How my weekend went...a photo essay of the 2008 Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix

[Exarkun]

You may remember me from my last year's thread here.

Again let me stress english is my second language...so excuse me for the grammatical and spelling errors.

-------------------------------------

What is it with me and F1...? I'm really not too sure myself. I began following the sport circa 1996 when I was still studying in Sydney, Australia. Flipping through the channels one day resulted in me landing on to the 1996 Melbourne race. From that moment on I was hooked!

It's the technology...

It's the cars...

It's the glamour...

It's the excitement...

It's EVERYTHING.

Last year was the first year I went to Sepang with a DSLR, a Nikon D50. Previous 6 years before that, I went with an assortment of point & shoots. Pics sucks back then.. not that it is any better now. Hehe...

Anyways, I realised I have been to the Sepang Formula 1 race 8 years in a row, including this year.

#1. All the saved Paddock Club tags that I have. I lost 2001 tag..damn...(2008 is on the far left)

I thought this year I would be missing out. After 8 years of being invited by Mercedes Benz, I couldn't count on my good luck continuing.

But on Friday night, the tickets and package arrived! But what?? No Saturday, oh well. Sunday is still good enough.

Come Saturday morning, I received a call, saying they want to give me ONE Saturday ticket. Holy crap!! Time to rush! Luckily the night before I decided on a whim that I better charge the batteries and check the D80. True enough, I needed them.

Sped like a maniac and arrived at PG3 (Designated parking I was given) around 11am.

#2. PG3 Parking. Still empty cause I'm relatively early.

After flagging down the free shuttle from PG3... I arrived here.
#3.

Quickly walked up (after being tagged and given a freebie Sepang F1 guide and earplugs)..

#4. and ended up here.

#5. Inside the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

It is CONSIDERABLY smaller than previous years. I was actually surprised by the size. I had to back out to check the logo at the door to make sure I entered the right suite.

Then I remembered! McLaren was fined US$150 million for their role in the 'SpyGate' saga last year. And they were excluded from the championship, effectively making them last. I guess this is their way of cutting costs. Let me tell you, previous years' suite was three times bigger than this years'.

*Note: All shots taken with Nikon D80 (I upgraded! Second hand! Yay!) and 18-200mm VR (My trusty 2 year old lens that served me so so well) . No other lens were hurt during the making of this thread..hehe..

 

[Exarkun]

Saturday 22 March 2008

Then I heard engine noises. Argh... it's free practice at 11am! I'm late! Ran upstairs, pull out my trusty yet new (to me) D80 and began setting up. Scores of cars whizzed by while I did my settings... curses.

But in the end, did manage to get few of these shots.

By the way I STILL miss the V10 engine shriek. When I first heard the V10 in anger, on track, unfiltered and unadultered eight years ago, I had chills running down my spine. It was such an awe inspiring sound. The V8s didn't do much for me...


#6. David Coulthard of Redbull Racing

#7. Multiple ChampCar champion Sebastien Bourdais now driving for Toro Rosso. He's known as Le Seb internally by the team, to differentiate him and Sebastian Vettel who is now called Der Seb. (French and German respectively.. get it?)

#8. Ol cranky pants Fernando Alonso now back with Renault. (Sour grape..)

#9. and his team mate Nelson Piquet Jr. Promoted to full race seat after being their third driver last year. Hope he beats Alonso regularly so that the dude can deflate his big ego...

#10. Wonderboy Lewis Hamilton. (I leaned out very far over the railings to get this shot. Helped by few other professional photographers by holding on to my pants. THANKS GUYS!!)

#11. Giancarlo Fisichella. Now with Force India.

 

[Exarkun]

By 12pm, practice session ended and my stomach was complaining to me. Checked the schedule (oh so helpfully given by McLaren) that it is time for lunch. Yumm...

Went back down to the suite and cooled off with ice cold Coke and still water.

#12.

Soon the starter arrived. Salmon coated in seaweed. Very minimalistic food in the Paddock. I guess this is what fine dining looks like...

#13. The Starter. Don't be fooled by that funky green with red drink looking thing. It came with a straw so I though I must sip it. I ALMOST GAGGED AND PUKED when I tasted it. Its some sort of Chili and dunno what sauce!! WHY GIVE THE THING WITH A STRAW IF IT'S NOT MEANT TO BE SIPPED??

#14. Whats for lunch? Here's the menu...

