Rachel's Diary: Mexico marvel

After the title had been won on Sunday in Texas the entire paddock, it seemed, headed out to celebrate. Not Lewis' third title necessarily, but perhaps more that the week was finally over. Austin is a fantastic place to have a race and is usually one of the most sociable weeks of the year but this time, after days in the cold and the rain, it was a much quieter affair.

Luckily the rain stayed away on Sunday night as people headed out to various parties and events in the city. Mercedes were holding theirs at Pete's Dueling Pianos bar and word got around fast. By 10pm it was entry by wristband only, or a long wait in a queue on the street as they adopted a 'one in, one out' policy. Inside the team took over the balcony area and celebrated their double double. Lewis and Nico were there too and Nico even took to the stage at one point to sing for the crowd. It was the end of a very different US GP week.

We had all been looking forward to Mexico. I had been there before on holiday but not to Mexico City. You hear stories about it being a dangerous place but in these instances we always have a security adviser with us who gives us a briefing on arrival.

The first race in a new destination is usually a voyage of discovery for everyone. Whether it's the location and facilities at the hotel, scouting out somewhere nice to eat, or tracking down a local shop for bottles of water to brush your teeth with. We stayed in a different area to most of the rest of the paddock this time, south of the city. It meant our journey time to the track was much better and when you have an early alarm call, any extra time in bed is very welcome.

Our first full day in Mexico had a sense of déjà vu about it. I went into the city to explore and the heavens opened. So much for leaving the bad weather behind in Austin! But it immediately seemed a lively, fun city with a lot of culture and history. As I walked back to get a taxi I passed a fantastic display of huge fictional creatures made of paper maché. Amid the grey skies, roads and buildings, they were a welcome burst of colour. I even found a lizard/dragon taking a selfie, so of course I had to take my own.

Back at the hotel I spent the afternoon working on my notes for the weekend ahead. I also like to read race reports from the previous event because there are bound to be things that weren't revealed at the time but established later.

It's why I always watch Ted's Notebook too as usually reasons for retirements, strategy calls, etc are only revealed after the interviews have all been done. Also this weekend I would be chairing the FIA press conferences and I had received the list of drivers on the panel. Lewis had been summoned and so had Sergio Perez, as it was his home race. Pastor Maldonado,

Carlos Sainz, Will Stevens and Fernando Alonso would also be in attendance so I read up on all of their races and quotes from the previous weekend and noted some topics to cover. It's different to interviewing them for Sky Sports. The press conference goes out on the world feed to every country so the questions have to be adapted to suit.

On Thursday I had my first glimpse of the circuit and its facilities.  After a couple of meetings it was time for the
drivers' press conference. I have chaired the post-qualifying and post-race conferences before but not Thursday's.

My job is to ask two questions to each drivers and then open it up to the rest of the journalists present. It's a popular panel this week and it goes on longer than usual. It's part of the driver's role to take part and it is always interesting to see the body language between them. Lewis and Checo whisper and giggle at various points while Fernando looks straight ahead and even gets up too early to leave. I can imagine Thursday is their least favourite day at the track. All they want to do is get in their cars and see how they perform, not sit and answer our questions.

In the afternoon I oversaw a piece we were doing with Nigel Mansell and Lewis Hamilton. I was there to suggest topics for discussion and move the conversation along if it lingered too long on one subject. Time with drivers is always limited and a stopwatch starts once they arrive so we wanted to try to cover as much as possible.

As it turned out, I wasn't really needed at all. Having started the conversation off I stood back and just listened. They both relaxed so much that it was like I was listening in on two friends in the pub chatting. It was great hearing two drivers enthuse about what they admired in each other and tell stories. You always get a different interview when drivers talk to each other, it's more relaxed as there is an assumed trust.

After the interview a group of us headed out to walk - rather than run - the track for two main reasons. Firstly, as it is a new track the best way to see all its nuances and understand what the drivers mean when they talk about certain sections is to walk it. You need to see where the bumps are, if there are any, and you need to be able to take in all the signs, surroundings and sights. Secondly, the circuit is around 2240 metres above sea level.

As my research revealed, that means the air has 23% less oxygen, making breathing more of an effort than on the ground. Even the drivers and trainers found it hard work. I was expecting the long straights after seeing the track map online but when walking along from the final corner down to the start-finish straight it felt more like a section of motorway! There is a slight kink in it but nothing that would require a driver to lift off at all.

As we headed round towards the middle sector, we passed Bruno Senna who was filming his track guide. A group of about 20 marshals were at the side of the track, all with their cameras out. I turned around and saw Sergio Perez approaching on his track walk and all the marshals shouted hello and took pictures. He smiled back and waved and they took picture after picture. I had sat down with Sergio in the days leading up to the race to talk to him about what it means to have his home race.

We are so used to a British Grand Prix it is hard to imagine the sport not being a part of our summer. But Mexico have gone 23 years without a race and Checo was just two years old when Mansell won in 1992. He seemed to be taking all the attention in his stride and as he is on a good run of form there doesn't seem to be a better time to have the race.

