My F1 Vacation! 

By Erick Santiago

Staff Writer

   Hello, Circuit readers! I am very excited to present to you all a bonus article that I have been dying to write–all about my vacation over the summer to see the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix! Yes, that’s right, Canadian Grand Prix! My family and I thought that since it is in an entirely foreign country, we should make it our summer vacation. We had the idea whilst we were planning the trip, and also thought it would be more cost-effective (considering the distance) to make it a road trip rather than to fly directly to Montreal, the city in Canada hosting the F1 race. Additionally, had we not taken a road trip and flown, it would have been extremely impractical to attempt to cross off one of the items on all of our bucket lists: visiting Niagara Falls. And so it was, we set off for a conveniently placed halfway point on our journey to Montreal: the Canadian side of the Niagara Falls on June 8th, a day earlier than initially planned in order to pack in two, full days in at the falls before leaving the morning of the 11th. We did so by utilizing my favorite method of travel: road trips. I LOOOOVE road trips for the same reason many people dislike them: a slower rate of travel in order to see everything I pass by, instead of being 30,000+ feet in the air zooming past all of the sights to see, potentially missing out on hidden gems along the way. This also allowed us to gauge a new experience of crossing a border checkpoint in Detroit, one we were excited and prepared for. Additionally, it allowed us to see the city of Detroit in an entirely different perspective, as Detroit sits directly on the border between the United States and Canada, only divided by a river which could be crossed by a toweringly beautiful bridge called the Ambassador Bridge. Through this perspective, high up to perfectly see the skyline of the city, but not too high as to squint to see it, we were provided with a breathtaking view of Detroit over the river whilst crossing into Canada simultaneously. We then entered the small town of Windsor, where we felt no immediate difference to the United States, other than speed limits being set in kilometers per hour instead of miles per hour, Canadian street/highway signs, a nearby Tim Hortons (essentially the Canadian equivalent of Starbucks), and much, MUCH smoother roads. From then on, it was smooth sailing to the Falls, other than the fact that we had checked to see before the trip if our service provider covered Canada to which they said they did, just for us to not have cell reception for the entire Canadian leg of the trip.  

   Nevertheless, we had made it to the Falls after a day spent on the road, so we situated our luggage into place at our hotel, my dad struggled to find parking at the hotel but eventually did, and then shortly after he did, we all immediately went to bed to rest before two days of sightseeing at the Falls. The next day we had checked in on the forecast and realized that it was supposed to rain lightly all day, and whilst this was a bit of a bummer, the last minute change to stay two full days in Niagara gave us another day with better conditions to do it all at the Falls. Even despite it raining the first day, we were able to see the Niagara Falls and all of their glory for the first time and visit other attractions in the Niagara Falls town with less traffic, as some people were noticeably deferred from sightseeing due to the weather. Consequently, we readjusted our schedule of what to do each day and did more indoor activities that day, like visiting the Niagara Parks Power Station, an area that used to be used for generating hydroelectric power from the Falls turned into a museum showing how that power used to be generated there. 

   At the end of the tour there, we had an elevator ride that showed all the components of each individual power turbine underground, and at the end of the elevator ride was a tunnel out to a platform slightly above the Niagara River for a different angle of the Niagara Falls. When we stepped out to the platform, the rain actually cleared up for a little bit, as well. On the way back through the tunnel and up the elevator, we also learned that when the day was over, and no more visitors were traversing through the tunnel, there was paranormal activity there, and employees who have to close the doors from the tunnel that lead out onto the platform at the end of the day have experienced it for themselves first hand. 

