![]() Response: “He’s not feeling 100 per cent so not at the PC but will be this evening.” Will be what? Feeling 100 per cent? Be at prize giving? Both? Miraculous recovery? Note: No “he’s ill” just “he’s not 100 per cent”. I text Mercedes’ head of F1 communications Bradley Lord about the star’s absence. Do press conferences form part of the ceremony? Grey area. It dawns: the five-time F1 world champion, who seemingly bends the Mercedes empire unto his will, ain’t going to grace the media with his presence despite Clause 6.6 of the F1 Sporting Regulations stating: Drivers finishing first, second and third in the championship must be present at the annual FIA Prize Giving ceremony.Ĭlearly, in typical F1 fashion, the team has found a loophole. Questions about the star draw’s absence are met with shrugged shoulders and silence. ![]() While interviewing the Frenchman – good value due to his thoughtful responses – I notice (a now-moustached) Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen hanging about, but no Lewis Hamilton. I text my objections to the organisers and am told that “due to time constraints we can’t entertain media questions…”, but am granted (outside) access to Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne. Last week’s column about independent media, a topic which was received well by some if not all of my media colleagues, suddenly seems very timely. ![]() are delayed so we get under way around 30 minutes late once the sporting proceedings begin I realise we are part of a scripted conference: MC Tom Clarkson, working through a list of set questions, holds court, and no media questions are granted. I’m advised the 11:00 press conference with FIA president Jean Todt and RAF president Victor Kiryanov is postponed until 13:30, so wander about the immediate hotel precinct before heading to the conference centre across the river for registration and a front-row seat. This room is covered courtesy of hosts Russian Automobile Federation – thank you, RAF – as the trip is two-nighter for most due to flight schedules, the two-hour (or three- from UK) time shift eastwards and timing of the event, but all other costs are for our own accounts. 10:00įortunately the Lotte has a vacant room despite my early arrival, so I’m checked-in and settled in within 30 minutes. The 30km journey takes us almost and hour and a half in heavy traffic. Or, as in the case of Nico Rosberg in 2016, a total bombshell… 08:00Īfter a bland hotel breakfast, I order an Uber to the Lotte Hotel in downtown St Petersburg, having offered my Belgian WRX media colleague Marie-Laure Pirson, per chance staying in the same hotel, a ride. It’s our last chance to find out how the championship was won – or not – and the relaxed environment often elicits thoughtful and interesting responses. By the time they face the press again when the 2019 cars are launched their thoughts will understandably have turned to the season ahead instead of the year just gone. This is, after all, our final opportunity to hear from the year’s top drivers before the off-season sets in. The latter is a significant attraction: the teams have previously been generous with their time. The reason for my first visit to this winter wonderland city is two-fold: Friday’s FIA Awards Gala, to which I’d been invited as a member of the FIA’s Media Group, and the world champions press conferences. Not wishing to commute to a foreign city in the dark of winter, I’d elected to overnight at the airport, then catch an Uber at a more civilised hour. I wake up to (distant) sound of aircraft taking off – I’m in a hotel room on the perimeter of St Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport, having landed late Thursday evening. 0600 Friday 7 December, Park Inn, St Petersburg Grin and bear it, dodge it, or hit the bar? The top three Formula 1 drivers of 2018 had different ways of dealing with the obligation of attending the FIA’s end-of-season reports in his final Formula 1 diary of 2018.
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