Mega Massive Sao Paulo!

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Hi guys this is the article i wrote for the mark webber magazine BRAZILIAN CHAMPIONSHIP SHOWDOWN Ola-well once again i was lucky to take another overseas trip to a GP and this time it was to Sambaland Brazil! It's been a dream of mine since i was a wee Pg to see Brazil especially Rio and when a friend of mine living in Sao Paulo invited me+ Stevie over who was i to say NO, it would be so rude! I would never have imagined when i booked our flights that the GP would be a championship decider and that it would be my idols Coulthards last F1 race! it was sure to be an emotional weekend! For once i didn't have to arrange a single thing for our 2 weeks trip to Brazil. It was great being chauffeured around and also having our own personal translator. Stevie and i did learn a few words/phrase before we left which went down well with the locals. I knew Sao Paulo was the 4th largest city in the World and having previuosly visited Mexico City and Tokyo,the largest 2 cities in the World i thought i was pretty much prepared for what lay before me. However once arriving in the city i could not believe what a megatropolis it is!! There are skyscrapers as far as the eye can see!! You can drive for 2 hours and still be in Sao Paulo City!! For such a massive city there is not heaps of touristy things to see. My friend took us to the cathedral and to the heart of Sao Paulo. We also visited the Sao Paulo Art museum which has some famous paintings in it and the lovely Jardins area. That's pretty much it believe it or not! There are however thousands of outstanding restaurants. I've never tasted such World class food(apologies to any of you whom have cooked for me!)The steak is the best ever and the pizzas are better than in Rome!! Now interlagos is another fantastic circuit and you dont appreciate it until you see it up close! I wasn't sure what to expect as far as seating goes(we were in G stand on the straight between corners 3+4) as Stewy had told me it was pen style and i had read reports about cramming people in. You are not allocated seats and it's a 1st come 1st serve basis. We were there early every day,avoided any queues and got cracking seats. We never felt crammed in at all. Infact iv'e had more space at interlagos than at any other GP! As for our view well we were well impressed . Interlagos is similar size and layout ot the Hungaroring and we could see every part of the circuit bar the pit straight!! We positioned ourselves right at the pit exit for the weekend and it was the perfect spot to see the drivers practise their starts. Friday practise was sooooo cold. We arrvied at the track in shorts and t-shirts and the temperature dropped to a chilly 16c by mid afternoon, not good in an exposed grandstand. Even my Brazilian friend couldn't believe how cold it was! We ended up wrapping ourselves up in our flags to try keep warm. Luckily qualifying was nice and toasty hot and we were pretty scorcherd by the end of the day. The locals were going crazy for Massa and the atmosphere was like nothing else. They went berserk when Massa got pole and we just joined in too! It was one big party. Once Stevie+ i were spotted in our kilts we were the star attraction all weekend. I think we had our pictures taken more times than Posh and Becks! Anytime Stevie or I moved from the grandstand to go get food the whole grandstand 3000 people stood up and starting cheering " Ecosse Coulthard " it was so funny and this carried on all weekend. We were the local celebs ha-ha! i would say that 90% of the crowd in our stand were men too, this was confirmed by the huge queues for the men's porta loos! For once there were never any queues outside the ladies and they were immaculate all weekend! After qualifying my friend took us to see Aryton Sennas grave which lies in a beautiful cemetery in the centre of Sao Paulo. It is only marked by a simple gold engraved plate laid flat on the grass. I imagined some grandeur headstone but i was told it was all Senna wanted. It was very moving to be stood by (in my eyes the Greatest F1 driver of all time)his grave. As for race day well what can i say. We had to get up at 530am to get to the track at a decent time. Ive never seen so many police at a GP too, they were everywhere the eye could see! We did have problems getting our banners into the track as we were told on the Friday that we needed permission from the circuit to hang them! What a lot of nonsense eh! We had a cunning plan and we folded one up and stuffed it in Stevie's sporran(i knew it would come in handy one day!) and i consealed the other one inside a towel id taken to sit on. We manage to sneak them in even after being searched-genius! More photos were taken of us with the banners and during the drivers parade i saw DC videoing the crowd so hopefully he caught our banners. The race itself was sensational. After the pre race rain shower and quick change of tyres it was time to eventually get going. I was totally gutted when Rosberg took out DC !!!How could he!!!!! Our stand all let out a groan in sympathy for us,so sweet of them. Then we saw DCs wings for life car being winched off before our eyes!! As gutted as we were we had no time to dwell as the race was action packed and everyone was on tenterhooks' the whole 71 laps. I had heard from the Uk that they were saying there was no more rain expected during the race but from where we were standing it looked obvious it would rain but no one knew when. The Massa crowd were all doing a rain dance as it was the only chance Massa really had of getting Lewis to slow down and lose that vital place. When the rain did come chucking it down and Vettel passed Lewis you can only imagine how the crowd reacted! i was so excited i forgot i was getting drenched! Our eyes all lay on Lewis for the last lap and we were all pretty sure Massa would do it but when we saw Glock slow down on the last few corners we couldnt believe it!!!! It was unreal!! Poor Massa!! Mark was unlucky once again to miss out on a point but as we say onwards and upwards for 2009. Just keep that whipper snapper Vettel at bay!! It's rare to see a sporting event as exciting as the Brazilian 2008 GP. It's even rarer to see such sportsmanship and such heart. There was none of it last year that's for sure! I was so glad we were there so see sporting history ! Both Lewis and Massa deserved to be the World Champion. Hamilton won it, but for me Massa was the hero of the day. Massa's day will come and hopefully Marks too!! Stevie and i have had some amazing F1 travels this year and were lucky to witness Heikki and Kubicas' 1st GP wins, Glocks' first podium, DCs last podium and the youngest World Champion! We're hoping F1 2009 will be just as historical and fun!

Celebrities for the weekend!