Wednesday :
Our trips usually start on Wednesday. That's the day we take our plane or our car to go to the city where we are going to stay or even the day where we try to meet some drivers.
As you may have seen on my Instagram, this Wednesday was really successful !
However we arrived around 9.30am at the place we wanted to be and the firsts people we met had arrived around 6.30pm.
As always, we need to wait a lot to see our favorite drivers !
Those moments are also the best moments to meet new people !
Last year I met Laurence (@laugdrds_f1), Anaïs (@gi_anaiss) and the two famous twins (formula1_twins), I'm still talking to them and as always, the twins have really some good tips to share !
This year I met Barbara (@formularussell on Twitter) and Thaï (@gaslyspower on Twitter).
Before seeing any drivers, we shared a McDonalds on the floor (chicken nuggets power).
The first person who made his appearance is well known for this sentence "He doesn't smash my fucking door.
So, how can I explain this meeting ?
He arrived with Ferrari. We had already had the case last year so we were prepared but he passed in front of us without looking at us.
So we used our two legs, to walk a little bit far away and made him sign our things.
He signed a pic of him for me and my mum had made a photo album of our trips in Spa last year and Barcelona.
So he signed a pic of him that my mum took last year just before he went to the toilets and never appeared again.
It was funny to "run" after him but a little bit stressing so never again Gunther !
And after Gunther, arrived Carlos Sainz
He was well welcomed with my amazing flag (yes I'm really objective)
He arrived near us, I gifted him some Belgian chocolates and stroopwafels.
He said jokingly : "not good for the diet".
After all of that, he took his time to sign my flag, my mini helmet, my cap and my mum's pic.
I went a little bit away just after because I needed to make sign an amazing drawing made by @sanne.kelderman and took a picture with him.
And the main actor came on stage, Charles Leclerc arrived.
The Monegasque is really liked in Belgium (I would say everywhere) probably because he talks French.
Like last year, there were two children who were singing "Charles Leclerc, Charles Leclerc". That's definitely the cutest thing I've seen (and heard)
When Charles came near us, my mum gifted him his presents : Belgian chocolate, stroopwafels, bracelets and Belgian candy named Cuperdon.
In my side, I gifted him a bandana because everybody knows it, he loves that ! And the most important part, I could handle him the drawing that @sanne.kelderman made of Jules and him.
My mum took a pic with him but I didn't have the occasion, however, he signed my mini helmet, my cap and Sanne's drawing.
At the same time as Charles, we had a new surprise !
Robert Shwartzman was also there !
Rob was one of my fav drivers back in F2 so I was really happy to meet him this year.
I was calling him of course, but my mum was saying "we don't care" while laughing. It was a reference to last year where I had the same thing with Callum Ilott.
But as you can see, I got my pic with Robert !
I got nothing signed by him because I panicked when I saw him however he was really kind so I was less stressed.
Then, our favorite Avocado has appeared !
Daniel Ricciardo !
We met him the day where McLaren's statement was made public. Even if it was a rude announcement, the Australian was faithful to himself, the kindest and nicest F1 driver.
He took all his time with my mum, signed everything we asked him to sign, had a chat with us even if there were a lot of people waiting for him.
That's maybe thanks to my mum's flag.
We also met Dan's physio : Michael Italiano.
He is really an angel !
His reaction when I gifted him some stroopwafels was really amazing
I took a pic with him, then my mum a little bit later.
Anyway, after Daniel, we took everything with us and ran at an other place.
There, normally Lando was arriving,... but nobody wanted to give us information. So I started crying because it was one of my only chance to give him the fanbook. I had worked so many hours and even failed two exams for this book. Furthermore, Lando has helped me a lot this year and I really wanted to see him.
So while I was crying, I was on the phone with a friend who was at the other place where Lando could have arrived.
And at the same time, George arrived on the other side. Fun fact, he was were all the other drivers had arrived, but there wasn't any fans, so he went to them.
After all the George episode, some policemen arrived on our side.
We thought it was Lewis who was arriving but in the First car was Andreas and in the second... Lando.
I don't explain you the panic when I saw Lando and I had nothing because I thought it was Lewis.
I went rapidly take the presents and tried to go near him.
When I was on a side, he was going on the other one, when I was on the other one, he was going to the other one.
It was absolutely the chaos in my head.
Finally my friend called me, and every of them let me the place to give him my fanbook and the presents : Belgian chocolate, mini stroopwafels, Cuperdon, bracelets and a cap.
