F1 Grand Prix of China
Trip Start
Feb 25, 2006
1
133
148
Trip End
Jun 24, 2009
Shanghai,
Shanghai,
China
Sunday, October 19, 2008
When I got to Shanghai Stadium to catch the shuttle bus to the track, it took me almost an hour to find the ticket that I was looking for at the price I wanted to pay. Section K is at the exit of the turn 14, a hairpin turn, after the back straight. It's quite possibly the best place to sit on the track aside from the VIP seats on the main straight at the starting grid across from the pits. K offers views of the entire back strait from turn 13 to the final turn 16. Cars scream down the track at speeds about 350Km and slowdown to about 80Km to take the hairpin turn. It's a great spot to take pictures if you have a real camera as the cars seem to be crawling into the turn. K also provides great shade from the sun in the morning all the way until late afternoon. I'd put this in my Traveler's Tips section, but not many backpackers can afford the 2580RMB for the 3 day pass in K. I checked online to make sure tickets were still available so I could negotiate with the bastard scalpers. There is nothing I love more than scalping a scalper holding a $380 ticket on the 2nd day of a 3 day pass. The frenzy started as soon as I got to the Shanghai Stadium Metro stop. It seemed like hundreds of scalpers were running all around trying to sell their tickets. I knew things were bad(for them) when their starting price was less than face value for the tickets. I smelled blood and I was going to draw deep! This was going to be time for revenge for paying $150 for Lalapalooza tickets to see Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Arrested Development, Tribe Called Quest.... back in 1992. I started at 700 for the Section K and barely moved to 800 before walking away several times as I really needed a ticket and to get to the track. The secret is not looking too desperate and to feel out their bottom price. I knew I got the best price possible when one of the assholes selling tickets reneged on the price I had agreed upon with 2 other guys. I said fine, with that kind of attitude I wouldn't buy a ticket from you for 400 and walked away again. I quite proud of myself as I did all the negotiating in Mandarin especially since none of the scalpers spoke English. One of his friends came running after me a few minutes later and tried to get 885 because they had to split the profit 3 ways. I said I'll only give u 850 as long as that asshole doesn't get a single RMB from this sale, so now you only have to split it 2 ways. They finally agreed and I got my ticket just in time to make it to the track for morning warm-ups. I would have loved to be there when they explained the new deal to the asshole. As I got off the bus, I could hear the first cars rolling around the track and I ran to my awesome seats! As normal with Saturday practice, there were very few people at the track so I could sit wherever I wanted within K section.
On race day, I had an interesting ride into the track. An American sat down next to me nodding a cordial nod of someone that doesn't have anything to say to a Chinaman. I figure I'd break the language barrier by asking him, "Do you have the time" in what I thought was perfect English. He answered me, "Shi dian san shi fen" to which I replied hao, xia xia. Looks like I'm Chinese for another day (see Chinese for a Day). So I decided to play the part and pull out a few Baozi and ate them out of a plastic bag. He looked at me smiling and said, "Ni baozi, hoa chu ma?" in very good beginner Mandarin. I replied in Mandarin, yes, very good and cheap, only 1 kwai each. He nodded knowingly and said ahh cheap in Mandarin. Dui dui dui, yes, yes, agree. The small talk went on for a few minutes until he struggled to find the words he was looking for in Mandarin and I filled it in in English for him. We had a good laugh when the ruse was uncovered. We went on to talk about the economic crisis and such things when he said something about understanding the poverty in China because he was on a student's budget studying Mandarin in Shanghai. I just looked at him incredulously and said that neither he or I had any idea what it was like to be poor much less have nothing. To begin with, we both had tickets with the face value of $380 regardless that I only paid 1/3 of that price. He protested with how he couldn't find a job if he went back to the US. I said, look in the 30 minutes we've been talking, you've mentioned attending Berkshire Hathaway share holder meetings in Omaha, meeting Warren Buffet several times, trading options on the open market and you are holding an mp3 player that's worth about $400 like it's cheap toy. He started to protest saying that BRK had B shares that were only worth about $4000/share. We laughed again and he said, "never mind, you're probably right". To close that subject, I added a side note that I knew he didn't own B shares as B share holders don't get a vote and don't get to meet the Oracle of Omaha.
Warning! Probably boring if you are not a F1 Race fan, but your probably saying that about the above already. >-)
It was looking like a McLaren weekend with Hamilton on top again with a pole position about ½ a second faster than Kimi. I was hoping that Kimi just had a big fuel load so that they wouldn't have to deal with Lewis, the missile, in the first corner again like in Japan. The only other chance was that Lewis would forget to turn again coming into the pits like last year and on Saturday when he missed the turn once again into the pits and went into the run off track. He had to make a 3 point turn to get into the pits. Unfortunately, come race day, Kimi and Lewis had the exact same strategy coming in for both pits on the same lap. Massa started on soft tires, but that didn't help the Ferrari's speed either. Lewis and McLaren were just too much for them in Shanghai. The rest of the race was pretty boring except for a few off track excursions at the hairpin and the exploits of Marc Webber racing up through the lower ranks and pulling 2 great passing maneuvers within about 5 laps at the same place, entering the hairpin and finishing the pass by taking the inside run at turn 16. He was penalized 10 grid positions because his engine blew up on Saturday (see Picture). Lewis was so far ahead of the Ferarris that the front runners just struggled to keep pace as they fell further and further behind. By lap 10, he was 8 seconds ahead of Massa. I think I actually fell asleep between the first and 2nd pits. I wouldn't mind Lewis winning the driver's championship as long as Ferrari wins the constructors in Brazil. It just doesn't look right though if Ferrari doesn't have a #1 on the nose next year.
