Bit a of mini trip report of sorts: I was lucky enough to be at Monza last weekend and it was as you can imagine, epic. This was the tail end of five amazing weeks in Turkiye, Greece, Croatia and Austria.
So accom was Milan Thursday through Mon, it had been booked a long time back. I hadn't been to Monza-town itself before but that would definitely be the place to stay if you can get accom - the town was lovely with a real party atmosphere throughout the various squares. Naturally this reached fever pitch on Sunday night after Ferrari's win, with roving musos and people dancing and waving flags! Additionally of course, Centrale station in Milan was a mess of disorganisation but I was fully expecting that - hey, it's Italy.
Seats were Parabolica stand C and I was comfortable with the AUD$700 spend via Granprixevents.com particularly with how hard it has been to get grandstand tix in Melb. Met one US bloke who was scammed via StubHub and apparently many more were. Steel benches and hot days, but hey when you are at the Italian GP who cares right? One tip for the benches would be a blow-up pillow/pad.
As anticipated queues for food & bev (one to pay; one to receive) were a bit nuts. The biggest queues of all were for the free water refills which given the heat were required. With 25 mins to the race I and about 2,000 people seemingly were trying to squeeze through 4 turnstiles with scanned entry until the gate staff just relented and opened the fence, thank goodness. You know in Italy they will attempt to enforce the rules but after a while it's
"non e problemo, mi arrendo" and they give in. Speaking of queues, the shuttle bus after qualifying was the single worst I've ever been in. Felt like 5,000 people corralled through your typical gate system and it was just so hot over the hour it took to reach a bus. After the GP I simply walked back to Monza and it was a really lovely 30 minute walk through the park, and featuring a Peroni stand at the Castello Reale!
Obviously an exiting race with PIA looking good for those 39 laps. But, the opportunity to witness a Ferrari victory is very special. Post-race we made our way to the grid and it was manic down there. Surface of the track billiard-table smooth, checked out the old banking and soaked up the atmosphere. All-in-all it was of course an amazing event and I feel so lucky to have been there. This is the second of the 'big 3' for me, having been to Silverstone previously and very much looking forward to getting to Suzuka. I mean I could have also been at Suzuka this year in fact - found a single ticket and had some accom lined up
and (having been made redundant in Feb) I had the time available. Oh well, maybe next year. Next challenge is getting back into a grandstand at Melb as the GA tix from this year just didn't cut it.
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