I’d never been to a Formula One race, slack of me I guess as the Albert Park circuit is not much over an hour away by car. (I have ridden a geared unicycle around the circuit though but that’s another story!) With the future of the Australian round in doubt I figured it was time to check it out, especially since I would be in Melbourne on the Friday of the Formula One event.
It turned out to be a great day to go as there was hardly any people there allowing you to get right up to the safety barrier for a good look pretty much anywhere around the circuit.
I was blown away by how insanely LOUD the Formula One cars are. After a few minutes of watching the practice session it felt like my ears were bleeding, yeah the noise hurt real bad — the next day my ears were still aching. Looking around everyone had ear plugs or headsets. I went and bought some plugs… much better. No wonder the people who live in the suburbs around Albert Park aren’t all fans of the event, there’s just no way to escape the incredible noise.
Everyone knows Formula One are insanely fast but the speed still had the wow factor in the flesh— TV coverage makes them look a lot slower. Through the fast narrow tunnel-like sections of the circuit the cars were only a couple of metres away, and as they swept through corners it just seemed like they had more chance of lifting off into the safety fence vs staying on the track.
But who woulda thunk there’d be a Rubber Side Down advisory on the inside of Turn 6 at Albert Park though? Go figure! 🙂