Looking back - my motorsport year 2019

The year 2019 is over. Forever. A hundred percent. Irrevocably. There's no way around it. Even if it's not a year that will be positively remembered in every respect, from a motorsport point of view it definitely is. I made a lot of new experiences and met many people. People I already knew, but also many new people who also share my passion for motorsport.

Unfortunately, my blog was a little too short in 2019, so I'd like to take the opportunity to take a retrospective, more comprehensive look at my motorsport activities.

January: Marrakesh E-Prix

The year started for me with my first trip to another continent. Together with my colleague Tobi I travelled to Morocco to cover the first Formula E race of the year on site. Here I met, among others, the ZDF commentator Gari Paubandt and Cedric Hanser from Switzerland, who has become a good friend in the meantime.

It was really interesting for me to see an absolutely different culture for the first time in my life. Believe me, if a taxi driver from Marrakesh will drive the same way in Germany as he does there, he will be sent to prison.

April: Paris E-Prix

Then in April I took the train to Paris. What was meant to be a positive measure for my CO2 balance (in 2018 I travelled there by car) proved to be difficult even at the time of booking: I couldn't book the tickets (from Cologne to Brussels by ICE and further on by TGV) online. Welcome to the year 2019!
Instead, I had to have the booking done at the DB travel centre. The employee was very polite, but made a mistake: The ICE ticket was correctly booked for April 25, but the TGV ticket for the connecting train was booked for April 24. Shit happens - I had to buy a new ticket on the spot, after the mistake was only noticed by the train staff in Brussels.

Otherwise, it was a great weekend with an exciting and eventful race. The location in Paris is also simply something very special. Especially the Media Center, which is located in the army museum, a side wing of the Hotel des Invalides, is simply amazing. At the weekend I met Britta Mc Kenna, the new media delegate of Formula E.
For the first time I was together with Timo for reporting, so far I had only ever been together with Tobi. But also with Timo, the cooperation on site was absolutely great and simply fun. In the evening we both had dinner together with his girlfriend Kira, who had accompanied him to Paris, at a Mexican restaurant.

On the day after the race I was able to take a look at the city. Among other things I visited the cathedral of Notre Dame, or rather near it. A few days before there had been a big fire, you surely have noticed.

May: Berlin E-Prix

As in the past two years, I visited the German Formula E race in 2019, too. After two years on the grandstand I was accredited for the first time as a media representative. As every year, a dinner was held here with a few other journalists and some "noble fans" of e-Formel.de.

For the first time, a Formula E race was spread over two days so that German TV broadcaster ARD could broadcast the race in the early afternoon and not get in the way of the German footbull cup final. My conclusion: Hopefully Formula E will never do that again! Even though it is much more relaxed for us journalists from a work point of view, in my opinion the whole great character of the one-day events is lost. On the other hand, Nico Rosberg's Greentech-Festival was really great. There was a lot to see here. Unfortunately, I only made it here outside the actual opening hours.
Since Pascal Wehrlein wanted Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to act in the movie about the story of his life, I used my (manageable) Photoshop knowledge to show how this could possibly look like. On Twitter, the photo became one of my highest-reach tweets of the year.

After the race, Saturday evening was already back for me, as I wanted to visit an event on Sunday, which is organized by very good friends of mine. At this point a dear greeting to the RS Club Elsdorf.
Also here I did not fly, but drove with a night train. Finally a point where you can praise the Deutsche Bahn without any restrictions - I took first class for the first time, which was only two Euros more expensive than in second class. If it works this way, train will be a real alternative for me in the future as well.

July: German Grand Prix

Quite spontaneously, we received an invitation from Acronis to spend Friday at the race track and the evening at a dinner with Gaidar Magdanurow, Acronis' head of marketing, as part of the German Grand Prix.
As my arrival by Deutsche Bahn was delayed, I was allowed to take part in pit tours at Williams and then at Racing Point with my colleague Erich immediately after my arrival at the circuit. It was an extremely impressive experience, standing directly next to the cars in the pits! It's a pity that no photos were allowed to be taken in the pits.

