Hand mixes it with the fast and famous – and enjoys a little moment of fame of his own
Ash Hand was given what he described as a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity when he was invited to attend the 2010 Italian Grand Prix at Monza as a VIP guest of the sport’s supremo Bernie Ecclestone – and whilst he might have reasonably hoped to meet some of his F1 heroes, he could surely never have anticipated enjoying a few minutes of international fame of his own.
The first time he had ever been to a grand prix, the highly-rated young Nuneaton karting hotshot earned his place on the trip for having been awarded one of the prestigious ‘Driver of the Day’ accolades in the Ecclestone and Lewis Hamilton-backed 2009 Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship – the same series as had first set the McLaren-Mercedes star himself on the fast track to superstardom.
Monza is one of the oldest and most historic circuits in world – one of the rare survivors from the original F1 calendar all the way back in 1950 – and Ash admitted that he could sense something truly special about the place, a spirit and presence that renders its ambiance different to anywhere else, with fans genuinely encouraged to get in on the action.
“When we got there on Friday, we went on a tour around the GP2 Series paddock,” the 16-year-old revealed. “We saw some of the other categories on the way up the motorsport ladder, too; that was really interesting, because you get to see some of the drivers who are coming up and might be in F1 soon.
“Jack Harvey almost won the Formula BMW Championship at Monza, and he was in karts only a couple of years ago – that shows it can be done, and is a source of motivation and inspiration for me. There was then a Formula BMW barbecue in the evening which several of the F1 drivers turned up to, including Sebastian Vettel and Bruno Senna, so it was really good to be able to meet them.
“On Saturday, we watched practice and then toured round some of the F1 garages, which was brilliant! Each one is a little bit different to the last, but they’re all extremely organised and completely spotless. People are always cleaning – you don’t really see that kind of perfection anywhere else. It all just goes to show how much money is pumped into F1 – and why it’s the pinnacle of the sport.
“In qualifying, I was really surprised by just how loud the F1 cars were – that was pretty exciting. We got to watch the Porsches, GP2, GP3 and Formula BMW on the track as well, sitting in a grandstand directly opposite the pit-lane, which gave us an amazing view.
“Then in the race, the atmosphere was just mad, with so many Italians screaming and blowing air-horns – you could almost hear them even over the F1 cars! It was absolutely crazy, and everybody seemed to be out-of-control – I think they enjoyed seeing Lewis Hamilton go off even more than seeing Fernando Alonso win! At the end of the grand prix we got to walk on the track, too, which was really cool.”
Over the course of the weekend, Ash met a number of the sport’s leading competitors – including the likes of Hamilton, Alonso, Felipe Massa, legendary seven-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher and current world championship leader Mark Webber – but he confessed that he was particularly impressed by the performance of his favourite driver, defending world champion Jenson Button.
“Jenson was with bad teams for a long time, but now he is in the right place at the right time at last, he is proving that he can do the job,” the Maple Park teenager explained. “He has really proved people wrong after they said he wasn’t that good a driver.”
One of the undoubted highlights of the weekend, though, was when the P1 Racing ace was unexpectedly interviewed on live TV in front of millions of viewers as part of the BBC F1 build-up to qualifying.
“They came up to me and it was just like ‘three, two, one, go – you’re on!’” he recalled. “It was mad, and two seconds later they were straight into the questions! I wasn’t that nervous, to be honest, although with it being live I knew I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes, because you can’t just turn around and ask ‘can we do that bit again?’
“FKS director Carolynn Hoy put me forward for it, so I want to thank her for that. They showed a clip of my karting too, and a lot of people seem to have seen me on TV, so you never know, it might even help to open some doors in the long run. Fingers crossed...”
“It was a really good weekend overall,” Ash concluded, making a special point of thanking the whole FKS team for the unique opportunity. “It’s the kind of chance you only really get once-in-a-lifetime. I really enjoyed the experience – and it has made me even more determined to get to F1 as a driver myself one day!”
