The 2015 Austrian Grand Prix was the First Race of the 2015 Season that I had the privilege of attending. I was a guest of the Ferrari F1 Club for the weekend. As always, this is the Friday Experience from the weekend.
My Standard equipment for this race featured an upgrade and an extra addition. Besides the upgraded Sony HX400V, the GoPro Hero4 Black Edition with the LCD BacPac & the Smart Remote
Nestled in the Styria Region in the town of Spielberg, the Red Bull Ring is one of the most beautiful tracks on the F1 Calender and rightly so!
I stayed at the Ibis in Graz. Spielberg is a 60 minute drive from Graz. Vienna is a Two Hour Drive.
The Paddock Club Passes :
I had quite a grand transfer to the circuit. Audi A8 for the Friday :
Enroute to the Circuit :
I was dropped off at a certain point and had to walk my way to the Paddock Club. It was quite a confusing walk and it took me some time to go down the right route. Nevertheless the surroundings are a brilliant sight to behold :
I only had 15 minutes in the First Pit Lane Walk and I tried to make the most of it :
Enorute to the Ferrari F1 Club and the Paddock for the teams is very visible :
The View of the Track from the Ferrari F1 Club :
The Camera that moves up and down the Pit-lane & the Pit Straight :
Helicopter doing a trial run up in the air :
Fighter Jets strutting their stuff in the skies. Austria showcases many aerial shows throughout the weekend :
Soon it was time for FP1 and get busy with the cameras!
Shots from Free Practice 1 :
Scuderia Ferrari F1 during FP1 :
The Pit Boards doing their jobs :
Chequered Flag to signal the end of FP1 :
At the end of every practice session, Drivers are allowed to do a couple of Practice Starts :
Video Link to the Practice Starts at the end of FP1 :
Scuderia Ferrari F1 in the pits :
Williams Racing returning to the pits.
Free Practice 1 ended with Nico Rosberg recording the Fastest Time with Lewis Hamilton 2nd. Kimi Raikkonen was 3rd for Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel was the slowest and suffered a problem and came to a stop on track after only 4 laps.
FP1 ended and we were soon joined by Ferrari Development Driver Marc Gene :
Video Links to Marc Gene's Interview in the Ferrari F1 Club ( Part 1 & 2 ) :
Fridays feature the GP2 Practice Session also :
Shots from the Pit Lane :
GP2 Practice underway :
I finally had the time to sample my GoPro for the first time on the weekend and here are some shots taken :
GP2 ended and it was time for Lunch!
A hearty meal and it was time to go down for the 2nd Pit Lane Walk of the Day.
The Paddock pretty silent :
Shots from the Pit Lane Walk :
The Teams in preparation for FP2 started their engines and did test runs to check for any issues.
Video Link of the Red Bull Racing revving their Renault Engines :
Mercedes AMG Petronas Revving their engines ( the Most Melodious of all )
McLaren Honda Engine Test :
Shots from the Ferrari Garage :
Shots of the GoPro Hero4 :
The First Person I met was a Famous Austrian Ferrari GT Racer - Karl Baron! A very humble guy but very quick on track!
Video Link of the Scuderia Ferrari SF15-T revving its engine :
The Podium :
Helicopters taking off for FP2 :
Shots from Free Practice 2 :
Scuderia Ferrari F1 in FP2 :
Busy with the GoPro Hero4 and getting some great shots!
Video Link of the Williams F1 Team performing a Pit Stop with Valtteri Bottas :
Chequered Flag :
Drivers performing Practice Starts :
Cars returning to the garages :
Sebastien Vettel finished FP2 on the top of the timesheets. Nico Rosberg was 11 hundredths of a second off the pace while Kimi Raikkonen was 3rd two tenths behind.
However, Vettel was forced to return to the garage after slowing on track in the final half hour with a suspected gearbox problem. Raikkonen was unable to do a long run on the supersoft tyre compound after he flat-spotted his only set midway through the session.
The Ferrari F1 Club featured all the compounds of the Pirelli Tyres used :
We were soon joined by Esteban Gutierrez in the Ferrari F1 Club :
FP2 was followed by the GP2 Qualifying session for the Feature Race on Saturday.
Shots from GP2 Qualifying Session :
Some Iced Coffee to stay fresh :
Shots from the Paddock at the end of Friday :
Panoramic Shots of the Paddock :
The Bull - the Face of the Red Bull Ring at Spielberg.
Some Shots of Famous F1 Personalities :
Stills from the Ferrari F1 Club!
Tires being cleansed and readied for Saturday :
It was soon time to leave the Paddock Club and I was walking back to the Shuttle stop only to spot Kimi Raikkonen leaving the Paddock with Mark Arnall in his Ferrari FF!
Returning to Graz :
It was a Brilliant Friday! Kimi was flying and the Ferraris looked strong and a lot closer than usual to the Mercedes. It was fingers Crossed for Saturday.
I was really happy with capabilities displayed by the GoPro Hero4 and I highly recommend people to grab one. Does a brilliant job of capturing and storing memories.
Edge Global Events, the Hospitality experts left no stone unturned when it came to making all the arrangements!
Finally I would like to thank Scuderia Ferrari and the Hosts at the Ferrari F1 Club for all the Hospitality shown to me!
More to come from the weekend!