Sky Sports' Rachel Brookes pulls back the curtain of Silverstone week - and tells the story of the only pitlane umbrella...
Wednesday 20 July 2016 10:19, UK
I am writing this the day after the British Grand Prix and after a mammoth ten-hour sleep. That's what the British GP does to you - it takes every ounce of energy, but it's totally worth it.
I spent Wednesday in the office at Sky Sports researching a piece I was doing about team orders and when team-mates collide. It's easy to recall events like Suzuka 1989 and Malaysia 2013's multi-21 but finding the exact footage you want, post-race interviews and team radio clips takes time. Once I had finished I packed my bags and headed up to our hotel in Northampton.
On Thursday I wrote the plan for my team-mates piece and filmed some links as well as preparing for our live F1 Show on the grid which I was presenting with Simon and the rest of the guys. A lot of planning goes into it, to get as many drivers as possible to join in and come out and see the fans but for once in Formula One, things don't run to plan.
F1 is an unusual sport in that if someone says you can speak to their driver at say 11.44am - they will be there for the interview at 11.44. They won't be there any earlier or any later, and you will have the exact amount of time they have said you have and then the driver or team principal will be gone to the next thing.
So you would think that makes the live F1 show easier, not exactly. For example, on Thursday someone was late and someone else was early. We just switched things around in our running order but with 15 or so guests to fit in you always end up talking to someone you weren't expecting to. A couple of years ago the drivers had to take part in a football goalscoring challenge, which they loved, and this year a lot of them were asking what the task was. In order to fit all the guests in we didn't have time for one, but I think we will have to bring it back next year.
They are a competitive bunch! Talking of which, Johnny had been showing us his hoverboard skills in our TV compound, so we challenged him to show us how quick he was down the straight during the show. As it turned out we only had time for him to have a quick spin, and a big fall!
Some of you reading this will have been there and some will have seen it on TV. All I can say is thank you, the atmosphere was fantastic as always and I think there were even more of you than ever before. When we went back into the paddock everyone who hadn't been there was talking about the noise they could hear and how amazing it was. You really did get the weekend off to a wonderful start.
After the show we made our way to the McLaren brand centre for their media quiz night. Ted, Crofty and I have a decent record of podiums in every quiz night in F1 so far but it's fair to say we were still smarting a little from losing out on the top prize by a single point in the Williams quiz night in Austria to Simon and Johnny! How they won is slightly controversial and not for this diary, but let's just say we were the moral victors! Competitive? Us? You bet!
A great night was had by all with good food, good company and I have to say some very difficult questions! Maybe that's why we reclaimed our crown from Simon and Johnny. Or maybe it's because with Crofty's rock music knowledge and my radio DJ background, we nailed the music rounds. In fairness it probably came down to the fact that on our team we had another F1 journalist, Adam, who identified every single one of the Argentinian F1 drivers in the picture round. Either way, victory was ours and Jonny and Simon were sulking.
On Friday we had another F1 Show including an interview I had done with Fernando Alonso the evening before. The last time I sat down with Fernando for any length of time was after the Spanish GP last year and I found him honest and open but still hopeful for "the project" as he called it.
A lot has happened since then and I wanted to know if he still felt the same way. He told me that he has no regrets because it was the right time to leave Ferrari and that they had not won the title since he left. If they had he might feel differently. He still believes the project can work. He admitted that he is pushing Honda and Mclaren hard to improve things and that he makes sure they are not taking too many holidays because he said, "I don't take holidays".
It is clear he still wants more from his F1 career but admitted there are frustrations at times. Who can blame him? He added that he is not OK at leaving the sport with just two world titles but considers himself lucky to have them. Jenson, meanwhile, is now the subject of much speculation about a potential move to Williams. During our F1 show on Thursday, he talked about wanting to challenge for podiums, the audience were shouting "Williams" at him and he smiled. Ironically the two Mclarens finished the British GP in 12th and 13th with the Williams' 11th and 14th so it may not be a straightforward decision, if that option is available to him.
On Saturday Lewis blew the rest of the field away with a fantastic lap to secure pole. He described it to me afterwards as a "mental blow" to whoever he was racing against. If you saw Nico's interview with me after qualifying you could see what he meant. The confidence of the previous few races was gone. I hope he gets it back in time for Hungary as we want them competing and we want an exciting second half of the season.
On Sunday morning we were out of the hotel and on our way by 7.15am due to the 1pm race start. After our production meeting we go into the paddock to see what news there is overnight and as it's Silverstone, to look at weather forecasts. I love the pitlane before a race as the lucky VIPs wander around given garage tours, while the teams try to make sure everything is ready and in place for the race. I have to wait for my cameraman to finish what he is doing before he is free for the toilet-run interviews with me. We have just met up and I am one of the only people carrying an umbrella. It's cumbersome in the busy pitlane and I don't always use one in the rain but on this occasion it came into its own.
As we are waiting for drivers to come off the grid, the heavens opened. The pitlane was suddenly deserted and guests and drivers disappeared. As I looked through one doorway Fernando and Valtteri Bottas were queuing for a toilet while others used the corridor as shelter. On the grid some hardy souls were sticking it out while others were running for cover, including British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua. As he sprinted off the grid he spotted my umbrella and made a beeline for it so I grabbed a quick word with him. Tinie Tempah then joined us as I was still the only umbrella in the pitlane at the time.
The race was a busy one for me. Once the first car retired I was based entirely in the drivers interview pen. You never know when they will arrive for their interview, so with a race like that where there are retirements at different times throughout you just have to man your post.
I have to say though, I think it is the grumpiest interview pen I have done for a long time. Every driver who spoke to me was unhappy about their race, bar two.
All who came in before the top three had wanted and expected a better result. So it made a nice change to talk to a happy Max Verstappen, although even he wished his incredible move on Nico Rosberg had stuck for the rest of the race. He now has three podiums in five races since joining Red Bull. What a talent and what a future he has. There won't be many betting against him winning a world title in the next few years. If Red Bull can give him a car to challenge next year there will be worried faces at Mercedes and Ferrari, if there aren't already.
Don't be fooled by his mature, considered answers in interviews. Out of that situation he is fun and full of life and I am sure we will get more of that side from him as he gets more experienced.
For Hamilton it was another fantastic British GP. You will have seen what he said but if you got a chance to see him just staring at the fans and taking it all in you will have a better idea of what it meant to him. He has his critics, don't we all, but nothing was going to stop him thanking the fans on Sunday. He did his media duties, team photo call and interviews but the pictures dominating now are those of him crowdsurfing.
After the team photo he ran to the fence and climbed up. I stood back and to the side knowing he would move along the fence afterwards and sure enough he came running towards me and climbed the fence where I was standing. He sat on top and the crowd started shouting "jump, jump". You could see him think about it for a minute and then he climbed down into the crowd and was carried back a few rows before returning to the fence.
I took some pictures through the hole in fence while a photographer's foot rested on my head as he took pictures from above.
Whenever you write or talk about Lewis you get grief from some people. He polarises. However, I am not ashamed to say that in my time in F1 this is one of my favourite photos. Not because of who it is, but because I know the money it will have cost those fans to be there, I know they will have queued at the fence to get on the track from about two thirds of the way through the race, they will have been stood there squashed for an hour at least, and all for just a glimpse of Lewis. Instead they got so much more. He got in there with them and no money in the world can buy that.
RB
