Stepping off the plane full of journalists and one distinct Swedish F1 driver with his crew, Sochi’s Olympic rings shone brightly, welcoming me for the first time. Waiting at my hotel was a completely different type of welcome in the funky 80s-disco-style lobby, karaoke singers and an ample shot of Russian vodka. Little did I know this potent grape-flavoured beverage that nearly blew my head off would be one of many unexpected firsts, including reporting on the Russian Grand Prix.
Not one to shy away from making new friends, I was lucky enough to meet a fab Danish journo, Jonas Hüttel, who helped direct me to the circuit and offered a plethora of tips over the next four days. The 15-minute stroll from hotel room to F1 media centre was surprisingly beautiful with the sun constantly shining and picturesque snowy mountains peering from behind the massive green hills.
The circuit entrance was simply huge and heavily guarded with full airport-style security screening on the way in. Walking the long astro-turf tunnel that leads to the paddock entrance I felt like Alice entering the rabbit hole, and in a way I was not far of. The F1 paddock is always completely brimming with interesting, inspiring, entertaining characters, although I’m yet to find the mad hatter…
Trying to dodge shots being fired by the barrage of photographers snapping drivers arriving behind me, I made my way to HAAS for a sit down with Romain Grosjean. Kicking off Thursday’s media day, the French driver was full of beans and opened up about the challenges of balancing family life with his hectic schedule.
So just how does he do it? “The perfect wife to start,” Grosjean reveals, beaming. He’ll get some serious brownie points for that one. Although, leaving his kids at home in Switzerland is perhaps one of his toughest tasks.
“It’s not easy,” he said. “Yesterday I left home and my big kid, the eldest of the two, said ‘Daddy I don’t want you to leave I want to stay with you all the time’. He’s crying and you’re leaving, [but] it makes me who I am because when I’m home I’m happy as I’m doing the thing I love the most in the world as a job.”
The joy that fills Romain’s entire being when he speaks about his family is heart-warming. You can literally see him lighting up like a firefly and I was intrigued to delve further into how he manages his many commitments.
“We work quite a bit but when I’m home I’m lucky to be home,” he said with a smile. “I can drop them [his children] at school in the morning, then training, then I pick them up in the evening and we play together. When I’m home, I’m really home! In the end, I think I spend more time with my kids than a lot of parents do.”
Switching my line of questioning to his other great love, racing, the rather relaxed and warm Frenchman explained his personal battle when he’s not able to fight for the podium.
“Right now, I cannot fight the Ferrari because we don’t have the same car,” he added, slightly frustrated but at the same time very accepting. “It’s about doing your own race and being the best you can be. Doing everything correct and jumping out of the car at the end thinking you know what I’m not standing on the podium right now but I think I deserve the top step because I’ve done everything I could have and I’ve driven the best I could. So, it’s more a personal thing that you need to make sure. You’re not on the first page of the newspaper but it doesn’t matter because for you, you won the race.”
Feeling all warm and fuzzy I moved across to come face-to-face with HAAS’s Danish driver Kevin Magnussen. Hailing from the small Scandinavian country which offers enormous moral support to its sole F1 driver, Kevin certainly draws a lot more from fans than they may realise. Despite circulating at lightning speeds during a race, the Dane never fails to notice his flag flying in the grandstands.
“I know if there is a Danish flag it’s for me,” he said. “It makes me proud and makes me happy to see that people are here to support me. It helps you, it motivates you and makes you happy, so of course that makes it better and makes me want to push even harder.
“It’s not only in motorsport it’s in other team sports when they’re doing well… We really get behind them and follow it and support it. I think it’s because we’re a small country and we feel more proud when we do well because we’re small. It feels like the odds are against us with the amount of Danish people, maybe that’s why.”
Dressed in the team colours, the blonde haired, blue-eyed racer stole a glance through the glass wall at the photo shoot taking place with his trusty trainer Thomas Jorgensen. The towering gentle giant outside has been instrumental in preparing Magnussen on and off track this year, with the latter feeling more motivated than ever.
“Moving to HAAS has motivated me massively,” he offered. “I wanted to make the best of this opportunity, giving it everything I have. The main motivation and main drive [for more intensive training] in it was these new cars that were supposed to be a lot faster, and that we anticipated to be much more physical to drive. I wanted to be perfectly prepared for that so I stepped up my training and allowed myself to gain a bit more muscle and a bit more weight which meant I’m doing a lot more training.”
And it seems Kevin is noticing the difference physically as well.
“I’m more fit and not as tired as before,” said the young Dane. “I regret not doing as much last year as I do now, it is helping.”
From his neighbouring country and almost a neighbour here in the paddock, Marcus Ericsson was next on my list. Russian sun beating down on the many friendly, familiar faces as they passed me by with a wave, I began to feel like I had just downed Alice’s magic happy potion here in Wonderland.
Now, I’ve come across plenty of regulars who speak about the ‘F1 addiction’, and in every paddock I enter throughout motorsport I’m met with warnings of “watch out, it’s addictive.” As I strode behind Sochi Autodrom’s main grandstand, receiving greetings from every angle on my way to Sauber I finally understood what they all meant.
