Sky Sports' Rachel Brookes on an eventful two weeks which included spooky walks, moody drivers and being taken ill on a plane
Wednesday 7 September 2016 12:18, UK
I have written about our accommodation in Spa before and we returned to the same place this year.
With so few hotels in the area, you take any accommodation you can get. The drivers and the teams snap up the best places first and, as a result, we stay in a hotel which has self-catering rooms but no other real facilities.
The town is only a 15-minute walk away though and, with the weather we had this year, it was a very pleasant walk. There is also a cable car come funicular railway that we can use up until about 9pm, which is handy for the trip down to the town, but sadly closed by the time we want to come back up.
On Thursday morning, we headed to the track for media day and a couple of the boys commented that their rooms had no soap or shower gel. As it is more set up for self-catering, they provide a couple of small towels and that's about it.
The boys always laugh at my big suitcase but on this occasion I could at least feel a tiny bit smug when they said they never bring shower gel or soap as 'hotels always have it'. My bag may be heavy but inside I have pretty much all eventualities covered.
At most venues, not having soap or shower gel isn't a problem, there is usually always a shop nearby. However, Spa is a small sleepy town for most of the year so there is no call for 24-hour supermarkets or pharmacies, which is why the boys' frustration grew on the way home from the track that night when they found the only supermarket in the town had shut at 7pm.
Before we left the track, though, we had taken part in the latest Hype energy challenge at Force India. It's a competition between the media and this was round two. It involved racing remote-controlled cars around a track on the floor of their motor home. The only problem was that the controls were in reverse. Left was right and right was left, forwards was backwards and vice versa.
There was no practice time but I wasn't too worried. I should have been. I was awful. At one point, my car was trying to climb the wall! I finished with a flourish though and crossed the line with such speed I burst the energy drink can that marked the finish. I am not saying it was my fault but that car was retired a few laps later.
On Friday, the story of Lewis Hamilton's engines dominated the day. After early season issues, the team decided to help him stock pile some to get to the end of the season so he could take all the penalties in one go. However, that does mean that if the team bring another upgraded engine at a later date, Lewis would have to take engine penalties to use it while Nico wouldn't. We'll have to wait and see if that happens.
So we knew Lewis would start at the back of the grid, whatever he managed in qualifying. It also meant we were denied a real pole shootout, which is a shame for the fans. The engine penalty rule has been tweaked once but maybe it can be looked at again so that the sessions people pay good money to see aren't almost pre-decided.
On Saturday, it was no surprise to see Nico Rosberg take pole but his behaviour in the interview pen was a surprise. Nico always goes to the German television crews first and then makes his way around the rest of the pen. I had waited for him to talk to various other crews before he walked up to me. I started my first question but Nico looked to my left and scowled and rolled his eyes.
I stopped my questions and asked him if he was ok. He grumpily replied: "I still have to do all these," gesturing towards the other to crews to my left. I replied, smiling: "That's what happens when you take pole," but he wasn't appeased.
I am always disappointed when a driver displays this behaviour. I understand how many times they have to say the same thing and how monotonous it can be, but the people watching that interview don't know he has spoken to a dozen others and they want to hear what he says. He often looks disdainful before and after his answers but tries his best to be cheerful when he actually speaks.
The problem he has is that often the whole segment is played out from start to finish so he is seen looking moody and difficult. He is very bright, he speaks seven languages and whenever you speak to him away from interview situations like that, he is usually very pleasant.
On Saturday evening, Simon Johnny Ted and I walked down into Spa for dinner which usually ends up with us walking around for quite a while before deciding on somewhere to eat and ending up in restaurant we have already been to that weekend, but I wouldn't have it any other way!
We ended up sat at a table next to a group of F1 journalists, such is the size of the town, and while eating some more familiar faces from the paddock arrived. After dinner, Ted and I decided to walk back while the others stopped off for ice cream, from a shop guarded by a life-sized cow.
The walk back is interesting to say the least. It's up a steep hill and the only way to do it is to zig-zag up the side but it's pitch black and as we started our walk, a big thunderstorm began.
Due to all the trees on the hill, you are navigating tree roots and stones as you traverse the hill using just the torch from your phone to show where to tread. Occasionally, the lightning lit up the otherwise pitch-black sky and the rain got heavier. I am not sure I have ever had such a spooky walk anywhere. And it wasn't because of the company!
