First of all I'm sorry I havent been on Steemit a lot this weekend, I was at the Belgium Grand Prix of Formula one at Spa. So if I didn't comment on your posts , sorry ;)

Here by a longer report of the weekend !! I hope you like it.

Day 1

But what a weekend it was. My brother and I went from thurdsay untill sunday after the race.
When we arrived at the camping the weather was good, so we set our tent and started to pump our airbeds. When we were settled we went to the track to go to the pitlane walk. People whith tickets for the whole weekend had the chance to walk trough the pitlane and on the circuit.

A bummer was that we had to walk about 8 kilometer around the (outside) track because only the main entrance was open. I can asure you, walking that distance on FlipFlops isn't any fun. Also the infrastructure around the circuit was really bad, we had to walk trough woods and grass for most of the time, climbing like some survival specialists. I was drenched from heat and sweat, it was bizar..

When we arrived at the pitlane there was a big queue of people waiting to go in, there was a great atmosphere. Everybody wanted to have a glimp of the cars, teams and drivers (if there were any in the pitlane.

Slowly we were passing the pitboxes of the teams. There was a fanzone where every half an hour a driver will show up to sign autographs or to take a picture. For us it was to crowdy so we skipped that part.

The mechanics were already busy with the cars to prepare them for the first free pactices the next day. It is bizar to see with what precision those mechanics work and all the stuff they are taking with them.

Of course people were watching the big teams like Mercedes and Ferrari, but the teams didn't pay any attention to the crowd. It was different at the pit of RedBull, you were allowed to take a picture at Max Verstappen's car, a woman from Red Bull would make the picture with your cell-phone. It was great to see, especially for all those kids.

After the pitlane walk we walked back to the entrance, across the startgrid. Funny to think that in a day the whole grid is packed with the F1 cars. So it was a great experience.

We had to walk the whole 8 Km back again, but we didn't felt like that was a very good idea. Especially on the flip flop's. So we looked if we could grab a Taxi. And lucky us there were. That was the first moment we noticed that everybody want's a piece of the commercial pie. We paid 30 euro's for a 7 KM drive. And the cabdriver didn't even looked strange asking this price. We still had to walk another KM because he couldn't get at our campsite with the car.

Day 2: Free practice

We had a quiet cold night. Temperature dropped below 10 degrees celcius. Although we had some warm clothing, we didn't brought pyama's :). So we agreed on getting some warmer clothing for the night in a local store. We did some groceries as well because there wasn't much to buy at the campsite (which they did advertise with).

Of course there are a lot of people comming to the F1, from all parts of the world. Some people really did make a mess of the campsite by thronwing all their stuff (empty bottles, cans etc) just in the grass. I thought it was terrible behaviour. But at night people are starting drinking way to much with that behaviour as a result. To bad... When we woke up next to us the partytent was broken down.. Just like the toilets and showers, they were a big mess. I always ask myself in these situations, will people also do this at their home?

After breakfast we freshed up and went to the track. It was my first time at a Formula one race so I did not really know what to expect, but the first thing I did noticed that the sound of the cars wasn't that loud as I thought it would be. The GP2 (a other race class) made a lot more noise, that was strange knowing F1 is the 'upper class' of racing with the fastest and biggest cars.

But nevertheless it was impressive. We had tickets for the special "Max Verstappen" tribune, and it was a great experience. It was filled with people wearing orange. (Dutch National color), there was a DJ to entertain people during pauses. So it was great.

Besides the free practice of formula one there was also practicing of GP2 , F3 and the Porsche cup. So there were many races to see. For the F3 there is also a Dutch driver Nick de Vries. He is also a real talent.

Because the teams can go on track whenever they want in the Free practice time the cars where spreaded across the track so there was a lot to see.

Because of the minimum options at the campsite we drove to the village at night to have dinner in a nice italian restaurant. The food was great.

Day 3: Qualifying

The second night was even colder then the first and we hardly had any sleep because of the cold and the noise of all the drunk people, so we were quiet tired in the morning. But a cup of warm coffea does do miracles. In the morning the teams had a chance to practice again in another free practice, just to check on the car and make some last minute adjustments. There were already a lot more people on the circuit.

At three oçlock it was Quali time, in three sessions drivers had to try and drive the quickest time for their startingposition during the race. In the last session the teams got a bit surprised because it started to rain a bit. Unfortunate the Red Bulls had a issue with their ammount of fuell so the made it to 8th place (Ricciardo) and 7th (Verstappen). Not to bad knowing the one in front of them weren't faster in the race.

Between the practice and qualifying we went for a quick bit on the circuit. There were different kind of fastfood's. We went for a french fries with some chicken bites. When the woman said the price I thought I felt down lol.... 14 euro's for a tiny portion of fries with 3 pieces of chicken... They sure do know how to get your money. There was certainly no quality for value....

At night we went to another restaurant to have diner, because at the campsite it was cold, wet and noisy.
I kept on wondering why people think they have to behave like pigs when they are a weekend at the races :)

Day 4: The moment of truth

I was racing day and although in the morning it was cold and wet (mist) the sun was breaking trough in the morning. It promised to be a great day. We went to the track early because the Max Verstappen tribune would be packed with 2000 exciting fans and of course we wanted to have a great spot. When we arrived the crowd was already going nuts, it was a great vibe. All the orange colored people, singing and partying.

The Dutch supporters are famous for their way of supporting, so did the FIA organization noticed. The showed it very often at the screens along the circuit. Awesome to see.

In the morning and a part of the afternoon there were several other races, so we got entertained very good. Finally it was racetime. First of all there was the drivers-parade. all drivers where taxied across the track to wave at the fans. Max Verstappen stopped by our tribune to have a interview and to throw some shirts into the crowd. He was stunned by the massive support he got and thanked people for it, everybody was cheering.

When the race started there was this big crash in turn one, Nico Hulkenberg hit Fernando Alonso quiet hard and the car of Alonso flew some meters trough the air. He got out well, so that was good. There did came a safety car situation for some rounds but after that the race went on.

Max started 7th, but he did some incredible overtaking which brought him eventually to place three. Kimi Raikonen had to stop due to problems with his car. The race itself wasn't a very exciting race. Hamilton and Vettel drove away from the others very easy, which made that Max drove almost completely alone.. But he finished third. Everyone was cheerfull and yelling. It was a great result.

So it was a great clossure of a great weekend with my brother.
When we came back at the campsite we packed our stuff and went back to Holland. I must say that it didn't took too long to be on the highway, everything around the area was very well arranged. Way better then things on the circuit.

My impression of SPA

If I am going to visit another Grand Prix in the future I'm sure it will not be Spa. The reason for this is that besides the race and traffic all the other things are poorly organized. To get to the circuit you have to walk (climb) a lot in the bush from which I think they can easy improve that by laying down a brick road. I think for a event like this it is almost mandatory.... The catering was poorly too, especially when you look at those prizes. Of course I know that you have to pay some more on events like these, and that is ok. But 14 euro for a portion of fries and chicken or noodles, that is way to much...

Nevertheless I had a great weekend with my brother and we had a lot of fun !!!
Quality time !!!

Have a great day

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