MY V.I.P EXPERIENCE AT THE 2019 BRITISH GRAND PRIX

The 12th of July 2019, to this day, will always be one of the best days of my life. Thanks to Mission Winnow, I had the absolute honour of attending the free practice sessions for the 2019 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. As I'm sure you already know, Mission Winnow are one of the official sponsors for the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team (my absolute favourite team at the time) so I was extremely ecstatic for this day. Thinking as I had won paddock club tickets (not access to the paddock itself), I thought I may have seen some famous faces, catch glimpses of the drivers and, of course, have a great view of the sessions but little did I know I would get closer to the team than I initially had imagined.

The Morning

My friend and I set off at 6am as we had a 4 hour journey ahead of us in order to arrive at the Mission Winnow meeting point for 10am to pick up our paddock club passes. It was a long journey but well worth it.

After picking up the passes we then made our way to the track, arriving as the FP1 session had already commenced. The noise and atmosphere was outstanding and the excitement was really building. I couldn't get over the fact that instead of walking to a grandstand or finding the best spot on the grass, I was actually heading towards the paddock club! It really is a motorsport fans dream. The view of the paddock, the view of the pit lane, merchandise, car simulators, cars placed in the middle of various rooms, large posters of the drivers literally EVERYWHERE as well as other perks like free hair cuts, bottomless drinks (the cocktails were amazing) and impeccable food...the list is endless.

After I'd explored the paddock club a little, I then went to the best seat in the house to watch the FP1 session - above the pit lane. A birds eye view. It was just fantastic and something I doubt I will ever experience again. However, what made this even more special was that I was directly above the garage of one of my favourite drivers... Mr. Romain Grosjean (so I was freaking out). Then, as more of my favourite drivers pulled in to the pit lane...I freaked out even more.

As we were guests of Mission Winnow, we had access to the Mission Winnow Lounge and it was here where we were given a general rota of the day e.g pit lane tour walkabouts, guest speaker talks, timing of sessions etc.

Pit Lane Tour & More

The pit lane tour was fantastic, as you're able to get up close and personal with the teams, and being a guest of Mission Winnow we got even closer to Ferrari. An added bonus - as we were queuing up for the tour we spotted a few famous F1 faces such as Christian Horner, Jenson Button, Zak Brown etc. Overall this was an amazing experience. To be able to get this sort of

exclusive access to the teams, talk to the engineers as well as other members of the team and being in close proximity to the actual cars... I was just in awe. Oh, I couldn't forget to mention the noise coming from the garages. Loud. It really was incredible. One last thing, the safety cars are STUNNING up close. This part of the day was predominantly where all of my pictures and videos were captured.

As I was heading back to the Mission Winnow Lounge to see what the rest of the day had in store for us, I heard a very familiar Scottish accent further down the corridor. Yes, It was the one and only David Coulthard. I couldn't miss this opportunity to chat and have a picture with him. He was lovely and I'm glad to have had the pleasure to meet him. However, he had to leave quite abruptly as I'm sure he had somewhere else to be! Back in the lounge I participated in some activities hosted by Mission Winnow such as Ferrari history quizzes, guest speaker talks and learning about the differences between Vettel and Leclerc's steering wheel. After this I then went to explore more of the paddock club as there honestly is so much to do.

INSIDE THE FERRARI GARAGE WITH VETTEL & LECLERC

As you can see from the heading, I was inside the Ferrari garage in the middle of an FP2 session. Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc were not out on track but also...in...the...garage.

I was not previously told that this amazing opportunity would be part of the day. As I was walking through the corridor of the paddock club a mission winnow employee approached us and asked if we wanted to go in to the Ferrari garage. OF COURSE I SAID YES. I was again silently freaking out as she gave us some V.I.P paddock passes and we followed her through the paddock and in to the garage. We were not allowed to record inside the garage for legal reasons. At first I was a little disappointed to hear that I would not be able to record this but in hindsight I am very glad, as I was able to take it all in and simply just live in the moment. As I entered, Charles and Seb were just getting into their cars and preparing to go out on track. As previously mentioned I was a HUGE Ferrari fan, Charles and Seb being some of my favourite drivers, so the fact I can say I have been in the garage with those two...I truly cannot believe it. We were only allowed in for roughly 7-10 minutes maximum and I can honestly say that those were the best 10 minutes of my life. It was great to see the engineers at work, essentially meeting Vettel and Leclerc (I did not speak to them personally as they were preparing for this session) and I also spotted Leclerc's personal trainer, Andrea Ferrari. Thank you again, Mission Winnow, for this absolutely amazing opportunity.

TOWARDS THE END OF THE DAY

I took part in more activities in the paddock club itself, watched some other support races and continued to enjoy the rest of the day. My friend and I then just took in the atmosphere and watched over the paddock. This was when we spotted nearly all of the drivers making their way to a meeting. Seeing Kimi on his scooter was a highlight of the day, I must say. As they headed back from the meeting Ricciardo came over for a quick chat and signed a little fan's cap and I also got a wave and thumbs up from The Hulk *silently freaks out again*. Another added bonus - Grosjean drove past us as he was leaving the track.

Overall this day was really all a Formula 1 fan could ask and wish for. Competitions, such as these, give the fans an opportunity they most likely cannot afford yet will cherish forever.

**** disclaimer: I am still very much a Ferrari fan however I do support more teams now. If you'd like to see more pictures or videos from this day head to my Instagram:)