Salut mes amis!
Oh…I could get used to it, to this savoir vivre on the Côte d’Azur. Living it up at the pinnacle, this is what Monaco stands for if you ask me. The chic yachts, the numerous parties, the ostentation of wealth can impress a little fly like me. But then again, I have to admit, I got used to it quickly. While normally I am happy to grab a bit of food here and there, I have to tell you, I quickly became familiar with the caviar, lobster and champagne I found in Monaco. But I will tell you more about a little fly trying to get a glimpse of the rich and famous later.
Before that, I need to also confess that Monaco and me, well it’s a bit of love and hate relationship. It’s the crazy form of ambivalence. I love the shiny little microcosm on the Côte d’Azur. But I somehow hate the fact that I need to watch my friends race big and powerful cars there. To be honest, this place is NOT made for car racing. Have you ever watched the on-board camera images properly? With barriers so close, practically no escape areas and corner after corner, a little fly heart suffers!!! It just makes me way too nervous. Therefore I always need to prepare my relaxation program for the days around Monte Carlo thoroughly and make sure enough parties and chill out sessions are accommodated.
But let’s start at the beginning. Everyone arrived quite early in Monaco – some because they planned it like this (like my Racing Engineering boys), and some because they took the first possible drive from Barcelona to Monaco as their flights were cancelled because of our friendly volcano up in Iceland. And for GP2, everything begins a day earlier here. Free practice and qualifying are on Thursday. Feature race on Friday and sprint race on Saturday. I don’t mind this timetable. Leaves more time for – right! – partying!
Tuesday was an easy day. Christian, who already arrived Sunday night, also continued his relaxation program (of course I had to join in to support him!) and Dani arrived from Barcelona, just in time to celebrate JB’s birthday with some cakes. I made my tour through the GP2 paddock and realised that some –mainly British - teams had not planned to already be around. I heard conversations about where to get their team gear washed, rearrangements of hotel bookings, etc. But apart from that, it was reeeeeally calm, just like Wednesday. I thought about going to the casino to try my luck on some Poker, Black Jack or Roulette, but …guess what! … the croupiers were on strike! Monaco GP week and the casino is not functional – too bad. So I had to search for some alternative night program and have to say that following Alfonso, Ines and Christian was not a bad idea at all. I joined them for a fun dinner with … wooohooo…Giorgio Pantano and the legendary Severino… at “La Salière”. They definitely had fun and, oh boy, was the food nice. I just couldn’t help trying a bit here and there…and the tables around (most of them filled with race drivers of all kinds of categories racing this week in Monaco). However, they were all off to bed soon with the action starting early the following day! So I also went back to my little hideaway in the truck, knowing that the weekend will still bring many surprises.
Thursday’s free practice went really well for my two friends at Racing Engineering. Chris, who never raced in Monaco before, finished in 3rd, Dani in 4th position. Not bad, not bad at all. I was really excited about qualifying, but got more and more anxious as dark clouds gathered over the Principality. With only a few minutes to go… it started to rain! Oh, no! If Monaco is special, as it always is, it definitely is special when it rains. My heart rate was close to …ever heard “The Legend of Max”? Apparently, the most bpms in a song ever… well, so my heart rate was close to 600 beats per minute…! With the session starting, Dani immediately took a top spot and fought a tough battle for pole with Perez and Maldonado throughout the 30 minutes. Maldonado crashed in St. Devote just after setting the fastest time, and Dani, having crossed the finish line just seconds later, was able to set an even faster time and snatched pole! Yahoooooo! Dani’s first pole position in GP2 (hey, he already qualified second in Portimão last year and 4th in Barcelona this year, so don’t tell me that you didn’t see it coming!) and now in Monaco, pole! This was just fantastic!
Pole = partying Fly on the Wall! I needed to celebrate. I followed Alfonso, Christian and Ines onto the yacht of the Renault F1 team. It was nice and relaxed, which I guess they needed after a long day. But I was out for action and found my destination just next door, or better to say gangplank. Kingfisher party, here I come. I spent some time with Tonio Liuzzi, some with the Force India boys, chatted with Karun’s dad, but more than anything I twirled round the dance floor (partially because it was quite a chilly night so I needed to keep moving, but mainly because of the amazing girls I saw there).
Race 1 on a Friday was a bit odd, but I was very alert with Dani starting from pole and Chris only a few rows behind him. I am sure you saw the race and know that Dani had too much wheel spin because of his starting position in the shade still being a bit damp, but – hey!!! – the boy made a podium! His second podium, scoring in three out of three races so far. Really coooool! Keep pushing, Dani 
But what happened to Christian??? No one knew and when I finally heard it, I couldn’t HONESTLY believe it. Christian was already unlucky in Barcelona, but keep on reading! The Racing Engineering crew could not start up his engine on the grid (you need to know these cars cannot be started directly, but need an external starter engine) and as pushing the car on the starting grid is highly forbidden, they bump started his car in the pit lane and poor Christian had to start from the pits. But why??? But what happened when the starter engine could not engage with its counterpart? Well, once the car was back with the boys, they opened the gearbox, where the starter engine connects. To their surprise they found, in this little hole, a piece of tyre rubber Christian must have picked up on one of his formation laps. But the rubber alone might not have caused this problem. Stuck to the rubber, there was a piece of metal, a washer! So this combination hindered the starter engine from snapping into place and ruined Christian’s entire Monaco weekend. But what an accumulation of bad luck! The hole for the starter engine is really small. The probability that a piece of rubber from track ending up there is practically impossible. But what makes the likeliness tend towards zero is the fact that additionally there was a piece of metal on this rubber bit. I am still sitting here with my calculator trying to quantify this (im)probability.
Friday night I was with a laughing and a crying eye. But the laws of probability also say that there cannot be bad luck all the time, so I decided that Christian’s season will start from Istanbul on – and he will score, and score, and score. So, off I was again, wearing my party wings and wondering where to find the coolest spot in town (or do you say, within the nation, when it comes to Monaco?). Some partying on the yacht of TW Steel, a bit of champagne at Sass’ Café, then dancing at Jimmy’z – oh, the life of a fly can be really exhausting… Lunch at yet another boat the next day and then race 2. My timetable was full in Monaco. For my friends at Racing Engineering, the sprint race was quite short and their hard work was unrewarded. Christian had his last encounter with bad luck this season (yes, yes, I am trying self-fulfilling prophecies now!) when a sensor in his engine failed (not all parts on the car are prepared by my Racing Engineering friends) and his engine shut itself off completely. Dani, on the other hand, crashed hard against the barriers approaching the casino corner, leaving the Racing Engineering crew with some extra work before the equipment gets shipped to Turkey.
In the end, Monaco brought ambivalent results for my friends at Racing Engineering, reflecting my feelings for this small country. But a podium is a podium. And Dani is leaving Monaco second in the championship. And I am sure Christian will catch up quickly.
Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you: naturally, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano caused some cancelled flights on Sunday night again and Monday morning and I slowly started to think that there is a weird connection between Eyjafjallajökull’s ash emission, wind patterns and GP2/Formula 1 weekends.
Well, I am off to the truck now to get prepared for my boat trip to Istanbul.
Au revoir!
Your Fly