Sunday, April 10, 2011

Days 1-3: The 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix...Formula 1 madness!


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I guess this would be my shortest vacation email ever, a memorable one nevertheless. Haversack on my back, I took off for a short stint to Kuala Lumpur and Sepang for the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix. And what a race to have been part of! As a commentator said, "a fantastic race, indeed. This time last year I recall a deluge of complaints about the perceived lack of drama in Formula 1. No such worries 12 months on."

To begin with, I took a Malaysia Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur. Now the last time I took the same flight, it was an ancient aircraft. This time, the aircraft was brand new and I mean wow! Apart from brand new seats and the usual touchscreen entertainment systems, for the first time ever I witnessed all the economy seats with a USB port that enables you to charge your mobile, video game device etc. Not even Jet's newest aircraft have this in economy. I slept throughout the flight so no comments on the food and on board entertainment.

The hotel I am staying in is the Trader's hotel near the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC). The view of the Petronas Towers from the hotel is excellent. You peep out and there are the towers with a garden between you and the towers. An unobstructed view. The hotel also has a real cool free buggy service from the hotel to the towers and back. On the top most floor of the hotel (the 33rd floor) is a swimming pool on the terrace and unknown to me there is also a bar called the 'SkyBar' which has been rated as the best Malaysian bar. Needless to say, it lived up to it's reputation. Before race day, there was a F1 party there with free entry for house guests (yes!). The music rocked and so did the mocktails themed after the race teams. Oh by the way on the way to the hotel, I saw Bernie Eccelstone's convoy head to the race track. The race must be really important to Malaysia...Bernie had around a five car police escort with pilot bikes!

Race Day...

Take the buggy to the KLCC from where I catch a shuttle bus to the venue. While waiting, meet a fellow hotel guest who has come for business/race and while conversing get to know he is from Microsoft Redmond and is in KL to sell Microsoft's Enterprise solution to two start-ups. Have a very deep conversation around cloud computing and in the process I learned a lot about Microsoft's cloud computing offerings.

As I said earlier, I had opted to take the F1 shuttle bus to the venue. Wise decision. It dropped me straight to the ticket collection centre. If you take a taxi, it doesn't drop you at the track, plus the shuttle bus had a dedicated lane which meant we just breezed through all the car traffic. Nice arrangements! Picked up the ticket and went in.

Now more than the actual race, I would say the pre-race events are so much more exciting. 

In a nutshell, the track was all racing team booths, music, dance, special events and booth babes (aka promotional models). Each racing team had a booth of their own for their fans, inside which they showcased their race car and their commercial car models...yes, this means their were Mercs, Ferraris, Renaults and everything else. Each booth also had a unique event either from the race team or its sponsor from LG showcasing it's new 3D television, to AirAsia showcasing it's stewardesses to Mercedes having a giant screen F1 game to an Angry Birds competition to free Red Bulls (in 3 different varieties, normal, carbonated and one more). I was glad I reached two hours early. It gave me time to experience each and every race booth.

Race time. My seats were great. I had grandstand seats however I chose to buy those that gave me a view of the most exciting parts of the track and not just flag off and boy did it pay off. We were given ear plugs. To get the experience, I didn't use them for the first lap and the sound is one to hear! At first the cars don't sound loud but as they approach you, it's just a shrill sound and all you can hear is whistling in your ears. Thats it. You are completely deafened till the cars pass.

Some of the highlights I saw with my very own eyes:
  1. Lap 3: Williams’ Rubens Barrichello tyre comes off (it was announced as a puncture but the tyre completely came off).
  2. Lap 8: Webber (Red Bull) and Kobayashi (Sauber) are battling it out.
  3. Lap 12 Massa (Ferrari) and Alonso (Ferrari) are catching Button (McLaren). These 3 cars were literally sticking to each other as they passed the straight in front of me. And the best part? I was able to get a photo of the moment!
  4. Lap 14: Hamilton (McLaren) gets past Schumacher (Mercedes) and Buemi (Toro Rosso) just before the final corner with a display of thrilling straightline speed and expert racing technique.
  5. Lap 26: Sergio Perez (Sauber) has a mechanical problem and the car stops....great sight seeing track crew racing in and taking the car off track, truck coming in, yellow flags waving...it all happens in a matter of seconds. This was right in front of my eyes.
  6. Lap 53: Probably the most oh! moment of the race, Petrov (Renault) goes off the road, gives it some welly to get back on and ended up taking off over a rain gully. The car literally flew a few metres in the air, came back on track, off again and rammed into a board.
  7. A car (Force India I think) struggles to finish the final lap. Going dead slow and finally chokes out.
Apart from the above, an 'n' number of dogfights, some involving four cars at the same time. There was also another car breakdown but I cannot remember which.

SEBASTIAN VETTEL WINS THE MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX!

Race results:



1
S Vettel (GER)
Red Bull
25
2
J Button (GBR)
McLaren
18
3
N Heidfeld (GER)
Renault
15
4
M Webber (AUS)
Red Bull
12
5
F Massa (BRA)
Ferrari
10
6
F Alonso (ESP)
Ferrari
8
7
K Kobayashi (JPN)
Sauber
6
8
LC Hamilton (GBR)
McLaren
4
9
M Schumacher (GER)
 Mercedes-Benz
2
10
 P di Resta (GBR)         Force India 1     

So when you head to watch a F1 race, pick seats that give you a view of all the action. That is the maximum curves, a good straight track in front instead of just flag off area (where you will never see any action).

Post race...the nightmare starts. A hundred thousand people move out. Gridlock on a four lane expressway! It took me 3 1/2 hours to get back (as compared to a normal 1 hour). To make it worse, the return bus had a defunct air conditioner and I was sweating profusely. A nightmare. I am just thinking that if Kuala Lumpur had such a problem with good management, how will Delhi handle the 110,000 people it boasts will be present for the F1 circuit there? Was glad to be back to the hotel. Freshened up and proceeded to SkyBar for a post F1 party.

Overall, a short but eventful stay. Would definitely recommend seeing a F1 race, just for the experience.

Back to India on Monday. Till next time!

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