The British F1 Grand Prix 2010

Silverstone Woodcote Corner

After a lifetime of watching Formula 1 racing on the TV, I finally made it to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.

Well – almost.


I made it to Silverstone for the practice; I didn’t actually watch the race. Close though.

I’m not big on crowds, as I’ve said before, and tickets for race day are ridiculously priced and rarer than rocking horse poo, so I made the decision to go on the Friday and watch the practice. I knew that there would still be plenty going on through the day, and all I really wanted was to see those cars close up going fast anyway. I knew that I would see all of that and more during the practice – I was right.

I’ve wanted to do this for ever – I have no idea why it has taken me so long, why didn’t I go when I was younger? I actually can’t come up with a reason why I never made it to Silverstone before, maybe it doesn’t really matter.

05:00 - I argued with my alarm for about half an hour when it tried its hardest to get me out of bed on Friday morning. I told it to leave me alone but every ten minutes it would kick itself back into life and torment me further. Eventually, just as I was about to press the snooze button once more I felt the short, sharp, loving kick in the back that only a rudely awaken wife can give, and I knew I’d been beaten. I’d have to turn the alarm off and head to the shower.

07:00 – I parked in the Silverstone car park, and decided to apply the Zen method of navigation to find my way to the entrance gates (thank you Douglas Adams & Dirk Gently). I couldn’t see any signs or clues as to where to go, so I found some people in Mclaren shirts who looked like they knew where they were going and followed them. This was going ok until they decided to stop and take some photos. When they get home they will no doubt notice some chunky and bewildered looking idiot in the background, pretending to tie his shoelace (even though he was wearing sandals) and look through his bag for tickets for the ten minutes it took them to get bored and move onwards.

07:15 – Once inside the gates I ran up the banking at Abbey and my heart stopped. There, in front of me was the Silverstone circuit. The place where the first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix was driven, the only true Formula 1 circuit in the world!**

** Unless you aren’t English, in which case it’s possible you might prefer Monaco or Montreal or *insert track here*.


I was transfixed and breathless (well it was a steep bank I’d just climbed) I wanted to kiss it, take it to dinner and then who knows, just go with the flow and see what happens. A smile spread across my face that refused to go away. I was buzzing with excitement and felt like a kid on Christmas Eve while I was waiting for the cars to come out.

Jenson Button

07:25 – I’d just paid nearly £4 for a bacon butty and the smile had flickered a bit. I remembered that I am essentially quite tight, and wasn’t really designed for expensive posh restaurants like this.

I walked around to take things in, checking out the stalls and dying a little each time I did so. As soon as I realised they wanted £10 for a key ring I knew that my boys would not be getting a present today. As the crowds built up and time ticked along I started to feel a little let down. It was going to be really expensive to spend the day here, and those crowds were starting to look scary. In fact something like 80,000 people turned up for the Friday practice and that is a lot of people. My smile was gone.


08:00 – I laughed at the sight at a very stressed Mum trying to get two young and expensively attired children in their Mclaren outfits to just walk. I don’t know how far they had to go or how far they had come, but they had already had enough. To be up so early in the morning dragging fed up kids about with such a long day ahead has to be madness. They were so young too, I’m all for giving your children amazing experiences but keep it real people, this lady was about to endure the crappest day of her life, and she was going to pay through the nose to do so.


08:50 – I sat myself in the grand stand opposite the pits and waited. The Formula 1 cars were not out until 10:00 but for now, Formula BMW (no I’ve never heard of it either) was coming out to play. I managed a grin as the cars motored past me with their engines screaming. These cars seemed to be going really fast and with a little overtaking happening down the straight, even though these were only practice laps, I was transfixed and happy. These are the champions of the future with some really young drivers at the helm.


10:00 Oops trouser change needed…


Out they came and suddenly the world stopped. These cars are amazing. The noise and the smell of them going past blew me away. The speed compared to the previous cars was immediately noticeable, suddenly those other drivers looked very slow. The cars changed direction at the end of the straight like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Glued to the track does not do them justice.

