Temperature drop
09/05/2017
From Monza to Arosa, I experienced a drop in temperature of around 25 degrees in one night! While the temperature at the Autodromo on Friday was a hot and humid 28 degrees, the thermometer in Langwies on Saturday morning was just a frosty 3 degrees.
It was clear from the forecasts that a change in the weather was imminent for the weekend, but only very few had expected such a cooling down.
While heavy rain in Monza postponed training until late afternoon, I stood at the track between Langwies and Arosa in the cold rain, interspersed with snowflakes and fog. Over time, it became so bitterly cold that my body shook and the camera moved in time with it, which was not necessarily an advantage for the pictures. Fortunately, I had two sets of clothes with me and was able to get rid of the wet clothes between the two races and continue taking photos in dry clothes. Unfortunately not for too long, as the rain didn't let up until around 4pm.
While Lewis Hamilton beat Schumacher's record in Monza with his 69th pole position and is now the sole record holder, the Arosa ClassicCar hill climb went ahead without delay on Saturday. The drivers drove with restraint in these lousy conditions, which is unfortunately no longer to be expected from the highly paid F1 drivers, because in Formula 1 there is only "full throttle" or "not at all".
Rain pictures are always very attractive, but working under such adverse conditions for a whole day is not really everyone's cup of tea. So a big compliment and thank you to the marshals to all those who, like me, had to stand in the cold rain all Saturday.
And in Monza on Sunday, Sebastian Vettel was annoyed that he couldn't keep up with the pace of Mercedes in the Ferrari, while Hamilton easily drove to his 59th career victory.
