June 8th 2008, Canadian GP, BMW Sauber WINS!

It was announced today that “The BMW Group will not continue its Formula One campaign after the end of the 2009 season.” Being a fan of the BMW brand, a fan of my countryman Robert Kubica, and having recently become a born-again F1 fan this is a very disappointing news for me.

Not all is bad however, as I was fortunate enough to have attend the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix. That race was special in many ways:

• 2009 Canadian Grand Prix was canceled, so this was the last Grand Prix held in North American until… uhmm… well, no one knows.
• It was the only win for BMW Sauber team, and what an epic win it was… a 1-2 finish!
• My countryman, and what seems as an all around nice guy, Robert Kubica won, and it was his only win thus far.

Going to a Formula 1 race

Here are some tips for people planning on making it to the an F1 race, in Montreal or other city races:

• Make this a three day weekend, make sure that you see the practice on Friday and the qualifying on Saturday too.
• I got general tickets for the Montreal race, but next time I would spend a little extra money and get proper grand stand seats as you’ll be able to see a lot more. Look at my pictures, that was the best I could see.
• Bring: sun block, earplugs, lots of drinks.
• Expect a ton of people everywhere. Montreal was packed, it was difficult to find a restaurant that did not have an hour wait time.
• Get a hotel in town. Make your reservations early and get a hotel that is easily accessible to downtown area; there will be partying and walking back a long way just sucks.
• On Sunday, after the race, hang around, maybe go to a nice dinner, and let the traffic clear, be it at an airport or on the road.

What’s next?

While somewhat disappointing yet interesting, here are my hopes for the remainder of 2009 season and my best wishes for the 2010 season:

• I would like to see one last podium finish or even a win for BMW. At the Malaysian GP, Kubica had a shot at second place had it not been for a last lap accident with Vettel.
• Next year, I would like to see Kubica go to Ferrari, and it may happen for a lot of reasons; Massa’s future is in question, speculations of Kimi’s retirement and Kubica’s history with Italian teams (he grew up in Italy).
• Less politics. Self explanatory.
• Return of the North American GP – Montreal would work quite well for me.
• A strong USF1 team.

I was going to post the pictures sooner, but I was not happy how they came out. In either case, enjoy them, and enjoy the rest of the 2009 F1 season, not matter how disappointing it is. Click linky to Picasa site, I didn’t feel like uploading them to here. Enjoy.

Grand Prix Du Canada

With many off-track activities, there are many things to see at an F1 race.