My experience in Monza (2022)

 

Wednesday :

We flight in Milan on this day !

Our flight was slightly delayed but we finally arrived around 9am I think. We went to take the keys of our rental car before waiting for a friend who was flying from Paris.

Once Amandine was arrived, we went to our car and after several issues we finally started our way in direction of Milano.

We had planned to go see the Ferrari store and buy some merchandising after we settled at our hotel.

Our friend arrived before us and sent me that there was a lot of people waiting in front of it and that she was thinking that Carlos and Charles were inside of the store.

We tried to arrive as fast as possible but anyway, once we were in front of it we needed to wait !

We didn't know but Ferrari was revealing their livery for the Grand Prix !

So after almost one hour of wait, we saw that amazing livery with our proper eyes thanks to the Ferrari boys who had removed the sheet that was hiding it !

I will be honest with you. At first the livery wasn't really convincing me, however when we saw it, a few hours later in the store itself, I found it beautiful. But I will talk about it a little bit later.

After the reveal of the new color for Monza, the boys finally did some media duties with the fans.

Charles was the first to go outside and come great the fans and the only thing I can say, it's that the tifosis are totally crazy. Not in a bad way (for the majority), but totally crazy in the way that everybody was screaming, trying to made their way at the front row to see the drivers.

In addition, the Monegasque is more liked than the Spanish driver in Italy. I'm not saying that they don't like him nevertheless Il Predestinato is like a god for them you know.

 

And the last one to do is appearance was the Silverstone winner !

He did a little turn between the fans before being call for a Charlos interview. This one happened just in front of me, so I have some nice content of the two drivers.

Those two are works of art, they have so much talent (and are good looking like every f1 driver)

They are also living memes, I cant tell you I captured some moments were Carlos was looking lost as always and I don't know Charles often does weird faces.

Anyway, after that little interview, Carlos came to see the last fans then headed back into the store.

We had been there for a long time so we decided not to wait for the moment they were going to leave. We went to have a drink because we were starting to get dehydrate.

When we did our way back to the store to go visit, we had the chance to fall on Lewis Hamilton hooked at a luxury store.

We needed to wait again before entering it. But once we were in the building we were amazed.

Everything, the clothes, the decoration was amazing.

We also had the chance to go only one meter away from the car, and that's at that moment than I found the car pretty.

At first, for me, the yellow was too much, but finally when we were near it, it wasn't that attacking our eyes. It was well balanced.

 

Outside of that, while on the website the yellow t-shirt was sold out my mum offered it to me.

Like other decorations, we have Michael Schumacher's f1 hanging at the ceiling, some car's miniatures and other things.

The experience of a luxury shop is something to try one time in a life time you know.

Personal seller, amazing packages, and even more.

You'll see the unboxing of this shirt soon on my Instagram if it's not already out !

We also visited the famous gallery with all the other luxury shops, it's just so beautiful !

Thursday :

We didn't planned anything on this day but the thing I can tell you, it's "you don't go at a Grand Prix to stay in your bed !"

So we decided to try to meet some drivers.

 

The first one to show up was the Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou.

He was walking on the Ferrari's lands but the tifosis were cheering for him, like almost all the drivers, except Max, and George on Sunday but anyway.

So I was saying than people actually liked him.

He is a nice and well educated guy, he took his time to sign some stuff but I didn't know he was staying here so I hadn't prepared anything !

Once I had prepared it, he didn't go back on my side but yeah I'm sure I will be able to meet him later !

He has great talent and I'm persuaded he will find a seat for next season.

 

 

As you can see, the next one was one of the main character of this weekend !

Charles Leclerc was back right in front of my eyes.

As always, the fans were yelling for him, they had even singed one little song they made for him !

I can't remember exactly what they were saying but I think it was something like : "Why would we want someone else when we have El Predestinato ?"

The Monegasque took all his time with his fans, signing almost everything, taking selfie with people.

I had the chance to get a picture signed but I can tell you it's not the best I got from him.

The problem of Charles's autograph is than it's a complicated one, so when there is a lot of people, it's often doesn't really look like good.

