the (not so) mild days – part 1

Just over a month ago. Full exhaustion. Denial that yet another possibility of the current situation changing, a possibility I truly believed was possible, won’t be happening afterall. And that it would amount to nothing in such a cruel ghosting way? I don’t know why they ever bothered having multiple meetings with me in the first place, including a physical one if it was gonna end up like this?

At one point I essentially decided: if it will keep looking like nothing will happen, I’ll just go fuck it and head out on a long trip. Got to give myself some joy. I can’t keep this hopeless struggling for absolutely nothing in return. And it kept looking like nothing will happen. However there was still the imaginary possibility of being called for an iNterview while on the trip. To spoil that part right away: this never happened either.

After actually doing a social event on the 19th July (a music festival I regularly attend with an IRL friend), I pretty much felt set to make this trip happen. I already slowly started booking and researching refundable accomodation, but from that point onwards I booked all the non refundable things as well such as the flight and night train. I was doing extensive research on the places I’ll go to, did further deep research into apartments to book.

The travel plan would see me start things off in Budapest, with one night and most of Saturday there before taking a night train towards Warsaw. The accomodation options felt suspiciously few and expensive. Almost as if some big event or something was going on at this time in Budapest. But I did manage to find something. And soon I realized I basically accidentally booked myself a Saturday in Budapest on the weekend of the Formula 1 Grand Prix.

And to my big surprise, there were actually still tickets available for Saturday. And there were even tickets for the main straight grandstand, the only one with a cover over it. I had no reason not to do it. After some thinking about which seat I’d take, I bought the main straight grandstand indeed, and was set for my first ever F1 experience. I always thought I’d do months long planning and research before doing an F1 event, but it all ended up happening in such a quick, spontaneous way.

Along with more research, the next days (of which there was only like a week) were spent intensively thinking how I’ll handle the going to, and most importantly, from the circuit. The F1 got added into the plans a little bit too late for the 19:30 Warsaw train (and everything else) to be moved a day later, which means I needed to make sure I’ll be able to leave the circuit on time for that train. And that wasn’t gonna be the easiest and quickest thing due to the crowds that would leave at the same time and queues that would form.

Actually the ticket itself for the train technically seemed to be valid for the next day as well, but the same didn’t apply for the reservation. So if I really wanted to make sure I have the full Saturday, I suppose I could’ve booked one more night for a steep price in one of the scarce few accomodation options left (the same accomodation I had a night in wasn’t available for the next night), and then try to get onto the morning Warsaw train the next day (from what I could tell on the app that train seemed to be full). All this would cost the extra money of the additional accomodation and would mean I lost the money for the night train reservation (and it was about 100€ so not insignificant). I felt like it was all a bit too much to justify.

Day 1

Everything started with a bus replacement train to the city in which a train going to Budapest would stop. It just happened to be that on the very first August they began doing the bus replacement service for that train. But I got that out of the way, had a coffee stop and waited for that Budapest train.

It was a peaceful train ride, barely anyone else inside my wagon. Took a few hours to get to the places (west Balaton) that I actually haven’t already gone through in some way throughout my bicycle trips. It kinda put into perspective just how much I’ve been exploring over the last couple of years with it. By the time we got to those, it was getting more and more dark, which meant less opportunities for views. But I tried to catch what I could by often getting up and looking through the half opened window. From time to time there was a bit of rain, but nothing too drastic.

Through the length of Balaton, the most common thought was just how many of these places had Balaton in their names. I remember the lights from the restuarants, ferris wheels, stores from various of the places. Decently looking train stops which weren’t deserted, with young people having nights out I suppose. Once past Balaton there wasn’t actually too much left till Budapest. At some point I just looked out the window and saw quite a lot of big and nice buildings, which had to mean Budapest.

Arrived after midnight. Things felt kinda dreamy. I guess it was the midnight. Fortunately on a Saturday night there’s metro services till 1am so the first thing I planned to do was getting a daily metro ticket from a machine at the station. I planned to but then failed because for some reason it wasn’t doing anything after I was tapping I don’t have a discount card or whatever. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong so I just quickly downloaded the BudapestGO app instead. Which came with its own set of complications but I managed to figure out how to validate it and accessed the metro station.

