Earlier this year, I returned to one of my happy places after an 11-year gap: The F1 paddock.
I wrote about that in an incredibly entertaining article that I know you enjoyed, sharing my experiences in the Albert Park paddock and going over just how it had all changed since I had last experienced it in 2013.
Since that magical experience in Melbourne, I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing three more races around the world, meaning for the first ever time I’ve attended four F1 races in a single season.
What’s even more special about this is that two of these subsequent F1 race appearances came in the form of media appearances, giving me more paddock time and the chance to see behind the curtain in the sport I love the most.
But just how did those experiences go?
Well the first experience came in the Netherlands at the Dutch Grand Prix. This was the only race I attended in 2024 as a ‘fan’ so to speak, with just a regular race ticket purchased and no media access for my first ever race in Europe.
There isn’t a whole lot to go over this race with as I want to focus on the paddock experiences that came in my latter two races, but let’s just say attending a race in the Netherlands is a different beast to any other race I have been to before as a fan.
Having a race so obviously marketed towards one driver was fascinating, with it being absolutely impossible to escape anything to do with Max Verstappen all weekend.
That all comes down to the pure passion the Dutch have for any of their sporting stars, and being around a sea of orange at Zandvoort was incredible. I even drank the Kool-Aid myself, buying a Max Verstappen t-shirt and being part of the Max Verstappen army for one day. I always like to fit in at the best of times, and this was the perfect way to do it.
The circuit being right on the ocean was unique, with the walk from the train station to the track often taken over by sweeping winds, sudden rain storms and a special vibe that was fun to experience.
My seats were in a hilly section of the track that gave solid views going into the final steeped turn, with no overselling of the area providing me and my friend Casey with a fairly intimate area of the track that never made it uncomfortable to watch. The Australian Grand Prix could definitely take notes from how the Dutch Grand Prix sell their general admission tickets.
It also was a great experience with many of the off-track activities, with some great food and beer options that weren’t overly expensive, fan experiences that were fun to see and a very unique token system to help with recycling that I still don’t know if I fully understand. This connection with the environment also meant there was no physical race programme which was disappointing, but overall my solitary fan experience at a race in 2024 was a lot of fun and I highly recommend the Dutch Grand Prix to anybody who has a chance to go to it.
This then leads me into my next two experiences, and my return to the F1 paddock for both the United States Grand Prix in Austin, and the Las Vegas Grand Prix in…well…Las Vegas.
Initially my plan was only to go to Austin and not do Vegas, given I had just made the move back to New York and didn’t think it was smart to blow a whole bunch of money on two races.
But through my research and planning, Vegas actually turned out to be a cheaper option than Austin. And given I had to flick the switch on Austin immediately, Vegas turned out to be a logical choice to add when it came to the budgeting.
I had previously been to Austin before, as I attended the race as a fan back in 2016. But this time around media accreditation was acquired, and I was pumped to experience my first paddock experience in the USA.
For the most part, it was very similar to Albert Park. A pretty decent paddock, easy access around the media centre and areas you needed to go, and friendly helpful people who were always there to give you what you needed.
There were some differences though, for better and for worse.
The worse came in a few forms. The main one being the lack of track view from the media centre itself. At Albert Park, you are literally sitting over the main straight, giving you a perfect view of the cars as they scream across the line. At Austin the media centre is a giant, soulless room filled with nothing more than desks and giant screens, a fact that I was bitterly disappointed with as soon as I realised this was the case.
For any track action, you would have to venture into the general admission areas, which aren’t that abundant at the Circuit of the Americas. My one main experience of this came during FP1 on the Friday where I caught a photographers shuttle out to the main section in the middle of the track underneath the famous COTA tower.
This in itself could warrant a whole separate article given I was being driven around the interior where only photographers were allowed and I wasn’t meant to be. It was fun at the time as FP1 had started during this journey, so I was literally beside the track as the cars screamed past the shuttle I was in. But it turned into a bit of a nightmare finding access to where I was allowed to be, which eventually I was able to do.
Outside of that experience watching the cars on track, I was able to see the cars through a fence going down the main straight if I left the media centre, as well as seeing the cars go up the incredibly steep turn one in the distance at the end of the paddock. But it meant I wasn’t near the timing screens or other things I needed to do my role as media, so it was a bit of a hassle and disappointment.
The other factors that were worse than Albert Park came in the form of getting to the track, and the connection you feel to actually being at a Grand Prix.