In Spa, I made him sign my cap without knowing he was sleeping in the same hotel as him and now I regret it because my mum has, I think, one of the most beautiful autographs that Charles did.

I will maybe do a giveaway with it but I don't know if it would interest you so let me know on Instagram if it's the case !

 

 

Carlos left the place to go to the track too, but he went directly at the other fence I tried to see him but there was too many people climbing on it so I didn't even see him.  A friend told me it would be so easy to see him and take a selfie with him but I never had the occasion.

And finally, George was the last driver we saw at that place.

My mum wanted to have her cap signed, so while she was filming George I was trying to have her cap signed and film George signing it.

It wasn't the easiest work but I succeeded !

When he saw that Mercedes cap between all this Ferrari merch, he thanked me !

(He probably didn't see my McLaren cap that was hung at my backpack)

But anyway, George is always one of the kindest.

We say with my mum and my friends that he is THE British, because he is so polite and kind !

He was saying good morning to us when we were having breakfast beside him at La Source.

 

 

After our experience there, we wanted to approach the track just to see a little bit what was waiting for us for this weekend.

We saw a shop with F1 merch, so we stopped because the merch sold on the track itself during the weekend is so expensive. A cap normally sold 45€ on the website will be sold 15€ more expensive. It's also going to cost you more to buy a cap than a T-shirt !

So if you can, buy merch before going on the track, even though, for sure, it's an amazing memory to do it at the circuit !

I finally bought Carlos's cap because you can't find it anywhere, and a Lando t-shirt. (Yes one more)

 

So after that little break, we finished our way to the autodromo.

We had the chance to arrive on the side where the drivers arrive ! I was chatting with one of my friends to organize our meeting when someone called me.

To my great astonishment, someone recognized me. I can tell you at first, it's weird you know. But in a good way !

The girl who went to see me was adorable, we had an amazing chat, she showed me the drawing that she had done for Carlos and fortunately, she was able to give it to him !

So beside that, we saw Lance and Gunther arriving, but there was too many people so we didn't even try to meet them.

We went there just for the ambiance, not for the drivers for sure !

But we managed to have some good information. 

Once my friends joined me, we decided to go eat something in the center of Monza. Again, it wasn't planned at all but when we got there, we saw that there was some cars exposed : a Porsche, one old F1 from an Italian team, some Maserati and more !

After that we headed to one of the only place we expected a driver to be...

 

We were expecting two drivers to be there : Lando and Daniel.

So my mum, Amandine and Maria took their little Daniel that we call : "Danielou"

We waited for long hours, we met some other girls, chatted with her.

The McLaren staffs were cheering us, waving at us. They were really nice and even answered our questions.

More the time was passing, more we were having doubts on if Daniel was really staying here.

We were sure about Lando but Daniel is always hiding, it's always difficult to see him.

In Barcelona we had the chance to meet two absolute angel who told us where we could met him.

As you know we where only my mum and I with him !

 

 

We had been waiting for 4 hours when Lando's McLaren finally appeared.

I was calling my dad because we were having issues for the car park, when I saw Lando's car I was like "shit shit shit". It's always like that !

You are doing something and the driver you are waiting arrives.

Anyway, why did Lando arrive that late ? He left the track late and the he was attending a Sparco event just in front of the Duomo.

So what we thought would be one or two hours of wait, quickly transformed in four hours, almost five.

But anyway, when you want to meet drivers, wait and patience are the keys !

I'm going to be honest with you, in this meeting I didn't find the Lando I "know". 

Explanation : I found him weird. Him who always takes time for his fans, on this day he was more rushing.

 

At first, I just thought he was having a bad day but he did the same on Saturday so.

But I'm not disappointed because I know how he is really, and at the moment he isn't passing his best moments in his private life.

However he took the time to take a pic with us, sign my cap and my shirt and have a little chat about the fanbook.

He told me that it was absolutely lovely and that was now with the other in his bedroom.

The smile he had on his face at that moment was everything. Okay, it doesn't value the one he had when I gifted him but yeah his smile is everything.

I will cherish this moment forever. 

 

 

Friday :

On Friday, we just headed to the track in the morning.