Saturday's lunch wasn't that spectacular. Didn't eat much. There was a rack of lamb but the hungry wolves in the suite all attacked the chef faster than I can fart. Only managed to get ONE piece of the lamb. Sigh...

Then it was time for the pitwalk.


#15. Oooo. dark clouds... will it rain?

 

[Exarkun]

#16. Ferrari mechanics fixing the nose cone to Felipe Massa's car.

#17. Said nose in a close up.

#18. Robert Kubica's car being worked on.

#19. Alex Yoong, our Malaysian ONLY F1 driver. Former F1 driver. Now an A1GP driver.

#20. And wife Ariana Teoh. They came with their son Alister but didn't manage to take his pic.

#21. "Stupid airgun keep dying on me. Now Patrick Head wants me to tighten the nut with my fingers?? Old man is going senile I tell ya.."

 

[Exarkun]

#22. Details of the MP4-23.

You guys don't mind me running the commentaries right? I'm providing this to the less informed Formula 1 fans out there.

#23. Air intake on the nose of the MP4-23

#24. Glimpse of the Mercedes Benz FO108V

Then I was distracted by the sound of running feet. Photographers' running feet. Something must be up. Must follow!

#25. Oooo Vijay Mallya, owner of Force India team, with 3 Indian babes...

#26.
Petronas Girl 1: I shoot shoot you in front of Kimi's garage...
Petronas Girl 2: oOO... Kimi is sooo dreamy...
Me: He's married to Miss Finland...you girls have no chance whatsoever....eh.. can I shoot you instead?

 

[Exarkun]

#27. Petronas Girls. For all you red blooded males out there...

#28.

#29.

#30. Peter Sauber, smiling because he's surrounded by Petronas' Girls.

#31. Tan Sri Hassan Marican CEO of Petronas, smiling because he's surrounded by Petronas' Girls too... I mean, who wouldn't? Hehe...

 

[Exarkun]

#32. Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer of Force India.

#33.

Then we were alerted by a loud hailer that PitWalk seesion is over. PLEASE LEAVE THE PITLANE NOW. PLEASE LEAVE THE PITLANE NOW! But but... I'm not done taking pics of babes yet...sniff:'(

#34. One parting shot for you guys before I head up to the roof for qualifying.

Before heading for the roof again (only can shoot from roof with Paddock Club access) made a quick stop at the toilet and then picked up a bottle of still water. Also smeared generous amount of sunblock.

Last year I forgot to bring sunblock and ended up as red as boiled lobster!

#35. Qualifying officially begins. Heikki Kovalainen heading out from garage.

#36. Kazuki Nakajima of AT&T Williams also getting ready to head out.

 

[Exarkun]

#37. Lewis Hamilton arriving back to the McLaren pit after a few runs.

#38. and pushed back into the garage.

#39.
Ferrari Man: Eh see your data...
Williams Man: Sure.. no problem...
Me: OI! YOU TWO NOT AFRAID OF SPYGATE II???

#40.
Man 1: Heavy...
Man 2: Shut up you...

#41. Takuma Sato of Super Aguri.

 

[Exarkun]

#42. Jarno Trulli of Panasonic Toyota Racing.

Excuse the angles guys. There's only so much angle you can take from the roof. After a while it does get a bit repetitive. I'll try to insert other 'human' and 'atmospheric' shots in between to break the repetitiveness.


#43. Ol cranky pants Fernando Alonso again. Where's the supposedly 6/10th of a second you bring to a team?? Huh?? HUh??? (For those who don't understand that line, let me explain. Last year Fernando Alonso started getting very vocal when Lewis Hamilton regularly beat him when they were together at McLaren. Alonso here even began claiming that because of him that McLaren gained 6/10th of a second a lap through his feedback. With that he famously said that HE should receive PREFERENTIAL treatment and not Lewis, this is despite McLaren time old policy of equal drivers and equal equipment.)

#44. McLaren man trying to look as macho as possible for the cameras above him.

#45. Adrian Sutil of Force India.

 

[Exarkun]

#46. AT&T Williams, powered by Toyota.

#47. Lewis Hamilton's fans! WOOO!! GO LEWIS.. (Them.. not me.. i'm not a Lewis fan..)

#48. Jenson Button of Honda Racing. Hopefully this year Honda is not as crappy as last years'.

#49. The quest for the perfect angle...

#50. Hey is Kimi looking at me?? Is he?? Is he???

 

[Exarkun]

#51. Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing.

