Part 3
Friday and a day off in Monaco and a bit of a lie in for me! I'd had a dream that I'd been chatting to Michael in a bar and it just gave me the weirdest feeling that I would get to see him up close soon. We left the hotel a bit later today and went by road from Nice all along the coast road to Monaco. Stopping for photos on the way. The weather was gorgeous, as it had benn pretty much all weekend so far - so much for the forecast. We were dropped on the outskits of Monaco just before midday and I hooked up with a couple of Mark Webber fans called rachel and Christine. We walked down to the harbour at Fontvielle which is supposedly where a lot of the drivers have their apartments. It was pretty quiet though. Found an F1 museum where I couldn't resist groping one of Michael's old race suits/ We then popped in to probably Jenson's local supermarket to get some lunch and took the short walk through to where the circuit was. I decided to show the girls the way I'd gone the night before so we headed up above Rocher and out to the end again where we stopped to eat lunch. Then it was down the steps and down by the paddock again.
First driver we saw was Karun Chandhok who was signing autographs through the fence. Then down to Renault and we could see Robert Kubica through the glass inside the motorhome. We made our way down to Red Bull and the girls were looking for Mark Webber. I think we saw everybody else! We then decided to go for our pitlane walk which everyone with a weekend grandstand ticket can do. Took us a while to find the way in - seemed we had to go in through the pitlane exit and walk up. There was an interesting noticeboard with various FIA statements about how many engines drivers had used and who was on a new gearbox. Plus a statement that Jenson had been fined for speeding in the pitlane lol.
We wandered slowly up past the garages but as I said - pitlane walks are overrated really because you don't see any drivers, just a few hairy arsed mechanics pottering about the garage. As we reached the Mercedes garage I looked across to the stand opposite to work out my seat for tomorrow. A quick photo on maximum zoom and then zoom in again and I could read the seat numbers. Blimey I'd be right opposite Michael's garage! Suddenly there was a distraction as someone pulled up to the Mercedes garage on a motorbike.
It was Michael!!
He hopped off the bike and went oin to the garage to talk with the mechanics, Ross Brawn seemed to appear from nowhere, they gave each other a hug and after about 5 minutes Michael got back on his bike and went again but that had made my day!! Managed to get quite a few pics including a great one which will be in my all time best pics of Michael. Of course after that I HAD to go in to town and buy the t-shirt I'd seen the day before.
We wandered about town for a bit and then went down on to the track and Tabac and walked a long. The 2 girls then decided that they were going to walk the track but I wanted to go back to the paddock so I said I'd see them later. No sooner had I got to the Red Bull motorhome though than I spied Mark Webber! I didn't have either of their numbers so the best I could do for them was to take some pics. managed to bump in to Fran again and she said that she'd been to Stars and Bars which was round the other side of the paddock and it was a good place to see drivers also so we went round there for a drink.
We got a table right next to the fence and for the time it took to drink a beer we saw Jackie Stewart, Frank Williams, Vitaly Petrov and Pedro de la Rosa.
I really couldn't believe how many drivers I was seeing up close. It was getting ridiculous! To the point where I was stood by the Ferrari motorhome and thought to myself that I hadn't seen Felipe up close - and with that he walked round the corner!
Took some more photos of Mark Webber and jaime Alguersuari at the Red Bull motorhome plus Liuzzi getting on a boat and then it was time to get the train back to the hotel.
First driver we saw was Karun Chandhok who was signing autographs through the fence. Then down to Renault and we could see Robert Kubica through the glass inside the motorhome. We made our way down to Red Bull and the girls were looking for Mark Webber. I think we saw everybody else! We then decided to go for our pitlane walk which everyone with a weekend grandstand ticket can do. Took us a while to find the way in - seemed we had to go in through the pitlane exit and walk up. There was an interesting noticeboard with various FIA statements about how many engines drivers had used and who was on a new gearbox. Plus a statement that Jenson had been fined for speeding in the pitlane lol.
We wandered slowly up past the garages but as I said - pitlane walks are overrated really because you don't see any drivers, just a few hairy arsed mechanics pottering about the garage. As we reached the Mercedes garage I looked across to the stand opposite to work out my seat for tomorrow. A quick photo on maximum zoom and then zoom in again and I could read the seat numbers. Blimey I'd be right opposite Michael's garage! Suddenly there was a distraction as someone pulled up to the Mercedes garage on a motorbike.
It was Michael!!
He hopped off the bike and went oin to the garage to talk with the mechanics, Ross Brawn seemed to appear from nowhere, they gave each other a hug and after about 5 minutes Michael got back on his bike and went again but that had made my day!! Managed to get quite a few pics including a great one which will be in my all time best pics of Michael. Of course after that I HAD to go in to town and buy the t-shirt I'd seen the day before.
We wandered about town for a bit and then went down on to the track and Tabac and walked a long. The 2 girls then decided that they were going to walk the track but I wanted to go back to the paddock so I said I'd see them later. No sooner had I got to the Red Bull motorhome though than I spied Mark Webber! I didn't have either of their numbers so the best I could do for them was to take some pics. managed to bump in to Fran again and she said that she'd been to Stars and Bars which was round the other side of the paddock and it was a good place to see drivers also so we went round there for a drink.
We got a table right next to the fence and for the time it took to drink a beer we saw Jackie Stewart, Frank Williams, Vitaly Petrov and Pedro de la Rosa.
I really couldn't believe how many drivers I was seeing up close. It was getting ridiculous! To the point where I was stood by the Ferrari motorhome and thought to myself that I hadn't seen Felipe up close - and with that he walked round the corner!
Took some more photos of Mark Webber and jaime Alguersuari at the Red Bull motorhome plus Liuzzi getting on a boat and then it was time to get the train back to the hotel.