Ann Bradshaw: View from the Paddock
By Ann Bradshaw, England
Atlas F1 Special Columnist
Ann Bradshaw, a journalist and press officer with three decades of experience in motor racing, and one of the most respected workers in the F1 paddock, follows the 2002 season in her post-race column, offering F1 fans an insight into the life of those who spend the GP weekend inside the paddock
There were not many surprises in the Spanish race, though. Michael Schumacher is the complete driver as not only does he do everything right on track, but he does have the most amazing luck! Why was it the warm-up when his car decided to stop on the side of the track, and the start of the race when a similar fate struck poor Rubens Barrichello?
Being a WilliamsF1 fan, I was happy to see Juan Pablo Montoya on the podium and sorry to see Ralf go off - although, mind you, it was quite amusing to see him tossing bits of carbon fibre out of his cockpit. It was also with great relief that I saw chief mechanic Carl Gaden escaping a very scary pitstop moment with just a bruised foot.
Carl is a very likeable, straight talking brummie who I know would have been devastated with the botched pitstop, and I am not sure many people would have had the same brave, if rather foolhardy, reaction to a car trying to leave with the fuel hose still attached, of sticking a foot in front of the wheel! Needless to say this did not work, but luckily thanks to some very quick reactions Juan Pablo came to a halt and thankfully it was the pride of an excellent pit crew that was bruised the most.
The talk of the weekend both on television and in the paddock was probably the number of top class people that Eddie Jordan has been forced to let go from his team. I know some excellent people in the team who have lost their jobs and it would be difficult to fault any of them for their commitment to Eddie and his dream of winning a World Championship. However, money is tight and Eddie has had to re-think his situation and more or less go back to basics with both hands firmly on the helm.
Many people will feel very little sympathy for Eddie who, one tv commentator felt, had been diverted from the real job of running the team by wanting to be a pop star. Whatever one thinks about the way Eddie has conducted his business recently, he did look a haunted man whenever the cameras were on him and no doubt the loss of these people and the fight to retain Honda as an engine supplier will have caused him many sleepless nights.
As far as the other teams are concerned, I am delighted to see the rapid improvement of Renault F1. I think Jenson Button is driving well and at last being given the equipment to prove again he is a star. He would vie with Felipe Massa as my star of the weekend, and I am sure it will not be long before he gets that podium finish that he is long overdue for.
I have many happy memories of Grand Prix racing in Spain, but have to admit that I preferred the days when the race was in Jerez. We had some great battles there - remember the first visit there in 1986, when Ayrton Senna in his Lotus beat Nigel Mansell in his Williams by 14 hundredths of a second? - and also some great fun.
From 1987 to 1990 inclusive, this was a back-to-back race in September with the Portuguese Grand Prix. Travel Places, which does a great job of flying the teams round the world, would arrange a charter to fly us from Lisbon to Seville and once there we had a couple of days for R&R while the mechanics rebuilt the cars.
I always stayed at a hotel called the Playa da la Luz in a tiny seaside village called Rota on the Bay of Cadiz. It was wonderful, and very soon a group of us F1 personnel worked out a foolproof way of relaxing: get up by 9:00am; go for a walk/run (depending on how fit you were); late breakfast at 10:30am; lay by the pool until noon, at which point the first jug of Sangria was ordered.
For the next two hours we were allowed to talk about motor racing in between dips in the pool and ordering the next jug of sangria. On the dot of 2:00pm we then went through a small archway to the beach and usually about ten of us would sit down to a lunch of calamari and local rose wine. Once this was over the serious stuff began.
Bob Constanduros, the trackside commentator who keeps all the English-speaking fans up to date with what is happening, is a very proficient wind surfer and so the afternoon was his for teaching us. As you can imagine after the sangria and the rose, we were not that good at such exploits. A lot of laughing took place and I don't think any of us ever mastered the art. In fact, for me it became a painful experience: due to the number of times I fell off the board backwards into about two feet of water, and hit by bottom on the sea bed, I was usually unable to sit down for dinner and so had to perch on the side of my chair most evenings.
This was also the venue for an annual BBQ hosted by the crew from Fuji TV, the Japanese rights holders for F1. They wanted to thank us press officers for our hospitality during the year and also entertain anyone who fancied a good evening. They borrowed the implements from the hotel and set up a nightly picnic on the beach. It was great fun, but sometimes the sea was a bit too near for comfort.
One night in particular saw Jordan PR lady and now ITV pitlane reporter Louise Goodman, Honda PR man and now freelance journalist Eric Silbermann, and myself - still wearing my WilliamsF1 hat, discussing life over a chicken joint. Unbeknown to us, a group of Brabham mechanics, always the jokers of the paddock, had infiltrated the group and thought it would be fun to throw the girls in the sea. I was then to witness one of the greatest heroic feats I have seen for a long time.
Eric, who won't mind me telling you is perhaps nearer the height of Bernie Ecclestone than Max Mosley's, stepped between Louise and myself and the mechanics, and tried to reason with them. I still giggle at the sight of poor Eric being picked up by the boys and dumped in the sea, just like a scene out of a Popeye cartoon where Bluto picks him up before he has had his spinach. Needless to say we girls were easy pickings after that.
This proved so popular that it came back for a second year and there are now ten Super Racing Weekends, with the feature races being the FIA GT Championship and the FIA European Touring Car Championship. As if this isn't enough, there are rounds of the Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup, the Renault Clio Trophy, and the Lamborghini GTR Supertrophy.
At this point enter BMW, who have five customer teams flying the flags of Belgium, England, Germany, Holland, and Spain, with eight BMW 320I's. Although none of these are works entered teams, they are all supported with technical expertise from Germany and also by a PR campaign.
As can be imagined, the BMW PR department is quite busy with both Formula One and the BMW ADAC Championship (which the company hopes will throw up the next Michael Schumacher), so they contacted me and asked if I would go along to the races and look after the PR for them. For me this was a chance to step back a bit from F1 and get involved in saloon car racing, which was something I cut my journalistic teeth on way back in the Seventies, when I was at Autosport.
The trip to Magny Cours was like a breath of fresh air. For a start, there was no problem getting in and out of the circuit, and this was despite a very good crowd of 58,000 over two days. And then there was a group of drivers who were happy to wander around the paddock, go to autograph sessions with the fans and even spend time with their PR lady to explain what had been going on.
Two 12-lap races kept the crowd's attention, and just to make sure there was overtaking, the grid for the second race was formed with the top six from the first race starting in reverse order. If I had been a member of the paying public I would have been delighted with my day out, as the racing was non-stop, filled with action and all this for just ten euros!
Mind you, there was one man there last weekend who I am sure did not have to pay the ten euros, but if he did he would be hoping it will pay dividends a million times over. The man in question was an unnamed member of the Sauber team. You will remember that the two brightest young stars of the current Formula One field are Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa. Both of these introduced to the sport by Sauber and both recruits came from Formula Renault. So guess which race this particular gentleman from Sauber was watching closely?...
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