The circuit at Austin is about 30 minutes out of the city in the middle of nowhere, with Ubers being quite expensive from the city and the rideshare drop-off area being ages away from the circuit itself.
This meant that I had to pay for an expensive three-day shuttle from the city, which then dropped you off in an awkward area that involved a long walk to the part of the track I needed to go to, and then the paddock itself. I love walking and I got a lot of steps in, but it was a bit of a pain overall.
The other fact I mentioned about the connection side of things I felt was interesting.
At Albert Park, even being part of the media and the paddock, you still have to get through a lot of the fan sections of the circuit. You feel the vibe of the race. You can go anywhere around the circuit at any time. It’s easy to navigate and walk to. It all feels just very connected.
At Austin, not so much. You feel in a bubble and isolated from everything else that is happening around the track. You can’t easily just go around the track without a shuttle or some other access plan. You are basically stuck in the paddock and media centre and away from the atmosphere. From somebody who loves to mix both together, this was a disappointment.
But with that in mind, there were definitely some positives that I feel Albert Park can learn from.
Firstly, the food.
Wow. Every day there would be a banquet served for lunch and dinner, with so many different options provided to make sure you were never hungry. There were even constant snacks and drinks available and I always looked forward to my meals each day. It also meant I saved a lot of money over the course of the Grand Prix weekend.
The access and information provided by the circuit too I felt was somewhat better than it was in Albert Park.
The circuit provided me with a very handy media guide which outlined everything very specifically, a massive help given it was my first time doing media at the race. And even when I was slightly confused over something, there was someone on hand to help me out immediately.
The paddock itself too was slightly better than that of Albert Park, which is understandable given it is a permanent race facility, rather than a temporary one like Albert Park.
It was wide with plenty of room to move, even when the inevitable takeover happened of the rich fans who can afford VIP access and hound the drivers much like I discussed in my Albert Park piece. The team areas are also much larger and elaborate, giving them lots more room to showcase hospitality to their guests.
Overall, Austin was a lot of fun to have as a paddock experience. I had the honour of one-on-one interviews with both Kick Sauber drivers on the Thursday, an interview with the legendary Andy Stevenson from Aston Martin and an interview with Oscar Piastri’s personal trainer Kim Keedle.
Added to this some chats with David Croft, Will Buxton and Kym Ilman, it was a great weekend which helped me produce a great amount of content.
Which then leads me on to the most unique of all the races I attended in 2024, the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Not only was it my first time to this race, it was my first time to Las Vegas ever. So that only added to the uniqueness of the weekend.
I definitely wasn’t prepared for the city. It’s unique. Strange. Fun. And everything else in between.
The best way to describe it is it’s basically a giant adult theme park. It’s trashy. It’s over the top. It’s bright. But it has everything you can imagine to keep you happy and occupied as only your inner child would want.
And that was all experienced from not even staying on the Strip.
I cheeped out and stayed in an Airbnb slightly outside of the city, giving me some very long and boring walks to and from the media centre and track each day. But it still meant I could experience the city somewhat, and give me a unique perspective on such a unique place.
But what about the race and paddock experiences?
Well being Vegas, the media centre of course was in a casino. Literally in a casino. To get to the media centre, you had to walk through a bunch of gaming machines and tables to a large room upstairs.
Similar to Austin, it didn’t come with track views, which was very disappointing once more. And as I would soon find out, it was even worse than Austin when it came to actually getting access to areas where you could see the track. But more on that soon.
What the media centre did have going for it was its size. It was huge. It was clearly a large conference room that they converted for the race, but it gave you so much space you never felt cramped or overcrowded.
The staff in the centre were lovely, they provided you once again with a very detailed media guide, and you were catered to every day with some fairly decent food. It wasn’t on the same level as Austin, but it was still good, even if the timings were always off with it being a night race.
Which, I should just add, was a very unique thing to experience.
It was my first ever night race, so working timings around things being at night rather than the day were odd, as was the fact that everything was a day earlier with the race happening on a Saturday night instead of the usual Sunday.
Oh, can I also just add the fact that the media were all given a media gift bag as well, containing an amazing notebook and pen, two keyrings, a giant reusable Stanely Cup and a beanie. A nice surprise I have to say.
But, the track access. Let’s get to that.
So the media centre itself actually wasn’t diretly connected to the paddock. A first for me to experience.
In order to get to the paddock, you had to take a bit of a rabbit path through a casino carpark, security check point, and tunnels to then find yourself where you wanted to be. This was a challenge because it meant you’d have to allow yourself at least ten minutes from the media centre to the paddock, where of course all the media interviews and events took place.
