F1 Rocks After Party

After the Brazilian Grand Prix was concluded by a fantastic win for Mark Webber we caught the first train back towards our hostel for a quick beer and a siesta - it had been a long day.  After the F1 Rocks Party on Thursday night, Steve very kindly invited us to the VIP F1 Rocks After Party he hosts and put us on the guestlist.

We took a taxi to the address we had been given, not knowing what to expect.  Our arrival was quite amusing, we were in a crappy, rusty old taxi and all the other cars were BMWs, Mercedes, Porsches, etc.  These cars were all queuing to drop their guests at the red carpet and hand the keys to the valet parking.  We, being money concious backpackers, stopped got out the taxi as soon as it stopped and walked the remaining few yards.  Lol!

This time getting past security was easier - probably because I had left my flip flop behind!  We were only slightly disappointed that the event photographer didn't want to 'pap' us on the way in.  We stepped out of the lift, gave each other a subtle high-five and proceeded along the red carpet, greeting us were the same leggy Pirelli girls from Thursday.  Some were there to greet you others were making the replica F1 car look pretty.

We quickly sussed out the free vodka cocktail bar, before taking a stroll to survey the sights and sounds of the party.  It was a really plush affair, with local DJs warming up for the headline acts (Macy Gray and Chase & Status), dozens of bar staff shaking cocktails.  Steve was a fantastic host taking time out for a quick chat, before his iPhone rang something required his attention.  I wonder if he get's to enjoy these events or is all work?

At Vodka bar I had clocked Nico Rosberg coming in with an entourage.  Nilgun took no time in making a bee line for Nico and requesting a kiss on the cheek, what she hadn't factored in was Nico giving her a kiss on condition that she kiss each one his engineers! It was very amusing, unfortunately the camera was complaining of a dead battery so we couldn't document this.

Shortly after we bumped into Rob Smedley, Felipe Massa's race engineer.  We had a good chat and even discussed the infamous broadcast he made last season.  After answering a bunch of our questions and hearing that we too were at the South Korean Grand prix he commented: "ha, so you are real F1 fans!".  After he left, another subtle high five!

The party began to fill up and so did we on the free cocktails.  Whilst having a dance we spotted a couple of Paulistas (Sao Paulo locals) dodge the security guard and enter the VIP area.  Oh yes, this VIP party had an extra VIP area!  Well a little later, when the smoke machine had just filled the dance floor in smoke we did the same.  Ooops, a bit naughty!  Shortly after Steve was passing through the extra VIP area and noticed us, "What are you guys doing in here?".  Fortunately he was too busy to hear our feeble explanation.

We continued to party in the VIP.  Had a chat with Vitantonio Luizi, driver for HRT.  From that point on neither of us can remember very much.  Nilgun remembers leaving and I remember getting back to the hostel.

We had a flight from Sao Paulo airport the following morning.  We had paid a lot of money many months ago for these flights and stupidly we forgot to set an alarm.  Somehow Nilgun woke up at 9:00 - the time we had planned on arriving at the airport.  Still drunk we packed in record time, checked out and jumped in a cab.  We got lucky with the traffic as we managed to get to the airport in time.  However the rest of the day, which involved two flights, 3 hours in Bogota airport (Columbia) was incredibly painful.

It was only when we looked at the camera a few days later that we were able to fill in the blanks.  This included Nilgun getting her photo with Nico Rosberg!!! Some very drunk self portrait pictures, and pictures with Steve messing about by the replica F1 car!   We had a fantastic time and only hope that we didn't embarass ourselves too much.