The travels of Tim and Megan: British Grand Prix 2011

Hey sports fans,

On Sunday 10 July, we got up extra early and caught a bus from London Victoria up to Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix. Having never seen a Formula 1 race (or any motor racing for that matter) live before, we were very excited about our big day out.

Tim started following the Formula 1 last season and adopted Sebastien Vettel as the driver he supports (long before he won the championship!). This season, Megan has gradually become a fan too! As it happens, Vettel is the runaway leader in the 2011 championship, having won 6 of the first 8 races of the season and finished 2nd in the other two races. His Red Bull car has been extremely quick so far this season.

We arrived at Silverstone at about 9.30am and found some coffee and doughnuts for breakfast! We wandered around the outside of the track, where there was plenty to keep us amused. We got a free giveaway from Vodafone, got a photo of last season's McLaren F1 car and found loads of food and drink stalls too. Tim couldn't resist the hog roast - delicious!

We found a good spot on a big grass bank looking down to where the cars enter the pit lane. This gave us a great view as the cars swung around a high speed corner, cranked up the pace just in front of us and then slammed on the brakes for a tight corner, not far from the start/finish line. When we arrived, there was a GP2 championship race, followed by a Porsche championship race, so we watched some of those races while we sat on the grass bank bathing in the glorious sunshine.

The pre-match entertainment continued as Ferrari's Fernando Alonso drove around the track in Jose Froilan Gonzalez's Ferrari race car to mark the 60th anniversary bof Gonzalez's win at Silverstone, which was Ferrari's first Formula 1 race win! Then all of the current Formula 1 drivers rode around the track on the back of a truck in the "drivers' parade", which was followed by a marching band and an amazing performance by the British Air Force Aerobatic Team, known as the Red Arrows. They performed some insane stunts, which kept the 120,000 strong crowd amused as the dark clouds rolled in and the rain began to fall. As usual, there were plenty of celebrities at the track, including England cricketers Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad as well as Prince Harry.

Thankfully the rain didn't last long, but it had made parts of the track very wet, which made for an interesting start to the race. Vettel's Red Bull team-mate, Mark Webber, started on pole with Vettel second on the grid, but Vettel managed to take the lead at the first bend and quickly set about extending the gap. There was a lot to cheer about as British favourite Lewis Hamilton roared up the field from 10th to 5th within only a few laps.

The noise the Formula 1 cars make is absolutely unreal - they are amazing to watch, reaching top speeds of around 315km/h on the straights. We are looking into the possibility of trading in the "Spaceship" people-mover we have hired and travelling around the UK in a shiny Red Bull F1 car instead!

There was loads of action and over-taking and the lead changed a few times, as a disastrous pit stop saw Vettel fall from 1st to 3rd around the midway point of the race. He was then stuck behind a defensive Lewis Hamilton and the pair lost huge ground on leader Alonso, who was able to streak away to a massive lead. Once Vettel passed Hamilton, he was unable to reel in Alonso's Ferrari and he had to work hard late in the race to hold off Webber for 2nd place.

McLaren's other British driver, Jenson Button, had an even worse pit stop, as his crew forgot to put the nut back on his front right wheel after a tyre change, which meant he had to retire - this made the crowd rather unhappy. There was more drama on the very last corner of the last lap as Hamilton overtook Felipe Massa for 4th place and then managed to hold on as Massa tried to come back at him just before the finish line. The crowd went crazy.

It finished Alonso first, Vettel second and Webber third - an excellent result for Red Bull, with both drivers on the podium. Vettel extended his championship lead to a mammoth 80 points at the halfway point of the season. After the race, we grabbed a drink (and another hog roast) and sat in the sun while the crowds cleared - aside from the brief rain shower before the race started, it was very hot and sunny all day. Then we made our way back to the bus to head back to London. It was a fantastic day out - a wonderful way to spend our last Sunday as residents of the UK before we head off travelling!