We were arriving just above the Parabolica and we needed to walk to the grandstands in front of the pits.

We watched the FP1 in our grandstand then I tried to get some tokens that are the money there.

We had there our first problem : I waited 2 hours to have those tokens. Yes the queue was long at the beginning but the biggest issue was that it wasn't progressing. Why ? Because they hadn't enough token for everyone ! You could also have a bracelet - but I didn't know and nobody proposed me - however I will explain something else in the Sunday part and you won't believe it.

After having our money, we bought two sandwiches, one with black angus and one with mortadella. The taste was just amazing.

For the FP3 we went in the big grandstand in front of the pits. We were just in front of McLaren and Ferrari's box so we had a wonderful view !

After that, when we went back to leave the track, we fell on two other shops.

They were selling some mini helmets, some miniatures and some other things.

My biggest dream would be to have a mini helmet 1/2 of Lando. But for now, I have 5 mini helmets 1/5, three of Lando, one of Carlos and one of Charles.

Charles and Carlos's one are signed, I also have the one from Silverstone 2021 signed by Lando in Spa just after I handled him the fanbook.

I bought Lando's mini helmet from Monaco (I didn't want it but IRL it is absolutely beautiful) and Carlos's car miniature. I have been looking for it for a long time but I found it only there !

There was also some McLaren minichamps but the price wasn't as nice as the car.

We went back to our car thanks to the shuttle we booked and on our way my friend Amandine got a message telling us where we could meet Daniel.

Like in Barcelona, no reason just chance.

So we decided to go there to try to see Daniel and the others drivers !

And when we arrived, the first driver we saw was Daniel !

There was soooo many people so he didn't stop, however we were at the front row to see him.

 

Even though we were so happy to see him, we were disappointed of the number of people waiting for the drivers.

However when we learnt the drivers who were staying there, we found it normal.

Behind those walls were sleeping Daniel Ricciardo, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Mick Schumacher and Esteban Ocon.

We met a lot of fans of Lewis and Sebastian !

Lewis is a liked everywhere he goes, Seb is a legend, and more for the tifosis.

We had the chance to see Fernando at an other moment on the weekend, that's exactly the same thing.

Like people just go totally crazy when they see them.

They have a big story with Ferrari so of course it's explained.

Anyway, after that, we didn't wait for the others to go back there. Mostly because my mum was disappointed of the number of people. 

Yeah, three hours ago we thought we would never see him, but the way we saw him didn't pleased her because in her head, it was the last time. Since for her, he won't have a seat next year.

Anyway, once we went back to our hotel, we decided to wake up early the day after, to try to see him again... and this time we weren't disappointed !

 

Saturday :

Once we were ready, we took immediately the direction of the same place than the day before.

 

And you know, sometimes you really have luck.

Actually, Daniel was again the first one to leave the place for the track !

But like the day before, there was so many people there. It was really impossible to meet him properly.

Two people got selfies but my mum nothing.

This time we weren't as disappointed, we saw him well.

So we decided to wait for the other drivers.

Lewis is always difficult to reach, it's the last time we would see Seb and I have never met Esteban and Valtteri.

 

The next driver who made his way to the track was Mick Schumacher on his motorbike.

He stopped to sign a few things but then tried to get out of the crowd.

I don't have anything more to say but you'll see our evening story where he was the kindest.

Then we got the Finnish driver for the first time !

He was late so he hadn't really stopped however people were blocking him.

While Mick made his way through the crowd easily it wasn't the same thing for Valtteri.

It's probably because the motorbike is more impressive than the bicycle.

 

Then, we got the famous "Estebestie"

He was in his car just waving at us but when my friend Amandine talked French, he stopped just for the two of us.

She simply said : "Please Esteban stop for two French" (I'm not French but we are not going to use this information.

He opened is window.

And signed the pictures than my friend had.

 

Then I asked him if I could take a photo with him he told me : "of course !"

So i put my head in the car to take that selfie.

(Where I'm a little bit crisped but shuuuuut)

So a tip to make stop F1 driver that are talking the same language as you in an other country.

Just speak in your language, it's going to help a lot !

