on the road to the 2012 indian gp with darshan chokhani
The beginning of the adventure
I didn’t decide to go for the Grand Prix in the first place as I had some important work to be completed in the week after the GP but missing the GP was like missing my food. With no plans made, I causally entered into a contest by Monster India in association with Marussia F1 Team, the prize on offer was mind bobbling. To my ultimate surprise I won it out of all in India, after they checked my blogs and took a phone interview of mine.
I was told, I was going to miss the Friday sessions as it was my travelling day and I had to be at the Monster India office in Gurgaon. It was an early morning flight but was worth it surely. I was welcomed well in the Monster India office as I met all the people there including the MD Mr.Sanjay Modi. All I could do is check the results online of the sessions but that was all OK considering the Saturday, I was going to have. As it was all expense paid trip, I had my own car and hotel room which gave me all together a different feeling. |
Saturday
Everything was set for a super Saturday, I was very much looking forward to get into the paddock. For FP3, I was seated at the main grandstand and I got the first hand view of all the garages. I was seated opposite to the Force India garage with podium, Lotus, Mercedes garage at my diagonals. The noise of the cars was immense, I had heard last year but it was a bit different from the grandstand. The session zipped through clicking pictures and checking out all the things the teams doing. For the first time I was waiting for the session to get over so that I can get into the paddock right away.
The moment arrived as the Marussia PR came out to pick me up and there I was walking through the underground tunnel from the grandstand towards the paddock or as I named it as heaven. The first person I saw was Martin Brundle as I came towards the gate and after entering I saw Bob Fernley with Force India guests. I went straight into the Marussia garage area and into their motorhome, met with Graeme Lowdon, their President & Sporting Director and I was told that I’ll be interviewing him towards the end of my time. After this I was told to have a look at the paddock and get the feel of it. The first person I met, Mr. Sameer Gaur the man behind BIC or F1 in India. It was a good small chat with him with F1 in India. As I moved on, I heard 80’s Bollywood song coming out from Mercedes garage and I asked them if they understood something, their reply, “No but it’s actually fun listening and perhaps shaking some legs on it”, that’s how one enjoys. McLaren mechanics were cleaning some car parts which seemed like hair dresser and when I said this to them, they just burst out in laughter. I met up with van Garde, Chilton & Bottas while walking and after that went straight into the Marussia garage, my first time ever in there.
The moment arrived as the Marussia PR came out to pick me up and there I was walking through the underground tunnel from the grandstand towards the paddock or as I named it as heaven. The first person I saw was Martin Brundle as I came towards the gate and after entering I saw Bob Fernley with Force India guests. I went straight into the Marussia garage area and into their motorhome, met with Graeme Lowdon, their President & Sporting Director and I was told that I’ll be interviewing him towards the end of my time. After this I was told to have a look at the paddock and get the feel of it. The first person I met, Mr. Sameer Gaur the man behind BIC or F1 in India. It was a good small chat with him with F1 in India. As I moved on, I heard 80’s Bollywood song coming out from Mercedes garage and I asked them if they understood something, their reply, “No but it’s actually fun listening and perhaps shaking some legs on it”, that’s how one enjoys. McLaren mechanics were cleaning some car parts which seemed like hair dresser and when I said this to them, they just burst out in laughter. I met up with van Garde, Chilton & Bottas while walking and after that went straight into the Marussia garage, my first time ever in there.
The mechanics in the garage were working on the car quite frantically as Timo & Charles came in and quickly settled in their car. I was standing behind Charles car’s, wearing those fancy headgears listening to the talk between Charles and his engineer. The mechanics keep on working even after the car leaves, cleaning the whole area quickly which shows how important every persons work is. I have only heard about the heat inside the garage but seriously I could feel it specially when the car came in, it was too hot. Hats off to the mechanics who just have to work on. Post the session the FIA cameraman came in behind Pic and for a brief moment I was on the FOM TV, pretty famous now.
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I went in straight to the Media Pen where I met with almost all of the drivers, with very little time it was just a small hi & hello. But think that was enough for me, as only in dreams I could think of doing something like this. One funny thing happened was that I almost bumped into Perez, thank goodness both of us evaded at the right time. There I met with Grosjean’s tyre cleaner who amidst all that was doing his job. He answered all my queries thus making it a super chat with him also sharing his experiences in F1, India. |
I then went in for my Marussia garage tour, the guy helping us the tour was brilliant. I got the in had view of the car all opened up and worked up. I have only watched all these on TV, it was a bit surreal actually. I saw Anthony Hamilton, Natalie Pinkham, Ted, Jake, Jennie, Will, various other journalists and whole of Sky team covering the proceedings. |
It was then time for me to sit down with Graeme Lowdon to have a brief chat. I must say, he is quite a passionate man and wants to succeed, do well with his team. We talked upon various things including India, BIC where he insisted that they would not want to lose India as a potential market plus the fantastic track which already becoming one of the best in the world. We also touched upon Marussia’s progress, specially them being at P10 position in CC and for the first time defending their position rather than fighting for it. He mentioned that though we can say Charles is by far the best rookie on the grid beating his teammate but Timo has helped him a lot throughout the year. It was said to be a 20 minutes talk but it stretched well beyond to about 40 minutes in the end.
My day in the paddock was almost over but then it wasn’t. With Marussia’s team permission and some friends at Sahara Force India, I actually got the tour of SFI garage as well. It was just the icing on the cake really. There I met with Bianchi who had just finished with a track run, good to see them getting involved even though they don’t race.
While coming back to Marussia, I caught up with Dr. Mallya who was chatting with Monisha in the Sauber hospitality. Interestingly, Kobayashi was watching them quietly from the hospitality’s above room. That was my time at the paddock, really thank Marussia for this opportunity. I think every fan should get a chance to be at the paddock.
sunday
The raceday was fun, I went in early morning and spent some time in F1 Village with my friends. I headed to the grandstand as I watched the pre-race preparation and grid presentation. From there I saw Harbhajan Singh, Ajay Devgn, Sonaskshi Sinha, Sania Mirza, Shoaib Malik, Mohd Azharuddin, Vicky Chandhok, Dr. Mallya, Bernie Ecclestone, Nikki Lauda, Martin Whitmartish, Nobert Haug, Christian Horner and all the drivers of course. The drivers parade was different from last year as this time it was done in the huge truck. The install lap was done as the cars headed to start/finish line and it was like everyone from pit garage was there. I also got the in had view of the mayhem when formation lap starts.
The race was bit like okish in the end with some good racing in patches. I didn’t realize but I took a video of the famous McLaren 5 wheel pit stop. Alonso seemed the clear favourite of many as he got the loudest cheers post race during podium. Post race I decided to wait and beat the traffic and perhaps it was good idea as I got to see what happens post a race is over. The teams quickly started to demolish the garage and put everything inside. FIA were checking all the cars one by one as Hulk’s was kept in a different room, perhaps being checked for fuel. I was seeing how they do it. Sam Micheal & Andy Stevenson were there standing and chatting. By that time, it was time for RBR team photograph but unfortunately it was going on, on our side and so I couldn’t see. But I did get to see BBC & Sky people and even Vettel, Marko.
After that I saw some of Jake & David’s dancing as they were getting ready for BBC Forum which am sure not many got to see (the dancing part). At least they waved to the handful of people there. The track looked stunning in the night. Once again I was one of the few left to leave the track, of course spectator wise. All in all it was one hell of a weekend for me. I mean, not everyday we can get into the paddock or garage and watch things up close. I feel a proud fan in the end and believe that I should be there one day working, my next dream. And dreams do come true. |