   After that was over, we went to the ferris wheel in town for some aerial views of the falls and ended up getting double the amount of time spent in the ferris wheel than we paid for at no extra cost!. Finally, we ended the day off by grabbing something for everyone at Subway, Popeyes, and Baskin Robbins before heading up to our hotel to spend the late evening, and of course, to sleep. The next day was our last day at the falls, and now that it was a clear day, we headed to a dock to embark on a boat tour that we had previously booked on the Maid of the Mist (or the Canadian version of it) that put us right in front of the largest of the Niagara Falls–the Horseshoe Falls. After getting absolutely SOAKED (and having a good laugh during said soaking), we wanted to take advantage of the clear day and head to the Skylon Observation tower, a 360 degree observatory tower where we saw numerous things being so high up, and of course, a spectacular view of the Niagara Falls. There was a nice area we sat afterwards at the bottom of the tower with many of the world’s flags on display. There, we made dinner reservations at a local steakhouse and immediately started walking toward it, estimating that by the time we got there, it would be our reservation time. We ended up getting there around fifteen minutes early and had excellent food that we rushed to finish so that we could make the fireworks display above the falls at night. We did wind up making it with a few minutes to spare to gaze at the projected lights on the American Falls and the (Canadian) Horseshoe Falls. Some of the lights that illuminated the falls included the American Flag and the Canadian Flag. We then saw a fireworks show over the bridge that connects the American side to the Canadian side above the Niagara River, and enjoyed it for as long as we could, since we knew this was the final time we would see the Falls before leaving. Consequently, we walked slowly, in awe, viewing the falls one final time before arriving at our hotel and sleeping, resting up before another day on the road to Montreal. 

   The next morning we packed our luggage and hit the road, but we had one more stop before Montreal. I managed to convince my family to stop in Ottawa for some brief sightseeing, as it was a detour which essentially lost us no time on the road, and was an overall cool place to check out, with it being the Capital city of Canada. We even got to see political debates happening in one of the Parliamentary chambers of Government. However, we may have spent a little too much time sightseeing in Ottawa, as my family and I knew that we had to try and get to our hotel in Montreal by sunset, since it was actually an hour away from the city in an elevated forest with little civilization nearby, as a sort of secluded retreat. By sunset, we were still thirty minutes out, so when we had neared the roads leading to our hotel it was pitch black out, with barely any light but our own headlights traversing very curvy roads in the middle of the forest. We prayed there weren’t any bears nearby because if there were, there would definitely be a limited number of people who would hear our cries for help. We also prayed that we wouldn’t fall off a hill, since there was poor visibility traveling at night through very bendy roads. Understandably, these last ten minutes trying to make it to our hotel felt like horrifying hours. We had finally made it to our hotel…in the middle of the night. We were worried about someone trying to check us in because it seemed that no one was at the main check-in cabin, so we tried to figure out what to do until someone found a phone that had a sign to call for nightly check-in. We did so, and just like that, someone had come to check us in. It is understandable (after that entirely horrifying experience) that we were exhausted, so we drove to our cabin, parked, unloaded luggage, and quickly went to sleep. 

