Saturday at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix
June 24th, 2006 | by Farzad |I’m completely distracted by the World Cup. I woke up this morning and all I could think about was how can I see the two matches today and still catch the qualifying session at the track. Every other year I would spend every daylight minute at the track catching all the support races and enjoying the experience in its entirety. This year is different. With so much great football on TV and the drama of the round of 16 upon us I just couldn’t get excited about the F1 activities.
That’s not to say I didn’t go to the track today. I went and as soon as I heard the sweet sound of those new V8’s I knew I was home. These new engines sound totally different than the V10 predecessors. I only went to the track for the qualifying session because I caught the first half of the Germany match and rushed to the track for the session then rushed back to a pub to catch the Argentina match (oh what a match it was!).
It was hot today but nothing like the death inducing heat and humidity of last year. The air temperature was around 25C and the track temperature in the bright sunlight reached around 45C not that it helped the Bridgestones or Ferrari’s. Tomorrow is supposed to have 40% chance of showers. We’ll see because the skies are very clear as the evening is approaching.
It was pretty busy at the track and I had to walk all the way to the absolute farthest point on the track from the Metro station. It’s about a 35 minute walk and with the heat and the crowds lets just say the smell wasn’t very nice. Eventually I settled into my seat and got acquainted with the people around me. There were a large group of Montrealers who have been coming to the race since 1978 and in front of me a group of Americans who have been sitting in the same seats for 10 years. They say F1 isn’t big in the U.S. but I always meet the most passionate and informed American fans so there is still hope. Mind you they were all over Scott Speed. I quote: “There is only one American too many at this track and he’ll be out in the first 15 minutes tomorrow!” Ouch!
Qualifying was ok. The last 3 or 4 minutes of each session was the most exciting obviously but the rest of the time is nice filler except for the fuel burning in the last session. Webber broke the hearts of many Australians and Rosberg made himself a lot of fans by tagging the wall and still making it into the last session. It takes a lot of balls to drive a car at that speed knowing you may have broken something. In the end it looked like the Ferrari’s were going backwards ending up 5th and 10th on the grid with an all Renault front row. I’m picking Fisi to win this one because he always runs well at this track.
Oh I forgot about my view from the seats. In a word: AMAZING! These are dream seats with with the longest continuall view of the cars at the track. I’ll post some more pictures in the gallery after the race. And yes that’s me wearing a black shirt in the hot sun. 
I’ll leave with some more viewing from my seats at this years Grand Prix. Enjoy.
Tags: 2006, canadian gp
By Chris on Jun 25, 2006
Wow, I love the video. Hearing the hammer put down on the exit! Wow, seems so loud when actually there.