The moving stairs of the station were intimidating when looking down. It really went a long way. The metro itself gave me good, modern impressions. I saw more people dressed in F1 merchandise. This was all getting more real. Then the walk to the hotel at around 1am while for the first time in Budapest. Ofcourse had a few wrong turn moments, but managed to find the place. The walk itself was safe, even if I had a few worries about being around the main station at these times. But the main station itself felt perfectly safe while I was failing to buy that ticket at the machine, and the walk to the hotel after a couple of metro stops was perfectly fine as well. I saw at least one more person being unsure about the right direction, and more people in F1 merchandise. It kinda made me feel more at ease, because ofcourse, I’m not the only confused person here right now. In fact the city is full of people new to it who are also trying to figure things out. Here for the same reason as I.

I got to the hotel, did the check-in. I took a shower, brushed teeth and actually just went to sleep in the same clothes I came in, which were also meant to be for the next day. Not what I’d usually do but all in order to minimize the time needed to leave tomorrow.

Day 2

This was never gonna be a long night of sleep. But my body chose to make it even shorter anyway by waking up before my alarm set at like 6am.

The day came and I got ready, did the check-out. There was an apparent late check-in fee at this hotel if you checked out after midnight (which I did). But when checking-out, the host didn’t mention it. The way it was going, it seemed like I could’ve avoided it if I didn’t say anything further yet I went ahead and asked about the fee, and yeah then I did pay it in the end. What a dumb mk moment that was. But it is what it is.

By 7am I was out on the streets of Budapest. The idea was to leave my luggage at the luggage storage of the Budapest-Nyugati station, from which I would take that train towards Warsaw at 19:30. Then I would do a stop at a store to buy some food and water to get me through the day before heading towards the circuit and hopefully being there before the start of the first track action (the Formula 3 race from 10am).

So the first objective was getting to Budapest-Nyugati. The bit of walking I had around the city was nice, could catch quick views of a certain major landmark. But ofcourse, this time sightseeing wasn’t a priority.

The certain major landmark

Dissapointment upon arriving to the Budapest-Nyugati station. Turns out the area with the luggage wasn’t yet accessible and it wasn’t clear when it would open. I didn’t have the time to wait for that so I had to quickly find a different solution. I walked towards at least two other luggage storage solutions around the station, but both had the similar problem, closed before a specified time. I had to find something that was both open at this moment and that would be guaranteed to also be open at the time I would be back here (which would be around 18-19 hopefully).

Fortunately there was some sort of 24/7 darts/bar place that also had luggage storage inside the building, and since the bar seemed to be open 24/7, that would also mean the luggage storage would be accessible 24/7. So this is where I left the luggage. There was a couple of nice travellers inside who reassured me it’d be open all the time and who also made me feel less confused about the storage process. We wished each other good luck and a nice day and I started heading towards the circuit.

Unfortunately, the luggage situation made me lose a bit more time than I would’ve hoped. I took the metro to the station from which you take an additional train towards the areas closest to the circuit. After going off the metro station I did the planned stop in the store. It wasn’t anything fancy but I had a decent amount of food to get me through the day. The next thing was to get that last train towards the vicinity of the circuit. There was an official F1 bus taking people from one of the stations directly to the circuit. My plan was going off at the station after and just walking towards the circuit, avoiding the presumably overcrowded busses.

The crowds were huge at this point. Ticket inspection doing its thing. Turns out I did figure everything out correctly since I haven’t had any issues. The target train was, no surprises, overcrowded. I barely managed to get inside towards the doors, with a few more people eventually squeezing in the same part. Far from comfortable but I got through it. Turns out most people went off on that station from which they’d take the F1 bus towards the circuit. Judging by how many people I’ve seen there, I feel like it’s fair to assume they didn’t make it on time for the F3 (nor the Porsche Supercup, maybe). There was a smaller amount of people with the same plan as me. The train I was on was pretty much empty after that station apart from a few more people, maybe 2 or 3 of which were F1 fans. But from the station itself there were a bit more people, maybe 30, all walking in the direction of the circuit. I was rushing ahead in the direction of the circuit. At some point I realized I was most likely not gonna make it on time for the start of Formula 3. But I was determined not to miss anything else so I walked as fast as I could.

