Shanghai Friday
A1GP kicked off it’s third visit to the Shanghai International circuit today, and thanks to A1Reporters I was privileged to be there. The most significant thing to strike me today was…Ferrari’s everywhere!
Besides A1GP there is no support race program, instead there are about 40+ Ferrari road cars lined up in the paddock, with more coming for the weekend I am told. During breaks in A1GP there are therefore Ferrari’s circulating around the circuit, with owners taking their cars out for a spin around an active race track and with lucky friends in the passenger seat.
This morning it took a while for me to get sorted, as upon turning up at the circuit I missed the accreditation centre. The Shanghai circuit is a massive area of concrete nothingness, and with no people to be found I presumed that the best course of action would be to make my way into the media centre and collect my pass there. Being a foreigner in China is usually enough to get past security, and so it proved as I made my way into the media centre without a pass, in order to find out where to pick up the thing. It turned out that I had basically walked past the accreditation centre, and with 20 minutes left before the rookie session I had to leg it back to the other side of the circuit to get my media pass.
I eventually made it to the pit lane entry, the closest spot for photography, 20 minutes into the rookie session, and fired off a few shots as the first 25 minute segment finished. For the second half of the rookie session I made my way down to the hairpin, delighted to be able to indulge in some photography from the inside of the corner after being limited to the grandstands in previous years. After all the walking to get my pass sorted I was feeling quite exhausted by the time lunchtime came around, and was happy to sit in the media centre for an hour to have a rest and take advantage of the fish and rice that was laid on for lunch. I then made my way down to the pit lane, and spent the hour before afternoon practice walking up and down taking photographs of any drivers I came across. As you may see in the photo gallery I came across a few, including Adam Carroll, Nicolas Prost, Jereon Bleekemolen and later on a few climbing into their cars. All of the drivers will more than happy to pose for profile shots, suggesting the A1GP paddock is a media friendly place to be.
For the first 20 minutes of afternoon practice I stood on the pitwall, trying to absorb for good fortune of being able to be there (thanks again A1podium.com). I was able to look up at a large screen, and was able to see some on track action, such as Indonesia, France and Lebanon running off track. I then decided to walk up to turn 1, and went to duck through the Lebanon pits (quickly, hoping they wouldn’t mind). I had forgotten however that all teams closed the rear door of the pit garages while sessions are in progress, meaning I had to do a rapid about face! Thinking I was going to be stuck in the pitlane for the full hour (not a bad idea anyway), I then found the Cooper tyre garage had both front and rear doors open.
Up at the first turn the entire track was lined with fencing, however found that some photography holes and been cut (I guess by the F1 photographers), so once more indulged in my favourite passions of motorsport and photography at the same time. Following the end of the afternoon session, I then took in a press conference, involving the fastest driver Filipe Alburquerque and Chinese driver Frankie Cheng. With each question and each answer translated into Mandarin it was a long winded affair, and without wanting to sound too negative the answers were the usual “we’ll be quicker tomorrow” and “I hope it doesn’t rain” etc etc.
Following the conference I had a quick chat with circuit commentator Bruce Jones, previously of Autosport magazine. He reiterated what a big deal the Ferrari link is, suggesting that at a few rounds next year there will be a large turnout of Ferrari Club owners, and Ferrari will get a lot of mileage out of using A1GP rounds for promotion and Ferrari owner activities, as we are seeing in Shanghai this weekend.
With no support events to watch I then headed home, happy to have spent the day in A1GP heaven and looking forward to the rest of the weekend, and a bright Ferrari future.
Season 4 Buzz
Day two of Shanghai A1GP was very significant today for the championship, as Switzerland took both poles to put themselves in an ideal position to win the series tomorrow.
An irony of being at the circuit taking photographs is however that you often know the least about what is going on, as it is only once you get back to the media centre that you find out what the results were. It was like that for me today as it was only when I went to the post race press conference and saw which drivers were turning up that I knew that Neel Jani had put Switzerland in the box seat for the series by taking both poles.
The post qualifying press conference constituted two parts, with the three fastest drivers being quizzed first of all, following by local driver Cheng Congfu, China seat holder Liu Yu, Asia Pacific CEO David Clare and series boss Tony Teixeira. Each question and each answer was translated into Chinese, meaning quite a long and drawn out session, during which the two drivers that were not talking always looked thoroughly bored. All three looked quite relieved when there were no questions from the floor, and at the end the friendship between the drivers in A1GP was very evident as the three drivers cracked a couple of jokes between themselves.
The most interesting part of the press conference was the second half, as Tony Teixeira and David Clare hinted at some of the exciting developments coming up for A1GP. Clare indicated that there will be two or three new Asian teams in the series next year, and that all current and future Asia Pacific franchises are vying to host races. No specific new venues were mentioned, however it appears that China will continue to have two events, and India is high on the wish list of desired venues. Tony Teixeira mentioned that 12-13 venues is the ideal number of events per season, and that next seasons calendar is firmly taking shape. Viewership of A1GP on TV is up 15-20% since the start of the current season, no doubt helped by the Ferrari tie-up, and interest will surely continue to grow when the A1GP car powered by Ferrari, for season four, is unveiled in late May. All of this news left me very excited and buzzing about next season, and we’ve still got race day to go yet!
