Toto Wolff, Mercedes, Baku City Circuit, 2019

Paddock Diary: Spanish Grand Prix day one

2019 Spanish Grand Prix

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In the paddock at the Circuit de Catalunya, @DieterRencken seeks the latest on Toto Wolff’s future and the current developments on the 2020 F1 calendar.

Thursday, 1:30pm – Barcelona Airport

A late start to weekend, though not due to the French air traffic controller strike that caused chaos for many of my fellow Formula 1 paddock-dwellers due to the number of aircraft flying over France to Spain.

As you may have read in last week’s extra editions of the Paddock Diary, I reported from the FIA’s Conference at Sun City in South Africa, and as I’m originally from those parts it made sense to fill the gap between it and the Spanish Grand Prix visiting family and friends, plus catching up on business.

I left Johannesburg on Wednesday via Emirates and was, frankly, surprised at how many SA folk on the same flight seemed headed for the grand prix – if their gear or (overheard) discussions were any indicators. Despite the country having last hosted a grand prix 26 years ago, enthusiasm for F1 clearly still runs deep.

3pm

F1 team motorhomes, Circuit de Catalunya, 2019Arrive at circuit, and take a stroll down the paddock. A sense of déjà vu hits me: back in the mid-noughties, the start of every new European season saw teams unveil new hospitality units – then still quaintly known as ‘motorhomes’ despite their sheer size and opulence – but as budget cuts hit and manufacturers departed, so units were pressed into service year after year.

A classic is Renault’s double unit, then known as ‘Bouncy Castle’ due to its similarity with kiddie playground kit, and originally Toyota’s state-of-art hospitality. Then it got handed down to the Genii (Lotus) team before Renault (re)acquired the outfit, and the unit with it.

Alfa Romeo’s facility was originally manufactured for BMW and inherited by Sauber. And so on.

This year, though, the Red Bull teams have a new, Alpine-themed Holzhaus (wooden house) similar to the design used last year for the Austrian Grand Prix (time as tight during the triple-header, so the MotoGP unit was pressed into service), while Racing Point has a new massive structure to replace the former Force India unit – thus killing off all links with the Vijay Mallya era.

Not content with its three-year-old hospitality, Haas has expanded its former single unit, effectively doubling up on space, while McLaren’s has unit – well over ten years old by now – has been somewhat spruced up.

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4pm

Hit the interview trail, and am again seriously impressed with the mature manner in which Charles Leclerc answers tricky questions, this time about the team’s Baku tactics, and about Ferrari’s inability to consistently take the fight to Mercedes.

Talking of which, our story on Wednesday about Toto Wolff having been offered the top executive F1 role caused a stir, with a few more sources providing further snippets. 48 hours since we broke the story, there has been no denial or even comment from either side – in itself is no confirmation – but I’m told a guarded statement can be expected today.

6pm

Racing Point, Circuit de Catalunya, 2019Interviews over, time to head for Racing Point for the inauguration of its hospitality and introduction of title sponsor SportPesa, an unknown brand to most F1 folk before the betting platform entered the sport this year, as revealed by RaceFans.

One thing is clear: an enormous amount of thought has gone into the design of the unit, with top class workmanship and materials being evident on every one of its three floors.

SportPesa’s footballing links are underscored by the appearance of former pro Gaizka Mendieta Zabala, now an ambassador for La Liga, who shared the stage with Sergio Perez – with the latter telling us he’d hoped to be a football pro, but switched to racing when he realised he wouldn’t make the top grade…

Clearly, though, the team’s financial issues are a thing of the past now the Lawrence Stroll consortium has acquired it.

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7:30pm

Circuit de Catalunya, 2019Wander back to car park, wondering whether my rental car’s windows would be whole: last year a spate of vandalism saw over 40 cars broken into in the media car park during race weekend, while colleagues lost valuables in a similar run during testing. The recent World Rallycross Championship round saw further break-ins – and although the circuit maintains it’s beefed up security, fact is we all feel uneasy. No worries (today), though: the car is untouched.

8:30pm

Dump baggage at the apartment in Argentona – 20 minutes from circuit – I’m sharing with a Dutch colleague, then head for Fonda Europa, one of the best hotels in nearby Granollers, for dinner hosted by Stuart Pringle, CEO of Silverstone Circuit.

Stuart puts us in the picture regarding the British GP over a sumptuous three-course meal. The bottom line is that, contrary to reports, no deal has been done for 2020-onwards, and that a number of sticking points remain.

Here’s hoping…

11:30pm

Arrive back at apartment and catch-up sleep, having departed South Africa 30 hours earlier.

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2019 Spanish Grand Prix

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5 comments on “Paddock Diary: Spanish Grand Prix day one”

  1. Papa Stroll strikes me as the kind of guy who would pretty much want to stamp his authority on anything he owns and make it his regardless of it’s past. Fair enough I say.
    Good to see that he is putting money into the team and not just paying for a seat.

  2. Thank you for the background information of these hospitality units, I am always fascinated by it. Lovely pictures of these units too from yesterday’s postings.

    1. yeah, it’s good to hear this kind of thing from within the paddock (somewhere that might as well be narnia to most fans). i remember a piece in one of the glossy magazines (in their heyday) about the new motorhomes and even then i remember thinking that such luxuries could never last and that the sport was inviting failure. but the idea of decadence is kind of seductive and something that seems kind of lacking in today’s F1, with its engine restrictions and what not.

  3. Enjoy Barcelona, Dieter!

  4. Great report as always.

    Interesting little tidbit from your dinner about Silverstone. Thanks for that.

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