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A wall full of middle fingers: I was at the Grand Prix in Monza and was booed by 140,000 fans – rightly so
That’s not me, it’s Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. At least one who wasn’t booed at Monza.
© Mark Thompson/Getty Images
At the Italian Grand Prix, Dutchman Max Verstappen Ferrari spoiled the day. And I the fans. From a Formula 1 day at Monza for the history books.
It must have been after the eighth glass of bubbly, just after 1 p.m. Jean Alesi was just telling something about the curve that we passed with our truck. The Italian pop star next to me was waving his arm, trying to get the fans in the stands to cheer for his Instastory, and I was faced with a wall of middle fingers. We jolted leisurely over the racetrack in Monza, on which Charles Leclerc was soon to be cruising in a Ferrari at 350 things. We lurched past boos and whistles.
So there I stood, looking at the dirty chucks on my feet and at the welted leather shoes of the man next to me. I looked at the proud faces of my VIP passengers and then at the faces of the spectators behind the barrier. Faces that had matched the color of the Ferrari jersey. A work of the sun and wrath. On this Sunday I belonged to a social class that is not mine. And I was ashamed of it. I felt ashamed because I got the opportunity to drive the circuit while the real fans had to camp in front of the fence because they couldn’t or didn’t want to afford the tickets. I would see the start later from the top of the Paddock Club, them through the chain link fence. You had every right to boo me.
Once Monza and back
The 2022 Italian Grand Prix was one for the history books. Not only were 100 years of Autodromo Nazionale Monza celebrated, but also 75 years of Ferrari. Monza is Ferrari’s home race. Nowhere is the pressure to win greater for the Scuderia. 140,000 spectators were there, most of them Ferraristis in red. And then there was me. Not a fan of Formula 1, but at least a fan of fast cars – and of champagne. And that’s exactly what brought me to the Ferrari Trento lounge. Italy’s leading winery has been an official partner of Formula 1 since 2021. I would visit the Ferrari vineyards in Trento the next day.
The cheapest 3-day tickets for Monza are available from 155 euros. These are standing places. For places at the start and finish line, around 1000 euros are due and if you want to go to the exclusive Paddock Club, you have to pay more than five times as much. In return you get, among other things, the aforementioned route tour on the low-loader, the walk through the pit lane and, with a bit of luck, a nice mechanic who will guide you to places where you really shouldn’t be. (Greetings go out!) For many Formula 1 fans, such a ticket is a dream come true. And something that average earners like me tend not to afford. I can understand why she is not happy when the money in human form is being driven in front of her nose over the very race track, which is almost unreachable ground for her. Our party mobile must have seemed like mockery to them. That I was part of it, I had to drink champagne afterwards. Not because it wasn’t fun, because it was fantastic, but because, strictly speaking, I had as much to look for there as the H&M shirt in the Gucci store.
Grand Prix under the cheese dome
The VIP area is directly above the team garages. From there you can see the pit lane and the start and finish line. It’s where the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Hugh Grant and Zlatan Ibrahimović watch the race from that day. And just before 3 p.m. I climbed onto a bar stool like a little kid to at least see something from the start. On the roof, they say, the sound is particularly good, if not as good as it used to be. Then it cracked, hissed and dozed and after a few seconds it was all over again. As soon as the drivers were out of sight, the crowd broke up. I was confused. There were still 52 and a half laps to go at this point.
Seeing Formula 1 live is a strange thing. From a normal spectator seat, you only see the drivers for a few milliseconds per lap, to be precise. The rest of the time you wait, on this Sunday you waited in the blazing heat. As a VIP guest, on the other hand, you have the luxury of being able to retire to an air-conditioned cheese dome in the truest sense of the word. In addition to the view of the track through glass, there is also the live broadcast of the race and lots of people who are important, think that they are important or have simply taken care of things in this life by being born. But the real atmosphere is outside, in the cheap places. There, flags and hats are waved, there is frenetic cheering when the drivers race by. Rock’n’Roll is there, emotions run high there.
It must have been after the twelfth glass of bubbly, just after 5 p.m. The fans stormed onto the runway. Now they whistled again. This time, however, not against any rascals, but against the winner Max Verstappen, who had driven to victory behind the safety car and ruined the day for Scuderia. Ferrari driver Leclerc looked a little on the podium, despite second place, as if he were the H&M shirt in the Gucci store.