It's often said that the volunteer marshals are the unsung heroes of motorsport. Often said, because it's true -- without the men and women who freely give their time to flag waving and vehicle recovery in everything from blazing sunshine to pouring rain, no category would be able to go racing.
Over the years I have come to know a number of different fans-turned-marshals from around the world, and one thing that unites them all -- aside from a love of motorsport, naturally -- is the way they all wax lyrical about the sense of family in the marshalling community. There's a certain kinship among those who know what it feels like to spend a weekend sweating or freezing in an orange fireproof onesie.
During this year's Bahrain Grand Prix it was brought to my attention that the circuit had a particularly high proportion of female marshals, who numbered around 30 percent of the volunteer group. One of those marshals is Faten Hasan, who works as chief observer at the Bahrain International Circuit, and who will this year be attending the maiden Azerbaijan race to help train the marshals there. Hasan and her colleague, clerk of the course Fayez Ramzy Fayez, agreed to be interviewed about life as a BIC volunteer.
"I've been passionate about motorsports ever since I was a kid," she explains. "I was crazy about NASCAR, so when they told us that Bahrain would be hosting the F1, I was over-excited. In 2004 I wasn't actually able to be a marshal, but I joined in 2005 and have been here ever since.
"I was so excited to learn everything. I started out on track as an observer, and then in 2006 I became a sector marshal, and did that until 2012. Every time I say I'm going to leave, and I just keeping on coming to the next race and the next and the next."
Through her work as a marshal, Hasan has been able to travel to other circuits where she helps train new volunteers. "I've been to Abu Dhabi; [Bahrain] trained the marshals there. Also in India I was on the training team in 2011 and 2012, so I did the same with the Indian marshals. Next, I'm going to Baku as well as a training committee member. When we go to Baku I will be training the trackside marshals on communication and how to be observers and at the same time how to be flag marshals and track marshals because I have the experience already.
"We're all one big family," she concludes. "We bond. We went to Abu Dhabi and we just made friends so easily. Also in India - I'm still in touch with some of the Indian marshals on Facebook. And now I've made new family, the Baku marshals."
The global family of marshals looks after each other long past the end of each race weekend, with national groups celebrating their efforts at annual dinners and pulling together to support each other through times of need. The Bahraini marshals have not been immune from misfortune, and it is in these times that the community has really shown what it's made of.
Clerk of the course Fayez Ramzy Fayez tells me the story of one of the BIC's volunteers, who started out as a flag marshal in 2013. In 2015, she had a serious motorcycle accident and lost part of her leg.
"She took a very long time to recover, but in October 2014 she came back to BIC," Fayez recalls. "We invited her back during the F1 grand prix. We went to the racetrack and told them, 'we have a very special marshal who we want to take out in the safety car when you go out for inspection', and they did. So we took her out on the track for the inspection. Now she's got her prosthetic and she's back marshalling."
Returning to action is something of a habit at the BIC, with more than one volunteer overcoming adversity so that they could continue to pursue their passion. "There's another guy, a gentleman who started marshalling a long time ago," Fayez reveals. "He had a motorcycle accident in December 2015, and he lost his arm. He was originally part of the fire crew, and now he's a track marshal. He does everything with one arm, and he was back after three months. Three months. He came back and he's like, 'you're not going to get me out of here!'."
"I'm very, very proud of our marshals," Fayez concludes. "Twelve years ago we were students, we were learning from the Australians. We went to Australia and we learned motorsports from the Australians and within five or six years we became trainers. We do a regional training programme for the FIA; we are the tenth country to do that. Also, we are one of only two countries in the world to train motorsports medical teams. It's Bahrain and Germany.
"We've trained and marshalled about five or six different countries, be it in the region or India and now Baku," he continues. "We don't get involved in just training: we take a whole package from help with recruitment; help with organising the race, training and then running the race, help running the race.
"Our mission is not to be there, our function is to get out as soon as possible. In India [we left] after the second year, the third year they ran it completely on their own. So that's our key performance indicator: not how long we're there, but how fast we can get them on their feet and we're out."