Earlier in the day I had walked around the back of the circuit, taking pictures again. Although not being very spectator friendly, the Shanghai circuit is actually very good for photography, once you find where the gaps in the fences are. The area around the hairpin and pit entry are not fenced (on the inside of the circuit anyway), so are ripe for picture taking. Between morning practice and qualifying I wandered up and down the pitlane, grabbed some lunch, went to the driver autograph session, and then walked down to that area. On the way back I checked out the Lewis Hamilton trap, and was amazed at how small an area of gravel had lost him the F1 championship. What chance something similar happening tomorrow?
One thing that struck me while in the pitlane is how bored the rookie drivers are once they have finished their duties on Friday morning. Usually they can be found chatting to each other, or standing wistfully in the pit garages doing very little. The other thing that struck me is how much of a friendly community the A1GP paddock seems to be. Personnel from different teams often take a few minutes to laugh and joke with each other, and the drivers obviously get on very well. This is an aspect of A1GP that is very appealing, and hopefully this will be maintained into the future no matter how much commercial commitments enter into people’s time.
That brings me back to my original theme for today’s report. One other thing that Tony Teixeira mentioned is that some of Ferrari’s F1 sponsors will be coming on board in A1GP. In addition to new teams and venues, look out for some sponsorship announcements for season four as well. While we only have race day tomorrow and Brands Hatch to go for 07/08, A1GP is buzzing and I am looking forward to season four already. The insane taxi driver on the ride back home had me wondering if I’d live to see it, however after missing an assortment of other vehicles by millimetres on more than a few occasions I’ve survived, so I’ll be back tomorrow and look forward to sharing race day with you.
Race Day
I left home this morning for the third and final day of the A1GP weekend intent to get to the circuit by 10am, in order to be in the pit lane for the cars doing their warm up laps before the Sprint race (the drivers will circulate and drive through the pit lane to check last minute setup changes before going to the grid). However to my dismay the route the taxi driver took was closed off due to road works, meaning a detour of a few kilometres was required. I got to the circuit and deposited my laptop in a media centre locker as the cars were circulating, and then made my way down to the pit lane entrance only to find that it was closed to media and photographers at that point anyway. Once the cars were all on the grid the gate was opened, and we were let through.
There was a time not so long ago that race meetings in China were rather disorganised (the first season in China and the attempt at a street race in Beijing resembled a dog’s breakfast in terms of circuit organisation), however A1GP seems to have trained the circuit staff well and procedures are now followed strictly.
I was then able to wander around the grid before being cleared five minutes before the Sprint race, a surreal experience walking around the A1GP grid after seeing it on TV on so many occasions. I had a quick chat on with the New Zealand TV3 crew, who attend races. They suggested that the New Zealand round of A1GP will be at Taupo next season, before moving to the new Hampton Downs circuit.
I faced a dilemma for the races, as photography is a favourite hobby and there were a couple of excellent places on the circuit I had not taken advantage of, however my satellite TV is currently out of order so if I didn’t see the races I perhaps wouldn’t get another opportunity. I therefore decided to head back up to the media centre to watch the race, where they had TV monitors alongside timing screens, in a similar fashion to what the teams have on the pit wall.
I must have let out a loud groan at the start, hopefully I didn’t swear, nobody said anything so despite my despair at New Zealand’s early exit I mustn’t have.
After the sprint race I figured not much would be happening as the teams would be having lunch. I therefore did the same (roast baby potatoes and Thai chicken, thanks A1GP catering). About 1pm I looked out of the window to realise that I was missing a drivers photo opportunity. I suppose you can’t be everywhere…
In the afternoon I followed the same idea as the Sprint, going down to the entrance to the pit lane ready for the gate to be opened, after which I went onto the grid again, then back up to the media centre for the race. I watched the race on the monitors again, and looked out the media centre window to the pitlane nine floors below when the leading runners went into the pits.
After the race I when down to the pitlane to watch the podium ceremony, and then made my way to the conference room for the drivers press conference (different to the John Watson interviews on TV) during which Jonathan Summerton made a rather politically incorrect statement of referring to F1 as a “big World Cup of Motorsport”! Following the drivers conference David Clare, CEO of A1GP Asia Pacific, China seat holder Liu Yu and driver Cheng Congfu appeared, as per yesterday. David Clare announced that a signing ceremony for A1GP Team Korea took place at lunchtime, and outlined how the new car for season four would be more powerful and have more grip, however that they are also being very careful to ensure that close racing and the ability to overtake is maintained.
That rounded out proceedings, so I made my way back to the media centre one more time to pick up my bag, and find a taxi for the long ride home. I certainly enjoyed the weekend, and I hope you did too.