Rachel's Diary: From Russia with...

I have never been to Russia before as I was back in the office for last year's inaugural Russian Grand Prix. I had heard various stories of what it was like and was looking forward to visiting a new country.

My cab arrived just before seven and after battling the M25 and M1 in rush hour I reached the airport in plenty of time. As we were on a charter flight I knew it would be all F1 people heading out to the race. Who else would be heading to Sochi on a wet October morning?!

I bumped into another TV colleague at check-in and we headed through security. First stop was breakfast and we found a big table in a cafe in the Centre of the departures hall. We were joined by both her and my colleagues and soon we were all catching up on what we had been up to and what to expect in the few days ahead. I had seen some others tweet about taking food with them on this trip. Apparently it takes a very long time to get served anywhere and some people had packed food in their cases. With that in mind, a couple of people - who will remain nameless! - ate two breakfasts before we boarded our 11am flight.

We arrived at our hotel which was formerly the athletes' accommodation for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games. Almost all the teams stay here as there are so many accommodation buildings and it's walking distance to the track. Once checked in we headed to another hotel complex a short walk away to find a restaurant. It was then I realised what people had been talking about. They have a different idea of service in Russia. It takes an age to get a drink and even longer to order your food. Once that is done it is pot luck as to when your meal arrives. Three of the boys got their meals first and we told them to start as we had no idea when the rest would arrive. They had all finished by the time mine came out, and one of our team had to wait another hour and a half after that for his. That was nothing, though, compared to Thursday night when the boys all ordered pizzas at an Italian restaurant in our hotel's complex. The first three pizzas came out after about an hour, an hour later my pasta arrived, and hour after that Ted's pizza, the same one as the other boys had ordered, arrived. By this point it was two and a half hours since we had arrived.... It was very good though apparently.

After dinner on Wednesday we went into the hotel's karaoke bar as it was still early. It's safe to say I have never heard Russian karaoke before. The songs were a mixture of shouting into the mic, and slow power ballads. A few of our team got up to sing and then came probably the most surreal moment of the trip. Someone started singing and all the Russians stood up. He was singing the national anthem and on the big screen was a video of the army marching and tanks going past. I can't imagine singing God Save the Queen going down quite so well back home!

Thursday is media day at the track and our first chance to talk to Jenson Button about his decision to stay with Mclaren for another year. Some TV crews had arranged separate one-to-one interviews with Jenson over the weekend but all got cancelled so this was our only chance to talk to him about the decision. It was also our first chance to ask Romain Grosjean about his move to Haas. I put together a piece on the current driver situation up and down the grid including the spaces yet to be filled. Now that they have Mercedes engines next year, the Manor Marussia seats are even more in demand.

Media day done, Paul di Resta, Simon, Crofty and I decided to run the track. It had been a lovely warm sunny day but by the time we got our running kit on the wind had picked up. It's the same distance as the track in Japan but without the hills so I expected it to be easy. However, the circuit itself is very different. There are no real reference points to tell you where you are or give you targets. In Japan I would see a hill and think 'just get to the top and you can run down to there' while seeing the big wheel from turn 15 can spur you on to sprint to the finish.

In Russia, however, there are no such sights to help you get round. At the start there were fans on the track so I probably started out too quickly trying to impress! I had let the boys go on ahead as I knew I would never keep up with them. There were quite a lot of people running the track including some of the drivers and I was overtaken frequently. At a couple of points the head wind so was so strong I had to slow to a quick walk. I stopped a couple of times to take pictures - my excuse anyway! - but eventually I made it to the end. My lap time was only a tiny bit quicker than my time in Suzuka and I was hugely disappointed! I walked back to the office to find the boys waiting to go back to the hotel. I think they beat me by about nine minutes!

There was very little running on Friday and most of the day was spent avoiding the rain - a futile exercise as it turned out. The temperature dropped during the day too, so by the time we went on air with The F1 Show we were all freezing. I did not come prepared for this! We had to shelter under various garages as the rain continued to fall and thankfully Ole from Red Bull put on a heater for us as we presented part of the show outside their garage. Once the show had finished it was off to Williams hospitality for a curry. They were holding a media curry night and it was packed. An early night beckoned as Saturday was going to be a busy day with the GP3 race included in the live show.

