Hello all! Here is write up of my experience as a "regular person" in the Paddock Club during the 2022 USGP at Circuit of the Americas.

Who am I?

I live in the Chicago area and work in IT. I am in my early 50s, am married, but no kids.

Why am I creating this post?

In planning my trip to the Paddock Club I couldn’t find much information that wasn’t from marketing materials. I am very detail-oriented and I wanted as many nitty gritty details as I could find, and while I found a few posts in my searches from people who had been in the Paddock Club the details were still sparse.

What is your experience with F1?

I am a newbie. The 2022 USGP in Austin was the first GP I ever attended. I first had a passing interested in 2013 when Rush was released. I became more interested after I saw a 2019 David Letterman interview with Lewis Hamilton – someone who I had never heard of – on Letterman’s Netflix show. And then, like most newbs, I got addicted to DTS during the pandemic. I watched every race of the 2021 season and all the races in 2022 so far.

How do I define “regular people?”

So, the number one question people have been asking me is “how much does it cost?” I’ll talk about costs below. When people hear the cost I am sure the price does not seem like something that most people could easily afford. I acknowledge I have some privilege in my life. I have a good job with an above average salary. I am also older and more established in my life than when I was younger. So, by “regular people” I guess I mean that 1) this was a major expense for me; 2) I had to save to make it happen; 3) I had to forego other expenditures to save for this; 4) this is not something I could do regularly; 5) I could only afford for myself to go – if my wife wanted to go that would have not been easily doable; 6) I am dependent on a W2 job for my income, have a mortgage to pay, don’t buy cars with cash, I haven’t saved enough for retirement, and I’d be in trouble if I were unemployed for a lengthy period of time.

So, how much did the trip cost?

Obviously there are a lot of variables in the cost of the trip, so I will focus on just the cost of the ticket package. It was $9,691.90. This included Paddock Club access in the Haas suite for three days for one person. This was effectively an “all inclusive” price for everything happening at the track. I did not spend a single penny at the track in the three days I was there. In fact, the only option to have spent money at the track would have been if I had bought merchandise, which I did not. All food, drink, activities, concerts, etc. were all included in that price. I obtained my package through F1 Experiences. The price also included trip insurance which covered a number of scenarios, but, most importantly, it would not have covered two important scenarios: 1) anything related to COVID unless you or a family member personally contracted it in the time immediately before your trip and 2) if you lost your job and could no longer really afford such an expensive trip.

In addition to the ticket package, what other costs were there?

Since I was travelling from Chicago to Austin, I had flight costs and hotel costs. I also arrived a day early (Wednesday instead of Thursday) and stayed a day late (Tuesday instead of Monday) so I would avoid the busiest travel days. So I had normal costs of food and entertainment on those extra days. My wife also came along with me to Austin, did sight-seeing, etc. so there were costs associated with that, but she did not attend the race. The other big expense was travel to / from the track. I’ll cover that more below.

How did I go between the track and the hotel?

I chose to buy the hotel accommodations through F1 Experiences. When I did they offered to include, for an additional charge, shuttle transportation between the hotel and the track on a daily basis. I decided to buy that as well. However, in the end I decided not to use that (wasted money) and ended up getting a rental car and a parking pass. I did this for reasons related mostly to me and not any actual concern over the transportation they would provide. I saw the buses they provided and they were what I would describe as a “luxury motorcoach.” The buses picked you up right in front of the hotel. They took you to a portion of Lot A reserved for Paddock Club, and then a transport van took you from that area to the Paddock Club itself. It was, effectively, door-to-door. Travel from the track back to the hotel worked in the opposite fashion. For leaving the track the transport vans seemed to come on a regular schedule and took about a dozen people at a time. There were lines waiting for the transport vans, but they appeared to move quickly enough.

Since I didn’t use the shuttle, how did it go with driving and parking?

The main reason I decided to drive myself is I have some minor mobility issues and was worried about the accessibility of the buses and vans. I was able to obtain Lot A ADA parking passes for $250 a day directly from COTA. This is very expensive and one of the only things I felt was a “rip off.” Basically, the parking passes cost more than my car rental for the week. There was ADA parking available in another lot, but it was farther away from the Paddock Club and not that much cheaper.

The drive in each day from downtown Austin took less than 25 minutes. I left at 9:30 on Friday and Saturday and left at 8:30 on Sunday. All three days when I arrived at Lot A the lot, including the ADA spots, was largely empty. On Friday and Saturday this got me to the Paddock Club about 30 minutes before opening. On Sunday, I arrived about 20 minutes after opening. This was done by choice.

