25.07.10

Holly Samos

…and 5 tonnes of sausages…

• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• Total: 4 images
• 

We arrived at Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix, round 11 of the FIA Formula One season and almost immediately I was told a great new fact. Apparently across this race weekend over 5 tonnes of sausages are eaten, 10,000 meatballs, 6000 cutlets and 80,000 bread rolls! The equivalent of ten bathtubs of mustard and ketchup are used, and 50,000 cans of beer are drunk so I wouldn’t be surprised if the spectators don’t even remember a race took place. There are not many events where you see fans drinking beer before nine in the morning!

The McLaren driver duo of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton enjoyed a competition off the track at a promotional PR event where they were asked who could put up a tent the quickest. So in the surrounding forests around the track of Hockenheim where most spectators are camping for the weekend, Lewis won the ‘tent’ race and relaxed for a few moments on his groundsheet!

I enjoyed an entertaining evening as my colleagues and I from the BBC were invited to take part in a pitstop practice session with the Force India F1 team. We had jobs ranging from ‘gunman’ to ‘wheel off’ and ‘wheel on’ and let’s just say three wheels were pretty perfect, whereas the front right was mangled by the end of the session as my co-commentator David Croft just couldn’t get to grips with the weight of the gun never mind it’s job. Adrian Sutil sat in the car learning their new traffic light system and I must admit, tried not to take any notice of us novices pretending to be part of his raceteam. Secretly, I think he was actually gunning for David Croft every time his car was rolled in.

The Mercedes team held their ‘warm up party’ BBQ at their very own Mercedes-Benz grandstand on Thursday evening as a relaxing start to a very busy weekend for the home team. It was the first appearance of a works team in Germany for 56 years. Both drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher said they couldn’t wait to race in front of their home crowd. A busy weekend for the drivers visiting the Mercedes Sindelfingen manufacturing plant in Stuttgart; attending the track marshals reception; Q&A’s on stage in the vending area; circuit taxi rides, and attending the night of stars event on Saturday evening. On top of that Michael Schumacher was constantly stopped for autographs.

Williams driver Rubens Barrichello took part recently in the UK television programme ‘Top Gear’, beating the lap record of a revered racing driver who is never revealed called ‘The Stig’, never mind the lap records of people such as Nigel Mansell, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Damon Hill and Jenson Button. Rubens was ecstatic about his achievement and had a tee-shirt made. It was a family affair at the race as is family and children joined him in the paddock, and team-mate, Nico Hulkenberg’s, girlfriend came to the race for the first time.

Apart from the race, one of the most dramatic stunts on Sunday was the Red Bull aerobatic motorcyclist who did countless wheelies, riding his bike around the track during the drivers parade on his handlebars, and generally stunning all the fans and the racing drivers alike. Fernando Alonso said the motorcyclist was ‘amazing’ and he wishes he knew how he could do it…’but maybe only in a Formula One car’.