Mark Webber (probably)

Seeing my only sporting heroes flying past me in this way was thrilling. I like Football and Rugby, but my only real sporting interest is Formula 1. I blinked and Michael Schumacher drove past, then Lewis Hamilton and Button. The crowd cheered whenever a Brit went past, which added to the fun. I tried over and over again to take a photo; I must have a hundred photos of an empty stretch of tarmac near where Schumacher was driving. Eventually I managed to get a couple of successful shots, which I’ll show you.


The day went on and I walked around the circuit taking it all in, jumping up and down with glee at the sight of corners that I have seen so often on TV. Copse, Becketts, Stowe, Woodcote and Luffield, to name a few – legends. I tried pointing them out to people, but this nearly got me thrown out of the place so I stopped. Somehow everyone else was so much cooler about all this than me, I don’t know why? I also sat and watched GP2 & GP3 cars practicing and qualifying which (especially the GP2) was almost as loud and fast as the F1 bunch. I saw Porsches spinning around on a special skid pan and idiots bungee jumping from a crane.

Fernando Alonso

Eventually I wandered into the Santander tent and had a couple of free Santander British Grand Prix pens thrust at me. BINGO – that’s the boys sorted!!


Later the F1 cars were out again for a second practice and the same thrill went through me as it had the first. Seeing these cars in all their glory and being able to feel their power was just awesome. Watching them being driven by drivers that I’m so familiar with from television was surprisingly exciting too. Prior to my visit I’d only really thought about the excitement of seeing the cars. It hadn’t occurred to me that the flash of a recognisable helmet flying by would give me a buzz too. The sight of Schumacher, Lewis, Button, Barrichello, Alonso and Webber’s distinctive ‘heads’ screaming past at nearly 200MPH did have an effect though, and soon I was clapping like a six year old at Disney World’s Main Street USA Procession.

Lewis Hamilton

Later, having run out of money for water and feeling like an overcooked pork roast, I decided that I’d had my fill and it was time to go home. As I walked by the Santander tent I noticed that it was absolutely packed to the rafters, and people were spilled right outside it trying to get in. Behind the tent I saw a much smaller crowd. I’m not the quickest on the uptake but with Santander sponsoring the Grand Prix as well as both British drivers I thought “Hello”.


I went and found a spot behind the tent with the smaller crowd and stood. As I waited, I started to chuckle. At no point had anyone said that anything was happening, I had simply seen a crowd and joined it. This is an extremely British thing to do; it’s irresistible to us, like a queue. If you see a long queue in Britain, you have to join it, even if you don’t know what it is for. A long queue must be for something good after all – mustn’t it? So I stood there at a fence watching some security guards stood about laughing at each other. I scanned about looking to see if this was all a jape for TV or something. Exploiting our curious nature by seeing if a fence, a crowd and a man with a radio could keep people entertained for as long as possible.


Just as I was about to give up and tip toe away, a car pulled up.


It was worth it.

Jenson Button

Jenson Button, current Formula 1 World Champion and all round English bloke, was stood there smiling at me (yes, just at me, not just randomly at the crowd thank you). Jenson went into the tent in order to fulfil his duties for his sponsor and I waited excitedly at the fence. When he came out again the crowd went crazy (I guess they were still sore about him singling me out earlier). Jenson went around the fence saying hello and signing autographs. I loved it but no, I didn’t get an autograph, I’ve never seen the point of them at all, I just don’t get it. The only place I want to see Jenson Button’s signature is on a cheque. So I just enjoyed the moment and got some photos, I wondered if the excitement I was feeling seeing him, was the same as what his model girlfriend was feeling seeing me. Probably, I decided, probably.


Still buzzing from meeting my favourite driver (yes meeting dammit, he practically invited me round for a BBQ and a game of Trivial Pursuit).I made my way back to my car.

Jenson Button

My experience was complete.

Maybe I’ll go back again one year and maybe I’ll go for the full weekend. When the boys are old enough I’d like to take them too, but I definitely want them to be old enough to really appreciate it and cope with the length of the day, the crowds and the noise.

For now, I’m happy to have simply seen them practice and then watch the race on TV.

Happy days!