Meeting drivers and team members for the first time

Monza 2009, my second trip to the famous Italian Circuit in the home of the Tifosi. The weekend in 2008 was special, but 2009 was to become memorable on a different scale.

While the new Tilke circuits are beautiful because of design, architecture, and engineering, Monza is beautiful because of its Location, the fans and everything that goes with it. Whilst it's not the most glamorous, it's the race everyone dreams of attending, whether they're a Ferrari fan or not. The atmosphere there is just unbelievable, nothing comes close and the fans are so incredibly passionate, it's impossible to put into words. Until you've been there, you cannot imagine what it's like.

The whole of Monza town is buzzing, with everyone waiting to see their beloved team do the business 5 kilometres away at the circuit. Flags, badges, clothing - everywhere. Everything is a sea of red.

Upon arriving at the track, everything is intensified 10 fold. It's all so friendly, you'd be lucky to escape without being drawn into some sort of singing, or a photograph. No matter what nationality you are, if your wearing Red, your going to be involved!

I arrived at the track mid-morning, and followed the masses through the tunnel, between the two guarded paddock entrances. To the right is the car park used by drivers, team members and officials. And that's where it started.

I wasn't expecting to be so close to the drivers and other people I recognised. First was Liuzzi, who drove into the circuit wearing sunglasses and driving a glistening white Bentley. Surprisingly, there weren't many people waiting, just myself and a couple of others. Liuzzi stopped the car, got out and walked right past me, only enough time for a quick picture. He was quickly followed by Adrian Sutil, Jarno Trulli, Nico Rosberg and a few others.

I had a brief conversation with Anthony Davidson as he strolled towards the paddock entrance. It was almost as though nobody recognised him, he was free to walk without a herd of photographers crowding around. He was in a hurry and after asking him about his predictions for the weekend, he made it to the paddock and said goodbye. He predicted a Brawn 1-2.

Later that afternoon, the pits was opened to the fans. Hundreds of people flooded in and the whole of the pitlane was quickly filled. I watched Martin Brundle doing a piece on Drivers' helmets, which would be aired during Qualifying. He had his notes under his foot and forgot his words a fair few times - but hey, thats the power of editing!

I noticed the area outside Ferrari was crammed with people, I headed down there. I'd never been so close to the pitwall and the garages themselves, it was surreal. I'd dreamed about being there every day for the last 16 years and now I was there. I managed to get to the front of the crowd and now I was standing no more than 2 feet from the mechanics doing practice pitstops and testing the equipment. The crowd jumped as one of the mechanics let rip with the wheel gun! In the garage I could see Rob Smedley, Gino Rosato and Chris Dyer. Chris came out and started speaking to a photographer, Rob quickly followed. He said something to a fellow mechanic and then came straight out to the crowd. He started signing autographs.

Photographs, car models, hats, gloves, arms, anything - he would sign it. With a constant smile on his face. He spoke some Italian and the fans were going crazy for it. He was scrawling for about 20 minutes, before walking past me, 6 feet away. I knew this was my only chance to speak to him. I shouted "Rob, Rob". To my suprise, he turned around and I gestured for him to come over. He looked confused, of course he had no idea who I was. I introduced myself and said I was from TheScuderia.net, mentioning the Shirt and donations to him. Before I could finish, he knew who I was. He shook my hand! I was fairly close to passing out, the 28 degree heat didn't help. I seriously couldn't believe my luck, I couldn't believe I was standing outside the Ferrari pit garage talking to Rob Smedley! I had so much to say, but I got out what I needed to and totally forgot the rest!

He thanked me, and asked me to say thankyou to everyone at TSN for the donations, the presents and everything we had done for Felipe. He wanted to say thanks separately for the SANDS donation. He said that was incredibly kind of everyone and was quite emotional when he saw what we had done in memory of Minnie. He had to go, he shook my hand again and disappeared into the garage. Wow! I know if I'd asked for a look around the garage ,he would have said yes, no doubt. He was such a nice guy and its impossible not to like him. It's obvious to see why the Tifosi have taken to him and how he's got such a massive fan base around him.

I hung around for a little longer, but the pressure from the mosh behind was quite substantial and after an hour and a half of watching intently, I picked my way out.

That day was the best of my life, nothing has ever been so exciting and for-filling as that. If that ever happens to me again I will be very surprised.

Forza Ferrari