Russian Grand Prix 2016

[msmoby]

I'm lucky enough to have a Pass for the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi - in addition to tickets for Grandstand tickets for the whole event.

Tuesday sees the teams setting up their garages and hospitality centres - for Sunday's race - but the practice sessions start on Friday.

I live about 25 km - 15 miles from the circuit and a train drops us off 200m from the entrance to the circuit

Security is VERY tight and I saw THREE warships stationed off the coast on the beautiful train ride home. Putin will be here......

I'll be taking photos of the event and posting them here - if you aren't interested in F1 - then I'm sorry ... I expect I'll have some photos of the staff - sooner or later - they are smart - mostly speaking perfect English and single young men  would be in heaven..

[msmoby]

One more day until the fun starts - and it is hissing down...



This is the view from the train - at the Olympic Village station - not to be confused with the Olympic Park station - where one alights to get to the F1 track.

The poor guys from the racing teams setting up shop will be soaked - the rain is tropical and incessant.

This is the view of the walk from the railway station - overlooking the complex.

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The Doctors' / Medics cars and the 'Safety cars' on the last bend before the Start / Finish line



In the Pit lane - as the Mercedes F1 Team prepare their garage



Red Bull's wheels



Testing the start lights



The Williams Team guys cleaning their wheels - a rim failed at China - hope it wasn't the solvent ...



The Podium takes shape..




The view from the finish line towards the start line..




Yours truly from a VIP box - overlooking the start - finish straight.. the main Grandstand and commentary boxes are to the left.



More... to come - when the sun comes back out



 

 

[msmoby]

The Media Centre

The staff here can speak English, French , German, Spanish and Chinese...and of course Russian

[msmoby]

So,  the rain stopped and I got my last chance to walk on the track / in the pit lane until AFTER the race.


My pass is VERY specific about that ....

Security will be even tighter, tomorrow - a new system for paddock access will come into operation - face recognition checks



The top teams have screens across their garages - to stop prying eyes - McLaren - who had a terrible season in their first in year with Honda - haven't lost the habit and half heatedly covered their garage.

The new American team - Haas - had also covered their garage - so I don't know if the noses I took photos of were 'current'.



I'm still allowed to walk in the Paddock - between the Garages and the teams' hospitality suite... You can see Ferrari are particularly fond of guests  ..


If you had a puncture these McLaren guys might be too busy to help



The Red Bull guys sort out which is Daniels # 3 and Daniil #26, tyres ... 


The podium is ready for Putin and the top three...



If there's an incident requiring the cars to slow down - here's the safety car - which will - ironically - be going so fast you could never keep up in most road cars ..






Not long to go ..



Only one more 'dolly bird' - A nice young British lady - working for McLaren



I saw one 'celeb' - ex-F1 driver and father of current Torro Rosso driver -  Max Verstappen .. he's in the centre



blurred ... 

[msmoby]

Much better weather, today - blue skies - no umbrellas..




Forecast for Qualifying and GP - 19C and no rain. This is the Paddock - between the garages to the pit lane and the Teams 'Homes' ..Increased security - FIA - the Motorsport admin body - issued me a new additional - pass, yesterday and I was 'too slow' to pass the turn-style and registered ' already in' on the system - when I triedto get in 'again' and caused a minor security alert ..all smiles - a quick phone call and I was 'in' ..

This is the barrier that 'kept me out' 

[msmoby]

Took a stroll along the 2nd floor of the media centre - overlooking the Paddock and the sun brought out the drivers

Jos Verstappen 'posed' again




Haas' Mexican driver Esteban Gutierrez with the team boss - Mr Haas




Renault's British driver Jolyon Palmer



Sauber's Marcus Ericsson


and  - as promised

2 of the Media Centre gals



Evgenia ... says she's looking for a husband 

So does this lass - but I forgot her name ..later..

[msmoby]

Just gate-crashed the drivers' press conference.

I've always wondered if the drivers are bored by such events ...if there were - I certainly wasn't ..

I noted that as Daniil Kvyat spoke and gesticulated - that there was a delay - may be 3-5 seconds on the tv monitors either side of the screen.