Sunday's race threw up more Max Verstappen headlines. Turn One now has been considered by most to be a racing incident. Yes, Sebastian Vettel could have given more room, but if he only saw Kimi, then he gave him enough space while not losing out himself. Other incidents drew more criticism though, especially the move on the Kemmel straight.
Therefore, my job post-race was to make sure I spoke to Kimi and Max to give both the opportunity to put their point across. You will have seen the comments now but the lasting image for me is how Max confidently stands his ground and responds with a maturity beyond his years.
My Italian Grand Prix week started in rather dramatic fashion. I flew to Italy a day earlier than the others for a shoot with Daniel Ricciardo, which meant catching a late flight on Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, I fell ill during the flight and on arrival in Malpensa, paramedics boarded our plane.
I was pretty sure it was food poisoning but they had to check it was nothing contagious before they let any other passengers off the plane. As you can imagine, I was very popular at that point.
Luckily, they agreed with me and as the rest of the plane was let off at the front, I was taken off in a wheelchair at the back of the plane and whisked off to the airports medical centre. I don't recall much of it but after an injection began to feel much better. I was eventually allowed to leave and headed to our hotel in the early hours of the morning.
On Wednesday we made our way to the shoot and I had been told I didn't have to kart and could just do the interview but there was no way I wanted to miss the opportunity to race a formula one driver. Even so, as my producer commented " I have never known anyone go from ambulance to go kart in 9 hours!"
The karting was great fun and although I could tell Daniel was taking it very easy we still had some fun battles and the odd hairy moment! In the interview afterwards he was very relaxed and in good spirits and we had a good chat. He really is as you see him on TV and seems to be enjoying his life right now more than ever. I really hope Red Bull have a car to challenge for the title next year and we can see if he really is world champion material.
Prior to race weeks we are all involved in a group email looking ahead to the weekend and everyone puts in ideas and thoughts for what we should be looking at the following weekend as well as discussing already planned shoots and features.
I had spoken to Felipe Massa in Austria about his future and had definitely got the impression that retirement was in his thoughts so as we approached a place that I knew was special for him, I suggested we be prepared for a possible announcement in Italy.
When the email telling us about a press conference dropped into our inboxes on Thursday morning at the track, I realised my prediction was right. It was actually quite emotional as we sat and listened to him tell us he was leaving the sport at the end of the season.
He is a very popular man in the paddock and I have never had a difficult interview with him. He always answers every question as best he can no matter what the situation, but more than that he is one of the few drivers in the paddock who will say hello to you whenever he sees you.
He is definitely one of the nicest guys and one of my favourites. We'll all miss him and it was lovely that he got such a long round of applause at the end of his announcement.
On Saturday evening, we learnt that Jenson Button wouldn't be competing in 2017. It was after qualifying and after the post-qualifying interviews had been completed. Every Saturday, McLaren hold a "meet the team" session in the motor home for print and online media. Broadcast media journalists can go and listen in but TV cameras are not allowed. It was at this session that Jenson told the waiting journalists that he wouldn't be racing in 2017.
McLaren have described it as an "innovative three-driver strategy" but three into two doesn't go and it's Stoffel Vandoorne who will be alongside Fernando Alonso on the grid in 2017. There is the option for Jenson to drive in 2018 if Fernando leaves or Stoffel doesn't cut it, but I am disappointed he won't get the send off Felipe will.
Imagine if he doesn't get back in the car in 2018 and just leaves the sport. He has had a fantastic career so far and to not go out with the plaudits he deserves would be a real shame. For that reason, I really hope he does get back in the car in 2018 but forgive me if I don't put my house on it.
Race day was our last early start of the season as we head to the fly always for the rest. I won't miss the alarm calls but I will miss the fans. All over Europe, the British fans do us proud. They are always there with their banners and their flags and I really think the British drivers have the best following of any country.
The race itself was uneventful apart from the start, and the post-race interviews fairly straightforward. Nico said the last two race wins meant "lots of happiness" to him but you sense they meant much more than that. The gap is now just two points and there are only seven races left. I really hope this season goes all the way.
I stayed an extra night in Italy and spent Monday in the piazza by the Duomo. It's a beautiful square and a nice place to sit and relax before heading home. It seems many had the same idea as I met lots of British fans both there, on the metro and at the airport. The British fans really do make the effort to support the sport and I hope any takeover takes on board the fact that these fans spend a fortune and make sacrifices to be there, they should be properly rewarded for that.
P.S. Thank you to all of you who said hello these past two races, to the Pangbourne Brass band we met in Spa and of course the British Airways crew and Malpensa paramedics who looked after me!
