02/08/2011
Charaf-Eddin Ait Taleb was offered the chance to spend a weekend with the team at the German Grand Prix recently. It was an offer that he could not refuse. His insight into a weekend spent with a Formula One team is a revealing and fascinating one. Here, he tells the first part of his story.
On Thursday 9th June 2011 during an extraordinary press conference between FOTA and some F1 fans, Eric Boullier, the LRGP Team Principal, said: “The fans are the future of the sport and it’s vital to keep in contact with them.” This comment provided comfort to millions of F1 enthusiasts the world over who were worried about the potential gap opening between themselves and the drivers. Even before these words came to surface, however, Eric had put his words into practice as he invited me personally to be his guest at the German Grand Prix.
The Lotus-Renault team opened the doors of its pits and motorhome throughout the grand prix weekend, enabling me to bridge the gap for a few hours between us enthusiasts and the technological showcase that is Formula One. For those who don’t know who I am, my name is Charaf. I’m twenty-eight and I’ve been blind for several years. During this period, I’ve travelled all over Europe alone following the F1 circus armed only with my white cane and canvas tent. I’ve set up camp in the middle of a field or beside a driver’s motorhome depending on the wind and the goodwill of the person in question.
On the Thursday before a grand prix, the paddock is generally fairly empty. However, at the Nürburgring I did my best to keep a low profile. The Germans turned up en masse, and the Belgians took advantage of the occasion to get their fill of the sound and fury of F1, a month before their very own national grand prix. As for the English, they are at home everywhere F1 goes and, given the rain, wind and cold that reigned in the Eifel mountains, they found themselves at home! Since the Silverstone Grand Prix, the F1 circus hasn’t run fast enough to leave the bad weather behind!
In front of the Renault hospitality unit, I met up with my mates Didier and Thierry who are responsible for putting up and dismantling the team’s motor home. The LRGP hospitality unit is transported in five big lorries, which arrive at the circuit eight days before the start of a GP at the latest. The first two trucks park in a clearly-defined space and each motor home has a very precise zone. Five years ago, McLaren’s motor home was 5cm too far forward and the team was asked to dismantle everything to rectify this error. The result was eight hours of work to correct it.
On one occasion, the two trucks parked 10.5 cm from each other in parallel, the hydraulic jacks in the transporter were actuated to get rid of any anomaly, and to ensure that the floor of the motor home was perfectly flat. Then, other hydraulic arms are used to erect the second floor. Once this has been done, the space between the two transporters will be closed off by two large windows. Putting all this up takes around 12 hours.
After saying hello to everybody I went to see my friend Michel who looks after the Bell helmets. He showed me how an F1 helmet is made. The first surprise is just how light it is when you hold it in your hands. It’s nothing like the weighty motorbike helmet used by everyday riders. Michel started putting on the tear-offs on Vitaly Petrov’s visor: these are removed when the driver is racing. Some drivers tear off several during practice and the race; others use far fewer. The driver has three for practice and five for the race. Vitaly uses a lot, so Michel always gives him a few extra! Putting these tear-offs in place that protect the visor is a tricky operation ; bubbles must not form between the tear-offs, because this would heavily compromise a driver’s ability to see. To ensure optimal vision the tear-offs must be perfectly placed. The other problem that the drivers may run into is condensation, andto prevent this, their visors are permanently heated to around 60°C. Michel decided to show me the protective band on the upper edge of the visor; a reinforcement present since the start of the season on the Bell helmets to prevent an accident like Felipe Massa’s from happening again.
Michel and I left the LRGP hospitality unit to go to the HRT motor home. There we met Liuzzi, who we joked with for a few minutes. He told us about his problems at Silverstone, mainly major difficulties with the visibility when the track was wet. I offered to lend him my white cane to solve the problem! He burst out laughing and said he’d remember next time! At this stage, I headed to the Virgin motor home to say hello to my friend Jérôme d’Ambrosio. Since I met him during winter testing, Jérôme has made a very big impression on me. He always has time to say hello to everybody, and he always has a good word for his engineers, mechanics and the hostesses. He’s as happy as a sand boy in the Virgin team. He’s got what it takes to be a future champion provided he maintains his current level of performance, has the right people advising him, and the Belgian media curb their impatience.
Jérôme and I had a drink together and a quick natter like a couple of old mates. He described the Nürburgring to me and then went off to speak to his engineers.
In the Force India pits, a guy tapped me on the shoulder; it was Lewis coming to say hello. We had a brief chat before he left just as Adrian Sutil arrived. In the afternoon the drivers tend to give people track baptisms. I mingled with them and suddenly I saw Nico next to me: “Hey Charaf, want to do a lap?” I hardly had time to say yes before I had to slide into a Mercedes-Benz bum first! I was buckled into my seat and I put on a face mask and a helmet. I then put my hand on Nico’s arm.
“So you brake pretty late, right?”
“No. I don’t brake at all. I don’t even know what a brake is!”
He put the car into first gear; I was pushed back into my seat while the roar of the engine drowned out my exclamations. “Push, push, Nico!” The seat belts compress my chest and I have to exhale. He brakes just before the wheels lock up and takes the first right-hander. He had hardly come into the corner when his right foot mashes the accelerator as he plays with the car’s understeer. It was then that I started laughing like crazy as the sensations tickled my stomach. Nico shouts above the noise.
“I really hit the loud pedal!”
“Wow, you can feel the acceleration.”
“I’m giving it all I can.”
All the corners were taken at right angles. Unable to laugh anymore, Nico was in fits of laughter hearing me howl. We came into one chicane completely sideways and I felt the inner wheels going light. He steered into the skid and we ended up on the grass. He shouted:
“That went a bit wrong!”
“You lost three tenths on your best lap!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make them up.”
He went through the following left-right flick with a lot of wheel twirling on the kerbs. At one moment I thought that we went off the ground. He shouts to me again.
“I think I got them back!”
Then, he told me that we were coming into the last corner and added: “I’m going to gain another tenth here.” Braking without sliding, he kissed the kerb on the inside and cames out wide.
I soon came back down to earth, and I realised that in just one lap I became covered in sweat even if the outside temperature wasn’t more than 15°C! Without meaning to do so, Nico took me back ten years and I saw myself in front of my Gran Turismo jumping from one kerb to another. I embraced him with tears in my eyes and walked away before I had the chance to become completely overwhelmed with emotion.
Credit: Lotus Renault GP (www.lotusrenaultgp.com)
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