Having to leave a race early should never be part of a Grand Prix experience (Sepang rant)
Everyone probably knows the gist already of how badly organized the whole weekend was. None the less, it is absolutely awful, having to pay these insane prices for a race weekend and simultanously having to leave any on-track action early, just to be able to guarantee a trip back on time. And we are not talking about the usual Grand Prix-experience à la "if we finish the race we might be back an hour late", but much rather a difference of being back at your hotel by 7pm versus by midnight.
I would like to say the crowd management has gotten better with each day, but even the best day of the weekend had much poorer handling than any other event on the F1 calendar. As someone who has been to multiple Grand Prixs, huge concerts and several festivals, I can safely say that this has been the worst event I have ever attended in regards to coordination, crowd-control, basic security and accessibilty. Which is a damn shame, because the layout of the track is amazing, there was some great on track action and the vibe within the grandstands was nothing short of incredible throughout the weekend. Personally, I would love to have Sepang back on the official calendar, but not in its' current state.
Let it be known, that I also do not care about pointing fingers. People have been spreading the word that it was Bahrains fault, as they themselves wanted full control over the race weekend. But I do not care who was in charge or who was at fault. Formula One is considered the pinncale of motorsport. Fans pay ridicolous amounts of money to attend race weekends. This should neither be the norm nor the exception. If a proper handling of an event of such scale can not be warranted on such short notice, then it should not be allowed to transpire at all. This is not just about comfort by the way. It was hours upon hours in chaotic, slow moving queues with no proper communication, on a dry parking lot without any shade or access to basic food or water. People got heatstrokes, fainted and the risk of a stampede was never zero. An utterly unacceptable state of affairs by all managing parties involved and a disgrace to an otherwise wonderful track.