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Rachel’s Diary: Australian GP 2015

Long flights, quiz victories and cheeky drivers in Melbourne

Rachel Brookes

I always look forward to the Australian Grand Prix, not just because it means that the new season is finally here but also as it is a chance to see if our thoughts from testing are correct.

First up, though, is meeting the rest of the gang in the airline lounge. Any thoughts of a nice catch up are quickly cast aside as Arsenal vs Man Utd is on the TV and the boss is an Arsenal fan...

I am a terrible sleeper on planes, in fact I am not a sleeper at all. I used to be cabin crew years ago when I was trying to get into radio and even then, when we had bunk beds in the tail of jumbos to sleep in, I still couldn't. Instead I have deliberately not watched most of the Oscar-nominated films this year so that I have something to do on the 24-hour journey.

A few minutes in..."is that Paddington? Is it good?, I am going to watch that too, " Simon says from a seat across the aisle. Sprung! Well I need a gentle film to settle me in before the heavy Oscar films obviously...

Paddington and The Imitation Game done I reach for my iPad. Crofty introduced me to Grey's Anatomy just before Christmas and I am now addicted. I have downloaded series 8 to get me through any jet lag while away but I use up 6 episodes on this leg of the flight alone.

After a quick change in Hong Kong we complete our journey to Melbourne arriving on Wednesday morning of race week. I don't have any interviews to do but I have work to do for Thursday and far too many clothes to unpack. I blame all my luggage on Melbourne's unpredictable weather!

Sky F1 celebrate winning the McLaren quiz
Image: Sky F1 celebrate winning the McLaren quiz

That evening McLaren have a pre-season event including a quiz. It was something they did years ago and they have revived it now to celebrate their partnership with Honda. Crofty, Ted and I are joined by Sky Sports News HQ producer Emma and James from our website to make up our team of five. Next to us on one side is the 'team that always wins', a collection of F1 experts and on the other side is the table of newspaper journalists. Some gentle banter ensues!

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The rounds involve a broad spectrum of F1 knowledge and let's be honest a fair bit of guessing on our part. Especially when a photo round includes pictures from before any of us were born. Then there was the round of Japanese drivers..... Unfortunately for me there’s not a Takuma Sato, Taki Inoue or Kamui Kobayashi in sight so we left Ted on his own with this one! Even to his own surprise he got four out of five.

We thought we had maybe done well enough to get into the top five of about twenty tables, especially as there were six music rounds, but ideally just hoped we hadn't embarrassed ourselves. In fact the last round was music and as the very last clip of the last song played Crofty and I looked at each other bemused…"it's Shakira, She Wolf" said Emma.  When it came to results, they announced the music rounds were worth double points, so with Crofty's extensive music knowledge and my radio DJ background we had only dropped a couple of points and knew we had at least done well there.

But to our utter amazement we actually won the whole thing, and guess what? It wasn't Ted's incredible knowledge of Japanese drivers or Crofty's guess of 1974 at some random old photos... We won by two points- it was Shakira that won it!

Thursday morning involved an early start as I had to head down to St Kilda beach to interview Lewis and Nico. We were doing a piece on Lewis in qualifying last year so this made up the main part of the interview and naturally he was defensive about his performances but also seemed calm and confident that he would be better this year. Nico was more relaxed and made jokes but also said he was doing everything to make sure he left no stone unturned in his preparations to battle with Lewis this year.

Rachel Brookes talks with Lewis Hamilton
Image: Rachel Brookes talks with Lewis Hamilton

After the beach interviews it was off to the track to do more paddock interviews and a production meeting with plans for the weekend. It is the first chance to get everyone together to discuss the main talking points. Who will be driving the Sauber? Will Manor Marussia get out on track? Can anyone challenge Mercedes?

Nearly every team and TV crew stays on the edge of Albert Park for the race weekend, which means a pleasant walk to work each day and as the sessions are all a bit later in the day compared to most races, it is an opportunity for a little lie-in. A very welcome lie-in when jetlag rears its ugly, angry head! However, in Melbourne on race weekend you get a unique alarm call. At around 7am every morning the roar of a V10 engine shatters the silence as it pounds around the park's circuit. For a moment or two you might curse its arrival but we all agree it's part of what we love about the Australian Grand Prix race weekend and we would miss it if it went.

Fridays are always a long day as we have The F1 Show after the sessions have finished. This Friday we are all involved and it’s a really busy show with four drivers and a team principal all appearing live. It's very cold by now so while waiting to interview Sergio Perez I pop into Force India's hospitality to get a cup of tea. Nico Hulkenberg is having dinner and says hello. I tell him I am about to interview his teammate and if he has anything he thinks I should ask. "Ask him why I am always faster than him" he laughs. So I did. Sergio says "he wishes" and laughs but it's clear the two get on well and there is a good atmosphere in the team despite their difficult start to the year. "Points is the target this weekend," Sergio tells me.

I really enjoy the Saturdays of a race weekend. Presenting P3 with Damon and Johnny is always fun and then it's a quick change into uniform to carry out post-qualifying interviews. I watch qualifying in "the pen" - it's a squared off section of the paddock that you see on TV where all the driver post-session interviews are carried out on Saturday and Sunday. The only trouble is that while you are interviewing the drivers who have gone out in Q1, Q2 is already underway so you are asking questions and trying to listen to answers with one ear while in my other ear is an earpiece listening to commentary of Q2 so I know what to ask those drivers when they walk in. It's the same for those that exit in Q2, you talk to them while Q3 is running...Maybe that's why I can now listen to several conversations at the same time when out with friends!

As I interview Sebastian Vettel at the end of Q3 he seems pretty pleased with his qualifying so I ask him "what sort of race car do you have?" Expecting him to give a bit of detail about his long run on Friday. Instead he replies" a red one" and smiles and goes on to the next interview. I'll remember that!

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Williams' Valtteri Bottas has been ruled out of the Australian GP, after tearing a disc in his lower back during Saturday's qualifying session.

Sunday comes around and pre-race I am at Williams waiting to hear if Valtteri Bottas will drive. He is really popular in the paddock, one of the good guys and clearly very talented. Always polite and with time for a chat it makes you want him to do well so no one wants to hear he can't race. When word comes through I break it on air and then interview Claire Williams about it. After that it's time for the "dunny runs".

I don't know if that's what other broadcasters call it but our floor manager is Australian so that's what we call the interviews we do when the drivers leave the grid for a final comfort break before the race starts. It's a bit different today though as Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kyvat stopped on track on their way to the grid so I am looking out for the team principals too.

Kevin Magnussen retired from the race on his way to the grid
Image: Kevin Magnussen retired from the race on his way to the grid

After the race it is driver interviews in the pen again and this time I am ready for Seb! "So, great result, great timing from the team to get you out in front of Massa, that 'red' car looks pretty good doesn't it?" He smiles. But I know he'll get me back again!

Sky Sports F1 will show every session from the Malaysia Grand Prix weekend live and available on the move with SkyGo. The race starts at 8am on Sunday March 29, with comprehensive build-up underway from 6:30am.

 

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