Each day I stayed until the Paddock Club closed and when I left on Friday and Saturday there was no trouble getting out of Lot A. The trip back to downtown on those days was about 30-35 minutes with only limited traffic delays. On Sunday, it was definitely worse. It took me about 30 minutes to get out of Lot A and about two hours total to get back to my hotel. This to me is reasonable considering the amount of people and the infrastructure available. I have sat in Chicago rush hour traffic worse than that.

How did I get from Lot A to the Paddock Club?

This will be unique to me with my ADA situation, but I took an ADA golf cart that were waiting near the main grandstand entrance. The other options were 1) an open air shuttle (not a bus or a van, but more like a trolley) operated by COTA that made a loop around the track and included a stop in the general area of the Paddock Club; 2) walking from Lot A to tunnel 1, then through tunnel 1 using the pedestrian walkway, and then a short walk from tunnel 1 to the Paddock Club. I would estimate that this is about a half mile walk at most. It would be easy for anybody with normal mobility.

How did you get into the Paddock Club?

Each morning there was a rather disorganized huddle in front of a tented area in front of the main Paddock Club building. I learned pretty quickly that you want to get to the front of that huddle and near the tent. The Paddock Club opens PRECISELY at the time they say it does. It does not open early and you will stand outside until it does open. It opened at 10:45AM on Friday, 10AM on Saturday, and 9AM on Sunday. My suggestion is to get their 30 minutes early so you are near the front of the huddle or get there 30 minutes late so you can walk right it after the huddle has wound down. Once the club opens you will go through a first screening where you go through some sort of scanner, get a quick look at your badge, and a possible search of your bag if you have one. I brought a backpack on Friday and it was searched rather casually and nothing inside of it was disallowed even though I had brought an umbrella, selfie stick, and a couple other things that I wasn’t sure would be allowed. I quickly realized this was too much stuff to bring, so brought a sort of “man purse” the next two days and that was not searched. Once you get through the first screening you will be provided a wrist band that changes color each day. You then move to the turnstiles where you actually scan your badge, the turnstile unlocks, and you go through. At this point someone punches a hole in your badge, and you are now free to move around. Once you get to your suite you have another check-in at the suite using your F1 Experiences badge. Whenever you leave the Paddock Club you must scan your badge through the turnstile to get out. Note that some of the turnstiles are configured for entry and some are configured for exit. They only flow one way, so make sure to pick the right one depending on your direction.

How were the ADA accommodations?

Parking and the ADA cart going to the Paddock Club? A .

The ADA cart from Paddock Club back to Parking Lot A? F-. Absolutely terrible. You will wait forever. You can only communicate with COTA via text (text COTA to 69050). The text service is slow to respond, doesn’t provide much information, breaks lots of promises, gives inaccurate information, and don’t really seem to care. On Friday night I waited 2.5 hours for transport. On Saturday I was waiting for over an hour when I finally gave up and asked for assistance from the F1 Experiences people who were serving as hosts in the Haas suite. They were gracious and offered me transport on one of their carts – which was something they were not obligated to do – and they did the same again for my on Sunday. This is apparently a service you can buy from F1 Experiences (private travel within the circuit), but not something I had bought. Others at my table had bought this service and it was how I found out about it.

Everything else ADA-related: B. Elevators in the Paddock Club were easy to find and not in use by anybody else. I didn’t need much more than that, but there was another person more disabled than me (they were in a wheel chair) and that person was able to participate in all activities including watching the race from an outside seating area they had reserved for her in a section of the Paddock Club.

What was the process with F1 Experiences?

I put my non-refundable $500 deposit down in October of 2021. There was then radio silence for a couple months until I was contacted in January of 2022 with an offer to purchase the Paddock Club product. I was interested in the Legends product and / or the Paddock Club team suite product, so I did not immediately purchase. There was some back and forth between myself and my contact at F1 Experiences via email, but mostly it was me having to do the work to keep the conversation going. When I spoke with my contact he was definitely knowledgeable and I felt like he was giving me all the information he had, but a lot of times I felt he just didn’t have much information. Finally, in April he reached out to me with an offer of the Haas Paddock Club product. This was not my primary choice. My dream would have been the McLaren Legends package. But he definitely made it sound like Legends and / or McLaren might not materialize. Since I would be able to transfer my funds to another package if it became available I went ahead and bought Hass Paddock Club. I am glad I did because neither Legends or McLaren became available based on what I was told.

