Qualified to Race

Hello all!

Today was an important day, qualifiers! So for those of you who don't understand racing, namely formula one, don't feel bad, neither did we. Sitting down and talking to people have opened our eyes though, so here is the breakdown. Before each race there are a practices, which don't really determine much, but allows the drivers to get a feel for the track. Qualifiers is the time to get down to the nitty gritty. Each driver is let loose on the course in a staggered position, with 15 minutes on the clock. This is done three times, the first time all 22 cars are allowed out. After round one, only the top 16 drivers are allowed to race in round two. Same deal, 15 minutes, staggered release, but instead of top 16 only the top 10 are allowed to race in round three of the qualifiers. At the end of round three, we have the starting order, top time out of round 3 is first, or pole, position, second time is 2nd place and so forth and so on. Now, for those of you who are F1 fans and know all the ins and outs, I am sorry if this description is a bit glossed over, it is for those of us who are looking for basics to get us to the main race.

OK, now that you are all sufficiently confused and bored, here is the day. Woke up and decided to go get some breakfast since we had to be to the races around 12:30. We stopped in a nice little cafe, ordered up some tea and croissant, and happen to chow down before the cameras came out. Sorry, hunger trumps photography some days. It was all quite tasty, but as we made our way back to the metro it started to rain. What do we do? Then cut through the mall that is connected to the metro station. This is where we encountered our pink tree trunks. I wish I could tell you what they meant, but we were on a bit of a time crunch so didn't stop to read what they were about, oops. They were a fun addition to a dreary morning though, so thank you Montreal.

We finally arrived at the races, and it continued to drizzle on through the first round of qualifiers. This made some pretty interesting racing, a fair bit of wide corners, and a few bouncing off the wall. Sadly one of the Red Bull drivers hit the wall a bit hard, and was forced to withdraw from the race, his whole rear assembly was a bit trashed. Luckily no one was hurt, just some bruised ego, and the other 21 cars have qualified. Lewis Hamilton took pole position, followed by team mate Rosberg in second. Sitting on corner one, which also happens to be an S-turn will make for some interesting driving tomorrow out of the gates, and we have a perfect view of it all. The rest will have to watched on the big screen, but luckily it takes just under 1.5 minutes to get around the track, so it isn't a long wait for them to come around again.

On our way out we heard some loud engines roaring to life, so had to stop and see what was going on. Apparently there is another level of racing, F1600. These are smaller than Formula 1, but bigger than a go cart, and make one heck of a racket. It looks like fun though, and watched for a few before the event workers shuffled us along.

More Soon!

- L & A