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Here's a bit of a list of stuff about attending this year's race from my perspective - pluses and negatives. It might read like a criticism of the ACO in places. It isn't - they had a tough job getting the race on and I'm thankful for them making it happen.
What I'm concerned about long-term was that if things worked "well enough" then they'll just stick with them, especially if it's a cost saving.
- I found entry to the circuit worked well. No issues with the app, tickets, etc. Never once queued.
- The killer was only three public entrances. It exponentially increased the amount of walking you had to do, combined with the lack of campsites. It was soul destroying how close we were to our pitch in Houx Annexe on the other side of the wall, only to have to walk out of a designated main exit and all the way around.
- On the plus side the circuit shuttle service seemed much more frequent. If you could get on one/could be bothered queuing.
- Food. Not sure if it was us who got unlucky, but having less vendors meant massive queues for food at peak times. You would not know there was a lack of spectators from the food queues.
- RLM/FM. As others have said - this was tough in the sense that you have a roughly 30-40 second delay on what's happening. More significantly you're also burning through data and your phone battery for 24 hours plus all practice sessions. Combined with no electricity on the campsites - it's a good job we had (multiple) big power packs. From a selfish UK perspective it was also a good job the roaming charges aren't back yet. As this would be a massive, costly issue next year. My provider was fine, Ben who I went with really struggled to get signal. Circuit WiFi extremely patchy - can't be relied on and you had to keep re-signing up. I really hope that RLM's relationship with the ACO can be re-strengthened going forward and they are able to make everything work from a cost perspective next year.
- This isn't so much a criticism, I just found the security/searching to be very inconsistent. We had no searches at all at the campsite - been glass searched every year previously. I had my bag searched I think twice the whole race week and never at the main entrance we used. Fine by me. It's swings and roundabouts though because we got let into Mulsanne without having a parking pass.
- The village was a bit sad compared to other years. Understandably the manufacturers and teams pulled all their activation/spend right back. But there was still a lot of foot traffic and people who could have been reached. Only really seemed like Alpine making an effort on the fan engagement front.
- Masks. A necessary evil I guess - although returning to Manchester city centre was WILD after being told to put a mask on for days. The UK really is done with them it seems. Wearing masks was enforced by occasional walk-bys from stewards. Let's see what happens going forward, but when you're sat out at Indy or Mulsanne it feels a bit much. Just my personal opinion - everyone is in a different place with it.
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