View From a Grandstand

Well what can I say, I have just attended my first ever Grand Prix, the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne, if you thought it would look like it does on the TV, well not quite, for starters there's the noise from the F1 cars, its almost deafening when your sitting right beside the race track, then the cars zoom past you so fast its impossible to get a decent photograph of them, well it is for an amateur like me, instead of watching all the action from your lounge room or wherever else you may sit and watch, your out in the open come all weathers watching most of the action on the Big Screens dotted around the track and in my case loving every deafening minute of it!

So what is it like when your viewing a Grand Prix from the top of a Grandstand, well in my case I was in the Fangio Grandstand named after the Five times World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio. I had flown into Melbourne from Tasmania, when your in the Grandstand your sitting next to the same people for 3 or 4 days depending on how many days you attend, you get chatting to people you may otherwise of not met, the people next to me had flown in to Melbourne from Western Australia.

The view from the Grandstand however is amazing, I had a seat right on the Start Line, I could see the Pit Stops, in particular Red Bull and McLaren's garages just to the right of me a little but still I could see all the action going on, for a first timer to a Grand Prix this event gave me a great introduction to what it is like to attend a Grand Prix and I would love to go again, I did not sit in my seat all the time I got up and walked around the Paddock to various other parts of the Park to see what it is like to view the track from other parts but at least with a Grandstand Seat you know you have a spot to sit, if you go in as General Admission you take pot luck where you might find a spot.

Overall the organisation of the Australian Grand Prix was fantastic, getting to and from the track was easy, just a bit of a wait getting out of the Park after the Grand Prix has ended, but when you've got one hundred thousand odd people trying to leave all at the same time you just have to wait.

I thoroughly recommend attending a Grand Prix and booking that seat in the Grandstand, especially your first time and come the end of the Race, I had the best view in the house, see this pic below:

Written by: Linda Hardy