Tribute to Anthoine Hubert, Spa-Francorchamps, 2019

Paddock Diary: Italian Grand Prix day two

2019 Italian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

[gmsabu]

The Grand Prix Drivers’ Association met at Monza to discuss their response to the crash which claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert last week.

7am

Prepare for day ahead, the first activity day of the last European round of the year. It is absolutely incredibly how rapidly this season has flown past; it seems like just yesterday that we went to Monza in anticipation of a home victory for Ferrari that eventually turned out not to be. Indeed, the last Ferrari victory in the Temple of Speed was Fernando Alonso’s 2010 win – and it’s simply ages since he last wore in red.

8am

Having had a late dinner courtesy of Alfa Romeo, I skip breakfast and brave Milan’s Friday commuter traffic. It flows fairly freely notwithstanding the aftermath of a massive storm the night before, which led to a number of flights conveying F1 folk to the face diverted to Turin.

I hear tales of woe: BA offered to reimburse up to €100 of €250 taxi fares; a TV colleague enquires at a car rental desk for a four-day hire, having had to cancel his Milan booking. €800 – upon which he says he’ll consider his options. Ten minutes later he returns to do the deal, to be told it’s shot up to ‘€1200, take the last car we have or leave it……’

Where once cab drivers were the scourge of F1, it is now car rental companies who rip the ring out of us. The difference is that taxi cons cost us tens of bucks; with car hires the rip-offs can run to thousands.

9am

Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo, Monza, 2019Pull up in the (muddy) forest that doubles as a media car park, and head for paddock, catching up on gossip along the way. Until the driver market finally washes out, that will be the main topic of discussion – it seems essentially two seats remain: one at Haas, which could be retained by Romain Grosjean; another at Williams alongside George Russell – likely to go to Nicholas Latifi, providing he gain the necessary licence points, which shouldn’t be a problem given his F2 performances this year.

True, the second 2020 Alfa Romeo cockpit remains theoretically vacant, but the word is Antonio Giovinazzi will stay in situ at the insistence of Ferrari despite the team’s wishes to seek elsewhere, so that leaves Nico Hulkenberg and Romain scrapping over the black and gold seat (or whatever colour the Haas cars are next year). There may, though, still be some drivers yo-yoing at Red Bull.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

10am

Bump into Julian Jakobi, the legendary driver manager who did and does handle the careers of many of the sport’s greatest names – including Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost (for a time simultaneously) – and we swap notes on various issues. Julian is always good for a snippet.

1pm

Mattia Binotto, Franz Tost, Claire, Williams, Monza, 2019FIA Press Conference time, and clearly the teams are divided on some of the provisions of the 2021 regulations, particularly those relating to standard or prescription parts, with Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto suggesting standardisation of certain components could even be a ‘risk’. This one seems set to run.

Thereafter I lunch at Ferrari: salads and some of the finest prosciutto ham I’ve tasted. It sure fills the spot until dinner.

While wandering the paddock I meet with Tomas Scheckter and his brother Toby – both here in celebration of their father Jody’s 1979 world championship victory here. I had worked closely with Tomas during his F3 days, and it’s great to reminisce. He now produces pet foods, processing around 20 tons of top-class feed per week.

4:30pm

Interview time, and once again it’s a bunfight as we all scramble for sound bites due to restricted and clashing interview slots, but we manage to get some good stuff in the can.

I’m told an intense Grand Prix Drivers Association meeting is scheduled for after the drivers’ briefing, with the main topic being, of course, Anthoine Hubert’s fatal crash at Spa last week. In the end it runs through to around 7pm, with the main focus being education of young drivers to ensure they respect the regulations, particularly with regard to safety.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

7pm

Lando Norris, McLaren, Monza, 2019Delayed (due to the GPDA meeting) ‘3-2-1’ interview with Lando Norris. The ‘3’ are myself plus an Austrian and a Finnish journalist. A 20-minute slot becomes half an hour, with McLaren’s rising star being in an extremely chatty mood. Indeed, the team later tell us it’s the best interview he’s ever given.

I’ve known Norris, who’s making his appreciation of Italian Moto GP hero Valentino Rossi very clear this weekend, for almost three years. In that time I’ve seen him develop from a rather shy F3 racer to full-on F1 achiever. His insights into the cross-over between real racing and E-sports are particularly incisive.

7:30pm

I stay on in the McLaren Brand Centre for dinner with British American Tobacco. Refreshingly there is no talk of vaping or tobacco; simply a relaxed get-together over a superbly prepared and presented dinner, being a starter of burrata, followed by (medium-rare) beef fillet and a crème brulee and compote dessert.

Go ad-free for just £1 per month

>> Find out more and sign up

2019 Italian Grand Prix

Browse all 2019 Italian Grand Prix articles

5 comments on “Paddock Diary: Italian Grand Prix day two”

  1. A great prosciutto must be freshly cut and thinly sliced The fresh slices wrapped around some ripe chilled musk melon.

  2. Coincidently, the most recent Italian GP to have been won by Ferrari is also the first F1 race I attended in person.

    1. Well, that must have been quite a good atmosphere to get your first real world F1 experience!

  3. I’m surprised Pascal Wehrlein and Brendon Hartley haven’t been discussed as candidates for that second Alfa Romeo seat, given they are both Ferrari simulator drivers. Such a position did Kvyat wonders.

    The Red Bull/TR scenario also fascinates me, as normally what is expected to happen doesn’t happen. I think its too early to decide whether Patricio O’Ward is up to it, but one Red Bull driver that I think is flying under the radar and has Markos attention is Nick Cassidy.

    1. Brendon Hartley was ridiculously bad, no team will ever let him near an actual race seat ever again. Playing around on sims is fine, he can’t endanger actual people there.

Comments are closed.