I'm guessing - in case they say a bad word - by mistake   



Present were front row Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg and Daniil Kvyat
back row - Filipe Nasr, Checo Perez and Estoban Gutierrez

Bizarrely - there were only 15 reports, 9 photographers and 3 tv cameramen - plus 5 Media centre staff and yours truly - there were many empty seats.

It is filmed by F1 TV crew - not the national TV companies.

SURREAL

[msmoby]

Meanwhile one of the Media Centre gals - Regina - got a selfie with Lewis

She kindly permitted me to use it

[Ste]

And we got The Tour De Yorkshire on Sunday to look forward to.

[Gipsy]

^^

Personally I feel that F1 belongs on an F1 forum, and should not clutter up a forum such as this..

[Jerash]

MSMoby - thanks for sharing all the pics.  I am very jealous.  My timing was impeccable.... just missed the Russian Grand Prix by two weeks....

I would have come to Russia two weeks later and then headed to Sochi if I knew my romantic adventure there was going to end in failure, with me back in Moscow killing time for a week.....

These posts belong in an F1 forum just as gun rights posts belong in a gun rights forum and American political discussions belong in an American politics forum.....  It goes on and on and on.

Thanks again, Moby!  Let me know tomorrow if there has been any improvement to the sound this year.  As usual, I plan to be at the Grand Prix in Montreal in June; the lack of sound the past two years has been a major disappointment. 

[Anteros]

^^

Personally I feel that F1 belongs on an F1 forum, and should not clutter up a forum such as this..

Disagree.  The F1 race is in Sochi and Sochi is in Russia which last time I checked is part of the former Soviet Union.  Furthermore if this forum adhered to especially strict subject posting matter it might turn to tumbleweeds and crickets. (more so than it sometimes is) 

[Gipsy]

I would have come to Russia two weeks later and then headed to Sochi if I knew my romantic adventure there was going to end in failure, with me back in Moscow killing time for a week.....

The lady from Izhevsk was not to be, is that correct?

If so, never mind, there are many others I would suggest..

Maybe you should take a summer vacation in Crimea, would think that will become a "Nest" area..

Luck for the future...

[Gipsy]

^^

Personally I feel that F1 belongs on an F1 forum, and should not clutter up a forum such as this..

Disagree.  The F1 race is in Sochi and Sochi is in Russia which last time I checked is part of the former Soviet Union.  Furthermore if this forum adhered to especially strict subject posting matter it might turn to tumbleweeds and crickets. (more so than it sometimes is) 

Your opinion of course....

It also rains and snows a lot in Russia, maybe we should begin posting photo's of such events..

[Anteros]

^^

Personally I feel that F1 belongs on an F1 forum, and should not clutter up a forum such as this..

Disagree.  The F1 race is in Sochi and Sochi is in Russia which last time I checked is part of the former Soviet Union.  Furthermore if this forum adhered to especially strict subject posting matter it might turn to tumbleweeds and crickets. (more so than it sometimes is) 

Your opinion of course....

It also rains and snows a lot in Russia, maybe we should begin posting photo's of such events..

If it was snowing at the Olympics maybe we should.  Oh, that's right we already did.  Seems to me that the Olympics in Russia and a Formula 1 race are major events, however to each his own. 

[Anteros]

Great photos Moby, thanks for sharing.  Keep us posted.  Especially if the American team does well (I doubt it with Ferrari and McClaren and Honda there). 

[Gipsy]

^^

Personally I feel that F1 belongs on an F1 forum, and should not clutter up a forum such as this..

Disagree.  The F1 race is in Sochi and Sochi is in Russia which last time I checked is part of the former Soviet Union.  Furthermore if this forum adhered to especially strict subject posting matter it might turn to tumbleweeds and crickets. (more so than it sometimes is) 

Your opinion of course....

It also rains and snows a lot in Russia, maybe we should begin posting photo's of such events..

If it was snowing at the Olympics maybe we should.  Oh, that's right we already did.  Seems to me that the Olympics in Russia and a Formula 1 race are major events, however to each his own.

I am not criticising the standard of the photo's, they are good.

There are many major sporting events in Russia, in which countries from all over the world take part in, and probably more patronised, Tennis, golf, football, ice hockey, ice dance, basketball, biathlon, to name just a few, but if all of these sports were reported upon, the forum would become more akin to BBC sports page..

