British Grand Prix 2018
Steve and I enjoy watching Formula One racing. We are huge fans of Lewis Hamilton, who drives for Mercedes. When the sport returned to the States in 2012 with the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, we happily cheered Lewis on to victory from Turn 11. We decided last year to splurge on a holiday to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this past July. Rather than camp out at a favored spot with general admission, we ponied up the extra money for grandstand seats. They were worth it.
It was a hot, sunny weekend. Our reserved seat was only good for Sunday's race, but we had access to the other grandstands for the practice sessions on Friday and qualifying on Saturday (as well as all the various other motoring events throughout the weekend). For Friday's first practice, we parked ourselves across from the Mercedes pits so we could see Lewis, his teammate Valtteri Bottas, and the rest of the Mercedes crew do their thing. I brought a new piece of photo kit to the race: a super telephoto lens. It made these pit shots possible:
Lewis arrives geared up and ready to go.
He climbs into his ride.
And heads out for his first practice run of the day.
Some of the cars run a bit low, so they create showers of sparks at some points of the track.
One of Team Williams' cars went off the track.
There is a steady stream of activities all weekend long at the track. Besides other motorsport races, there are historic parades (they were celebrating 100 years of racing at Silverstone this year) and aerial displays. On Friday, we enjoyed a demonstration by the Tigers Army Parachute Team.
Some of the historic cars don't just parade, they race. I'm not entirely sure how it works, since some cars are naturally faster than others thanks to improvements to the sport over time. Here are a few shots of the more interesting cars during their practice stints on Friday.
You don't suppose these guys are Lewis fans, do you?
We quickly discovered that whilst our position across from the pits was great when it came to seeing what the team was up to, trying to capture photos down the long straight was almost impossible. F1 cars are rather quick, you know. So our photos, when they weren't stupidly blurry, often contained just the front or rear part of the car. They'd just blast through the frame before the shutter finished! For Friday's second practice, we moved to a different grandstand by a turn. We figured they'd have to slow down for that. Still, the photos aren't as clear as I'd like.
This is the #7 car driven by Lewis's main rival, Sebastian Vettel. He drives for Ferrari.
Lewis's teammate, Valterri, in #77.
Our man Lewis!
Lewis again.
One of the easy-to-spot Force India cars.
Saturday was qualifying. We decided we wanted to be near the start/finish line for that and parked ourselves early in a prime spot. The sun was hot and bright. We were stuck in the sun until around noon and it finally moved behind the canopy. I was roasting! But it was worth the discomfort because our view was great! Best of all, Lewis won pole in a very exciting race against the clock and Vettel!
Steve had the camera ready when the top-three finishers pulled up to the start/finish line. Lewis is British, so winning pole in front of his home crowd is special. I love this shot of Lewis literally jumping for joy.
Waving to his cheering fans.
Celebrating with one of his engineers.
Taking a moment to give thanks.
Not everyone at Silverstone was a Lewis fan, but it certainly felt like most of us were. The cheers and support for Lewis was incredible. He took a few moments to acknowledge all of the support.
Here Lewis is being interviewed by Martin Brundle for the telly.
Sunday was race day.
The Lewis fans were out in force.
The first sight of Lewis.
They always do a driver's parade before the race. Most tracks bring in fancy convertibles and each driver is ferried around the track to wave to the fans. Silverstone shoves all the drivers and a bunch of media folks onto a flatbed truck. From the left: Valtteri; Lewis; some media person in the striped onesie; former F1 driver and World Champion (and former McLaren teammate when Lewis was with that team), Jenson Button; Lee McKenzie, Channel 4 F1 journalist; a cameraman and media people; and behind the cameraman, driver Kevin Magnussen.
The top three qualifiers: Lewis, Vettel (to the right of Lewis), and Kimi Räikkönen.
Kimi always looks so thrilled. Hence his nickname: The Iceman.
It looks like the Ferrari teammates are doing some kind of synchronized routine.
Valtteri and Lewis.
Channel 4's F1 presenter, Steve Jones, in front of the Mercedes pit. (He's the one with the "4' mike.) Channel 4 has been edged out of the F1 broadcasts for next season by Sky Sports. They'll be showing highlights of the races only, except for Silverstone. Most likely, the wonderful team of presenters will be gone. I will miss them.
Mercedes' non-executive chairman and three-time F1 World Champion Niki Lauda. I swear he knows Steve is taking his photo. LOL
The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, popularly known as the Red Arrows, put on a fabulous pre-race display. I was hit with a wave of pride and patriotism watching them. Clearly, I'm becoming one with my new home.
