22/10/2010
NEWS STORY
Well, what a day it's been. It's a real pleasure to report how well things have gone today. All the drivers seem to like the circuit - however slippery it was to begin with but totally expected - and Mark Webber admits that he was clutching at straws to criticise it.
He did say that he thinks the pit entry and exit are a bit iffy and I can understand the pit lane entry. It is around the right hander which is virtually blind because it is bordered by walls, so you won't be able to see if someone is coming in really slowly. That's the real danger. It's probably being discussed in the drivers' briefing as I write this, but some really good flagging would help if anyone was coming in really slowly.
Incidentally, the marshalling at any of these venues is often a problem. When I walked around the track a couple of days ago, groups of marshals were being briefed by their team leaders, in this instance, Australians from the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS). After each briefing, the locals gave their team leader a round of applause which I thought was quite touching. (It also means that Mark Webber has got at least 25 fans here...)
Marshalling is a problem for any new venue, and one which Abu Dhabi solved by shipping in about 200 marshals from the BARC (British Automobile Racing Club) last year. However, I'm told that they are relying on locals this year, although trained by a Hungarian. They had their first dress rehearsal with the Radicals meeting the other day.
Anyway, back to practice here. Had another pleasant evening at the Boticelli last night - but I feel that we should attempt to be a bit more adventurous - and then I was invited to dinner by Bridgestone this evening so adventures will have to wait until tomorrow. In my column yesterday I was unjust to the lad who runs our 'hotel'/hostel. He is a full 13-years old (not 11) and his name is Kevin. Of course.
The walls in the Women's Plaza are a bit thin, however, and all I could hear was some Austrian chatting away last night, so I took a whole sleeping pill. (I usually take half). Woke up this morning having failed to hear the alarm with the bus due to leave in two minutes. Thankfully the bus was late and I made it, but that's two buses I've just made. My luck will be running out.
Well, the big surprise was just how many people were coming into the circuit - and this was Friday. It's looking pretty good; might have to get an earlier bus tomorrow. We had no screens at all in the commentary box, but we were lent a couple of Kangaroo TVs by FOM and myself my lady co-commentator commentated all day off those.
It's always an experience working with someone new and Mi-Won, my Korean co-commentator, seems to have done lots of homework. She had made copious notes and I did what really annoys me about other commentators by pointing out all the changes on our Kangaroo-supplied monitors, so that kept her up-to-date. She chatted away with some authority - it might have been rubbish but I have no idea!
As I said, all the drivers seem to have really enjoyed the circuit, stating the combination of corners from the fast straights and some overtaking spots in the first sector, to the faster corners in the second, and the tighter sections in the third. We've seen a few people slide off - as expected - but most got back on again. Bruno Senna seems to have been the main casualty today with a massive spin due to broken rear suspension (the team said he stopped with a technical issue but managed to get out in the afternoon - yeah, for three laps).
So all in all it's pretty positive. Dinner beckons, now, but I shall be fascinated to see what kind of crowd we get tomorrow. It was pleasantly warm all day today, but the track temperature was around 35 degrees, the tyres were graining lots but we should get more grip tomorrow. Having said that, they're talking about showers on raceday, so we could be going skating then. Still, Bernie's script for the championship is looking pretty good, with McLaren and Ferrari looking more competitive than Red Bull - at the moment. Watch this space!!
To check out our Yeongam practice gallery, click here