As you can see on the pic, he was really happy of the fanbook. At the moment when I'm writing this page, I still don't know if he had read it.
So after giving all of it to him, we showed my flag.
He told us "aww how cute" before signing it.
A guy that we met last year asked us if I wanted my mini helmet to get signed.
We told him yes, so he made it sign too !
I will be honest with you, it's not the way I wanted to give him the fanbook. I wanted to have the time to explain him some things.
There I just had the chance to handle it to him without a word because there was so many people...
But I'm still so thankful because I had the chance to see him again.
As always, Lewis did a Lewis...
He just passed in front of us in his car without a sign or wave. That's something that always disappoint me. I can understand he is afraid or something like that.
But I don't understand why he stops for fans in other countries but not in Belgium.
Anyway, I respect him and I'll always respect him.
Then we waited hours for Seb. We really wanted to see him because it's his last year in formula one and we won't have that chance in the future.
We waited but he never came...
However as you can see, we met David Coulthard. Always well dressed !
I wasn't expecting him at all so I hadn't prepared something for him to sign.
I really need to take the habit to keep some white sheets with me...
And we also met the two time world champion : Mika Hakkinen
A really nice guy with a "daddy attitude"
You know, the thumb in the air on the pic, the thing that all our dads could have done !
And the last one for that day : Mick Schumacher
Always so nice and shy.
He signed our pics before going away.
A friend called him saying that I had a present for him, actually, I had some stroopwafels for him.
He went back to us and I took a selfie with him.
Recently I learnt that he is affraid of covid due to his dad, it's why he is always staying away on the pic !
After all those meetings, we went to our hotel, the famous Hotel de la Source.
It was probably a one time life but it was really worth it !
Thursday :
What wasn't our surprise when we went to the restaurant to have breakfast to meet George Russell !
We waited him to leave the restaurant to ask him a pic because they are human like us and they can have their private life too !
So some people asked me what does he eat for breakfast ?
Toasted bread with jam.
Fun facts : he was wearing flip-flops and you were hearing only him in the restaurant!
I also met the infamous Goatifi !
Nicholas Latifi was leaving the hotel so when I saw him, I abandoned my melon to take a picture with him.
I think you can see it on the picture but he is really kind.
Sandra was also there, and I can tell you she is even prettiest in real life than in photos ! She is really stunning and also really nice.
I don't bother drivers' girlfriends because once again that's their private life.
We met Daniel again too that morning.
We were talking about him with my mum. She was saying I lied to her and that he wasn't sleeping here when I saw him in the big hall.
I told my mum "oh that's Daniel"
She was like "where ??"
So we went to take a proper selfie with him because we were only Daniel, Michael, my mum and I.
And then, just before going to the track, we met Charles again with Andrea his physio.
We asked him a little pic before leaving the hotel to go to the track for the special day.
We just waited to see him leave in his Ferrari before joining the circuit.
I had arrived like ten minutes ago and I was already buying a new cap to add to my collection.
Then we waited a lot for the press conference in the fanzone.
We didn't know which drivers and team we were going to see but finally some people arrived on stage.
To start those press conference, we had the two Mercedes drivers : Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
Like always, Lewis words were telling the true. I will resume it in a few words but he was saying something like "The teams and drivers you support don't matter. You need to respect and love everyone.
The second team was the two Ferrari drivers. I was happy to see Carlos again. We were at the front row so my flag was attached in front of me.
And Carlos saw it because while we were waiting for the F3 and F2 drivers, just after having seen Stoffel Vandoorne on stage, someone told me in my comments that Carlos had liked my pic with my flag. And actually it was true !
I was almost crying because a few minutes later, I saw that TeamL4ndo had posted the video where I give Lando his fanbook on their account and that they had thanked me.
I was like : "Am I living the dream ?"
The two first F2 drivers I met where Enzo Fittipaldi and Jehan Daruvala !
Enzo was really nice as I expected and Jehan had an amazing big smile.
As you can see, I had the cord of my phone case around my neck so it was difficult to take a selfie.
I met also Arthur Leclerc, Grégoire Saucy, Felipe Drugovich and Calle Williams. Unfortunately, no Ollie Bearman.
I couldn't take a pic with Drugo because his PR was asking him to hurry up. He was late to go on the big stage however I had two pics signed plus a driver card.
After the press conference in the fanzone, we went in the grandstands to see the Mercedes AMG demonstration and some other activities.
We also went to the pit lane walk. From the feet of the Raidillon to the pits. On our way, we crossed paths Sebastian Vettel on his way to the track walk.