 

Being is last year, we really wanted to see Seb one last time.

And as you can see, we succeeded !

Seb is a legend for almost every people watching this sport however in Italy, it's an other level !

I think for the tifosi, he is like a god you know.

Just the number of Seb's fans there is amazing.

Anyway, the German was... well himself like always.

He asked everybody to be in a file - and unfortunately almost nobody had listened to him - that's why he signed a few things but then made his way to the track.

But you'll see a little bit far away here, than that wasn't our last interaction and than he talked with someone about this.

 

And the last one we had that morning was the famous Lewis Hamilton.

As you know, the British man is really difficult to reach, he is one of the most difficult driver to meet with Max, Kimi, Fernando and Lance.

So on this morning, when we saw him appear above the fence this was probably one of the most incredible feeling we had since we try to meet the drivers.

Even if you don't like him, he doesn't let you indifferent especially when you have him in front of you because he is an absolute legend.

My experience with him on this day was just amazing.

While I was filming my mum was trying to get our two pics signed.

Then one girl behind me was too short to have her cap signed so I took it and succeeded to get it signed.

Once he stopped we were really amazed of what happened. We never thought than we were going to meet him one day.

We will keep preciously those ones forever with us.

After that meeting with the Mercedes driver, we took the direction of the track.

And then, the disaster continued. Once we arrived at the track, we were met by a huge crowd that was waiting  to enter the track. I let you guess how long we had been waiting to enter... 2 hours and an half.

We missed the FP3 because of that. We were disgusted, like really. 

You pay way too much money already to have services like this.

As people were started to be angry, they finally just opened the door without even checking the tickets. So as you can imagine people without tickets could also enter the track.

That was resolving a problem but aggravating one because there was already too many people around the track so the people with general admission were running out of space to watch the cars. I have some friend who had needed to watch the quali on a screen in the fanzone.

Anyway, I can assure you than with that organization, I don't want to go back in Monza.

So after that day at the track, we wanted to try again to see Daniel, because what we got in the morning wasn't enough for us and especially for my mum.

We didn't, and still don't, know if we'll be able to see him in the future. So we couldn't let an opportunity like this get out of our hands.

Back at the same place as in the morning, the first driver we saw was Mick !

He was again on his motorbike but stopped. He put off his helmet then said : "Seb told you this morning, in a file, do you think you can do the same for me ?"

So everybody stayed calm, and waited to have their turn with Mick.

I do have a picture with him, but that's the worse pic I have, I hate my head so much in this one so I will keep it for myself.

Anyway, he took his time with EVERYONE even if the security wasn't happy with him because of that.

I need to admit, the security of the evening was the worst I saw.

He was screaming all the time and was just pissing off everybody, so they were all nervous too.

But yeah that's not the subject here, so Mick was so nice as always.

 

The we had Seb for the second time this day.

How to say that...

Like in the morning that was chaos for him, he signed a few things, took pics with the kids then walked away because yeah people were getting crazy to see him...

And we finally got the man we wanted.

When he arrived, people were jumping on his car while it was still on the road.

On our side, we were waiting at the entry of the fence.

We succeeded to have him thanks to our little dolly Daniel.

 

He didn't stop or anything.

But he took his time to sign "Danielou" and to sign my mum's cap.

As you can imagine, we were really happy even if it wasn't a pic or something.

But seeing him again, not knowing if we were going to be able after, is amazing.

We really hope we'll be able to meet him again.

Even if it's been difficult for him with McLaren, I'm sure he is an amazing driver and than he deserve to end his career better.

We'll miss him. First because of his personality, secondly because of his smile and thirdly simply because of him.

 

And after that. I asked my mum to go see Lando one last time this year.

We waited like five minutes before to see him arriving in his McLaren.

I let the girl that were here before me go and see him and then the driver was starting to drive away.

I looked at my mum in panic, Lando got out of the car and walked at the back of the car. While one second, I was afraid he was going to walk in the parking lot but no, he was just going to take his backpack.

I waited then he started to walk in front of me, I was already starting to cry but suddenly he just looked at me, said "sorry" and go back to me take a pic and sign my cap.

