When someone says to you, “Do you want to go to Spain for the Formula One Gran Prix?” You say yes and find the best way to get there! Formula One race in Spain has so many fantastic things going for it: It’s located just outside of Barcelona, one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It rarely rains on the race, you see Fernando Alonso fans by the thousands, and it’s Spain! Between Barcelona, Seville, Madrid and Bilboa, there is so much to do in Spain. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that it’s next-door to Portugal, where we are pondering our retirement. So when Nancy says we should go for the Formula 1 Gran Premio de Espana, I was in it to win it!

This time we’ve upped the ante for Gran Prix attending, and bought Grandstand seats. This is going to be our chance to see the starting grid up close and personal. Due to work, time invested, etc. etc., we decided to fly in to Barcelona arriving Friday evening and would witness the Saturday practice session and qualifying, and the race on Sunday. Little did I know things were about to get very interesting.

Two weeks before the start of the race, I received an email from Marriott Rewards: “See the Mercedes-AMG Petronas motorsport team with grandstand tickets on qualifying day.” Sounds awesome so I’ll play. I made a bid and won a Marriott Moments F1 Experience where we got to spend the day being pampered courtesy the Mercedes-AMG team. We started by meeting the Marriott Moments team at the W Hotel in Barcelona.

This by itself is a win-win situation. The hotel is just absolutely beautiful, a super cool spot to hang out. We met with Jonny Odell from Marriott Moments, said hi to some other auction winners and quickly became friends with everyone. I look up and see movement in the crowd, and it’s Red Bull F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo! How cool, so I grab a photo with him. It caught my attention at how tall he is, so I commented, “I didn’t realize you were so tall.” He responds with that huge smile of his, “And handsome.” Wait…what? Did Daniel just prank me? “So I responded, “Well, not really. I mean I know handsome. I see it everyday in the mirror!” And we both have laugh. Daniel is known as the most fun guy on the grid, and now I see why.

From the W, we hop onto a shuttle bus and we’re driven to the track. This was awesome because I had no idea how to get to the track. In looking at the maps it seemed like a harrowing event, between buses, trains, and a long walk. Once we get to the track we cross the bridge from the parking lot to the track, and go through the flag of champions. A walkway of flags with drivers photos as if they were on the starting grid. This was cool introduction to the facility.

If you’ve attended Formula One races in Europe, you know a lot of times concrete is replaced by dirt, which in a rainstorm becomes mud. But not today! This was concrete and asphalt. And approaching the backside of the grandstand, a massive structure, it made it all the more exciting. Once in the grandstand we make our way to our seats, and find ourselves across from the Mercedes pit box. This is pretty cool as we can look down and see the drivers getting into the cars. I wish I brought my binoculars but a good squint of the eyes made it work. Our seats were at the southern end of the grandstand, so we get to see the cars exiting the final turn before hitting the long straight and zooming down to Turn 1. We are high up, in the second tier, so we have a nice overview, and to my surprise, were able to see above the pit buildings, and catch quick glances of the cars along the backside of the track. Of course the cars are going by so fast, the quick glance that we would catch could not allow us to make any determination of track positions gained or lost. It’s just a wisp of color as the cars shoot though the gaps.

Lunch was provided to us, a nice little souvenir lunch box containing sandwiches, chips, a soda, a bottle of water, an apple, a cookie, and crackers. This was much more than the “light lunch” that we were expecting. This was awesome and I have a full belly by the time I finish the sandwich, so I save the rest for later.

The day wrapped up with the Mercedes team qualifying 1-2. This made the next day look very promising for the race, although the weather was not as promising and threatened rain. But, we were OK with since we had grandstand seats and would be under the cover if the rain broke out.

That night, Marriott Moments treated us to dinner with the Mercedes engineers. Six members of the team joined us for dinner, and we all had a rousing good time. Pretty much everyone sat next to an engineer and was able to have some good conversation and dive into tricky tidbits of F1 life and garage gossip. Dinner at the Cotton House Hotel was just awesome, with wine, champagne, and cocktails accompanying our wonderful dinner of Roasted Duck. It was truly an evening I will not forget.

Later, I asked Jonny if he would if there was room on the bus for Nancy and I to join them on the way to the track Sunday. He enthusiastically extended an invitation, saying it would be a blast to have us along, even though we would not sit together during the race. I reminded him that our original purchase tickets are just the level below their current location, so I’m sure we would catch up with them at some point.

On race day, there was a slight drizzle on the drive to the track, but fortunately, the rain backed off once we arrived and we were spared a wet race. Our seats aligned with the back markers of the starting grid. This was awesome!  We were staring right at the cars of Pierre Gasly in the Toro Rosso, Esteban Ocon in his bright pink Force India, and Charles Leclerc in the Alfa Romeo Sauber. What was amazing was seeing the sheer number of people on the starting grid for the start of the race. Hundreds of people are milling about as the engineers go through their last minute race set up checks.  An announcement is made and they all begin to clear out, leaving the engineers to fire up the engines. This was awesome. Even with their exhausts muted, the sound of the cars reverberates and my skin tingles.  Now it is time for the race, and the cars pulled off for the formation lap. Hearing the cars take off like that was just heart pounding. But now, an interesting F1 fact is that hundreds of pit crew members must run off the track, squeezing through on 15ft wide opening. And somehow they do it and clear the track before Hamilton brings the field around to the start.

So here we go. It has all come down to this, the cars are lined up, the lights count down…and they’re off! They vanish down the straight in a matter of seconds. In an awesome display of speed and pandemonium, the cars simply were there one minute, and gone the next. And like that, all that preparation, anticipation and intensity is just gone. It was so fast, and yet, so exciting.

At the drop of the checker flag, Mercedes took another 1-2, with Hamilton cruising to an easy victory. Back in the safety of the race podium at the finish, the fans run onto the race course to surround the winners and await the awards presentation. Not as crazy as Monza, but still, I wish we had been able to get onto the track. From where we were, we simply did not know how to get to the track entrance, and we had to get back in time to get onto the bus with the rest of the Marriott team. So no tire scraps from Circuit de Catalunya.

One thing I did mess from this racing event, unlike other races, were the clothing vendors around the course. Unfortunately, the US media conglomerate that has taken over Formula 1 has cut back on the availability of merchandise at the track. Whereas other tracks have dozens and dozens of vendor trailers selling T-shirts, caps, sweaters, and all sorts of accessories for the race teams, this race had just a handful of trailers selling primarily Ferrari gear, some Mercedes gear, and then some Moto GP gear. In the fan zone, they have a huge F1 store there, but it’s was just one building, and it lacked the enthusiasm and the fan frenzy of shopping multiple vendor locations. Thumbs down for sure!

One aspect of the grandstand that I truly appreciated or that the beers were just a two minute walk down the stairs. Just like any ballpark, you have food and beverage stands located at the base of the grandstand. Although it was convenient, it was not as luxurious as the VIP areas that we were able to view from our seats. That’s the trade-off of getting good seats, it puts you where you can see there are even better seats. I guess that’s all part of the marketing campaign, to get you to upgrade for next year’s race. Cheeky monkeys.