[Anteros]

^^

Personally I feel that F1 belongs on an F1 forum, and should not clutter up a forum such as this..

Disagree.  The F1 race is in Sochi and Sochi is in Russia which last time I checked is part of the former Soviet Union.  Furthermore if this forum adhered to especially strict subject posting matter it might turn to tumbleweeds and crickets. (more so than it sometimes is) 

Your opinion of course....

It also rains and snows a lot in Russia, maybe we should begin posting photo's of such events..

If it was snowing at the Olympics maybe we should.  Oh, that's right we already did.  Seems to me that the Olympics in Russia and a Formula 1 race are major events, however to each his own.

I am not criticising the standard of the photo's, they are good.

There are many major sporting events in Russia, in which countries from all over the world take part in, and probably more patronised, Tennis, golf, football, ice hockey, ice dance, basketball, biathlon, to name just a few, but if all of these sports were reported upon, the forum would become more akin to BBC sports page..

Well all I can say is that different people have different interests.  At one time this forum was really very active but then the invasion of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine changed all of that. 

In fact we actually did routinely talk about Russian tennis, at least if it was some gal in a skimpy outfit.  Larry rounded up some of those and I did my best to contribute as well. 

So to break up the excruciating pain and monotony of arguing with people chained to a wall in Plato's cave and watching shadows on the wall, every now and then it's nice to see something different. 

[msmoby]

And we got The Tour De Yorkshire on Sunday to look forward to.

 

[msmoby]

Great photos Moby, thanks for sharing.  Keep us posted.  Especially if the American team does well (I doubt it with Ferrari and McLaren and Honda there).

Anteros,

Haas have impressed and have a close relationship with Ferrari - they have more points than McLaren - who are toiling as Honda 'race' to catch up with the hybrid engine technology.

Haas will be starting further up the grid, next year..at this rate - higher up than McLaren - for now..

[Jerash]

Formula 1 is one of the single largest sporting events in the world.  As a single event, there will be few if any that rival it in Russia (and elsewhere).

Moby - in a few hours the cars will be revving up!  Please let us know how it is and photos too!  Can't wait.  Hope to see Ferrari mount a challenge, but with Daniil on the podium last time, would love to see the Russian move even higher at his home race!

[Markje]

Really, the only thing that is keeping me interested in F1, is the technological advances that make it possible to improve normal road-cars with them.

Thats also why some new rules exist, to make sure the technology is more than just "biggest engine, baddest breaks".

Max Verstappen is also a star on the rise, he does really well in a B-team like torro-rosso with sub-standard equipment.

[Ste]

Let's face it, we only watch it for the crashes!

[msmoby]

Let's face it, we only watch it for the crashes!

..speed and razzmatazz.. 

and 50 percent of the crowd ..

I was allowed to watch Free Practice 1 from a VIP box.



I was right over Carlos Sainz Jnr's pit box..

The trains to here are free - with a ticket and the track was packed..



Russia has two guys out on the track, today...



Sergey Sirotkin is the Renault test driver ... but he was quicker than Britain's Joylon Palmer - who is having a torrid time and needs to watch out - lest he finds the young Russian impressed, too much

Britain's Lewis Hamilton finished second in Free Practice 1 - this photo does no justice to the speed these guys are doing ...

[rosco]

Great photos Moby, thanks for sharing.  Keep us posted.  Especially if the American team does well (I doubt it with Ferrari and McLaren and Honda there).

Anteros,

Haas have impressed and have a close relationship with Ferrari - they have more points than McLaren - who are toiling as Honda 'race' to catch up with the hybrid engine technology.

Haas will be starting further up the grid, next year..at this rate - higher up than McLaren - for now..

Haas have had a great start to the year and they're essentially a customer Ferrari having bought every possible part available under the current rules. Not sure I agree with this when you see independents making everything from scratch and being outperformed.

Traditionally, the first 3/4 races often allow surprise results and this year is no different. In the past, Sauber have had great starts only to be caught up. Haas struggled in round 3 at China and fared little better in FP1 this weekend. It's early days but whilst Haas have points on the board, McLaren Honda are starting to look the better package.

Lets see how the season unfolds but we're only 3 races in.