However, when you see the complex procedures in Formula 1 that are necessary for visitors to be allowed to enter the pits of a team, you just shake your head. So we received guest passes from Williams and then had to walk a little less than a kilometre across the entire paddock to get to the Williams pit. After the tour we had to leave the paddock again (same way back) and hand in the Williams passes.

We then received guest passes from Racing Point, with which we had to walk the whole way (except for the last 30 metres) one more time. After the pit tour we went back quickly, because the team needed the guest passes again.


Now, as a quite young and sporty man, even with an outside temperature of about 35 degrees Celsius, I don't mind that much - some of the other journalists, who were much older and also a little more corpulent, suffered much more here. Afterwards we watched the second free practice of Formula 1 on the grandstand.

Later we went to a hotel in Bad Schönborn where Tobi joined us. Magdanurow reported about the work of Acronis in Formula 1 and also in Formula E, which we could use as a basis for a technique blog article on e-Formel.de. After the dinner Tobi and me drove to his home - in the Ford Ka of his girlfriend Eva. I had to laugh a lot when I saw the car...
Arriving in Mainz, we had another beer together and I also met Eva. The next day he took me to the train station and I went home. Although the train was overcrowded, so I had to stand, but at least it was on time.

At this point I would like to say thank you to Andreas Rossbach!

September: VLN at the Nürburgring

Together with Dennis, Tobi and Rebecca Jodgalweit I visited my first VLN race for at least five years. Actually it's a pity that I make it so rarely, because the Nürburgring is actually right in front of my door. We had bought tickets to get into the paddock and onto the grid before the race. The Eifel showed itself from its best side - it was traditionally rainy, cold and windy.

After we watched the start on the grandstand with a view of the Mercedes Arena, we went to the Nordschleife. Among other things to Brünnchen and from there a little along the track. At the end of the race we went back to the paddock. But because it was pouring out of buckets here, we went home quite quickly afterwards. Spontaneously the other three decided to come to my place for dinner after I told that I was planning to cook lasagna. For Dennis, who stayed overnight at Tobi's and therefore was the only one who didn't have to drive himself, there was also some of my homemade mint liqueur. A nice ending of a great day.

September: Frankfurt motor show

Mercedes-Benz presented its new Formula E team in Frankfurt just one week later. Together with Erich and Tobi I was on site. It was the first official team presentation that I followed. We divided the interviews with drivers and team boss among ourselves, I talked to Stoffel Vandoorne. Even a few words in German :-)

Tobi and I already met Cedric in the morning and then had the opportunity to see the exhibition. After we met Nico Rosberg at the entrance, we walked through the halls. It was noticeable that the exhibition actually only consisted of electric mobility, at least this was the only topic that the manufacturers extolled. 
On an open space between the halls I tried to drive an e-scooter for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised by the handling and the speed, the scooter was really fun. We also met Gari Paubandt, who made a few contributions at the IAA, and talked for about half an hour.
Our primary contact points were of course the exhibitors with Formula E connections - Audi, Porsche, BMW and Jaguar. All four manufacturers also had a Formula E show car at their stands. Mercedes also had a show car, but until the official presentation it was still veiled.


The presentation itself was quite a big deal, but Mercedes had done a good job. There were probably more than 100 journalists on site, and in addition to team boss Ian James and the drivers Nyck de Vries and Stoffel Vandoorne, Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff was also talking at the presentation.

In the evening I was a guest at the opening of the me Convention at the fair, where Lewis Hamilton was on stage.

