Behind the scenes at Valencia

A beautiful location, great weather and a fascinating race: the European GP had it all, but there is still something missing. Jonathan Noble reports from behind the scenes in Valencia

Published Jun 25, 2012, 12:21 PM

Amazing sunshine; a beach within a few hundred metres of the race track; a harbour side location; boats between the hotels and the paddock; celebrity stars like Roberto Carlos and Eric Clapton; a sensational race and superbly emotional winner: the European Grand Prix at Valencia had all the ingredients that should make it one of the very best Formula 1 races on the calendar.

Yet somehow there has always seemed to be a tiny spark missing that instead leaves the paddock fraternity without that feeling of excitement that it gets when it walks through those swipes gates in to Monaco, Montreal or Singapore.

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Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.