My weekend at the Canadian Grand Prix as a Marshal- Ruth Nugent
an all female crew marshalled turn 6 of the canadian grand prix.
Earlier this month I jetted off to Montreal with my fellow marshals (Chris Nugent, Enda Cully, Graham Kelly, Mattie Kennedy & Patrick Moore) from Mondello Park to take up the opportunity to be an Intervention Marshal at the F1 Canadian GP. The circuit experience kicked off on the Thursday getting a tour around the F1 paddock. The best and rare thing about the Canadian GP that sets it aside from the others from a marshalling perspective, is that you get to work on a different corner every day which really enhances the whole experience.
On Friday, I had the honour of being a part of an all-female team working at turn 6 of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the day. The corner consisted of flag marshals, intervention marshals, radio operators and a corner chief from countries such as the United States, Canada, Mexico and of course – Ireland. A crash in one of the support races started off the day which tested everyone’s skills and knowledge. We worked so well as a team, and it was incredibly empowering and fulfilling to be surrounded by such strong, capable women. After racing was finished, the organisers of the event had kindly arranged for all marshals to get to walk pitlane where the various F1 teams pit crews were working on their cars and experience all that was going on which was a bonus on top of such a great day!
On Saturday, I was reunited with the all-Irish crew from Mondello, and we were working at post 9.3 for the day. Our corner chief, Enda Cully, encouraged us to swap roles for the support races to allow us to gain some experience in various roles so I was flagging for most of the day. This post’s flagging point was right on the edge of the race line with the cars a mere metre away from you allowing for you to feel like you are literally in the middle of the racing – it was incredible! As we all have marshalled together so many times before we felt comfortable working with one another, and we managed the day with ease and enjoyed it thoroughly.
On Sunday, after 2 days of being on our feet for 13-15 hours each day and about 4-5 hours’ sleep each day due to the traveling to and from the track, we were exhausted but absolutely buzzing for the race day! We were posted on turn 4 for the day and the Irish were paired up with some extra marshals for support due to the complexity of the corner which included having two flagging posts either side of the track. It was a brilliant race to watch at turn 4 as there were plenty of mistakes and corrections being made by drivers in the rain resulting in lots of excitement including Logan Sargeant’s incident where he tipped off the wall. He was unable to restart, so we assisted the recovery team in getting the car and driver off the track safely and sweep the debris off the track as soon as possible under the safety. It was thrilling being so close to the action, and handling the F1 cars.
There are marshals from literally all over the world that come to work at this event, and we got to meet so many people all of whom also come from their own small, hometown race tracks. Hearing their stories and learning how they run things in their country at their home tracks was fascinating and eye-opening.
Overall, the racing was amazing, the people were incredible, and it was a weekend full of experiences to remember forever!
If you want to start your marshalling career, we are currently recruiting car marshals to help us out at events held in Mondello Park. If you’re interested, please get in touch by emailing us at [email protected] or you can find us on Facebook or Instagram.