Contact with F1 Experiences over the next few months was hit or miss with it seeming like my questions were a bit of a bother. But even the basics of something like when I would receive my tickets were not details that were volunteered. Since this was my first time going to a GP I had no idea of these basics. They could have saved a lot of my questions if they had a basic FAQ telling you things like your tickets won’t arrive until two weeks before the race.

One mistake I think I made, after speaking with my table mates at the race, was I made it clear to the F1 Experiences guy that this was a “once in a lifetime” type of event for me and that though I was willing to go all out this time that I probably wouldn’t be doing this again anytime soon. This was probably a bad negotiating ploy. Had something like Legends become available I probably would not have been first on his list to call since he would want to reserve those for people who might do repeat business in the future if the makes this trip great for them. Since the costs are fixed that is to his advantage instead of me willing to pay the same price, but only one time. I’d suggest making it sound like this trip is no big deal for you and you may return many times again in the future. You may get a more responsive experience.

Overall I would say the pre-race experience with F1 Experiences was a C. The at-race experience with F1 Experiences was A .

What was included in the Haas Paddock Club package vs. the regular Paddock Club?

The main difference is you are in a suite dedicated to Haas. This suite is a mix of paid attendees like me along with actual guests of Haas such as sponsors. Each day we had a special guest come and visit. On Friday it was Mick. On Saturday it was KMag. On Sunday it was Guenther. They stayed for a short interview. There were no autograph or photo opportunities. And, finally, you got a tour of the Haas garage.

I missed out on Legends. Was I disappointed?

A little, but not a lot. Heading into the trip I really felt missing out on Legends was a bit of a downer. I thought the guided tour of the paddock wouldn’t come close to the VIP experience of having free roaming of the paddock for the full day. Honestly, other than people watching there wasn’t a whole lot to do in the paddock. So I probably would have seen / met more people if I had been there all day, but I am unsure if I would have found it worth the extra money. Of course, Legends also includes access to the podium ceremony afterwards which probably would have been cool. But Legends is at least another $2,000.

Why didn’t I consider Champion’s Club?

I wanted to go “all out” and it just felt like Paddock Club was “all out” and Champion’s Club wasn’t. It would have saved some money, but this trip wasn’t about saving money. Ultimately it’s a personal choice. I will note that my table mates had access to both Paddock Club and Champion’s Club. So it is somehow possible to do both, but I don’t know the details on that. Whenever I tried to ask F1 Experiences about adding on something outside the standard packages they made it pretty clear to me that this was not an ala carte situation. Perhaps my table mates, who were wealthy, bought two sets of tickets. But, more likely, they were comped considering how many GPs they attend.

Where was the Haas Suite located?

It was suite 201 on the southeastern most part of the building above the Haas garage. Since garage locations are laid out based on the team’s finishing position in the previous year’s constructors championship this meant that Mercedes was at one end and Haas was at the other end. By happenstance this meant that the Haas garage, and their suite, was immediately in front of the starting line with a good view of the uphill portion of turn one.

What was it like in the Haas Suite?

Probably best to just look at the pics and videos, but the suite held maybe 15 tables of ten people each, two buffet lines that both had the same food options, a bar area, a small host stand area near the entrance, one very large screen TV, several mid-sized screen TVs, smaller TVs hanging from the ceilings, and Haas branding around the exterior of the room. There were several doors that led out into the seating areas facing the main straight and two doors that led to the back of the Paddock Club where you could look down into the paddock itself. The bathrooms were immediately outside those doors. The bathrooms were perfectly serviceable, no lines, and they were kept clean.

Was there assigned seating?

Not a particular seat, but a particular table. I think this was luck of the draw, but I was assigned to table 5 which was immediately in front of the windows that faced the main straight. Each table had 8-10 seats at it, which made for a little bit of crowding when the table / room was more heavily populated. But it was fairly rare at my table for it to be full. In fact, I think only once or twice was everybody there. I attended by myself. There was another group of four guys that I got to know pretty well. These were paid seats. And then one of the sponsors had three seats at our table, which I assume were free since they were sponsors. Myself and the four guys all attended each of the three days. The sponsor had three different people attend each day.

What were the other people like?