#52. Note that this year there are more Nikons among the professional photographers. Looks like the D3 is winning the hearts and mind of pros. Last year it was a sea of Canon lenses. This year, black lenses are more noticeable.

#53. Ferrari is the only team this year doing away with the lollipop thingy. They now have an electronics version of the lollipop. Seen hanging from the airgun gantry. One of the team member holds the control to the display that the drivers need to see.

#54. Kimi's pit stop before his final qualifying run.

#55. Nick Heidfeld coming in for his final pitstop during qualifying.

#56.

 

[Exarkun]

Before I knew it, qualifying was over. Time sure flies when you're having fun. I checked my pictures through the LCD. I gather I got like 3 out of 10 good shots. Sigh... more practice needed.

I then ran to the other end of the roof to catch a glimpse of the top three qualifiers. For a fat boy like me, running across the roof is exhausting. Couple that with a hanging camera... I ran out of breath halfway.. Hahah... then proceed to walk leisurely.

#57. The pole sitter.

#58. Top three qualifiers. However, I learned later on that Heikki got pushed down 5 places as a penalty for blocking someone during qualifying. Same goes for Lewis.

#59. Now that the show is over for the day, time to clean things. You know, I wouldn't mind washing the tyres every weekend if that brings me to all the races all over the world. Just gimme the job for 1 year and I'll be happy. Ron, you reading this? Give a boy from backwater country like Malaysia a chance to travel to all the grand prix venues. Hehe..

#60. Just as I headed out of McLaren suite, I bumped into Kubica and managed to take his photo.

The drive back home was wet. It was raining cats and dogs. Amazingly it rained right after qualifying was over. I guess all the witch doctor the SIC paid to ward away the rain paid off.

Will continue Sunday happenings after this.

 

[Exarkun]

Sunday 23rd March 2008

It is SUNDAY!!! WOOHOOO!! Woke up very early and rechecked the camera.

D80, check.

MB-D80, check.

2 EN-EL3E, check.

SD cards, check. (1x 2GB Ultra II, 3x assorted 'normal' speed 1GB SD cards)

Finger can press shutter, check. (This one is important! What if my fingers get cramped? How? How??)

Fired a few test shots and kept everything in my Lowepro Slingshot 200AW.

Threw everything into the boot of my car and sped my way to Sepang at 9:30am. Why so early? Well, previous years experience thought me to go early. Even though you got nothing to do with no action on the track, GO EARLY. Because by 11am, the jam would surely have begun and you get stuck there following a train of cars, directed by men in white. Brake, accelerate, brake, accelerate, brake, accelerate.. rinse and repeat.

So I had clear road all the way to my usual parking spot, PG3. No I didn't get Paddock parking. Of all the 8 years, only once did I get to park in the Paddock parking itself. Other years I have to take the shuttle from PG3 to the entrance of the paddock.

At 10:00am, the paddock is still quite quiet. There were support races going on, Formula BMW and GP2 but none of the F1 people are out and about. So I ended up eating breakfast in the McLaren suite and chilling.

By 11-1130am I was getting restless, so decided to go out and see if there's anything interesting to shoot.

#58. Sebastian Vettel (Der Seb, remember?) was walking around..cool.. shoot him..

#59. A wall of Dry Tyres? Shoot that too.

I then wandered into the common Paddock suite. (Each team have their own suite but SIC also have one suite known as the common suite.) They have two sketch artists drawing you, a PS3 station with steering and pedals, a foot massage area, ice cream bar, drinks bar and the souvenir area.

#60. Bernie Ecclestone. Head Honcho of F1. Big Boss. Everything goes through him. Super rich. Hands shaking when taking his picture.

 

[Exarkun]

After hanging out a while in the common suite, I checked the schedule (the one McLaren so helpfully give to every member) and realised that one of their driver is going to visit the McLaren suite.

Panic...

RUN!!! to McLaren. Phew... he's not there yet. Took the seat nearest to the smallish stage and waited.

#61. It's Lewis!! (Wait, I thought I'm not a fan? Then why so excited? Confuse confuse..)

After his appearance I tried to get him to sign my McLaren cap (as instructed by my lovely wife before letting me go to Sepang today). But the vultures in the paddock were vicious I tell ya! VICIOUS! And these are the glims and glams of the corporate world! Not some hooligan you see on the streets. I got pushed left and right. People were clambering on top of each other to get his autograph. It's like his signature will bring fortune to them.