The immense passion oozing from each and every person in this paddock, every team member, driver, engineer, mechanic and journalist is highly contagious. This passion is like an airborne atom that latches itself to every inch of your skin, your hair, it fills your nose and ears, taking over your senses, intoxicating every cell. You breathe it in with every breath and even taste it on your tongue. At that very moment I realised this feeling had consumed my entire body and there was no mistaking, the addiction had taken hold.
Still buzzing, I walked into Sauber and standing there was a beaming Marcus Ericsson, whose only competition for the role of the Cheshire cat is Daniel Ricciardo. In his usual ‘take-everything-in-my-stride’ manner, he answered question after question to give me a great insight into his life away from the track, including his relationship with his 15-year-old racing driver brother Hampus.
“I try to help him with my experience, he’s done karting and just now starting his Formula career,” he said with some pride. “I try to help him with advice and support really… speak to him, encourage him and hopefully this year I’ll be able to go to at least one race to see him. It’s difficult for me to coach from the outside, I cannot really do that, more to be moral support and cheer him up if he needs that, take him down if he’s getting too proud of himself. I speak to him quite a lot.”
With the young Ericsson eager to follow in his older brother’s footsteps all the way to F1, Marcus admits he definitely has the talent. But it’s also a question of whether he has the head to be a driver in this series.
“There are a lot of drivers in the world that have the talent to become an F1 driver but it’s so much more,” he explained. “You have to have the timing and the luck to do the right performance at the right time and the right people watching. There’s so many things that need to happen and there’s so few spots.”
Having lived life on the road since he was 13, and used to it by now, missing out on time with family and friends, it never gets any easier for the Swede.
“In F1 it’s quite extreme, last year we had 250 days travelling,” he continued. “It’s my lifestyle obviously so it’s normal every week I’m travelling somewhere, I’m on a plane somewhere. It’s more weird not to do it. If I’m home for two weeks I don’t know what to do, it’s strange.”
The rest of the afternoon was spent with some of the brilliant minds and muscles behind the drivers – the F1 trainers. It was fair to say after chatting at length with Alex Elgh, Martin Poole, Dan Sims, Thomas Jørgensen and Rupert Mainwaring my F1 passion had risen to dangerous heights, potentially bordering on overdose.
A Russian beer and watching football at the pub with the boys was needed to cool off after that day.
20-something degrees and more sunshine came on Friday and Saturday. For me it was time to talk about Mercedes’ Driver Development with head of their program Gwen Lagrue. I’d met Gwen a few times before, usually in the vicinity of Sauber or Force India, mentoring Pascal Wehrlein or Esteban Ocon. His never-ending search for the next “special driver” lead him to discover a 13-year-old Ocon in go-karts.
A former kart racer and rally driver himself, this Frenchman certainly has a talent for spotting talent. Lagrue has been helping young stars rise in F1 since 2010 and says he scouts drivers with the complete package.
“Performance, the way they are racing, also their own character. Are they mature enough? [It’s] a combination of many, many different things,” he explained as we sat in Mercedes chic hospitality unit. “When I look at Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel they are something special, you can see that, ok, this guy is different. They have a strong personality, strong character, charisma.”
Mental state is also a key ingredient for Gwen.
“I make my personal feeling, then we start working with a driver who is 15-years-old,” he added. “We help him to improve everything, we try to help them grow up in the right direction.”
Once a driver is within this prestigious talent program they are instantly surrounded by a team of professionals who assess and work with the drivers to enhance specific areas including both physical and mental.
“We’re always looking for the next superstar,” Gwen states. “With Pascal, Esteban and George [Russell] we have really strong pool of drivers and we focus on these three at the moment. If there’s someone we detect in the future we will see what we can do.”
Slipping into my fitness gear and running the 5.848km circuit in the warm Russian evening air, alongside my new Danish friend Jonas, was the perfect preparation for race day. I was sung to sleep by a heavy-metal lullaby from the slightly-drunk guy lighting up the karaoke bar downstairs in my hotel.
Although many comments began flying around about the GP being a “boring race” I found the stunning backdrop, lively atmosphere and being completely surrounded by so many incredible people enough entertainment for me. Thumbs up Sochi!
Lucky for me the fun didn’t stop there thanks to my amazing hotel host Natalya at the Poruchik Rzhevsky Art Hotel. Not only did Natalya provide me with some wicked welcome vodka but also the best personal service I’ve ever witnessed both in and out of a hotel. With her four kids, Babushka (grandmother) and nanny in a mini-van I was treated to a private tour of Sochi’s sights.
A 20-minute drive from the circuit, perched atop the most beautiful valley is Skypark AJ Hackett Sochi. It was the first stop for me and my new friends. This is hands-down a must-do when visiting the area. Not only are you treated to mind-blowing views but you get your own dose of adrenalin from the third highest bungee jump in the world, the Sochi Swing, Mega Troll or the world’s longest suspension bridge (439 metres). I, of course, ticked all of the above off the list and was left shaking and elated all the way to the airport. I could write a novel about my journey home, but that’s a story for another day.
It’s true what they say…it’s not where you are, it’s the people you’re surrounded by that make the world worth exploring. A huge thanks to AJ Hackett’s Nataly for the private tour, essential bungee tips and an unbelievable once-in-a-lifetime experience. I challenge all you F1 drivers and teams to take the plunge at next year’s GP.
That rabbit hole was definitely full of surprises.