I am somewhat introverted and independent, so I tend to do my own thing. So, I didn’t meet that many people. But I got to know the group of four guys at my table. They were very social and they did make friends with the sponsors at our table and the next table over. The four guys at my table were living the good life and a lot of fun. One of them was VERY into F1 and he had been attending the USGP every single year since it started. Another one was also quite into F1, but just newer to the sport. The other two guys were friends with the first two and seemed to have come along for the party, but seemed to get into it. I could relate to them in some ways as they were entrepreneurs and in the early part of my career I had done that as well. But they were definitely far wealthier that I am, and had access to a lot more stuff than I did. They had private transport within the track. Had access to the Champion’s Club in addition to the Paddock Club. They had VIP tickets to both concerts and had a table at the Post Malone after party in downtown Austin. They also flew into the track in a helicopter on race day. Talk between them and the next table over was about Rolex watches and wine collections. But, despite the different socio-economic circumstances, they were pretty much regular guys who liked the race. I didn’t feel uncomfortable or out of place. I think if I had been more extroverted I probably could have tagged along with them on some of their adventures, but that is just a guess. I did get contact information from one of the guys and we agreed to stay in touch if we were going to attend future races.

How was the food?

In the photos you will see menus from each of the days. The food was very good. Each day there were four items you could have brought to you: two appetizers, a cheese plate, and a dessert. And then there were several items available from the buffet. Food was served for about six hours each day until about 4PM. It was, obviously, all included and you could get as much as you wanted. The VIP guys at my table even asked for things that were not available in our suite, and as long as they were available elsewhere in the Paddock Club they were able to procure it. For example, one guy had a thing for ice cream and had them bring him ice cream sundaes a few times each day even though they weren’t available in our suite. I do not know where they came from. All of the food was similar quality to what you might find at an upscale chain steakhouse like Ruth’s Chris or Morton’s. The service was excellent and very attentive. The servers were around often bussing the table and asking if you needed anything. Note that service was limited to the suite itself and they did not bring anything out to you in the outdoor seating area.

How was the drink?

At the table were bottles of wine, bottles of still and sparkling water, and they would bring more of these as you ran out. From the bar you could order soft drinks, juices, beer, and champagne. There were no spirits available other than Patron, which was a sponsor and serving a several options of tequila-based cocktails. Though I knew going in that this would be the situation, I would have still liked a selection of spirits as I tend to drink cocktails instead of beer or wine. That said, not having a lot of cocktail choices kept me from imbibing too much which would have been easy on a hot day with plenty of time to drink.

Anything else about food or drink?

All of the above applied to in-suite food and drink. Outside of the suite in the open area of the Paddock Club that is on the southeastern most part of the building were several other options. There was a station serving a few different varieties of pizza slices fresh out of the oven. These were good and a nice quick bite. There was also a station serving some sort of breakfast concoction. I think it was waffles or crepes. They batter was cooked fresh in front of you and then there were a variety of toppings. This was served in a small box that you could walk around and eat from. I did not try this, but seemed like lots of others were enjoying them. In this same area the high top tables were frequently restocked with cashews. And there was a bar area that served champagne, soft drinks, a flavored water, and the Patron cocktails. They had this orange / tangerine water on Saturday that was delicious and really hydrating. I probably had four of those.

How was the racing action?

Let’s be honest, if you want to see every moment of the race then the best place to watch a race is in the comfort of your home. That said the location of the Haas suite was in a great spot. My seat for the race ended up being just in front of the starting line and I could easily see Verstappen pass Sainz almost immediately on the race start. I also got to see birds eye views of the pit stops on Friday and Saturday, but skipped trying to see them on Sunday since it was so packed at the front railing. You could also wander to the open area on the southeastern most portion of the building and see good views of turn 1. There were plenty of TV screens in this area as well as in the suite, so that was where I went when I wanted a more holistic picture of the action. There was a mega screen directly across from the suite in the main grandstands that you could see, but the sound generally sucked. The TV screens were definitely better. The suite also had one screen with detailed timing info, which was nice. There was also a good view of the main display with the top ten standings, lap count, and time. This was a decent quick reference.

Anything else about the Paddock Club itself?

1. In the outdoor area of the Paddock Club on the southeastern most side of the building there were racing simulators that looked pretty cool, but I am a bit too chunky to have tried them out. On Friday and Saturday there didn’t seem to be a line for them and people were allowed to play for fairly long period of time. 2) Also, feel free to explore both the second and third floor. Though the Haas Suite was on the second floor I went up to the third floor as well. There are some different views of the track up there, and I was also able to easily access the 300 Club without anybody giving me any grief. I do not know if this was allowed or if I “got way” with something. The 300 Club had a nicer table set up where they were spaced out a lot more and each table only had four people. The tables were mostly empty. They also had sofa seating in front of a MASSIVE screen. I felt the outside area of the 300 Club had the best view of turn 1. The 300 Club had similar food options to those provided elsewhere and I didn’t eat there, but I don’t think anybody would have stopped me if I tried. 3) The back side of the building that faces the paddock has a walkway the entire length of the building on both the second and third floor. This gives a great view into the action of the paddock and with a bit of people watching you get a sense of what happens back there throughout the day.