The smart thing though about the Vegas paddock was the fact that they had a media hospitality suite in the paddock next to all the teams, giving us media a nice little area to do some work if we didn’t want to constantly walk back and forth so much.
With that being said, the paddock had no areas for track views, another frustrating part. And through my initial contact with the media team, I was informed that media weren’t allowed to access many general admission areas to see the track like you would be able to in other races.
This made me believe that I might not get any track views at all across the weekend, but luckily I was wrong. During any session, media were actually allowed in a couple of fan zones which had track views. That allowed me to see some action on the track and fully experience my first night race.
Once again I allowed this during FP1, where I was lucky enough to watch the cars go right past the amazing Sphere, giving me some amazing visuals of the cars speeding past me under the lights in maybe the most unique section I’ve ever seen F1 cars.
And it turned out the track access was pretty simple from that point.
The shuttles that took you there were far easier to navigate than that of Austin, the drivers were second to none when it came to their service and you actually had more access to areas than they clearly lead on. There were also a couple of areas in the vicinity of the paddock in which I had access to where I could see action from the track, so that too ended up being an added bonus.
It also helped that the staff and information were all so helpful in helping you get to where you wanted to go, meaning what started off as a bad start, turned out to be quite good.
On that note too, the whole organisation of the media and giving them access to other aspects of the race and the weekend were like nothing I had ever experienced before.
In the lead up to the race, I was invited to many press opportunities that I couldn’t even fathom I would ever get to experience. From a tour of the amazing F1 paddock club at Vegas with margaritas and donuts, to a celebrity chef showcase at the famous Bellagio Hotel where I got to meet Mark Wahlberg and interview Wolfgang Puck, it was all just something else. Added to this a rooftop bar media dinner at the Paris Hotel and drinking shoeys out of an exclusively made shoe, they were experiences I will never forget.
As was the paddock. Because it’s Vegas right? You know it’s going to be special.
For the first time I experienced pop-up installations in the paddock. These included a coffee cart with unique coffee flavours (lavender anyone), a pet tag creation station where you could get tags made for your dog or cat, a sushi restaurant that was always full every time I walked past it and an Evian water bar where you could a myriad of different water options each time you went there. It all blew my mind that I was able to experience these in the paddock at a Grand Prix.
There was also the small factor of a public restroom being in the paddock which was the only place for anyone in the paddock to use the facilities. And by anyone, I do mean anyone. Before the race I had the honour of having a leak next to Max Verstappen at the urinal. In full race suit. Minutes before he got into his car to drive to his fourth World Championship. That is something I can always tell my grandkids about.
I also got the unique experience of a red carpet in the paddock. Hours before the race on Saturday night, a whole variety of celebrities entered and walked along a red carpet where they did interviews with the likes of Access Hollywood and ESPN and soaked up all the glamour that is Las Vegas.
The fun fact of this though was that I recognised maybe five of the people without the need of the sign holder person who had the job of telling the waiting media who each celebrity was. Given the majority of the celebrities were influencers or other people that literally nobody over the age of 20 would know, the sign holder was very much appreciated. But it was also fun to see many of these people in the flesh, and I can officially say I’ve photographed and filmed Paris Hilton, Axl Rose and Noah Lyles. It was so very Vegas and so very unique.
Vegas was just an absolute different beast to what you can ever imagine experiencing in the world of F1 and F1 media. It was such a show that you couldn’t help but be sucked into the vibe of it. It was flashy. Trashy. Fun. And I will admit, I enjoyed it. Would I want that to be every F1 race? No. Absolutely not. But for one race a year, I’ll take it.
As will the fact that I can officially say I’ve seen a Formula 1 World Champion crowned, and then interviewed them directly after the race. And I guess urinated next to them before the race. All distinct honours right? You know it.
Overall, these three experiences add to an incredible year of F1 memories that I could only ever dream of a few years ago. The fact that I can say I’ve been to four races in a season, and three races in a season as media, is a dream, and something I hope I can only build on in the future.
Life right now is in an interesting place, and it actually gives me a bit more of an uncertain future than I thought.
It looks highly likely that I will be back at Albert Park in the paddock in March, which of course I’m looking forward to. And it also means that perhaps a new race or two could come in 2025, hopefully with media experiences added to them to. But these also come with many aspects to life that remain up in the air, but that is another post for another time.
2024 has been a great year for my media and sporting experiences, and I hope they are experiences that will continue to come in the future.
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