Monaco - Monte Carlo - race day. For me it's the beginning of the end. I couldn't sleep until my alarm. Maybe I'm too excited by the prospect of the race, like a kid on Christmas day. Or maybe I'm not used to sleeping until 9am!? I'm pretty sure its the excitement. I have to be there by 11am. Aussie young gun Daniel Ricciardo will be racing in the Formula Renualt 3.5. Like Mark he won the race last year, and today he starts from pole position. From the time the lights go out until the chequered flag he leads, another great drive from the next Aussie in F1. It was a pretty action packed race with a few safety cars and some really amateurish crashes. It's hard to pass in Monaco but some of the stuff they were trying was ridiculous, needless to say a few cars got airborne. All drivers were fine and no one was injured, just some bent race cars and the national anthem. Before hand the national anthem to me hasn't had much significance, but to hear it in another country it was a very chest filling, proud moment. I don't know why in AFL finals they play the national anthem, maybe to remind everyone where they are? Seems a bit American to me. Bit off track there.
Speaking of off track. Yachts, multi million dollar mega luxury yachts litter the Monaco harbour, more so than 6 months ago, obviously! There was two big ones behind my stand. The Indian Empress and Force India. I even got to see the owner, Vijay Mallya, team owner of Force India F1. It was an interesting place to people watch, especially with rich Indians around! For my local seven eleven guys around the corner, I put in a good word! It was very cool as the drivers do a parade lap, this time all on the back of the F1 branded truck. Its a specially made truck to house all of the drivers as they wave to the crowd. Unfortunately they are all taking to each other so they don't do much waving. And if you have rotten fruit to throw you only get one good opportunity, if they are in individual cars you can target who you'd like to wamp. I think that's my new favourite word, wamp! But the cool part that I started to talk about it as the drivers are going around, the yachts are blowing their horns. Its such a cool sound that only the wealthy can do. Some of us commoners might have a air horn, but it pails in comparison to the yachts 'bull' horn. It's like comparing a house kitten to a Lion. Not only does it signify their wealth but also their appreciation for the drivers. There is a great atmosphere around Monaco. It's a race people come from all over the world to see. There are heaps of Aussie flags around too! It's a race with a special touch, housed in the second smallest country/principality with drivers, teams and fans from all over the world. It's a great place to impress sponsors and VIPs, and if you're either of those, take everything they give you! Before the race I chill out at the base of the grandstand, legs over the edge of the blue harbour out of the sun, taking in the moment, that I know I have to hold onto for the rest of my life. Once in a lifetime trip, you'd certainly think so. There is more phases in my life that will probably take priority over this cavalier travelling that I'm doing. Once in a lifetime trip, I certainly hope not! As much as I'm doing this trip with Liz, it's still special moments like one of my lifetime dreams that you want to share with someone. I don't think Liz understands how big this part of my trip is. This is the reason I'm over here. Monaco F1! The race itself is a spectacle, the most entertaining race in many years. Again not the best for our Mark Webber but it's a great racing spectacle, and it had everything, even some controversy. The warm up lap does two things, for the drivers they get to check everything on the car, warm the tyres and brakes. For the fans it's about the anticipation, it's about to start, next time me we see them they will be racing to win the jewel in the F1 championship, the 69th running of the Monaco Grand Prix! I still think it's funny I'm seeing the 69th one! If you don't get it, then your too young, or too old to do that anymore. All eyes are on the big screens, my ears are listening to the revs, you can tell which light sequence they are at by the revs. The main straight/grid is just 50 metres away, so you can hear it easily. Alonso gets another great start from the dirty side, he passes Mark into turn one, so it's Vettel, Button, Alonso and Webber. Similar to Barcelona, shit, bum, fuck, bugger! There are some faster drivers backed back in the pack due to poor qualifying yesterday, so they are trying their hardest to pass people on a track that is notoriously hard to overtake, but not impossible. One driver is trying harder than most, second in the championship Lewis Hamilton, formula ones first black driver, for south park fans he'd be called token. As much as I don't like Lewis, he's a bloody good driver and deserves the success he has had. Why don't I like him, it's his playboy image, his strut, arrogance and silly line of facial hair. I think anyone with a pencil line of facial hair is a tool. But he can drive and is not afraid to have a go. One of those people who would try a move that may kill him. It's a championship every race for Lewis, not a race in a championship. So he slowly makes his way through the pack, picking of far slower cars, nerfing (touching) Michael Schumacher out of the way to get past him, then has a collision with Massa, earned him a drive through penalty, then late in the race hit Pastor Maldonado who was driving his best race in his rookie year. After the race, Lewis was hit with another penalty for that hit too. They were both borderline "attempts" to overtake, not clean racing maneuvers. They deemed it to be making avoidable contact with another driver, which was the same with his first pace, but he did no damage to Schumacher's car. I his press release statement he was asked why do you think they penalized you so much, he said jokingly "maybe cause I'm black!"