How were the special appearances?

There was a Formula One Suite somewhere that had secondary and tertiary F1 personalities making appearances throughout the weekend, but I did not attend any of those. I believe that was open to everybody. Within the Haas Suite itself we had an appearance each day. Friday was Mick. Saturday was KMag. Sunday was Guenther. These were just short Q&A sessions lasting maybe 10-15 minutes. There were no opportunities for photos, autographs, or meet & greets. Though if you happened to be in the right place at the right time you could get a selfie. One of the guys at my table got a selfie with Mick since he happened to be walking in the door about the same time Mick was. Overall I would say the appearances were a B-. Opportunities for photos would have made it great, but with 100 people in the suite I would guess that would take forever.

How was the pit walk?

There is no sign up for the pit walk. There are several each day and you just show up outside the Paddock Club entrance at the allotted time you are allowed into the pit lane to walk around free range. The garages are roped off with about 50 feet of distance between you and the garage. Though on the end garages (Mercedes on one end and Haas on the other) you can get a lot closer on the sides of the garage. Within about 10 feet or so. I chose to do my pit walk at 6:45PM on Friday, which was the last one on Friday. I was glad I picked that time since it was a lot less crowded and the sun was going down, so it was cooler and I think the light made for nice photos. One thing that was cool is that the pit walls were not blocked off and you could walk right up to the chairs and look inside the pit walls. Grade for the pit walk: B .

How was the track tour?

You need to sign up for the track tour. There is an F1 booth in the open part of the Paddock Club on the southeastern part of the building. There was a line for this booth, and it was sort of hard to tell where it started / ended. I accidentally cut in line and got called out on it even though it wasn’t on purpose. After a 15 minute wait in line you get to the front, tell them what time you want to go, and they give you a wrist band with a time slot on it. When you look at the calendar there will be 2-3 track tour windows throughout the day, but withing each window there are multiple boardings, so the time you show up is determined by your wrist band. They suggest you show up ten minutes early. I did the first window on Friday, which I think was at 12:30. I was given a wrist band for 12:55 and told to show up at 12:45. You meet outside the Paddock Club entrance and then follow the instructions from there. You will board the back of a flat bed trailer which is easy to get on to as there is a staircase mounted to the truck that goes right down to the ground. Very easy even for someone like me with some mobility issues. I believe they can also accommodate a wheelchair, though I am not positive. The track tour lasted about 10 minutes or so. You need to hold on! While TV shows that COTA is pretty hilly, but you really have no appreciation for the grade changes until you take the track tour. The truck is also a little herky-jerky as it goes through the gears. In addition the day I was there was pretty windy so I was also trying to hold onto my hat. Doing all this and trying to get photos / videos proved too much for me as even though I thought I had video of the entire track tour it seems I screwed up somehow and only got very limited coverage. That’s okay. I have it all in my head and it was awesome. Grade for the track tour: A.

How was the paddock tour?

You will be assigned a time for your paddock tour. When it is time you will meet just outside the paddock at an F1 Experiences booth. You will be assigned a VIP pass that will get you through the paddock turnstiles. The tours are in groups of eight or so. And you have a tour guide. Our tour guide was a Formula 4 driver from Spain who grew up karting with Norris and Leclerc and so he had some interesting stories. You get a few instructions and then you enter the paddock through turnstiles using your VIP badge. Basically you get to walk all the way down the paddock and then all the way back with a few stops here and there for the tour guide to give you some info. But, just as long as you stay relatively close to your group you are sort of free to range about and take photos and look around. There are three entrances to the paddock. One on either end and then one in the middle. On the way back we hung out for about five minutes in front of the middle entrance. Here I got photos of Albon, Alonso, and Lawrence Stroll. I saw Toto Wolff walking as well as Mick Schumacher. Another guy in our group got a selfie with Zac Brown. I am not a selfie or autograph guy, so I didn’t try, but I suspect it would have been acceptable with any of the people I saw. The tour lasted about 40 minutes or so. When you are done you go back out the same turnstiles you came in, again using your VIP bade to exit, and then return your VIP badge to the tour guide. Just as we left Sebastian Vettel came in through the turnstile. Grade for the paddock tour: A.

