It was a dream come true when i was on my way to the Sepang F - 1 circuit in Malaysia.. I have always been thrilled by "speed" n i am especially crazy about F - 1.. I never thought that I'd be able to watch an F - 1 GP live so early.. In 2003, it just happened n we were on our way to Malaysia..
Sepang circuit is celebrating its 10th anniversary, this year.. it is built 'bout 60 Kms from the main Kuala Lampur (KL) city.. The KL international airport (KLIA) is 20 Kms further away on the same road.. Sepang circuit offers a great combination of fast n slow chicanes..
The race day was on 23 rd march, 2003 .. Incidentally, that day India was playing against the Aussies in the cricket world cup final.. Raymond, our local guide n driver had come to pick us up at 0800 hrs at our hotel in KL.. I was quite surprised by the timing coz race was supposed to start at 1500 hrs.. Raymond told us that they were going to have an air show before GP.. Soon, we were on our way to sepang circuit.
We reached Sepang at around 0915 hrs n it was already very crowded.. I just couldn’t imagine 120,000 people from all over the world gathering at one place.. All the teams had put up their stalls near the entrance.. All the teams' official merchandise was available there but needless to say it was simply out most of the peoples’ budgets.. I could afford to buy only a t-shirt with Sepang circuit embroidered on it..
We had "hill side with open seating" tickets.. ( cheapest ones !).. but the location was good.. we had to sit on the hills near the end of chicane, so we could watch the cars for a long duration.. It was getting hotter n hotter every minute.. Sitting in 45 deg C, can never be comfortable.. n firang babes in their teeny - weeny bikinis were heating it up even more !!! People had come from various countries of Europe, North n South America, Asia.. There was support for every team that raced.. Even the poorest team, minardi, had loads of supporters.. Fortunately, I was neighbored by lots n lots of tifosis..
At 1200 hrs, 4 fighter planes presented the air show.. It was simply superb !!! It was the best air-show I’ve seen, till date.. Then it was F - 1's routine practice session for about half an hour.. There was a huge round of cheers when the cars passed by each stand.. Especially for the local hero, Alex Yoong, who was driving a minardi that season.. Then all the drivers came for a lap in vintage cars.. It was fun seeing those guys, who are used to speeds of up to 360 Kmph, crawling at about 20 Kmph in those cars.
1500 hrs.. The moment I was waiting for so eagerly !!! The race started..n on the first lap itself, I could see some 6 cars spinning and going on to the grass including the maestro "schumi".. As the cars passed by our stand, we experienced the deafening sound of their engines.. Its that sound n atmosphere for which people pay hundreds of dollars.. I just cant put it in words.. When half of the laps were covered, Kimi was leading the race.. That day his McLaren was performing brilliantly.. Earlier that season, McLaren was finding it difficult even to finish off the race.. But Kimi did hold on to his position n went on to snatch his maiden F - 1 win !!! It was great to see supporters of all teams applauding for Kimi when he drove the victory lap..
I wanted to see the podium celebrations too but Raymond had warned us about the traffic jam that'd occur after the race.. Also I was not sure about reaching the podium area in that ocean of people.. As we reached to the car, there was already a queue of nearly 200 cars near the exit point.. It took us quite a lot of time to reach KL.. But there was no chance of complaint.. After all, I had watched an F - 1 race "LIVE" !!!
The only glitch comes to my mind, when I see F - 1 today, is 'why couldn’t Narain Karthikeyan race in that season ????' .. If he could've, there must had been at least one Indian tri-color waving high in that ocean of people !
