The heaven of the fans

Do you think racing is close to you? Do you think F1 does everything for the fans? You have always wondered about the mysterious Paddock pass, haven’t you? You’re not alone.

Nowadays it’s so hard to meet your favourite driver. You have a chance before the races at the autograph sessions or if you go to the drivers’ hotel  (but there is only a small chance to meet them and you must wait long hours). You can also find your favs in other racing events (like in Hungary at the Great Race or in the UK, at F1 Live).

When we see a celebrity, spotted by the cameras in one of the teams’ hospitality we all become a bit envy. Why them? And here comes the well-known sentence: they don’t even understand racing! Well, it’s true most of the time. They are there to take photos because it’s cool and watch how fast “that red car” is. Whoever the driver is. Also, these people don’t even have to be famous: if you have 5000$, welcome to the Paddock! Yes, it’s sad, that not the real fans get close to their beloved ones, but those, who have the fame or the financial background. We could save our money for 10 years to finally get a ticket.. no kidding.

However, a French Kimi fan has already experienced a lovely invitation to Raikkönen. We all remember the little fan, who burst into tears after his favourite retired from the race. Of course, not all of us are children anymore. We have to accept that he was lucky to be shown on the cameras, and it was an exceptional case in the Paddock’s life.

But F1 and also other series have a pit walk usually on Thursday afternoon. Please, tell us if anyone had fun in that situation! Crowdy, stinky, hot and uncomfortable! Not to mention that only those have the chance to see the drivers or even anything who are fast and can make it to the front rows. We have memories about it, good and bad ones, too from 2016, when both of us could take a picture with Gutierrez and Ricciardo! We were fast and we had been waiting for 5 hours in front of the main entrance. The number of people trying to get closer while pushing us was uncountable. Well, of course, all of these people wanted a picture, an autograph from every driver… It was impossible. We’ve never felt that inconvenience before.
On Saturday and Sunday there was a red carpet in front of the entrance. That was close to the drivers, we loved that! But the case was the same. Only those in the front row could take pictures and have autographs from them. We were out of breath there as well. We were a bit disappointed due to the crowd, but that weekend was just great and unbelievable, so we could forget all the bad things. It was worth it. For the memories and these pictures! 😀

Have you ever had such experiences? How could the organizers solve these “crowdy problems”? Or are you satisfied with the current organizations?