n1co Rosberg is the World Champion

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you would have read my post about Nico Rosberg and how he was so kind to sign my cap after I called out to him so many times during the KLCC signing.

So last weekend was the last race of the season and it was neck-to-neck between Rosberg and Hamilton. With Hamilton winning the last 3 races, it was going to a close one. After qualifying, HAM was in Pole position which meant that ROS had to finish at least third to come away as the World Champion.

The race started off as expected, HAM had a good start and ROS maintained his P2. However in the at lap 20, ROS who had dropped to 3rd was instructed to overtake Max Verstappen. Verstappen is a pretty agressive kid, so anything could happen. But ROS overtook him easily and with no mistakes. PHEW! Then Vettel who had changed to fresher tyres was catching up. Meanwhile HAM started to slow down in the hope of backing ROS into the rest! The last few laps were gut wrenching! Mercedes even told HAM to speed it up TWICE (as Vettel was catching up) but he IGNORED the instructions from Toto and told them to "Let us race". In the last lap, Vettel tried to overtake Rosberg but ROS was having none of it! He defended well and finished 2nd and became the WORLD CHAMPION.

4 laps remaining and you can see how close everyone is to each other!

The whole Lewis ignoring the instruction has been making headlines. Personally I think it made the race a very interesting, gut wrenching, nerve wrecking one! I am just glad that his "dirty tricks" did not pay off for Lewis. I have also been reading so many articles doubting it NICO is a deserving WC since they kept saying how Lewis' car have failed him and that's the only reason Lewis lost this year's championship. But honestly, Nico is a great driver, a very committed one and he was been working HARD to win and I am so happy that he finally WON! He has always been such a nice person, a driver who loves his fans and I am proud to say that I am one of his fans!

WELL DONE N1CO!

Also do you remember my blurry selfie with Nico??
My sister who works at Petronas was invited for the World Championship celebrations yesterday and the lucky girl managed to get a CLEAR selfie with NICO. I am jealous beyond words!!



Now the season is over so we all have to wait another 4 months! But next year should be very interesting as rules have changed so it'll be interesting to see who will come up with the best car. Apparently they are bringing back the noisy engines too!!! Whheeeeee....

So no more F1 blogposts until next year!

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n1co Rosberg is the World Champion

2016 Formula 1 in Sepang - I WENT!!

After the all the Nico stalking last week, I was hoping to catch the race in Sepang. I was even tempted to purchase some discounted Grandstand tickets but I didn't get the green light for the hubster. Then on Friday night my aunt told me that she has 2 Grandstand tickets!! She even reserved the first ticket for me and the other one is up for grabs. Then my sister answered the group chat that she wanted it. I was surprised as she is not a fan but she didn't mind going. So we decided to go, the 2 sisters, the 2 mummies! hehe

We drove and the traffic wasn't too bad. The traffic was heavy only after the Sepang circuit turnoff. We also managed to get parking and paid the RM100 (!!!) charge. Bay 2 and 3 was within managable walking distance.

At the entrance

We were seated at the Jade seats right in front of the pit stops. The start and finishing line was to our right.

View of from our seat

Pit stop action

Because of the straights, we also managed to catch Nico overtaking in action.

Kimi Raikonen

Nico Rosberg!

It was a very good race for Teerah to watch for the first time. It was eventful from the very start, where Nico was spun out from his second place and dropped all the way to P21. He fought his way up very quickly thanks to the Mercedes car. Unfortunately for Lewis, who was comfortably leading, his car caught fire! Then Nico got a 10 second penalty for when he was overtaking Kimi. It meant that although he was in 3rd place, he had to be ahead of Kimi by 10 seconds for him to retain that position. Luckily he did, so P3 for Nico. Due to his 3rd place and Lewis not completing the race, Nico managed to open the gap wider for the Driver's Championship.

Devestated Lewis

After the race, people jumped off their seats to go to the track. It was a bit too high for me to jump down so I didn't. Sedar sikit la awak tu mak org! hehe

The 3 winners

Massive thanks to my aunt and uncle who gave up their tickets so that their F1 fan of a niece could watch the race this year. A huge thanks to the hubby who let her wife watch it too!

Another great day out with the sister (not that we don't see each other enough already!)

Bumped into old college mates!

5 more races to go and I hope Nico can become the World Champion this year!!

Nico for P1

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2016 Formula 1 in Sepang - I WENT!!

Meeting Nico Rosberg and selfie fail!

So 3 years ago, when Lewis started with Petronas I went to the meet and greet session at KLCC. They were there for the signing session for a mere half an hour and when I found out that they were leaving, I quickly went to the back door of the stage in the hope to catch a glimpse of them. I had my phone ready to record and Lewis blitzed by and I said hi. Unfortunately my phone somehow was not recording. Then I head that Nico wanted to go to Topshop so I quickly ran to the shop and managed to take a photo of him shopping. Back then I wasn't into Nico so much, so I didn't bother to take a pic with him.