How was the garage tour?

You will be assigned a time for your garage tour. When it is time you will meet at the front of the suite and be guided down towards the garage in a way similar to the paddock tour. You will get another VIP badge, enter the turnstile, and then get a stern talking to about cameras in the garage before being allowed to enter the garage. In essence, if you want your weekend to come to quick end go ahead and take some photos while in the garage. Because I had a service issue (see the ADA section above) I was fortunate enough to go on two garage tours. One of them was the normal one and the other one was with a group about half the size and the experience was definitely different with the smaller group. Both tours were led by Magnussen’s chief mechanic. The first one was on Saturday with a group of about 10. We went into the garage, got to stand within inches of Magnussen’s car, and were given a brief explanation of the weight and power of the car. They were also in the process of scanning the car to comply with bounding box measurements specified by F1 for the car, so we received an explanation of that process. We were then brought just outside the red pit lane line at which point we were told we could take photos from there into the garage. We were given several minutes to do that and then led back out the way we came in. The tour lasted approximately 5-8 minutes. The second tour I had with the smaller group was on Sunday. The differences were 1) we got to walk into the “Ferrari’ side of the garage which is where they keep all the power units and the Ferrari mechanics work on the engine. Here they took off the cover of one of the engines and showed it to us. It’s amazing how small it is. 2) There was a lot more personal interaction. For example, since I was alone the chief mechanic offered to take pictures of me standing in the garage next to the car. 3) Because of being able to see the engines the tour was a couple minutes longer. Perhaps 10 minutes. This was one of the times where I found myself just openly grinning to myself about how cool the experience was. Grade for the garage tour: A .

Did you meet any drivers or celebrities?

Not really, but I also wasn’t trying. I had the personal appearances in the suite with Schumacher, Magnussen, and Steiner. I saw Schumacher, Wolff, Albon, Alonso, Vettel, and Lawrence Stroll during the paddock tour. I saw a few of the Sky Sports people as well as Horner and Brown having a conversation when I was looking down into the paddock from the Paddock Club. That was about it. This just wasn’t my thing. My only hope was to maybe meet Norris or Ricciardo since I like McLaren, but that didn’t happen. I also missed a selfie opportunity with Zac Brown since I didn’t see him on my paddock tour, but someone else with me on my tour did.

What was the best day?

All the days were great, and nothing could beat the race day excitement, but I really liked Friday the most. That was the day I did most of my activities and exploring. It was relatively empty and so I felt there was just more freedom and a more relaxed environment. But that is just my style. Perhaps two days would be enough, but I can’t imagine only going for one day. If you just went for race day you wouldn’t be able to do all of the activities. And if you went on a Friday and then had to go to the stands or GA the following days I think you would have a huge let down. In fact, I heard that a lot of people who do a package that includes Friday in the Paddock Club and then then other days in the stands results in people asking to upgrade on the spot for the other two days. YMMV.

What did I miss out on?

The only thing I wanted to do that I didn’t do is I didn’t get over to T6 to see some high speed corner action. It seemed like it would be a pretty daunting challenge to walk all the way over there, deal with large GA crowd, unsure what kind of view I would get, then have to come back, and all of this in the hot sun. This was in part due to my mobility issues and having zero faith in the ADA cart situation at COTA, but also nobody else that I talked to in my group did that. I think there was enough interesting stuff going on in the Paddock Club that we all just mostly hung out there.

Anything else?

Bring hearing protection. Nobody offered me any. I just brought some 3M Skull Screws from home and they were more than sufficient.

The Haas gift bag was pretty lame. It included a Haas hat, which I had already brought from home, and a poster. Pretty shabby compared to what some of the other teams hand out, but hey it is Haas after all and they are pretty poor.

The video on all the screens at the track is delayed about 3-4 four seconds from the actual action on the track. This makes it a bit difficult to correlated action on the track with action on the screen. You can see this on the T1 crash at the start of the race. We knew something was going on, but not exactly what. A few seconds later you can see us all react to the delayed video on the large screen.

Photos & Videos

Option 1:

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B13532ODWUt80i

Option 2:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JHhgTcv5dJni8K7f7

Was it worth it?

I think it was worth every penny. Had a great time. No regrets.

Final Thoughts

If I think of anything else to share, I will edit this post. If you have any questions, I will try to answer them.