Road Sense
I have a confession to make — I was a die-hard Ferrari fan from way back. I became extremely loyal to the race when Michael Schumacher dominated the Formula One Grand Prix, and just naturally moved on to watch the races once in a while until after Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa moved on.
Last Sunday, I watched the 2020 Tuscan Ferrari 1000 Grand Prix, round 9 of the 2020 F1 season, intending only to stay until the drivers were on their way. But being a former fan, I could not help but stay on to watch until the 45th of the 59-lap event. By then, the race officials were assessing if my former favorite Kimi Raikonen would be given a penalty for entering the pit lane too soon.
Earlier, I watched Mick Schumacher drive his father’s (Michael Schumacher’s) seventh-title-winning F2004 for a high-speed run around Mugello. That was a lovely moment!
A whole new era
Yes, the drivers are getting younger, they must have been babies when Kimi Raikkonen won his first Formula One race as MacLaren-Mercedes driver in the 2003 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix.
I was there at the Sepang Race Circuit then and it was the first time I saw Kimi, kind of shy and reserved. What I do remember was that he spoke in a monotone, without commas or periods, and his facial expression hardly changed. It was difficult to get a good quote for my story.
Before the race started, I remember watching Michael Schumacher on the large TV monitor getting ready for the race, until he put on his helmet. The cameras followed him everywhere and stayed longer to capture his eyes. It’s like a spiritual moment, when the athlete starts to put off the real world and switch to another plane.
From that day on, I was a Michael Schumacher fan. I wore the same Ferrari shirt I had purchased at the Sepang Race Track on that day I saw Michael prepare for his race. I wore it every Sunday when there was a race. I even wore it to church before the race.
The Ferrari experience
In 2008, I was fortunate to be invited by Ferrari to watch the first Singapore Grand Prix at the Ferrari Hospitality Suite. That was a priceless experience which until today I still remember because Ferrari is truly a classic!
First, how Ferrari welcomes its guests. I stepped out of the plane to find a man holding a card with my name. I followed him to an e-vehicle (the ones you see inside the airports). He drove me to the end of the airport, to a place where VIPs are processed by an immigration officer. That was my first time to have that kind of welcome. The immigration officer had to ask me for my passport. At the lounge, I was asked what I wanted to drink while waiting for my luggage to be claimed and for the short drive from the airport to the hotel. And would I prefer a cold or a hot towel in the car?
Then, the races — from the practice sessions, to the pole positions, to race day — are not casual events. Before the trip, I was advised to wear something more formal; not slacks and especially not denims. At the Ferrari Hospitality Suite, the guests — especially the Ferrari executives and their spouses — were dressed in formal attire.
The room was ringed by long buffet tables with sections for Chinese, Italian and a mix of international cuisine. Waiters refilled the plates before they were empty. The food changed according to the time of the day — from lunch, afternoon tea, cocktails and dinner.
Large bouquets of deep red long stemmed roses were around the room: on the buffet tables, on each round table for the guests, at the corners of the room.
On our table, each of us in the media group from South East Asia had a “kangaroo tv monitor” where we could view the race as people watched it on tv, hear the conversations of the drivers and the engineers, get real time figures on the lap times, plus a running commentary on the race. It was the coolest gadget then, but I remember one of the media guests who said he was from a lifestyle section of a newspaper in Malaysia lending it to a friend he bumped into outside the suite.
Of course, we had the best view of the race! The glass wall facing the race track was directly above the pit lane, where we all witnessed each pitstop, including the one when Felipe Massa drove off even before the fuel hose had been taken out of his car!
That was my closest encounter with a Formula One Grand Prix. The next time I was at the Singapore F1, I watched the race from the grandstand at Turn 1.
I’ve watched other F1 races in other countries but nothing could beat that race weekend when I was a guest of Ferrari in Singapore.
And that’s why I just had to watch Ferrari celebrate its 1000th grand prix. From a spectacular concert in Florence to the sky-divers floating down the sky with the huge Ferrari and Italian flags and landing on the Mugello race track — Ferrari tells the world why it is “The Ferrari.”
And now, I am again a Ferrari fan.