As we stopped to look more closely at parts of the track he passed us and I wish now we had kept up with him because as you enter the baseball stadium section of the track it really does take your breath away! I would love to have seen his face.

He has been to the track many times before, but now the race weekend was here, the lines and kerbs are painted and the podium is all dressed and ready. Everyone stops when they get to this part. Phones come out and pictures are taken. But you can't do it justice. If I ever return here as a fan this is where I want to sit. Yes, it's a very slow section and I understand the arguments for it to be maybe a 90-degree left hander but the atmosphere and magnitude of it all makes it a must see. Add to that the unique podium, and you can see why so much fuss has been made about a few metres of track.

On Friday comes the reality. I watched first practice from our office while going through the running order for that night's F1 Show. Every time Checo entered that baseball stadium section we could hear the whistling and cheering without needing any volume on the TV. With the cars so quiet these days I am sure he heard it clearly too.

After second practice I chaired the team personnel press conference. With the news that Ferrari had used their veto right against a budget engine for 2017, I was expecting it to be an interesting one. The panel included Maurizio Arrivabene and alongside him Toto Wolff, and Honda's Yasuhisa Arai, as well as Claire Williams and Vijay Mallya. It was a fairly feisty affair with journalists keen to press Maurizio on that veto decision and most questions were directed at him or Toto. There was a definite show of unity between the two, though.

After the press conference it was a quick change before the F1 Show. We were waiting for news from a press conference across the city where Haas F1 were announcing their new driver. We all knew it was going to be Esteban Gutierrez but were waiting for the official confirmation. It did come through and now just two seats remain to be filled for next year - at the time of writing Manor Marussia are yet to announce who will drive their Mercedes-powered 2016 cars, although there are suggestions Will Stevens is close to securing a second year with the team.

Towards the end of the show we relocated to the pit lane and saw a big group of marshals all outside the Mercedes garage. Inside Nico was talking to his engineers and the marshals began chanting "Nico, Nico" - he came out and signed autographs for them and took selfies.

After the show it was the long journey back to the hotel. You will probably have seen plenty of tweets from F1 journalists in Mexico talking about the traffic. It is terrible. You know your journey home will be one long crawl through the streets but you know it's coming so we either took a quick nap or watched something on our iPads or laptops. I always load my iPad with TV series before I leave for a race. They come in very handy when you are sat in traffic or wide awake at 3am thanks to jet lag!

On Saturday morning I presented our Practice Three programme with Johnny and Damon. Once the on track action was underway we went to watch in McLaren. While there, Jenson walked in wearing his race suit. A short while later he came and sat down at the table next to ours with his trainer and it was clear he wasn't going out again.

What we didn't know then was that he wouldn't make qualifying either. When the news broke that he would not take part I went to the interview pen with my cameraman and waited for him to arrive. It is really difficult to know what to say to JB any more this season. How many times can you ask how tough it is or how frustrating? What do you say to a world champion who is turning up to race weekends not even knowing how much he will be able to take part, let alone compete with other cars on track?

I also hosted the post-qualifying press conference. Seb was in mischievous form again and suggested perhaps Lewis and Nico would like to take each other out at the first corner and let him through. His comment was met by a stony silence from the two Mercedes boys. It's nice to see Seb in this kind of mood, he has seemed much happier and carefree this year and is showing more of his personality. Once the press conference was over I followed the drivers down to the pen and interviewed them for Sky.

Race day in Mexico was one of the best of the year for me. We arrived at the track at around 8.15am and already there were long queues of fans waiting to get in. It immediately gives you a lift. I was doing the 'dunny run' interviews and I spotted Niki Lauda leaving the grid. I asked him if he was concerned about a first corner incident between Nico and Lewis. He admitted he was. It was what everyone had been talking about and he admitted Nico was in the mood to be more aggressive this weekend. As it turned out they left each other alone and Nico took a lead he would maintain.

The post-race press conference was a tense one. I wasn't sure what to expect after Lewis queried the radio call about the pit stop but in answering questions he seemed resigned to it not making a difference in the end. He said Nico "didn't make any mistakes today, no gust of wind" in reference to Nico's mistake in Texas.

The body language wasn't great between them and when asked about grip levels, Lewis said there needed to be Mexico specific tyres as there was so little grip, while Nico answered the same question saying it was fine. Luckily, Valtteri Bottas was in there too, celebrating a very hard-fought third place, to lighten the mood a little.

But Sunday still had one more chapter - the Amber Lounge party. They hold a few during the year and a lot of people from the paddock attend. They are always good nights and very well organised and a lot of the drivers go as it's a relaxed atmosphere with people they know there. It's a chance for everyone to catch up, away from the track and actually not talk about F1 for once.

We spend up to 22 weeks a year with the same people and you see more of them than you do some of your own family and friends so opportunities like this are always welcome. It's a chance to relax and kick back a bit as we near the end of a long year. The drivers always say hello as it's notepads away and switch off from work mode for a couple of hours.

After a great night I woke up on Monday morning to an alert from the airline I was travelling back with: "Urgent - Flight delayed overnight."

I can feel a headache coming on…

RB

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