Tuesday 12 May 2015

Special Feature - The Spanish Grand Prix - What a fantastic way to start the European leg of the Formula One season

(© Ben Johnston 2015)

Last weekend I attended the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit Barcelona De Catalunya. It was the second Spanish Grand Prix that I have attended having been to last year’s event.

(© Ben Johnston 2015)

I travelled to Barcelona last Wednesday and went to the circuit on Thursday where the pit-lane was open to fans. This gave us all the opportunity to watch the teams set up the garages and the cars for the weekends on track action. This is something I would highly recommend fans who attending Grand Prix to do.

(© Ben Johnston 2015)

The pit-lane wasn’t just open to Grandstand ticket holders but also to fans who had general admission tickets. Thursday was extremely hot at the circuit but I didn’t mind at all as I was in Spain for the opening race of the European season.

(© Ben Johnston 2015)

The last time I was at the Circuit Barcelona De Catalunya I was there for winter testing in February which was fantastic BUT would this time around be able to top the experience of testing? The answer was…YES! The pit-lane was open for several hours on Thursday and I was standing outside the Williams Martini Racing Team’s garage which was a hive of activity as the team carried out practice pit-stops.

(© Ben Johnston 2015)

As I looked on, I could see Susie Wolff in the garage talking to her engineers as she was going to be driving in Free Practice One on Friday.


                                                                 (© Ben Johnston 2015)


Suddenly she walked out of the garage into the pit-lane and straight over to where I was standing. I was so excited! I asked her if I could get my photo taken with her to which she replied absolutely no problem at all so I took out my phone and took a ‘selfie with Susie.’ That was absolutely amazing and was the highlight of my weekend.

                                                              (© Ben Johnston 2015)



Following that I stayed outside the Williams garage and when Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa came out of the garage just after 5PM where I managed to meet Valtteri and get his autograph.

                                                       (© Ben Johnston 2015)

I also got a great photo of Felipe Massa signing autographs for fans. I also managed to get a great photo of Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo. Thursday was an absolutely fantastic day and Friday was absolutely brilliant seeing Susie Wolff in Valtteri Bottas’ FW37.

 (© Ben Johnston 2015)

Saturday was great too although I was disappointed to see that Kimi Raikkonen struggled and was forced to start the race from seventh place on the grid and went on to finish the race in fifth place just behind Williams Martini Racing Team’s Valtteri Bottas while his Scuderia Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel finished the race on the podium in third place.

(© Ben Johnston 2015)


On race day, Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team’s Nico Rosberg took his first victory of the season ending the race ahead of team mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

 (© Ben Johnston 2015)

When it comes to the atmosphere, the Spanish Grand Prix is one of the best race events to attend. It is an extremely easy circuit to get to as it located just a thirty minute walk from the centre of Montmelo where there is a train connection to the centre of Barcelona.

 (© Ben Johnston 2015)

Flights to Barcelona are very frequent from around Europe and prices are reasonable if they are booked at the right time. I stayed in a town called Mollet which is located just a three minute train journey from Montmelo. Tickets for the Grand Prix however vary in price depending on where you want to seat.

© Ben Johnston 2015

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