And I started to breath again.

And after that last meeting, we go back to our hotel, to pack our suitcases and sleep. It was a long day, we met a lot of drivers, we waited a lot at the track and even if our experiences at the circuit itself wasn't the best, all our meetings were incredible !

 

Sunday :

And then arrived, the last day of the GP.

We got early at the track to not have the same issue as yesterday but it was easy to enter the track that day.

We went immediately at our Grand Stand to enjoy other things for once.

I also went to the fanzone to meet one of my friend.

We took photos in front of the drivers' pics in the fanzone then went back to our seats.

We saw the start of the Porsche SuperCup and then we decided to try to have some foods.

How can I tell you, it was a chaos.

We stayed in a file one hour, but needed to go to see the drivers' parade.

That was something we didn't want to miss.

My mum and my friend got a big thumb up and a huge smile from Daniel thanks to their flags.

And on my side, while Lando hadn't seen me, Carlos gave me a thumb up too and a wave.

After that, we tried to got food again.

So I was waiting in a file with my friend's connected bracelet to have some food and after having waited for two hour when I was ordering my food, the seller told me than the bracelets weren't working. So we got one sandwich for three because I still had some tokens from the days before...

After that disaster, we went back to our zone to be able to see the grid.

We were so close of the McLaren who were starting right in front of us.

Lando was on our side so I have been able to enjoy him so much. While going back to his car after the national anthem, I spotted Carlos and screamed at him "VAMOS CARLOS", he gave me once again a thumb up.

Anyway.

When the cars started the warm up lap, the stress just took possession of my body. Even if I was at a Grand Prix, I was never realizing than the people in those cars were the same than the ones we were meeting. But seeing Lando enter his car just scared the shit off of me.

And seeing the start was just amazing. The acceleration of those cars are just totally crazy.

We enjoyed the race from our seat before trying to go up for the podium at a few laps from the end.

We were all disgusted of Daniel's DNF he did so good in quali for his car to break down.

 

And as you can see, the tifosi are just incredible (not in every part but the supporting part yes)

The podium was crazy for Charles.

For the two others one it wasn't the same song.

They got booed the entire time while we were cheering up for them.

That's something I'll never understand. You can dislike someone, but you can't hate on them. Particularly if it's just because they are your fav driver's adversary.

But yeah outside of that it was pretty cool !

 

Once the podium was finished, people were starting to leave the track but we decided to enjoy it a little bit more.

We saw apparition by Lando, Carlos, Charles and Lewis !

We went on the track to visit a little bit.

And once it was closed, we waited a little it at the entry to try to see some drivers.

We saw Nick De Vries, Robert Shwartzman, and other big names of the sport.

If we could, we would have waited even more but we had our shuttle very early unfortunately.

 

Outside of the disorganization of the grand prix, the atmosphere is incredible.

Even though I know there had been some issue between the tifosi and some Max's fan. I haven't experienced it myself.

That's something f1 really need to improve. Safety in those events but that's another subject...

And that's where our f1 adventure finished in Monza.

We still had the Monday to visit a little bit Italy but seeing cars go vroum vroum and meeting the drivers were over.

 

Monday :

We just profited of our last day.

Visiting Italy, eating pasta, that what we decided to do. You'll probably not be interested about this part so I skip it.

However we returned to visit something that you'll appreciate more.

 

 

We get back to the Ferrari store to see the helmets than we didn't see on Thursday.

That's really so cool to be able to approach things like that.

Michael Schumacher's old car, drivers' helmets, the old F1 car, the new livery,...

And we get back to the airport.

We saw a lot of fans wearing F1 merch while we were in the building.

We also saw that amazing pub of Carlos and Charles.

It was really so difficult to leave.

The only thing I wanted is get back home, pack again to go at the next Grand Prix.

But unfortunately that's not on our plans.

As you know travels like that cost so much. Renting cars, hotels, foods, tickets for the race, fuel,...

Monza isn't a race that I'm going to do again because of the organization and that's not a one I would recommend to my friends too...

But I hope i will be again to go to a race soon and share with you my adventures !

See you soon for more...