The punishing demands of the 2023 schedule left paddock dwellers suffering at the end of the season, including some of the drivers.
Thursday
After a nightmare journey which included 20 hours being stuck in Atlanta due to a missed connecting flight, I was keen for a smooth trip to Abu Dhabi. But as my plane sat on the Heathrow runway my concerns started to grow.
As we arrived in Doha, Qatar I did the maths and knew it was going to be tight. A representative at the airport called ahead to advise my next flight of my latest delay.
Exhausted and sweaty, a colleague and I sprinted to our gate, elated to see the plane still there. “No, you are seven minutes late.” My heart sank. It got worse: there was no further flight for another 12 hours, meaning the media activities at the track would be underway by the time I landed.
This wasn’t the best start to the last race of the season. I eventually made it to the track around 2:30pm, with no sleep overnight. I dashed straight to my first appointment of the day, with Lando Norris. Unfortunately the DJ playing in the middle of the paddock, mostly F1 personnel with few fans around, drowned out much of what he was saying.
At least my delays hadn’t kept me from a one-to-one interview with Christian Horner. Explaining my delirious and run-down state, he laughed and said he wasn’t feeling much better.
We had plenty to discuss, and not just due to his team’s stunning form over the season. While on my way to Abu Dhabi, a story had broken quoting Horner claiming a representative of Lewis Hamilton had approached not just his team, but Ferrari as well, about a future drive.
Hamilton had denied several details of the report, so this was an obvious opportunity to put his responses to Horner. He insinuated he didn’t know why it was such a big deal – a narrative I wasn’t sure I bought into. We’ll have much more from our exclusive chat with Horner here on RaceFans soon.
By the end of the day I was so tired I fell asleep on a beanbag while waiting for my lift. When I eventually made it to my hotel (having convinced them my unavoidably delayed arrival did not make me a no-show), I was elated to get some sleep.
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Friday
Waking up once again feeling run down and tired, we made our way in for practice. The difference between the daytime heat of Abu Dhabi and the cold nights in Las Vegas was glaringly obvious.
Everyone in the paddock looked quite happy about that, though we were…
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