All of the driver assemble for the host track's national anthem to show respect. The ceremony takes place near the start/finish line.
Kimi lined up several minutes ahead of everyone else and pretty much stood like this the entire time.
Finally, the other drivers assembled, including (left to right): Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri, Lewis, Kimi, and Max Verstappen. The fellow in the front with the huge mustache is Chase Carey. He's the head of the American-owned Liberty Media which runs F1.
I'm not sharing any pics from Sunday's race because, to be honest, it's just more pics of cars whizzing by at ridiculous speeds. Plus we were more engaged with the race than the photographing of it. The race didn't work out well for Lewis. He was hit by Kimi before the first turn and he ended up at the back of the pack. Still, he fought his way all the way back to second. Vettel won.
What got me was Lewis kept apologizing to his fans for not winning. I know he was upset for himself after what happened. Losing your home grand prix hurts. And giving points to your main rival for the world championship is never a good thing. But he seemed gutted for disappointing us! I wanted to yell to him to not be sorry. He gave us a fantastic weekend and, most importantly, he never gave up. And the fact he appreciated us as much as we appreciated him meant a lot.
Steve and I had such a great time at Silverstone we almost bought tickets for next year's race. But cooler heads prevailed. We are going to stick with our plan to attend a grand prix every other year. And whilst Silverstone was great, there are a lot of other races out there. We're thinking Spa Francorchamps may be next up. Until then, go Lewis! #TeamLH
It was a hot, sunny weekend. Our reserved seat was only good for Sunday's race, but we had access to the other grandstands for the practice sessions on Friday and qualifying on Saturday (as well as all the various other motoring events throughout the weekend). For Friday's first practice, we parked ourselves across from the Mercedes pits so we could see Lewis, his teammate Valtteri Bottas, and the rest of the Mercedes crew do their thing. I brought a new piece of photo kit to the race: a super telephoto lens. It made these pit shots possible:
There is a steady stream of activities all weekend long at the track. Besides other motorsport races, there are historic parades (they were celebrating 100 years of racing at Silverstone this year) and aerial displays. On Friday, we enjoyed a demonstration by the Tigers Army Parachute Team.
Some of the historic cars don't just parade, they race. I'm not entirely sure how it works, since some cars are naturally faster than others thanks to improvements to the sport over time. Here are a few shots of the more interesting cars during their practice stints on Friday.
We quickly discovered that whilst our position across from the pits was great when it came to seeing what the team was up to, trying to capture photos down the long straight was almost impossible. F1 cars are rather quick, you know. So our photos, when they weren't stupidly blurry, often contained just the front or rear part of the car. They'd just blast through the frame before the shutter finished! For Friday's second practice, we moved to a different grandstand by a turn. We figured they'd have to slow down for that. Still, the photos aren't as clear as I'd like.
Saturday was qualifying. We decided we wanted to be near the start/finish line for that and parked ourselves early in a prime spot. The sun was hot and bright. We were stuck in the sun until around noon and it finally moved behind the canopy. I was roasting! But it was worth the discomfort because our view was great! Best of all, Lewis won pole in a very exciting race against the clock and Vettel!
Sunday was race day.
The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, popularly known as the Red Arrows, put on a fabulous pre-race display. I was hit with a wave of pride and patriotism watching them. Clearly, I'm becoming one with my new home.
All of the driver assemble for the host track's national anthem to show respect. The ceremony takes place near the start/finish line.
I'm not sharing any pics from Sunday's race because, to be honest, it's just more pics of cars whizzing by at ridiculous speeds. Plus we were more engaged with the race than the photographing of it. The race didn't work out well for Lewis. He was hit by Kimi before the first turn and he ended up at the back of the pack. Still, he fought his way all the way back to second. Vettel won.
What got me was Lewis kept apologizing to his fans for not winning. I know he was upset for himself after what happened. Losing your home grand prix hurts. And giving points to your main rival for the world championship is never a good thing. But he seemed gutted for disappointing us! I wanted to yell to him to not be sorry. He gave us a fantastic weekend and, most importantly, he never gave up. And the fact he appreciated us as much as we appreciated him meant a lot.
Steve and I had such a great time at Silverstone we almost bought tickets for next year's race. But cooler heads prevailed. We are going to stick with our plan to attend a grand prix every other year. And whilst Silverstone was great, there are a lot of other races out there. We're thinking Spa Francorchamps may be next up. Until then, go Lewis! #TeamLH
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