F1 disappointment

seriously, F1 GP 2009 this year was really disappointing.

F1 Sepang Circuit

Significant Other had been trying to find out how much a grandstand ticket would cost if purchased at staff price. if the price was reasonable he would've gotten one for himself. the last time we visited the Sepang Circuit was in 2006 i think, but we were seated at the covered hillstand area so the view was't really swell (if you know what i mean), and the weather was sweltering hot and not very shady, which was not unusual for Malaysian weather. Significant Other was hoping to get an opportunity to take photos at the circuit using his SLR. unfortunately after asking around, even staff do not know how much the tickets actually cost (which goes to show that staff can easily get them for free, jergh). Significant Other had already decided not to go when my mil called me up and mentioned she had two extra tickets and if we were interested to go. so off we went.

the tickets was only useable on Race Day, so that Sunday morning we got our stuff ready and headed off to my parent-in-law's place. Significant Other insisted on bringing along his laptop, his SLR, the videocamera, his bonoculars, his tripod, the works, yada yada yada (if given the opportunity he would've hauled his Samsonite travel bag. like that i thought to myself, why not bring the whole house instead =P). we picked up our tickets, as well as my in-law siblings, Alfie and Amal, who brought along his 'girlfriend'. my mil only had tickets for four so i have no idea why she was tagging along. she supposedly bought a hillstand ticket but during the race i saw her wandering around the main section of the circuit complex alone. if she did actually purchase a ticket, i think it was a big waste of money.

so we left Dayana at my mil's and off we headed to Sepang. it drizzled a bit on the way there. luckily there wasn't heavy traffic getting to the circuit, just the usual congestion at the cicuit itself. we arrived at around 2pm. our designated parking area was PA2 but when we got there it was already half full and unfortunately the ground was already muddy due to the earlier rain and car tracks. Significant Other's car at one point got stuck in a mud hole so as he was trying to get the car free a whallop of mud flew in the air and decorated the side of the car T_T (luckily the windows weren't open, haha). i immediately regretted wearing my beige-colored Sketchers that day (i was also stupid not to remember that i should NEVER break new shoes during a long whole-day expedition such as this, haiz). we had to track across the muddy parking lot to get to the circuit, which i clearly did not enjoy. my shoes were soaking wet with a mixture of water and mud by the time we stepped onto the tar road.

traffic on the way to Sepang. note the dark clouds looming overhead

the sticker indicating our parking area...

... which eventually turned out to be a muddy pit

anyway, once there we went to Gate 2 and Gate 3 to get our tickets scanned and headed into the grandstand area. Alfie and Amal had tickets at Crystal that overlooked the Starting Lane, opposite the Pit Area. our tickets were at Tower 2 at Turn 15 of the track, located the furthest from the entry gates. we had to climb a flight of stairs to get to the tower. due to my stupid soaking shoes i developed blisters on my feet by the time we got to our seats, sigh. those seated at the tower were served lunch and tea, so we redeemed those with the vouchers provided. there was a couple seated in front of us who brought along a toddler, such a cute chubby little one. they stuffed her ears with pieces of tissue as earplug replacements to drown out the noise, poor thing. but the baby was looking pretty happy in her mother's arms. i guess the noise from the cicuit didn't bother her much. i hope she doesn't suffer from hearing problems when she grows up.

Significant Other and Alfie

Significant Other with his analog headphones

the cute little toddler's first F1 experience... i suppose

our tickets

the view of the starting line from our seats

fully utilizing my RuMe =P

for some reason this year's race was to start at 5pm, as opposed to 2pm like the previous years. some say it was due to the hot weather in Malaysia, some said it wanted to follow Singapore's lead of having a more 'cooler' race. i say it's just a bad judgment from dunno who's part. the trend of rainfall the past few days is rain during early afternoon, and another round of rain in the evening. so of course, it rained earlier at around 1pm+, and it started to rain again roughly about 45 minutes into the race. it started out with a drizzle which eventually turned into a steady downpour until the race was forced to be temporarily suspended. wth. i guess somebody's wish came true.

rain, as everyone knows, make the race more interesting as only then you will know who the skillful drivers really are. this is what Significant Other told me, anyway =P. but too much rain is... well, sucky. McLaren Mercedes and BMW Sauber each had a car retire due to the rain. lol. even the Safety Car wasn't exciting to see. haha. barely 31 laps was completed when they suspended the race. after leaving the crowd wondering what the heck was going on and whether the race was going to be continued, there was an announcement saying that the race would not be continued.

jergh. jergh. jergh.

that wasn't how i hoped the race would end, but what to do. the skies was already getting dark and the circuit was not equipped for night racing. sigh. me and Significant Other thought about all the people who had actually spent alot of money to purchase tickets to watch F1 and ended up experiencing such an outcome like this instead (sungguh anticlimax), which i think came to a total waste. i mean, you pay so and so and you expect to get a race worthy of your money right?

we trudged back to the car feeling rather disappointed. i didn't take alot of photos; i was feeling a little down myself. everything was wet and puddles were everywhere, it was steadily getting dark and we had to trudge along with huge crowds of people back to the entry gates. there was an after-race party but with the current circumstances we didn't feel like stopping by.

spectators seated at the hillstands, lepaking in the rain

the disappointed trudge back to the main gates

posing at the starting lane

last photo before heading back to the muddy parking lot

Dayana seems to be getting along better with my in-laws the dad's side better now. either that or she's growing up to be a big girl =D

clearly this wasn't the best F1 i've ever been to. i think watching the race in front of the TV would be sooo much better. even my mom, who's a fanatic F1 Ferrari fan, would agree with me.

let's hope for a better race next year.

thanks Mama for the tickets!