   We spent the next day (the 12th) merely relaxing at our hotel before checking out our nearby (20 minute drive away) train station which could connect us directly to the Formula 1 Circuit in Montreal; Circuit Gilles Villeneuve only to find out the capacity at that train station was very limited, served many people, and only had about two trains running it. We had to figure out a different way to get to the track, and we knew that still, a train was our best option since there is a station right at the F1 track. Eventually, we figured out that if we drove about forty minutes to a further station on a different line with a much higher capacity and more space to park, we could take a train with only one transfer to make it to the track from there in about thirty minutes. The best part? The frequency of the trains were always under 10 minutes, so that is exactly what we did the next day. Friday, F1 free practice day at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the transit plan was a great success and we also knew that our seats were one of, if not the best in the house, since I had done extensive research about the track layout and where would be the best spot to sit to view a large amount of track, a part of the track with good overtaking opportunities, and a part that was near a slow enough corner to see one given F1 car at least for more than ten seconds. That did have its cost, however, since the train station near the track was pretty much on the opposite side of the track from where we were sat, so everyday we would have to make an exhausting walk, traversing pretty much the whole track in over a thirty minute walk (just to get to our seats one way). To put into context how fast F1 cars are, they would traverse the distance we had to walk in under a minute. Additionally, the temperature everyday was a lukewarm 80 degrees, so at the end of that walk we would be dehydrated, exhausted, and sweaty. As bad as that sounds, we did get to stay there for pretty much the whole day, as there were other series that raced on track that are included in the price of an F1 ticket, F1 simply being the main event. Anyways, we did enjoy our seats (with an excellent view), and since we were higher up in the grandstand, we did feel a noticeable change in wind and temperature. We felt cooler during the day but were not spared from the sun’s rays, gaining pretty obvious tans. Friday did bring some entertainment even though it was just F1’s practice day, as we got to see the cars run and learn the track, some better than others, since my sister and I vividly remember paying attention to several of the drives’ racing lines through the corner we saw in front of us (turn one). We also vividly remember the horrifying day Alpine F1 Team had on track, as they gave us an excellent show of constantly spinning every single time their drivers tried to take turn one with any kind of speed. Unfortunately for me, too, I vividly remember my favorite driver, Charles Leclerc, crashing out of the first practice session; the damage to his car being too extensive for his mechanics to fix it in time for the second free practice session, as well. I remember hearing a loud thud on track, and audibly saying, “what was that?” just for the trackside screen fans had to look at in their grandstands to show his car in the wall. Those were the highlights of practice day, and when it was all said and done we would have to make the trek back to the train station, which pretty much all three hundred thousand fans there that weekend used, but event organizers were prepared for, getting fans in and out of the station with trains that came back and forth pretty much less than every five minutes. As soon as we returned from the train and drive back to our hotel it was immediately time for bed, otherwise we wouldn’t get a healthy night's sleep before the next day that we hit the track. This back and forth between track and hotel continued for the next two days; qualifying day and race day. 

   Qualifying day, then, brought my favorite driver back into play, as his mechanics fixed his car overnight to get him back on track during the third free practice session and, of course, qualifying. My sister and I also took note of a few interesting things that happened during the qualifying session, like when my favorite driver set the fastest time overall in the first part of the lap, only to get blocked by a slow moving car who was not on a fast lap in the few corners after the sector one-sector two divider. We also saw that for that weekend, it seemed the Medium tire was the faster qualifying tire than the soft, as the soft had good performance at the beginning of a lap, but already had noticeable wear towards the end of a lap, something the Medium solved with having less performance right at the beginning of the lap, but more durability to have more performance toward the end of a lap. We thought this difference between the two tires was what caused the qualifying order to be what it was, with the top two both setting their fastest laps on the Medium tire. 

   Finally, came race day. Honestly, there wasn’t much to say about it as the race was very traditional, not much overtaking action happening, but more strategic action happening about deciding what tires to pit onto and when. That all changed dramatically in the final few laps of the race, however, as my family and I could never forget the moment we saw the two championship contenders, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, go wheel to wheel, battling on track, or at least trying to, heading into turn one. Who would break later? Where did the drivers want to position their cars into turn one? Lando initially was on the right side of Oscar, with Oscar just defending enough space so Lando couldn’t shift his sides and sneak left of Oscar to have the more advantageous positioning into the first corner, but that didn’t stop Lando from trying. He miscalculated the amount of space between Oscar’s car and the wall, and tried to fit his car between that thin gap just to end up nudging his teammate, and sending himself into the wall. It was a moment that we were one of the first in the world to see, which could very much have been the moment that decided the Formula 1 Drivers Championship. I remember thinking in my head “maybe I should record this” but ended up deciding not to since I wanted to live in the moment. I regret every bit of that decision, but I did film post-accident footage and take pictures of the wreckage of Lando Norris’s car. That was it; that was the race weekend done and dusted, since the race ended under a Safety Car, with only a few more laps to go. There was still one more memory to be had, though. At the end of every Formula 1 race, it doesn’t matter the track, all fans are allowed to storm the track to go watch the podium ceremony, or just to walk on the track, in general at certain access points (fenced off walls that track authorities would open somehow). Whilst my parents did not want to storm the track, I desperately wished to, and my sister also wanted to but wanted to wait for the crowd to die down a bit before we proceeded to do so. My parents ended up liking that idea, so we waited a bit, and finally, walked straight onto the track, and even looked back up at where we had been sitting. There was something so magical, though, for entering that track being such an avid Formula 1 fan. It was the equivalent of walking into a candy store for the first time as a child. Knowing that on the very tarmac you are stepping on, legends were made, home heroes crowned, smelling the smell of fuel, hot brakes, seeing the rubber built up on track by the Formula 1 cars. It was all so magical, unexplainable–at the time I was speechless. I just walked there in awe, shock, amazement, and pure joy. It was such a positive, intense feeling that I admittedly haven’t felt in a LOOONG time before that day. The experience I had was an absolutely riveting first Formula 1 experience, and I sure hope it wasn’t the last.

