06/08/2011
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. Last week, we told the first two parts of his story. Here, he tells the third and final installment from his weekend with the team.
On Sunday morning, I left my room. I pushed the button for the lift when I heard a voice just behind me. “Hello Charaf, did you sleep well?” It was Eric Boullier. He then asked me if I wanted a lift to the paddock and we left the hotel before a crowd rushed towards us and asked Eric for his autograph. Once everyone was satisfied we got into a Jaguar - a superb Jaguar with seats in mottled beige leather. I sat in the back and I said to Eric: “If somebody had said to me one day that I’d be sitting in a Jaguar with Eric Boullier as chauffeur, I’d have burst out laughing and told them they were out of their mind!”
As I’m handicapped, the world is divided into two categories. There are people who make you forget your handicap and bring out your best qualities. They are the ones who help you move on as their criticisms are always constructive and go in one direction – respect. They help you to come to terms with life, and they remind you at every moment that you are part of it and that you can always be a part of it. But unfortunately, there’s a second category. They really make you feel your handicap and force you to make contorted movements when they try to guide you. These same movements only contribute to speeding up your sense of helplessness. These well-meaning people who have willingly pushed you into what for you is emptiness, believe that they are guiding angels by giving you their hand to save you, and then reclaim your eternal gratitude.
Eric, of course, is part of the first category. That morning, he dropped me in the paddock and went off to work. Before leaving, he asked me to come and see him in his office later on in the morning.
I headed for Ferrari to say hello to a few people I know such as Felipe Massa’s physio. I then went back to the Lotus Renault hospitality unit in time for my rendezvous with Eric. We sat down in his office and watched the start of the GP2 race together. I can tell you that the start of a race with Eric as commentator is something else! We talked about the early part of the season at LRGP. I bring up all the problems that Eric had to cope with – Robert’s accident, the wind tunnel glitch as well as the changes in the regulations. He said to me:” It’s true that I’ve learned a lot in the past few months.” We spent a few minutes together and I was all ears as he told me about the world of Formula One. Then, I left and thanked him for having opened my eyes about certain things.
I went to the Virgin motorhome to wish Jérôme a good race. The drivers’ parade was due to begin. Standingstand near the Mercedes-Benz motor home, Michael Schumacher came came down the steps and said hello to me. I wished him a good race before returning to the Lotus Renault pit where I took up my post. It’s 1pm and the countdown had begun. The engineers don’t waste time on the radios. Every five minutes a voice announces the time remaining before the pit lane opens. The engines keep them at the right temperature. The mechanics test their air pistols. Then, all of a sudden, a voice announced, “Green light, the pit lane will close in fifteen minutes.” The engines roared into life and Vitaly and Nick left the pits. On the radio:
“Ok, Vitaly. Radio check.”
Vitaly: “I’m now in corner one.”
Engineers: “Corner one, radio check ok.”
Vitaly: “I’m in corner two, three and I’m coming out of corner four.”
Engineers: “Corner four isn’t all that clear; we’ll try to correct that.”
And so it goes with all the corners.
A few minutes later, the closure of the pit lane was announced. For a quarter of an hour it was perfectly calm. A few instants before the start all the engines began firing up. The mechanics, who relaxed a little during the 15-minute break, snapped back into maximum concentration. Everybody started talking and the radios crackled into life.
“Ok, Nick, get into warm-up mode, your brakes are too cold. Vitaly remember the procedure, clutch in start mode.”
They announced a succession of figures and parameters. The cars came back to the grid.
“Ok, Nick stay in place.”
And then just before the race started:
“The last car’s stopped – now!”
The cars’ engines rose to a scream and everybody resonated to the same beat. The radio was silent. A few moments after the start an engineer spoke:
“Okay lads, get ready to change the nose on Nick’s car.”
Vitaly: “I think somebody hit the rear.”
On lap two, the authorisation to use the DRS was given. A few minutes later the pit erupted. Nick retired. Vitaly was advised to change the engine map.
“Don’t forget to use your KERS.”
The pit stop procedure is normally pretty straightforward. Thanks to the meetings about strategy the driver has a fair idea of when he is going to come in to the pits.
On the lap in question, Petrov was told: “Vitaly, pit on this lap.” Another voice told the mechanics: “Vitaly will come in in forty seconds.” Then the same voice, “Vitaly in twenty seconds – Vitaly’s in the pit lane.” When the Russian was fighting his corner out on the track, none of the engineers spoke to him except to tell him to change the engine map and to remind him to use the DRS. I was unhappy to see that he was falling back. It was the last lap and the team pushed Petrov to go flat out to pass Kobayashi. On the slowing-down lap everybody thanked one another by radio, but the disappointment was palpable.
I went back to the paddock; I’m amazed as always at how quickly the F1 circus packs its bags! I thanked everybody in the pit, in the hospitality unit, and a few hours later I’m on the road with my friends from the RTBF who took me to Brussels in time to catch the last train to Paris.
There is no way I could finish this story without thanking the person who helped me to follow the grand prix behind the scenes – Eric Boullier. I’d like to underline the fact that at the start of the 2011 season I went through a bad patch. After following the private test sessions from behind the scenes, I had problems resigning myself to following this sport that I love on a small screen that’s too dark for my eyes. In a state of despair I contacted my friends, and the people who like to say that I’m their friend. The silence was deafening! Only Eric offered me something serious. So once again, thank you Eric. Thanks for keeping your promise. Thanks to all the guys at Lotus Renault, all the nice people who came to say hello to me in the paddock whether they were drivers, mechanics or engineers. All these experiences which justify the fact that the following weekend I headed off on new adventures, but on that occasion it was with my tent on my back!
Charaf.
Credit: Lotus Renault GP (www.lotusrenaultgp.com)
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