiles recently and he was awarded 2 passes for the Grand Prix of Montmeló.

We stayed at a friend’s at Montcada i Reixac, just 3 train stations away from Montmeló. When we arrived, we discovered that the train stopped at one end of the town, that the circuit was on the other end, and that both ends were separated by a distance of 2.5-3 miles. Anyway, we followed the crowds. Not even one bus/taxi on sight. We started hearing the cars about 2 miles before getting to the circuit.

When we arrived, we decided to sit at the end of the main straight, near the exit from the pit lane, where we could also see an upward bend to the right.

The sensory experience of F1 in the circuit is mind-blowing and has nothing to do with TV broadcasting. First of all, the circuit is smaller, narrower, and has plenty of ups and downs. I feel a newfound respect for pilots. Cars do not roar, like they say on TV; they scream. It is so piercing it’s actually a little painful when they go by near you. When they start shifting down, they bang like a machine gun. Tires scratch the sides loudly. They go by so fast, I couldn’t even make the colors with my new nearsighted glasses. Alonso finished in first place in that training session.

Even though I like Alonso, there are many anti-Alonso fans in this world. Here you are a photo of Hamilton.

On Saturday we left for the circuit to see the qualification session. Unfortunately, so did a bunch of thieves. Pablo got his wallet stolen and our tickets with it. I found three empty wallets in a tunnel under the tracks. We checked all three stations to see is we could find his wallet, but we had no such luck. We lodged a complaint with the police at Montmeló.

So that we wouldn’t leave with such a nasty aftertaste, our friend took us to Sitges to have a fideuá (just like a paella, but vermicelli instead of rice), and then we spent some time sightseeing in the old part of the town, that is truly gorgeous, as you can see.

So, I’ll be back to a Grand Prix and I hope to see the 3 days it takes.

P.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 14th, 2007 at 6:23 pm and is filed under F1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.