Friday 19th of August

Finally the day had come and I was going to attend my first ever Formula 1 event. I was a little bit inpatient and was waiting for the time to pass. Istanbul started the day with greyish clouds in the sky, which later resulted in a half-hour downpour. I had a general admission ticket. After analyzing the track's drawings and watching its simulation, I finally decided to watch the event from the area between the tribunes Silver 4 and Silver 5. I wore my half chequered-flag half Scuderia-emblem t-shirt, and took my Ferrari flag with me. I live in the European part of the city so I headed to 4.Levent, the nearest departure point from my home, and one of the stops that city centre track shuttles had to depart from. But once I arrived there, I was told by people in charge that they were going to be able to do it because of lack of spectators in the area. I was then told me to take the subway and go to Taksim (one of the main squares in Istanbul). About 15 minutes later, I was in Taksim and got on the bus, full of Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes and Renault fans. We headed to the track. We crossed the Bosphorus Bridge and got to the Asian part of the city. After 50 minutes, we saw the Istanbul Park Race Track down the hills. Everyone was getting more and more excited. We got off the bus and reached to the security point where our tickets and bags were checked. We were also given a pair of earplugs, free of charge. After that we took the shuttles to get to the tribunes. I entered the general admission area and found a nice place where I could also saw the LED display of the silver tribune 5. There were a lot of spectators especially from Greece and Bulgaria. The time has finally come.

The lights of the pit area turned green. I was chatting with some tifosi who I met on the track. A first car passed in front of us. Wow! That was so loud! It was absolutely nothing as what we hear on TV! The cars were going full throttle down the straight right in front of us and braking very hard for the chicane. It was also blowing when downshifted. At the end Michael and Rubens were on the track and we were all cheering for them every time they passed by us. Though the track was new, the surface was dirty and slippery. Many drivers had grip problems, including Michael and Rubens. From the press releases we saw that drivers found the track so unique, particularly different and competitive. Turn 8, especially, became very famous for causing hard times to the drivers. Scuderia Ferrari tried two different compounds of Bridgestone tyres during the free practice sessions. McLaren-Mercedes test driver Pedro de la Rosa did best time for the first practice session, Michael was eighth and Rubens was seventeenth. In the second free practice session Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta was did the best time. Michael was thirteenth, Rubens was fifteenth. In both sessions Michael was the best of Bridgestone runners.

After the sessions, before going home, I took a shuttle to go see the paddocks. It was really crowded, many teams and sponsors had their stands to entertain the crowd. There were many shops selling official team merchandise, where I bought a nice Ferrari flag.
On the way back to home was another adventure. The bus driver lost the way just 5 minutes after we left the track! Happily he found the way by asking local people.

Saturday 20th of August

Today was a completely different experience! I got up very early in the morning. Had a little breakfast and drove to my friend Selim's home (he couldn't join me on Friday because of his internship).

In a matter of half an hour, I was at his house, he was ready and we continued with his car. While we were on our way, we happily and surprisingly got a call from a friend who was responsible for one of the Silver tribunes, and told me that she could arrange 2 silver passes for us! There wasn't much traffic on the way, so we reached the track very easily and parked the car. Took the shuttle for the Silver tribune, met my friend and got our passes. We entered to the tribune and sat at our places. The sun was shining and there were no grey clouds, unlike yesterday.

Third practice session started at 9 a.m. There were many empty seats. Many drivers were on the track again, braking hardly in front of us after a full throttle long straight. It was amazing to see the brake discs become orange. It was such a hard turn for the brakes that one of the Minardi's rear brake discs caught fire; he could only managed to drive to the entrance of the pit lane. One of the Williams' had a flat tire at the same turn that he directly passed through.

I was sitting more near to the track than yesterday and it was very exciting to see Michael and Rubens pass by. My friend could take many photos. Juan Pablo Montoya was the best runner for the third free practice session, Michael was fourteenth and Rubens was sixteenth. Again it was certain that Ferraris had grip and balance problems. In the fourth free practice session best time came from Kimi Raikkonen. Again, Michael was fourteenth and Rubens was sixteenth. In both sessions Michael was the best of the Bridgestone runners.

