Today was the day, the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix. And it was some race. Fernando Alonso, the pole-sitter, went out of the race early on when one of his tires flew off his car. So LEWIS HAMILTON took the lead; last year’s world champion hasn’t won a single race all year. And today he won his first of the season. And we were there, it was incredible.
Tag: f1
Today was a terrifying day at Hungaroring. It was Qualifying, the day when drivers compete to see who will start from Pole Position on the grid (that’s first place). It has nothing to do with points or winning the race, but the further front you are, the more likely you are to have a chance at winning tomorrow. It’s knockout qualifying in 3 rounds for the 20 drivers, so after Round 1 the bottom 5 are cut, then the next five, and then the final round decides the top 10 positions for the race.
Today was our first full day in Hungary, and it was just as hot. But Adam’s brother, father, and stepmother arrived at 2 this morning, so we’ve been together all day. We walked along the Danube this morning and then made our way out to Hungororing for the Formula One afternoon practice session. It was mercifully shady in our “Super Gold” pass seats, right across from the pit lane! We didn’t actually get to see many drivers today, and I’m worried that Adam won’t get the photos he’s after with his fancy camera. The track is very fenced in, it’s hard to get close to the main track fence for photos. But it was still fantastic, and I bought a Rubens Barrichello Brawn hat…I have picked my team and driver.
It took about 13.5 hours total, but we made it to Budapest. The city is beautiful, and incredibly hot. Upper 80s into the low 90s today. It was mid-afternoon by the time we arrived at our hotel, Sofitel. So we cleaned up, did a little sightseeing, and then came back to lay around in the air conditioning. And to eat dinner in the hotel restaurant, which is actually kind of wonderful. I don’t always like hotel restaurants, but this one is really fun.
Formula One is back.
The Australian Grand Prix is on Sunday, and here in the Reeve household it’s been a long, dark time since the season ended last November. I have literally been counting down the months and days since the extremely cool Lewis Hamilton took the championship in a huge upset during the Brazilian Grand Prix. Some people have baseball season and the rest of the year, some have football season and the rest of the year. I have F1 and the rest of the year.