Approaching the circuit, felt a bit unsure on which way to go. But I kinda followed where a few other people were going, and had a vague idea of where I’ll end up. Sure enough I came towards a queue which would be for the entrance and where the tickets got checked. Just before that I had my first view towards the circuit. The Formula 3 engines were roaring at this point. I was realizing this was actually the first time I’d ever attend not just F1, but any sort of race event at all. (Which is actually wrong because I attended a Speedway event in 2010 but if we’re talking single seaters, 4 wheel vehicles, at a high tier circuit, then ofcourse this was the first one). I just felt a lot of joy hearing those engines, realizing what sort of experience is in front of me, seeing the circuit for the first time. Felt smiley and excited to be there. Through the day also felt emotional, actually close to tears. I suppose the positive emotions of being there, after being a fan of this sport for so much of my life were overwhelming.

So back to the queue. I navigated my way towards the front as much as I could. If I wasn’t mistaken, there were some Danes around in the queue. Someone in their group said something along the lines of “round the outside”, presumably imitating David Croft or some other F1 commentator. Next to the queue there were merchandise sellers that I glanced over, had quick thoughts if I should maybe get something from there, but decided I don’t need to. I accepted I am now missing some of the action, so I decided to first “do” the toilet, before going towards my seat. I was looking for a toilet and the toilet sign, not being aware at that point there’s probably been one for every section of the main straight grandstand, but the door isn’t clearly marked. But I was walking towards my section anyway so that was fine. I “did” the toilet, scanned the ticket. I did that just around the time the cars were around the main straight so it was a very noisy moment, prompting smiles from the official around the scanner. I put in my earplugs. It was a good idea to have them, especially for the feeder series. The Formula 1 engines were actually just about fine without earplugs, perhaps the loudest moments being the tyre change sounds. But I had them on at some points during F1 too, though not all the way (not for most of FP3). My impression was that the majority of people actually didn’t have any ear protection, but I did see exceptions to that.

I was seated for the first time around lap 7 of the Formula 3 race. In awe of the view I had. Main straight, could see straight towards the Ferrari and McLaren garages. Pretty good views of Red Bull and Mercedes as well. Ofcourse, the farther the garage was towards my left side, the harder it was to see it. On the right I had a distant view of the podium and parc ferme as well. Just in front of me, a TV screen. The left side of the graphics was slightly larger than it would usually be on the regular TV feed.

There was track commentary in English, Hungarian and German. I could never be sure which language it was gonna be, and I felt like the commentary volume was slightly too low, but this was probably due to me wearing earplugs most of the time. I don’t remember being helped too much by the commentary not gonna lie.

During F3 there was an opportunity to see how it looks like when the safety car is out. Had to make sure to get a clip of the blinking safety car lights, oops.

Being on the main straight, through all the events, the main idea was basically anticipating the cars passing through on the straight, making sure you catch as much of them as possible, before they continue on with the lap. I could just about distantly see as a car would be going through the final corner and could then get ready for it to go past my spots. It was tricky to try and catch something happening towards the end of the straight and into turn one, but I could distantly see if cars were side by side, which was then ofcourse made much clearer on the TV screen right in front. If I could see a car was lining up nicely for a possible opportunity into turn one, I made sure to try and catch the turn one move on the TV screen. For the rest of the lap when there wasn’t anyone around the main straight, I either watched the TV screen or tried to catch things going on inside the garages and around the pitlane. I couldn’t see extremely closely but there was ofcourse works, people movement around the F1 cars inside. On the right there was also a view towards the FIA section. Through it all I could catch the moving cameras and get an idea of how that looks like from a different perspective. The TV helicopter as well. First time seeing it like that felt a bit surprising how close towards the circuit it is.

So “my” track events were the F3 sprint, Porsche Supercup qualifying, F1 FP3, F2 sprint and F1 qualifying. There was also some fan event which looks like it included the Ferrari drivers that was happening between F3 and the Porsche Supercup. I’m sure it would’ve been cool to see them but I imagine you had to queue around there for hours if you wanted a good spot, and I wanted to focus on enjoying the track events so this wasn’t in my plans. In regards to stuff like fan zones and extra content around the circuit, with my limited time both on entrance and exit, I didn’t really take the opportunity to go around those things unfortunately, but I did at least catch one thing from it, more on that later.