They'll be lucky to just triple the amount of the mechandise that Lewis signed when they post it on eBay.

Alas, I failed to get his signature.... sorry Honey... I tried... I really tried...sniff.

As I followed him out, I noticed two drivers in Force India suite. When the prospect of getting Lewis signature went to nil, I parked myself in front of Force India and waited.

Score!
#62. Giancarlo Fisichella

Score again!

#63. Adrian Sutil

 

[Exarkun]

I then point my camera to behind the paddock.

#64. But did notice Ron Dennis (Big Boss of McLaren) coming out of his office with his number 2, Martin Whitmarsh.

#65. He then had a discussion with Martin and Norbert Haug of Mercedes Benz.
Ron Dennis: I wanna retire but you guys don't let me.
Martin: Cannot! You work till you die!
Ron Dennis: My wife left me you know.
Norbert: Is that our problem?? (Note dialog is the product of my twisted mind and not in any way to be taken as the truth. However Ron Dennis really is separating from his wife) (Better state that before Ron Dennis sue me...)

#66. Girl radar in brain said got something to shoot behind. So twisted around and fired..

Schedule said LUNCH!!!

#67. Starter. Lil bits of lobster doused with mango chutney. Whatever that is...

#68. Lunch was much much better than Saturdays'. Roast beef with penne pasta in cream sauce, grilled fish, green lookin risotto and pandan chicken. Got vege also but I don't eat vege.. hehe..

Damnit, looking at the food making me hungry again and I JUST HAD dinner before continuing the thread. (That's why I'm fat and unhealthy...)

 

[Exarkun]

As soon as I finished lunch, I got a tap from one of the McLaren PR people. "You wanna go down to the McLaren garage? As in inside?" DO I?!

Waited till the PR person collected 5 more people then we all headed down to the McLaren garage.

#69. On the way down we bumped into Massa. Quick snap! The black strip on the left is my camera strap getting into the shot.

#70. "Invited guests only." Wah.. feel so important...until impotent.

#71. MP4-23 without the wheels.

#72. Wonder what will happen if a cigarette butt went into that drum? BOOM? Can see the news headline if that happened "Stupid man trying to prove that flammable liquid is flammable, duh"

#73. Laptops that controls Kovy's car?

#74.

 

[Exarkun]

We then were told that the 'official' PitWalk for the day is now in session. So we crossed the pitlane line and mingle with the rest of the glims and glams.

#75. The line that separates the pit and the public.

#76. Renault R28 being worked on. Note that they cannot do much after qualifying because the cars need to be in almost the same condition for the race as they were for qualifying.

#77. HEY! The bald chick photographer from last year is back!!

#78.
Man on the right: When I grow up, I want to own big big lenses just like you guys!

 

[Exarkun]

#79. The Formula 1 Safety Car. A 2008 Mercedes Benz SL 63 AMG.

The drivers parade began shortly and I managed to capture a few shots. Most end up being unusable because the drivers looked towards the grandstand and not the pitlane when they drove by. So hence the crappy shots...


#80. Felipe Massa on a Ferrari Dino.

#81. Kimi Raikonnen on a Ferrari Dino too. (Not sure about this. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

#82. The quest for the perfect angle II.

#83. Fernando Alonso

#84. Heikki Kovalainen

 

[Exarkun]

After the driver all have gone off I turned back towards the pit and looked for interesting scenes to shoot.

#85. Mark Webber's RB4 being wheeled to the FIA scrutineers.

#86. Then came shouting in Italian. I guess it must have meant: "MOVE AWAY AWESOME CAR COMING THROUGH"

#87. Back view of the Kimi's F2008 waiting in line.

Then I heard claps and shouts down the pitlane and went to investigate.

#88. It's Tun Dr. Mahathir (former Malaysian Prime Minister) in BMW Sauber team suite! He's still popular from the looks of it. Everyone was waving at him and taking his photo.

#89. MP4-23. The colour scheme, the contours and the lines of the McLaren have always impressed me. It is a beautiful car.

 

[Exarkun]

#90. "Preeet!! PREEET!!! Move away! Super Aguri coming through!"

#91. Alonso's R28. I was actually shoved by a Renault team member to get out of the way... Thats why the angle of this picture is way too tilted.

#92.

#93. Force India Girl #1.

#94. Force India Girl #2.
Girl: Hey there...
Me: Sorry I'm married!!

#95. "Hot babes this way. Must take pictures of hot babes..."