On the pit lane, I waited patiently in front of Lando's garage with my flag attached but unfortunately, I had not even a sight from the mechanics and the car was hidden under a tarpaulin.
However, while I was waiting I met the famous French journalist : Julien Fébreau.
He is well known for the sentence he had said during Pierre Gasly's first win : "Accélére accélére, ne le laisse pas t'aspirer."
We needed to leave after half an hour I think so we went back to the hotel across the track.
Once we were back at the hotel, we showered and prepared ourselves to go to a restaurant.
Once we had arrived, my mum needed to go to the toilets and while searching for it, she saw Lando eating a chicken skewer.
So she went back near me to tell me : "stay calm but Lando is eating here".
How do you want me to stay calm after that announcement ?
It was probably the worst restaurant in my life, the only thing I was doing is watch if Lando wasn't leaving the restaurant.
Some guys went to see him eat in the other room and then stayed where he was going to pass.
So I didn't see him leave the restaurant.
It's when I saw Andreas leave that I saw a young guy at the front and when I went to see if it was Lando I saw that it was him.
I went to see him while he was saying hi to Gunther.
I asked him if I wasn't bothering him and told us that I gifted him the fanbook the day just before. I wanted to know if he had liked it. He told me that he hasn't read it yet but he was going to do it.
So I hope I will soon have some news about the fanbook, the cap and the bracelet.
I asked him a pic before going to see Andreas.
I don't know what he was waiting but I could ask him a pic while Lando was going in the elevator.
Andreas is always so sweet, I can't say anything bad about our meetings.
And Lando, he is the kindest, sweetest, nicest,... and everything you want.
It's always a pleasure to see him and I hope to see him again during a few years.
And the last one for that day was Pierre Gasly.
He was eating with his parents, Pyry and his best friend, Ilies.
We saw them going to pay the bill.
We waited because Pierre was checking everything before asking him to take a pic with us.
Actually, we even asked him to move a little bit because the lights weren't good and he was looking like a ghost on my mum pic xD.
Friday :
Once again, we were having breakfast near George when Alex Albon left the hotel.
So I went rapidly ask him a pic because he his one of my fav driver.
As you can see on his face, he is really sweet and as nice as you can see through your screen.
After Alex, we saw Andrea, Charles' physio waiting for his driver so I went in the bedroom take some things to get signed by the drivers.
But the first one who arrived was Nicholas.
I asked him to sign one pic of him and my mum took a pic with him too.
After we had Daniel, two times this morning.
I made sign my mum"s phone case and she asked him to sign her photo album.
He had been really patient because she made him sign 8 pics that we took in Barcelona.
We also had a very long conversation with the director of the hotel.
She told us who was sleeping in the hotel : George Russell, Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo, Nicholas Latifi, Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon, David Coulthard, Martin Brundle.
We learned as well than our hotel bracelets could let us enter the gold part of the track.
She was really kind and even if people who stay at her hotel have money, she treats everyone the same way !
We saw Charles again, my mum wanted her cap to get signed so I asked Charles again (and for the last time)
We got George two times that morning,
I went to see him first for him to sign a few pics and then I went to ask for a dedication.
I have on friend who couldn't be there this year but next year she will be with us for sure !
And a second one who missed George on Wednesday but finally she was able to take two photos with him !
After all of that, we went at la source for the first free practice and at our grandstand for the free practice two.
At the hotel restaurant, while we were eating, Christian Horner arrived to eat with David Coulthard and his family.
I was able to take a pic with him.
I will be honest with you, he isn't the nicest but I can understand him because I asked him in the restaurant after a long day of work.
Saturday :
While we were going to head to the track, we saw Jost Capito, Williams team principal going in his car.
He is the last personality I saw that weekend.
We went early to the track because we wanted to be at the front row for McLaren press conference in the fanzone.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the case so Lando didn't spot my flag...
That day in the fanzone we saw : Alex Albon, Nicholas Latifi, Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez, Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris.
Sunday :
On Sunday, on my side, I met nobody because I headed to the track early for the F2, F3 and Porsche Cup races. However, my mum met Esteban Ocon, and she saw Daniel, George and Charles leave the hotel.
We watched the race between two families. One had two kids one fan of Max and the other fan of Charles. The other family was fan of Alpine. I can tell you the dad scream was very loud when Esteban did his amazing overtake !
I don't know what I could tell you more, I resumed here all my meetings with the drivers I met in Spa.
So here was my adventure at the Belgian GP 2022 if you liked this review, I will do the same for Monza !
Create Your Own Website With Webador