I chose to mostly stick around my seat. In between events I did take a few minutes to walk around, buy a coca cola and F1 cup (which turned out to be my only physical souvenir from the event), use the toilet. I was also curious about the views on the other sections of the grandstand, and it was really a huge grandstand, larger than you might feel like from seeing it online. Afterall, it goes from the most left pitbox (this year Sauber) towards McLaren and some way beyond. In case I was feeling adventurous, would I have been allowed to go to a different grandstand to maybe watch a specific series from that one? I’m not sure. Maybe that’s what the people sitting next to me did, because they sat next to me for all of the events, but they weren’t there for qualifying.

They did a few things in the wait between sessions. There were at least 2 quizzes you could join with a QR code and get a price. I tried entering the second one but literally couldn’t do it cause my internet was not functioning. I suppose too many people at once were trying to connect. They also showed clips of those fan event interviews which is how I realized the Ferrari drivers were there, the Red Bull drivers, Haas drivers, Alpine drivers too I believe. In between sessions you could see things like the paddock club passing by, or the Hungaroring cars. There were a few such occassions when a vehicle was passing through and waving to the grandstand.

FP3

After F3 and the Porsche Supercup it was the anticipation for the first Formula 1 session which was the third practice session. So this was happening then. I could see TV pundits being filmed in front of the garages. It was hard to tell who exactly it was. The mechanics were gathering around the Mercedes garage and getting the car ready, same in front of the Ferrari garage. It got underway. Lando Norris came out early on. Therefore I suppose he is the first F1 driver I’ve seen driving during an F1 session. It was “only” gonna be an hour of this. I made sure to enjoy and take it all in. Tried to recognize who was passing by every time. For the most part it was possible to tell. Tried to take clips of my favorites passing by. I needed a few tries to get Nico Hulkenberg but the videos show I got him multiple times. Similar for the Ferraris. I remembered how this would usually be something I’d watch on the TV feed, with commentators, on a screen. Now I was there at the scene of the event, physically, watching it unfold with my own eyes. Surreal.

At the end, people were starting to head out of the grandstand. But I knew this was when the drivers would usually do their practice starts, so I really wanted to catch that. It would be the only time I’d be able to see an F1 car start from the main straight afterall. At least on this day and occasion.

Only after watching my own made videos did I realize I actually took a video of Lewis Hamilton walking back into the garage after FP3. Here I was being unsure why people were cheering on Ferrari being brought back into the garage (joined in a bit to that cheering too lol) but yeah it makes more sense now. And I did feel like there was a pretty good amount of Ferrari support (which was great to be around) with multiple cheer moments for them. McLaren too, some Max Verstappen cheering moments too. I guess the fact we had a look at those garages was also a factor.

F2

After FP3 it was time for the F2 sprint. And speaking of starts, this would be the only time I’d see a race start on this day and occasion. Because sadly I did miss out on that F3 sprint start, and this was the only other race of the day.

I don’t usually follow the feeder series, but I did at least know a few F2 drivers from their F1 involvements and talks about them, maybe most notably Dunne and Lindblad. It was a fun race to watch. Early on, one of the yellow cars spun off, meaning they had to fight back from last. They seemed to be a favorite of the people sitting next to me. I kept an eye on that car myself, interested in how they’ll progress and how I’ll be able to see it as it unfolds.

There were close fights for the top spots through the race. And it was intriguing following how the gaps are changing, and if maybe someone had a chance to pass. I could tell when someone is in a decent position for an overtake, and then when they were out of sight, I continued looking at the TV screen to see if they managed to get it done. And at the very end it even looked like I could be witnessing a last corner move right in front of my eyes on the main straight but it didn’t quite happen in the end. During the race there was also a car with a technical issue that happened to park right at the main straight, so that obviously offered great views of a driver retiring from the race. And being picked up by the trackside vehicles.

F1 qualifying

And the next was the F1 qualifying. Could feel higher anticipation in the air as it was approaching. Felt like they ramped up the camera filming of fans, there were even some interviews. Started appreciating my seat even more because I was right at the most top row. The cameras nor the woman interviewing didn’t quite come up to that row. Though there was a cameraman in my section at one point, filming towards the fans. But low enough that I wouldn’t be caught :p

Not gonna lie I did notice the sky was being suspiciously overcasty. Started having “could it possibly be” types of thoughts. The qualifying that I would witness live being one of those spectacular ones with mixed weather? And I would have to leave that early? Upon rewatching(!!) the TV version, the commentators were already pointing out the risk of rain since the very start.