  In the days that followed the race, we still had things we wanted to do in about the one week window we had before heading home. Some days we chose to relax, whilst others we went out sightseeing in Montreal, with some of the highlight sights we had on the itinerary being the Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral–a Cathedral that had the same style and beauty of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, Dorchester Square, the iconic Notre Dame Basilica of Montreal, the Olympic Park (including the Olympic Stadium, the Montreal Tower, and the Montreal Biodome, basically a giant indoor zoo with exhibits from several different climates, and even some aquatic exhibits), Old Montreal, the heart of the city with a rich history and architecture of over 380 years (including cobblestone roads), being established in 1642, The Montreal City Hall, Underground Montreal (the largest underground complex IN THE WORLD with shops, malls, post offices, grocery stores, medical facilities, pharmacies, and more; basically an underground city built so people can still go about their daily lives in the midst of harsh Canadian winters), and the Old Port of Montreal (a port connected to Old Montreal, shares same architecture and history but also has ziplining, a ferris wheel, and a ropes course). 

   That concludes my summer adventure(s). At the end of the day, all good things must come to an end, as did this trip. And so, we had some luggage to pack once more back at our cabin, and once it all had been packed, we loaded it into the car, made sure we weren’t leaving anything behind, and left our cabin for the final time. We had over thirteen hours of road to traverse back home to Chicagoland.

Formula 1

By Erick Santiago

Staff Writer

Intense Title Battle The stakes couldn’t be higher going into Qatar and Abu Dhabi (U.A.E.) in the middle east for the final two (three if you consider the Qatar sprint) duels in the desert. At the time of writing this, with two races in the season remaining, the drivers championship gap is only 24 points, with Lando Norris leading the championship, just barely doing so after a SHOCK double disqualification for McLaren at Las Vegas. BOTH McLaren cars were found with too much plank wear underneath their cars (the plank of the floor being a plank of a glass-reinforced plastic called permaglass made directly in the center of the floor to prevent damage to the floor’s venturi tunnels; explained more in next month’s edition) and were therefore disqualified. However, the constructor's championship has already been wrapped up, with it being mathematically impossible for any other team to win it other than McLaren, so congratulations to them! That doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to fight for in the constructor's, though, since at the time of writing this, merely 53 points separate 2nd (Mercedes) and 4th (Ferrari) with Red Bull being 3rd, a battle for second which will determine important funding, as I’ll explain later. Despite McLaren having undoubtedly the best car, (hence their constructor’s victory) the incredible talent and skill of Max Verstappen clearly won’t be stopped by inferior machinery, with him and Oscar Piastri at a DEADLOCK tie for 2nd in the driver’s standings, chasing Lando Norris down with only a 24 point gap. I cannot even recall the last time we have had this level of competition between drivers to win the driver’s championship, so it would be an unbelievable shame to miss out on a championship which is extremely likely to go down to the very last race in Abu Dhabi. Additionally, Qatar is another Sprint race, allowing title contenders to maximize all of the points they can get to try and be champions of the world. (For context, McLaren’s drivers are Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, Ferrari’s drivers are Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, and Red Bull’s drivers are Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda. For information on how normal F1 races award points, check out September's article. For Sprint races, check out October’s article. Any other information can be found on formula1.com.). Will the experienced seven year F1 driver, Lando Norris, win the driver’s championship after losing it last year to Max Verstappen, or will the even more experienced Max Verstappen who has been in F1 for eleven years put his experience to good use and claw his way back to win it? What about F1’s most successful prodigy, as of late; Oscar Piastri? Those questions will be answered in these two races. As I have previously stated, when there’s so much at stake, it would truly be a shame to miss out. To start out the final two races, we have Qatar. Qatar is the soonest race, hosted in Lusail. Sprint Qualifying is on Friday the 28th of November at 11:30 AM to 12:14 PM. The next day, on the 29th, is the Sprint starting at 8AM and going to 9AM and also qualifying for the race, which is from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM. Finally, on Sunday November 30th at 10:00 AM is the race. The season finale in Abu Dhabi is a normal race weekend, which leaves all the important sessions in qualifying and the race on Saturday and Sunday. That being said, on Saturday December 6th at 8AM to 9AM is qualifying for the race, and on Sunday December 7th is the race at 7 AM. (All times are in CST, Central Standard Time, Illinois and Mid-Western time). As early as that is, it IS the last race of the season, and with how close the drivers' title and 2nd in the constructors are at the time of writing this, that is set to be the final showdown to determine who the champion and runner-up are. To stay updated with the championship battles, frequently check formula1.com after every race. As stated earlier, this article displays the final two races of the season which means the end of the season is near. After the final race in Abu Dhabi, we won’t be racing again until March of next year! 

