Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Johnnie Walker at Malaysian F1 - April 5th, 2009

FORMULA ONE! What can one say about this sport....it's absolutely a heart-pumping, ear popping, jaw dropping sport! The energy, the excitement, the uncertainty - all combined, blended together give you the ultimate ride of your life.
I was truly lucky to be able to experience this up-close through Johnnie Walker - of course I'm involved in it with Johnnie Walker.
Some 115 people - combination of consumers, media and select celebs - were hosted at Sepang International Circuit and the seats were amazing - Garnet Grand Stand. Not only did we get to watch the straight shot, but also got great views of the pit action and about 4 different corners of the track. The best part, when the cars approached the last corner, they dropped their gears to 2nd and immediately punched it back to top gear revs - the sound and smell of rubber - it's like an orgasm. All guests were given a hospitality pack - look up - which contained all the crucial element of an F1 race.
At the entrance of the circuit, our very own BMW Sauber Petronas car on display. The F1 car itself sent shivers down my spine.
As I walked into the circuit on race day, this was the view and action. There was so much to see, do and touch (if you know what I mean) - talking about the cars la! Dirty minded people!
An old primary school friend of mine joined me to enjoy the excitement on track. It was his first ever race and GOD! you should have seen him. I don't know which excited him more - the race or the girls!
HOT MAMA Shu Ling - she was like that candy ad - Now you see her, now you don't! She was all over the place like a little kid let loose in Toys 'R' Us.
Celebrity spotting - Resh was a guest of mine at the circuit and guess what - it was his 1st ever F1 experience as well so being an F1 hardcore fan myself, I decided to spend time with Resh and become his personal commentator - I hope he understood what I was telling him. His wife seated here is truly a gem of a person. It took them something like 45 minutes to get to their seats - not that it was that far but the fact that he was stopped every 1 minute by fans to take pictures. Now I have my own reservation and definition about Malaysian celebs but Resh truly is a down-to-earth celebrity and he lives by that. Celebrity = you gotta have talent and he does.
Some track action before the race started and ended pretty much as soon as it started! :(
The grand tour on track by our "new" Prime Minister and Mr. Bernie himself. Have you seen how Bernie's daughter looks like???? She must have followed her mother's looks coz she HOT!!!

We had it all planned man - the dressing of Johnnie Walker and the Vodafone McLaren banner and when Heikki crashed and Lewis was at the back of the trail, the banner came down.
One for the memories - Reshmonu and me. This is probably the only picture that I have taken with any celebrity. Resh -you should be lucky man!
More action on track!And some more.....
Seen here are the usual suspects at the track: L-R: Me, Imran Clyde and Raj Anand. We were real sakai's man!
This was when things started getting interesting - when the sky became dark and rain was expected and rain-it-definitely did!!

The race on wet roads. They should have continued racing coz then Lewis would be 1st coz he's a champion on wet roads.
More rain track action.
Kimi Raikkonen

And this was when they decided to stop the race and keep us all in anticipation on whether the race will be continued so completely stopped!! Guess what happened - they stopped that damm race! How disappointing!

All the cars were lined up while the officials decided on the fate of the race.
Some people even came despite the rain and were all geared in rain-coats, etc. This is my boo Nik and her husband. All that was on his mind - BOOZE!!!!!! On her mind - BOOZE!!!!!
At this point, its official - the race has been stopped and the results:
1st - Jensen Button (Brawn Mercedes)
2nd - Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
3rd - Timo Glock (Toyota)
4th - Jarno Trulli (Toyota)
5th - Rubens Barrichello (Brawn Mercedes)
6th - Mark Webber (Red Bull Renault)
7th - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes)
8th - Nico Rosberg (Williams)
9th - Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
10th - Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso)
Some of us just couldn't believe it - only 32 laps and they stopped the race. Their reasoning - "track condition suffice but shabby"! This is what happens to us Malaysian's - dream big, built big, talk big but when it comes to maintanence - no where close to getting it done!
With that, ended the Malaysian Grand Prix 2009. We were wet, sad, disappointed and then we all headed to buy beers to drown the sadness.

1 comment:

Imran Clyde said...

It certainly was an interesting day! Hope next year is better. Doubt they are going to have a 'twilight' race again.