I 
this thread.
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It will be interesting to see what happens when Adrian retires. He is the last one standing out of all the great engineers and designers, who grew up making their own cars in F1 and all the junior Formulae. Now all the junior Formulae use standard chassis designs by Reynard et al. Could be interesting when there is no one left in the paddock, who has been there and done it.
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My son Sam has a very very strong interest in motorsport engineering (totally my fault), something he’s interested in pursuing as a career.
He’s 16 now and doing GCSE’s, staying on for 6th form A Levels and then who knows.
He’s bright (smarter than I ever was), and has found it difficult balancing his F1 fan side with his annoyance at some of the race strategies the teams seem to flounder over….
He’s a Lando Norris fan, it’s been painful for him!
Maybe we’ll see him on the F1 pit wall in the future?
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You’ll be sorting us out with Paddock Passes, yes Rob ?
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Ha-ha, during the whole time I was in F1 I only got the odd pass for Sheenagh. The one exception was at Ligier where all the French sponsors and management made a big thing about not going because of weather and food so I got passes for my family, who were moved on by an official at the start of the race whilst I was working so saw nothing!
After I retired I fancied popping in to Silverstone on a Friday to see friends, the only person who could grant me a pass was Bernie, who said “yes, you are family” but just for the Friday and not having a job I felt a bit in the way so have never been since.
I bet the hangers on at Miami didn’t notice how much in the way they were…
I probably couldn’t get a pass any more.
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A little insight to an individual experience at the recent Miami GP, from Asad Yusuf:
I was Miami for the race and lucky enough to have access to the Paddock. I have some observations and some stories.
The last one is really awesome.
Friday after FP1 and FP2 the last three drivers to leave the track were George, Charles and Carlos. Charles was the last to go and it was after 10pm. They were all there late working with engineers. Lando was also there pretty late.
Checo, Fernando and Lewis got the loudest support from the crowd. Checo was clearly the fan favorite.
I spoke to Romain Grossjean and asked him about Indycar. He said he loves that it’s shared chassis and engine suppliers and he is having a great time.
Although I don’t like Max, he is very fan friendly. He stopped and took photos with my kids and signed stuff for them.
Lewis has to deal with a mob everywhere he goes and I saw him take more photos and sign more autographs than anyone else. I really felt bad for the guy, his superstardom really comes at a price but he really spreads himself thin and appreciates his fans. I saw the poor guy try to leave the paddock for his car and he stopped every 5 feet for someone.
Mick Schumacher was on the back of a golf cart and my kids called out to him. He yelled for the driver to stop and he ran over to my kids and other fans and took photos and signed and stood around answering questions.
Daniel Ricciardo is as nice as he appears to be on TV.
Christian Horner joked with my kids because they had Mercedes hats on and told them next year he wants to see them wearing Red Bull.
Toto looked like he could use a few days off. He’s super friendly and even though I could tell he was exhausted he took a minute to answer a few questions for me about their upcoming upgrades.
Lando seemed a little down compared to last year and he’s giving is everything he’s got but the car just isn’t there yet. Maybe he seemed that way because it was late and he was probably exhausted.
Fernando looked happy to be back in contention and he was walking around with a big smile on his face. Personally I think a driver as talented as Fernando deserves to finally have a really competitive car.
George Russell is the coolest and most friendly guy. He talked to my kids a lot and on Friday I mentioned to him that we both had the same watch on. It’s the IWC Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team watch. I bought mine last year, but this year they released a new Miami edition with pink straps that I cannot find for my watch. I asked George to swap his pink ones for my yellow ones and he said he’s got to wear the watch all weekend but if I see him Sunday we can swap. Sure enough I saw him Sunday and when I called his name he turned around and had his pink straps in his hand ready for me. We swapped and said a few words. It was a very cool gesture. George Russell is a genuine role model and I told him how much I appreciate that as a parent of kids that look up to him. He appreciated it.
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If your son wants some advice etc from someone with a lot of F1 experience, then please put him in contact with me.
If I am not able to answer his questions, then it is likely that I can point him to someone who can.
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My cousin went to Rolls Royce to do his apprenticeship before F1.
You could see he was good at an early age,whilst I was dicking about with planks of wood,pram wheels and rope to make a go kart. He was making his with welded square steel tube,steering system with steering wheel,seat and braking system etc. Guessing we were both around 12.
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Hi, that’s a really kind gesture and very much appreciated 
.
I’ll have a word with Sam and we’ll sort something out via PM.
Best regards,
Rob.
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You’re a very nice man
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Thanks, although I am sure others would and will volunteer to help Sam when the need arises.
It is a different journey to get into F1 nowadays. I wrote to all the teams and only one replied. Fortunately it was McLaren and that gave me a great introduction to F1 and allowed me to develop some simulation tools pretty quickly as it was all new to McLaren.
Whilst there are many more opportunities, there are many more people wanting to get into F1. And so youngster need more than the ability to write a persuasive letter!
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It also depends which bit he wants to get into. One of MrsKettle’s powertrain CAE colleagues went to Red Bull from Perkins Engines which is about as different in concept as you get.
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BREAKING NEWS : GRAND PRIX CALLED OFF BECAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Is it just me?
Flooding in the Imola area actually. But catchy headline.
Italy is particularly vulnerable to the effects.
from the Guardian.
Massimo Isola, the mayor of Faenza, said: “We had a night that we will never forget. We’ve never known such flooding in our city, it is something unimaginable.”
Enzo Lattuca, the mayor of Cesena, where citizens swam through the floods to rescue others, said: “The situation is disastrous, it’s a catastrophe, and the rain has not yet finished
Gutted to lose Imola - one of the crappy pay-for-racing arab races should be replaced by it later in the season when the poor bastards have wrung the place out a bit…
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I appreciate Ferrari are desperate for a result at home but they should have at least picked the right god when they sacrificed one of the pit crew this week.
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