The race was all over the place, bad pitstops ruined some races, Webber's included. A safety car, and with 9 laps to go the leaders were coming up to lap a few other drivers, in attempt to get out of the way, one car ran onto the marbles (tyre debris) slid back across onto the track making contact with two others. How the three leaders made there way through it without damage is beyond me. Webber dodged something similar last year with about 5 laps to go, two cars came together right in front of him, they looked like they were mounting each other (piggy backing for you young ones). After two laps behind the safety car they red flagged the race, one of the drivers had some pain in his leg and they had to get the ambulance and medical team. Apparently he's fine this morning and has been discharged from hospital with a sore ankle. This is the controversial part of the race, something that I didn't know and something that a few of the drivers didn't know. During a red flag situation, normally you cannot touch the cars of change anything. If 75% of any race is completed full point can be awarded. All F1 races are 300+km in length (besides Monaco 260km) or two hours in length. The race restarted at 4:05 and teams were allowed to touch their cars. Lewis had a damaged rear wing, Sebastian Vettel had very old tyres and the two drivers behind him had much fresher and faster tyres. So the advantage the drivers behind had was now gone, Seb had new tyres and Lewis had a fixed rear wing, which didn't effect his race at all. The only good thing to come of it was that Webber changed tyres too and gave him the speed to overtake after the restart. He had to overtake Kamui Kobayashi for fourth place. Kamui is one of the hardest guys to overtake, and a great driver to watch, he's always on the edge! I personally think the best japanese driver ever. With Webber's car coming alive with new tyres he made the pass on the exit of the tunnel, not easy, but he did it, it was a clean pass too! That was a bit of a fist pump moment for me too. That was as far as he was going to go, the guys at the front all had new tyres and they didn't get a chance to overtake Vettel. So two weekends, two F1 races, two Vettel wins, two Webber fouth places.
Then it all sinks in...... Its all over. No more racing. No more screams of F1 engines. I just stand there, looking around, taking it all in. It was quite an emotional moment for me. You look around and see the people going through what you are. It's hit them too. It's Monaco, and it's over. Talk about the all time buzz kill. The only thing I can take away is the ringing in my ears. I have photos, audio, video, a t-shirt, ticket and memories. I feel very flat and sad. You want to hold on to this for as long as possible. But you soon get ushers getting everyone out of the stands. I sent Pete a message and told him "shame it's over." He simply said "don't make it the only Monaco GP u see dude, that simple." I know I can, but it's not cheap and I have no idea what holds for me in the future, and where my priorities lay. That sinking feeling stays with me the whole night. I don't think Liz understand the gravity of this time, and what it means to me or what the weekend means to me. We've only been dating for a few months so she's a long way off knowing and understanding me, and I can't hold it against her. Most people reading this have known me for years and will understand just how big and important this trip is for me. Liz has known of me for over a year, but only spoke and hung out a but after I got back from yurop part I. You never really know how much something has an impact on your life until it's over. Something you're passionate about, whether it's family, friends, relationships, sport or even a cup of tea. It's not easy when it's at the end. And this moment is a sad one. Sure I can tick it off my bucket list, but that's it. A tick. It wouldn't have mattered if Webber had won or whatever, the event, the reason I'm in Europe again is over, that sadness and emptiness won't be shaken easily. Clichés aren't much use right now. Sure all good things come to an end, doesn't mean you want them to. And you don't want to hear them either. It doesn't help. I'm a realist and I know this feeling will go away, I know life goes on, and I know that everything will be OK.
It just sucks is all.....
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