October: Formula E pre-season tests Valencia

For the first time I visited the pre-season tests of Formula E. Since Cedric had told me at in Frankfurt that his colleague had to cancel his trip to Valencia, I took over his hotel room and didn't have to worry about it.
We were a funny little group of Formula E journalists in the hotel: Besides Cedric, Topher Smith, whom I knew from the Berlin E-Prix 2017, was also there. In addition, the photographer Rajan Jangda, whom I had met at dinner in Berlin in May. I met a few journalists for the first time: Amylia Hilda from Malaysia, Stuart Garlick from Estonia and Cecilia Demartini from Uruguay.
None of the other journalists spoke German, apart from the chunks that Cedric still knows from school and some phrases Topher remembered from his childhood. Speaking English all day long for almost a week really helped me to communicate in English. We as a group shared a taxi in the morning and in the afternoon, went out for dinner in the evening and had a great time together. I even let myself be persuaded to get an Instagram account. *advertisement* Please follow me, I still have some places to give away! *advertising off*

The days were very busy. After breakfast we went to the race track at 6:45 am. There was always a lot to do here - new drivers, new teams, plus a few staff chases, there was a lot to report. For the first time I met some of the employees of Formula E rookie team Porsche, here I already have first plans for two or three articles for 2020.

After I spent the last night in a hotel at the airport, I went back to Germany on Saturday morning.

November: e-Formel.de team weekend in Hamburg

Actually not a motorsport event, but also this year the editorial staff of e-Formel.de met again for a team weekend. After Ülpenich in 2019, this time it was Hamburg. As always, we had a lot of fun together, laughed and talked a lot and made plans for the new Formula E season.

For the first time I visited an escape room. Since Svenja unfortunately had to be absent due to health reasons, Timo, Tobi and I had to do the job. We also managed to do it, the whole action was great fun. I have to say, our team with its great team spirit has a big part in the fact that I enjoy my work so much. And actions like this weekend reinforce the impression immensely. Thanks to all of you!

On Saturday evening, holiday returnee Dennis was present when we watched the top match of the German Football League Bayern Munich against Borussia Dortmund in an Irish Pub. What can I say, I was quite satisfied with the outcome. Although probably the only one in our whole team ;-)

November: Christmas market in Bonn

Again no motor sport event, but since Topher's parents live near Bonn and he visited his father on the occasion of his 60th birthday, we met for a few hours at the Christmas market. Besides his parents, absolutely nice people by the way, I also met his girlfriend Nicky. I am still especially proud of the fact that (probably also as a result of the week in Valencia) my English was praised very much, and that by British people.

November: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

On very short notice I was invited by Acronis to Abu Dhabi. Fortunately I had exactly one single day of vacation and some overtime left...
 
Here an event took place in the context of the Formula 1 season finale, which was also about a Roborace team. In addition, a "Women in Motorsport" panel was held, in which Susie Wolff also took part. Here I interviewed Professor Mauro Pezze from SIT and Ilya Shumchik from the Roborace Team Atlasracing.


Furthermore I could watch the Friday trainings from the Acronis suite at the back straight. In the afternoon there was again a guided tour through the pits of Racing Point, by the way with the same staff member as in Hockenheim. She was visibly pleased that I still knew her name.


The flight with Etihad was already impressive - I had previously flown exclusively with budget airlines. But this is a completely different world, you could feel it everywhere. On this occasion, however, I discovered that night flights over seven hours are nothing for me. With my height of 1.95 meters I probably have more problems sleeping in the aircraft seats, even if they were quite comfortable.

The hotel where I stayed in Abu Dhabi was really great. Even if it seemed a little strange to read "Bierschinken" at the breakfast buffet, but to learn on request that it was made of turkey. Of course, one looks for pork there in vain. But personally, I do not need it either if I travel to an Islamic country.
 
It was quite interesting to see Abu Dhabi once on site. Especially when it comes to cars, this is pure madness. My taxi to the airport was an E63 AMG, and there were several luxury cars on almost every corner. But in the long run this would not be for me at all, if only for the scenery. I'm simply too much of a child from a village here in the beautiful "Voreifel" I like to be at home.

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