Prize Pool and ATA/ATR This leads me into my next point, over the course of a season, how do F1 teams pay for and test new upgraded car parts? Starting off with how they pay, F1 teams obviously need money for a variety of other things, so where do they get their money from? Besides treasury from already well-established brands which are admitted into F1, teams receive most of their money from their constructors standings at the end of the year. The higher up a team is, the more money they get from Formula One Management. This money was obtained through entry fees teams have to pay at the start of each season to compete in Formula One, tickets fans buy to attend races, commercial rights, TV rights, sponsorships, and a multitude of other ways. The way this money ends up being collected and handed out to teams is Formula One’s prize pool. Every year, 50% of the total revenue F1 makes is allocated to the teams’ prize pool, and in 2023 half was about $1.6 Billion USD, so this estimate of the teams’ prize pool for 2023 will be based on a $1 Billion prize pool. The exact distribution is kept secret, but as a general idea, this is how it would go: 1st - $140 Million USD | 2nd - $131 Million USD | 3rd - $122 Million USD | 4th - $113 Million USD | 5th - $104 Million USD | 6th - $95 Million USD | 7th - $87 Million USD | 8th - $78 Million USD | 9th - $69 Million USD | 10th - $60 Million USD. Now onto the next question; how do teams test their car parts? In order to test their parts’ aerodynamic efficiency, teams need to put new car parts in their wind tunnels, but they can also test their aerodynamics via computer simulation, called CFD or computational fluid dynamics. Here’s the catch; in order to keep F1 competitive and make sure teams’ cars aren’t severely lagging behind teams ahead of them, there is a restriction on how much time teams can spend testing their car parts in the wind tunnel and on the simulator, called their ATA, Aerodynamic Testing Allowance. The restrictions are called ATR, Aerodynamic Testing Restrictions. It works pretty much in the opposite way as the prize pool does, in the sense that the higher up you are in the constructor’s standings, the smaller amount of testing time (allowance) you’d get for the next six months. That means the amount of time you get for every six months is updated only twice during/in between seasons, once at the end/start of a season, and once in the middle of the season. Teams are allowed to use their aerodynamic testing allowance whenever they want, except over F1’s summer break when all factory operations must be shut down (to give team employees a break). Based off of the constructor's standings, this is the percentage estimate of the amount of aerodynamic testing each team can use per every six months: 1st - 70% | 2nd - 75% | 3rd - 80% | 4th - 85% | 5th - 90% | 6th - 95% | 7th - 100% | 8th - 105% | 9th - 110% | 10th - 115%. Next month, we’ll be going over some of the parts of an f1 car and some flags drivers could see on track. Thanks for reading this month’s edition, I hope you enjoyed the article and this Formula One season. Make sure you don’t miss out on this month’s title deciding races!