However since Lewis has been the world champion for a few years now, I really wanted to see Nico win this year. And he was been doing an exceptional job so far to even leading the championship points by 8 points right now. I also feel like he really appreciates his fans more. I loved that he does a Facebook live video after each race. Even when he sucked at the race.

This year I went to the Meet & Greet session at KLCC. I just wanted to catch a glimpse of them and take a pic from far. When I got there at 6, the Concourse was quite packed.

However when I looked at the lines, it was pretty much moving. Also, the Meet & Greet session was only suppose to start at 6.30 but at 6pm both drivers were there already and started the session. So I thought, why not? Just get in line and see where it would take me. I did bring my Nico cap and last year's lanyard just in case I got lucky.

LH44

NR6

During the autograph session, Lewis stayed on stage while Nico actually moved down off the stage following the lines as it was quicker that way. He stayed off stage the whole time and from where I was queuing he was only about 10 feet away. So I called out his name and he smiled at me when he looked up.

So at around 6.45pm, suddenly the organisers cut the queue just 6 people in front of me. Meaning that everyone in front would get their chance while the rest of the queue will not be able to get a signature. From where I was standing, Nico was again quite close by at the bottom of the stage. I called out to him again and said that they have stopped the queue and buat muka kesian! I called out his name a few more times as well and he looked up, waved and smiled.

Then at 7.15pm the announcers announced that the drivers will have to leave soon. But I kept hoping that somehow he would come by and left my video recording. And to my absolute delight, suddenly he ducked below the barriers and CAME STRAIGHT TO ME!!!!! In the video, all you could hear was me muttering "omgomgomg"! He came and signed my cap! Then we wanted to take a pic but it was on video (front facing camera - not selfie) but he had to move quickly so he just grabbed my phone and turned it around to capture us together! Unfortunately my camera was on zoom so all you could see was my excited face! Gaaahhhh! But my friend correctly pointed out, NICO ROSBERG touched my phone!! hehehe

The moment he came up to me to sign my cap!

I am so happy that I got my cap signed!! It was so nice of him to come to see his fans! To make the extra effort to make his fans happy! This was precisely the reason that I have been liking him more and more this past year.

My signed cap

So since I did not get a proper selfie with him, I was on a mission. To get that selfie! So the next day he was scheduled to be at a Petronas station in Ampang. So during lunch, I went there to get that coveted selfie!

I started queuing again and this time the lines were not that long. But they had other things on the agenda, like Q&A and pit stop challenge. At one point, I got out from the line to see him at the front. Then he was heading towards the pit stop challenge and I saw my opportunity. As he walked by, I called out his name again and he once again stopped for the selfie. But I was trying to tell him yesterday's story and he was again moving fast so our selfie was a big blur! SIGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

another #fail

I followed him to the pit stop challenge where he was merely 3 feet away. Watched him change the tyres and then headed back to the line in the hope that I would get that perfect selfie with him



Once I got back to the line, we had to wait a while for the Q&A session and then the signing session finally started. This time around, the line barely moved! I don't know why it was so slow! After about half an hour they announced that the drivers had to leave! :( I tried again while they were leaving but by this time they have been tightly surrounded by the security guards. I will have to settle for a blurry selfie. But I guess I was very lucky the day before when he came over to sign my cap!

Unfortunately I am not going to the race this weekend. Would love to but Kimi didn't want to leave the kids so I will have to give it a pass. This race will be a decider, so I guess it's better to catch it in full on the TV. I'm sure it'll be an exciting one with freshly resurfaced so all teams are not sure how the tyres will be. Again with the HOT weather in Sepang, it'll be a challege! Apparently one car caught fire today at Practice 1. So super excited for the race this weekend and GO ROSBERG!!

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Meeting Nico Rosberg and selfie fail!

Melbourne Part IV - Day Three

Click here for Day 1 and Day 2

This was the day that we waited for! The main reason of our trip...the Melbourne Formula One.

The race starts in the evening, so we decided to go to Queen Victoria Market to buy our souvenirs as it's the cheapest place to get them. We were lazy to catch the tram so got the cab to the Market. It costed around AUD$7 from Collins Street.

There were loads of choices for the souvenirs. I managed to find a stall that sells any 7 items for AUD$10. So I got some soft toys, fridge magnets and keychains. Then t-shirts were only AUD$5 and the quality is good. So I bought all my souvenirs here. 

Prior to leaving the market, I bought some fruits as well. I stocked up on my faves nectarine and peaches! I didn't end up finishing the fruits before leaving so I even brought them back!! So yummyyyyy!!