So this was now the part of the F1 weekend that “truly” counted. Stakes felt higher and all that, things more intense, more people watching.

Stakes. If you know, you know.

There wasn’t much more seats yet to be filled compared to FP3 but yeah it felt like even more people were around. And I could feel more people were watching on TV too even if I didn’t see the TV viewers with my eyes.

Ferrari got dangerously close to dropping out. Didn’t want to watch them drop out of Q1. It was a relief when they were safe. Too bad I did see Nico Hulkenberg drop out of Q1 though. The crowd cheered as Alonso was setting the fastest laps. I did an impressed nod of approval type of face. Bortoleto was doing amazing too.

It was only after watching the TV version that I actually realized the Q2 start has been delayed. I guess I just missed the race control announcement on the TV screen about that. People were seen putting rain clothes on. Ofcourse, I was in the covered grandstand. I couldn’t quite see the rain drops to be honest. Although they were just around turn 1 from what I could see on the TV, but I suppose a bit too far from my seat.

I have to talk about the sounds of qualifying for a bit. The engine sounds as multiple cars leave their garages to head out for qualifying. There’s this dynamic feeling to it all. Could feel the urgency of it, no time to be lost. I guess I’m stating the really obvious stuff, so sorry. I guess it’s a signature sound of qualifying. It’s a different sort of thing to the way it was in FP3.

Quickly after Q2 ended, I unfortunately headed on my way out. I really would’ve wanted to witness Charles Leclerc getting that pole position. I imagine the atmosphere sitting there would’ve been incredible to be in, and a highlight moment in a sea of highlight experiences. One of my faves getting the pole while I watch live for the first time. A real pity. But it would be wrong to dwell on the negatives and “what could’ve been”s of this day and experience.

On my way out I took a last quick moment of taking it all in, turning around, sort of saying internal goodbyes to the circuit. I could feel a few drops of rain falling. The area behind the grandstand wasn’t busy, but there were people who were also leaving at this time. I spotted the championship trophy on display and took my pictures of it. Then headed towards the exit of the circuit as fast as I could.

Then executed my plan of walking towards a church of the place nearby the circuit and taking a taxi from there to the first train station within the bounds of Budapest (for the sake of not having to think about two types of public transport tickets). The taxi driver wasn’t allowed to park at quite that spot I chose but was nearby. Took a few minutes to find him but I got there. It seemed to be a smooth ride more or less, not really too congested. The taxi I took was a Bolt (which was one of the official partners for the event).

Before that on the walk, some Uber taxi drivers tried offering me overpriced rides for my proposed train stop options. They claimed they weren’t allowed to drive past the direction I was walking towards and would take a taxi from, for temporary regulation reasons or whatever. The walk was a bit chaotic, with a lot of taxis around. It was particularly hard to get through that one spot where they approached me.

Once I was at that train station, I was basically able to start declaring victory over my timing situations. From there I took a direct train to the exact station the overnight train was departing from. Once there, it was time to take the bags from the luggage storage. But first, there was one more F1 related thing I could do. And fortunately I had enough time. There was some VCARB related thing going on around the mall next to the station.

The same mall had a Ferrari F1 car displayed. The text on it near the seat said “Lewis Hamilton” while the number was 16. In the mall, walking towards it, some boy was controlling a Mercedes F1 RC car which was kinda cute. The car seemed to follow my steps nicely for a while.

I was kinda sad. I suppose to have missed out on the “climax” moments. I suppose also because this was the end of the experience. There was also relief that I’ve successfully made it here on time. With a lot in my head it was slowly time to start thinking about the next experiences in front of me.

I went to the store for some stuff I would eat as dinner on the train. Returned to that luggage storage place which was indeed still open. Walked back towards the station. Turns out the train was there waiting. Extracted my ticket, asked the conductor on where to go. Wasn’t able to open the door of the compartment myself at first but after asking the conductor it turned out it just needed a harder push, oops.

Entered my very own “room” inside the train. Put my stuff around. Started both eating and laying down slightly. Reflecting on what just happened. Later on the conductor came to ask for my breakfast preferences (coffee or tea and basically if I want Nutella or cheese). He also took the printed ticket which was returned the next morning.

But more on all that in the next post.