I was presenting P3 and after opening the programme, Damon Johnny and I went to sit in McLaren to watch the session. I had been making my notes on talking points when I looked up at the screen and saw the shot change to Carlos Sainz in the barriers. The first thing you do when you see a crash is look for movement, but due to the barriers being in top of the car we couldn't see any. Then you wait for the team radio, to hear the team call and Carlos reply. But that wasn't played out and we all began to worry.

When I started this job four years ago, you would see a crash and wait for the replay of the spectacular accident and watch the driver climb out and walk away. Now everything has changed. We know that drivers are not invincible and the very worst can happen. The paddock held its collective breath and you could hear a pin drop as everyone waited and hoped to hear something - anything that meant he was ok. I was asked to go to the medical centre and see if I could find out any more. As I arrived about six medical personnel climbed into an ambulance vehicle and looked like they were being sent to the accident. In the end they stayed and waited in the vehicle talking on radios. Then I heard someone say on the radio that his manager had been seen giving a thumbs-up and slowly little bits of information began to filter through that he was ok.

Eventually the shot everyone was waiting for arrived: Carlos giving a thumbs up as he was put into the ambulance. There was a palpable collective sigh of relief. Then the ambulance carrying him arrived at the medical centre and he was taken in through the back doors for check-ups. Matteo Bonciani, the FIA's head of communications, came out to speak to us all and tell us he was conscious and talking and the doctors were waiting for the adrenaline to drop a bit so they could fully assess his injuries. As he finished speaking a stretcher emerged shielded by sheets and Carlos was wheeled towards the helicopter. Thankfully he was ok and as we saw from his later tweet, still desperate to race.

After qualifying I was doing the pen interviews and it had dropped several degrees since the morning. I have to thank fellow reporter Will Buxton for lending me a jacket as I shivered my way through the interviews! As in Japan, Nico Rosberg was somewhat subdued despite taking pole position. Lewis Hamilton had been out-qualifying him but now Nico seemed back to his best on a Saturday yet he still didn't seem to have the answer to making it stick on a Sunday. Lewis was clearly disappointed not to have pole but was already talking about his plan for the start of the race and how to get the lead. Jenson seemed pleased with his P13 while Fernando Alonso said he was trying out experimental parts on the car so did the best he could. He was smiling and laughing and making jokes, a bit of a contrast to two weeks ago.

After carrying out the 'toilet run' interviews before the race on Sunday I went into a hospitality suite to watch the start. It wasn't long before I had to go out to the interview pen to speak to Nico Hulkenberg and Marcus Ericsson. Marcus had been in one of our features during the weekend and seems to be much more confident in the Sauber team now and driving well and it was such a shame to see him go out early. Likewise Nico Hulkenberg. Having only got their B-spec car midway through the season both he and Sergio Perez have been improving at every race and he had qualified well. There is not very much you can say to a driver when their race ends so early but you still have to interview them. You know they don't want to be there, and you don't want them to be there with the race still going on. Romain was another to finish the race early and he paid tribute to the safety measures in place these days that meant he could walk away from his accident.

It is always nice to see someone different on the podium. It may have been Sergio Perez's fifth time up there but this one was incredibly hard fought for. He told me the last few laps of the race were up there with the toughest of his career. We all know he can make tyres last but having pitted on lap 12 there wasn't much left on that set of softs by the end. He had to nurse them all the way to the finish while trying to defend from the approaching Finns! A timely strategy call and a talented driver got them on that podium and it was warmly celebrated by more than just the Force India team.

After the driver interviews I was sent to Race Control to see what the outcome of the investigation into Kimi's move on Valtteri was. We eventually got word that it was a 10-second stop-and-go penalty, which when applied after a race becomes 30 seconds added to a driver's race time. It meant Kimi finished eighth and Mercedes were constructors champions for the second year in a row. There was no time to witness or join in the celebrations, though, as we had to make a dash for the airport.

We were on a charter flight back that night along with a lot of members of the paddock. In fact the entire plane was Formula 1 personnel including a bruised but still smiling Romain Grosjean. We all wearily made our way home, including a very special passenger. That Force India third-placed trophy was on board too...

RB

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