After the free practice sessions we had two hours of free time in which we had lunch and met some other friends that were watching the race from other tribunes. There were so few places to eat that we had a very hard time to get some food. I should also mention that it was expensive. But we didn't have any other chance. Those two hours passed very quickly, and we got back to our seat on the tribune. At 13:00 the lights turned green on the pit lane and qualification session was started. Everybody was excited and knew it was going to be hard. We were again amazed by that loud and beautiful sound of the cars! But unfortunately Rubens could only managed to get 11th position. Then we waited for Michael. Although he wasn't the fastest for the first sector, he was fast, but then he went off the track and lost so much time. The team decided for him to get back to pits instead of finishing the lap. Kimi got the pole position. They decided to change Michael's engine.

Sunday 21st of August

I stayed at Selim last night to ease up the morning drive to the track. I was suddenly woken up by my phone's ring. It was my friend working at the track, telling me that the traffic was horrible and I should hurry up, also she told me that our golden passes were ready! We quickly left home and got into the car. Started to drive from the coast then to the highway. We followed the Istanbul Park signs until we were stuck in traffic. Selim knew that highway and all the bypasses really well because normally he used these roads everyday to go to school. We decided not to follow the signs any more, and used other roads. And yes it was maybe the best thing we did today. I had no idea where we were going, but I trusted him. About 15 minutes later we were at the track without any traffic. There was only one problem: parking lots were full. He parked the car on the side of the road; we didn't have any other choice.

We quickly met my friend and got our passes for the main grand stand. The view was beautiful; teams were doing their last preparations in front of us. It was time for the drivers' parade. Everybody got crazy when the drivers showed up on the track and got into the classic cars from which they were going to wave to the fans during one lap. Michael was in a beautiful Ferrari 275 GTS while Rubens in a beautiful vintage Alfa Romeo. It was a great moment when all the tifosi waved their flags and cheered up for Ferrari drivers. After that it was time for some dancing shows and Turkish national anthem. Also "Türk Yildizlari" (which means Turkish Stars) made a demonstration flight, by spraying red and white into the sky. Once the ceremonies ended, everyone was waiting for the big thing! People started to often check out the 5 red lights. Then the safety car finished its lap!

Time for the formation lap now! Engines rumbling and the sound of 20 Formula One cars was so unique, I was getting more and more patient to hear the sound for the real start. First Kimi showed up at the other end of the straight. All the drivers positioned in their row. They all switched on launch control. The sound was like a thunderstorm was coming! All five red lights were off and the race started! Ohh! that sound, it is just impossible to tell from here. Plus the main grandstand's closed architecture created an echo as a bonus!

I cannot say the race was fun and enjoyable for the tifosi. The Ferraris weren't quick. It was lap fourteen when Michael and Mark Webber collided. Both of them retired from the race. Michael was back in the pits. Rubens was still trying his best but the car had a serious balance problem. A couple of laps later, Michael was back on the track, probably for a better starting position for the qualification in Monza and to get some more telemetric data about the track. Again we cheered for Michael at the main grand stand!
By that time, Kimi was absolutely flying. The race continued like that. McLaren-Mercedes was going to do a double for the first time in so long, but Montoya got off-track, losing his second position. At the end of the race Kimi was the winner, Alonso second and Montoya third. They then opened the doors to the track for the champagne ceremony. I went down immediately and took some photos of the Ferrari pit box.

We left the track, headed to the car. Our adventure wasn't over. While walking to the car, we saw the traffic was terrible. We had to find a way to get out of this chaos. Finally we decided to use the roads of the car park and do some off-road. Yes, we were successful! We bypassed the traffic by off-roading and then finding ourselves on the VIP way, which meant we were going to have a comfortable journey with a minimum of traffic. We got home about 40 minutes later. While some friends told us that they were stuck in traffic, and their ride lasted about one and half an hour!

It was a great first time experience for us!

By Izel Konfidan for Tifosi's Report