Originally Posted by
OTown
Well that was one hell of a weekend. Had to get out of dodge last minute to avoid a Cat 5 Typhoon. Glad we did or else we would have never made the race on sunday (trains etc were all shut down sat).
Made it to the track a bit later in qualy due to backlog of trains and people getting to the track. From what I could see the Ferraris had some incredible speed on the straights. I ended up in the Honda Seats for the race - near turn 2 as it goes into the esses. Saw Max going sideways - it seemed as if he had gotten squeezed out from our angle so we had no idea on the Leclerc contact till after. Real cool spot with lots of overtakes right in front. Those car are much louder in person than TV (obviously) but they dont really compare to the V8's of early 2010's. Nothing beats smelling the race fuel and burnt tires after someone locks up. Oh and we had close seats to the Perez crash.
The Japanese sure know how to dress for the occasion - The amount of costumes and differing support for teams was really cool (Kimi had a ton of supporters funny enough). Full army of Ferrari samurais, DRS helmets, fully kitted impersonations with matching helmet and all.
Shame the start ruined a bunch of driver's races but looking back at it I think Charles got caught out by the lack of downforce following Vettel and lost control of the car. I think the punishment fit the bill.
All in all an unforgettable weekend to cap off the trip.