After the markets, we went back to the hotel to drop our stuff, had lunch and did our prayers. Again, we didn't want to bother with the trams as it was packed and we had a stroller too!! We caught the cab again and it was around AUD$7 to Albert Park. We were dropped off at Gate 4 and walked around towards Gate 1 where all the merchandise stalls are. But when we got to Turn 5 we found a pretty nice spot so we got settled there. It was spacious and there was a screen in front of us too. Got our Air Asia blanket out and we chilled there for a while. Kimi and Ninin went for a walk to check out the merchandises at Gate 1 (which takes an hour to walk and back!)

Taking a toddler to Formula One. 

This boy was such an angel! Prior to coming, I had my reservations about bringing a 3 year old to the Formula One. I was afraid that he wouldn't wear his ear muff or too cranky up to the point that we would have to leave! But he was none of that! He loved wearing his ear muffs and he even had a long (2 hours at least) nap! The trick is, BRING A STROLLER!!! ALWAYS BRING THE STROLLER. The park didn't have the best pathways for strollers but we managed. He had a comfy place to nap so that was more important. And of course we had mr. bottle to help us too!

Oh btw we ordered the ear muffs from our ear doctor friend Dr. Shasa. She was in the UK at the time so brought them back especially for Nazrin! Thanks so much Sha! *kiss* 

He played around with the trees, sticks and leaves then had his milk. We also watched the fire trucks taking their lap around the truck (he excitedly waved at them) and the airplane show. We also watched the driver's parade where we saw Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso and the lot (mummy was super excited seeing the drivers!!). 

An hour before the race, after Kimi came back from the Merchandise area (an hour walk) he felt bad coz he managed to take pictures there so he walked for another hour with me. While walking, we pushed Nazrin in his stroller and he fell asleep. He slept for the first half of the race so I managed to enjoy the race.

First lap at Turn 5. Rosberg leading followed by Daniel Ricciardo.

The safety car.

The race itself was eventful. On the first lap at our corner, one of the cars spun around but managed to recover and continue the race (you can see it in the video). It was just exhilarating to watch the cars zoom by, but as we were at the corners they weren't as fast. And as everyone else commented, they are not as noisy as they used too. I even took our my ear plugs after a while. They used to be so loud and shrill that you can't survive without ear plugs but this time around it was bearable. Apparently due to the change in the engines, they are no longer as loud.



Nico Rosberg managed to hold his pole position to take P1. The Aussie, Daniel Ricciardo got second place but after the race he was disqualified due to him carrying too much fuel. So Kevin Magnussen (new driver for Mercedes Mclaren) got bumped up to second and Button to third (yeay!).

Here is the top 10 result of the race

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	57	1:32:58.710	3	25
2	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+26.7 secs	4	18
3	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+30.0 secs	10	15
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	57	+35.2 secs	5	12
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	57	+47.6 secs	15	10
6	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	57	+50.7 secs	7	8
7	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	57	+57.6 secs	11	6
8	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	57	+60.4 secs	6	4
9	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	57	+63.5 secs	8	2
10	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	57	+85.9 secs	16	1

Honestly since Hamilton and Button split teams I have been conflicted as to who I should support. Now after 3 races Mercedes Petronas is doing REALLY well so maybe I should be patriotic and support Petronas? hehe

After the race, they opened up the barriers so people could walk onto the track so we did!!!

AWESOMEE!!

What an experience it was to be at the Formula One again! My first one was in Singapore in 2010 and now we might make it into an annual family holiday. To go around the F1 races around the world. Kimi wants to go to Monte Carlo next but I think Japan is more feasible. hehe



Thank you yang..it was just AWESOME!
Can't wait for the next one!

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Melbourne Part IV - Day Three

F1 Mark Webber retiring

Webber announced yesterday that he will be retiring from the F1 at the end of the season. Webber will be leaving the F1 to race for Porsche sports car. 

I am absolutely gutted because I was looking forward to seeing him race at his home ground next year. Yes we are going to the Australian Grand Prix next year! InsyaAllah!!!

I think the reason that he is quitting is mainly because Redbull treats him like the "stepson". They have always favored Seb and this was evident at the Malaysia race. Webber was leading with a few more laps to go and the instruction from the team was "Multi-21" which means that everyone holds their position and basically Vettel not pass through. This is to lessen the risk of any crashing when both cars are from the same team. However Seb disobeyed and overtook Webber to become the winner of the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix. 

The tensions on their faces on the Podium

At the press conference later, Webber commented

"Seb made his own calls today and will have protection as usual and that's the way it goes"

BURN!!!

So yeah I think it's time for him to move on and be with a team that would truly appreciate him and not treat him like a "black sheep".

All the best Webber!!

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F1 Mark Webber retiring