No food update, but enjoy this beautiful photo of cherry blossoms
Ah, Japan.
It’s been far too long since I’ve been there (2017 was the most recent trip). I think with longing of department store basements with incredible bakeries (and disturbingly high priced fruits), fast and reliable trains and their stations with their locally sourced and specialized bento lunches, vending machines in the middle of rice fields with heated cans of coffee in the winter…
I was looking forward to revisiting my Japanese adopted roots for the 2024 Suzuka race, debating about what to make for dinner. Katsu curry, with a Japanese curry made from scratch (and not from a “Vermont Curry” roux cube)? Or maybe chirashi zushi, like the one my Japanese language professor made for our class that I couldn’t stop eating? Or maybe go a little sleazy and make ramen (but one of Morimoto Masaharu’s tonkotsu packets)?
Lots of ideas, all mouth-wateringly delicious.
However.
Somehow I missed the memo that the race was occurring while my co-driver and I were out of town.
Whoops.
I also missed that there were no support races. So no F2 or F3 or F1 Academy races in conjunction with the F1 race.
Bummer.
But that was fine! It was a Japan race, happening amid the gorgeous cherry blossoms in full bloom. We would get back home, enjoy the race lead-up, watch the highlights from the practice sessions, then the qualifying, and then the race. Sure, it would be after everything had wrapped up overseas (gotta love a 16-hour time difference), but that was fine. Heck, we’re busy watching races from 2014. What’s a less than 24-hour delay in a current race?
We also had some Morimoto tonkotsu ramen packets on the shelf, and even some frozen gyoza! Everything would be fine.
And then it wasn’t.
We were so tired that the ramen didn’t happen. The gyoza did, but it was freezer-burned gyoza from 2017 (if the bag was to be believed). No Japanese beer, but we did have a leftover bottle of yuzu liqueur from my birthday.
So the F1 cookbook menu for Suzuka: rice, freezer-burned gyoza, yuzu liqueur.
Yeah. Not entirely satisfying.
Just like the race.
The Williams team continues to eat chassis like they’re Pocky, and Logan Sargeant* just can’t get enough—he hit the wall in practice and broke his car’s front wing (this car being the Frankencar Williams has patched together because THEY DON’T HAVE A SPARE CHASSIS)**.
Then there was the crash involving Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon (the other Williams driver). So the Williams car that was theoretically fine for the race got totaled in the first lap, leaving the now Super Franken car (having been patched up again post-practice) with Logan Sargeant as the only Williams entry. So of course Logan decides to drive the car through the gravel on lap 42 (note: we fell asleep between laps 30-45, so I missed the gravel bit).
In the end (because there really was no point to this race), Red Bull finished 1-2 with Max and Checo, and then my hero Carlos Sainz took 3rd. There was some hullabaloo about Yuki Tsunoda scoring points (1 point because he came in 10th place) at his home race. And that was it.
A snor-filled race (metaphorically and literally) and a less than exciting dinner. The yuzu liqueur was still quite good, and Carlos took third, so at least something came of the whole thing.***
Hopefully dinner (and racing) will get back on track with the next race: Shanghai!
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*Someone explain to me how Logan Sergeant is still in F1? HOW?!?
**Someone explain to me how a professional racing team does NOT have a spare chassis? WTF?
***All that said, the Japanese fans are amazing and very creative in their support for their favorite teams and drivers. I’m still shaking my head over the Ferrari fans in scarlet red samurai armor and scarlet red horse heads. And that doesn’t even mention the Japan Railways staff dance/martial arts routine before the race started (which sadly, I can’t find any mention of on the internets).
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