Formula 1 is a global sport that fills all fans with passion, regardless of age, from the youngest to the oldest, and sometimes moving and joyful stories can be seen, such as the one starring Doña Marília , a lady 87-year-old Portuguese
The Portuguese traveled to the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix from Porto to experience what is a weekend of racing in the highest category of motorsport for the first time from within, in the paddock itself. Thanks to the help of television from her native country, SPORT TV , we were able to closely follow the career of the woman who fulfilled a dream on the Red Bull Ring circuit.
A Formula 1 fan since she went to the event in her hometown in 1958 , a race that Stirling Moss won with Vanwall and in which names like Jack Brabham , Graham Hill or Mike Hawthorn were present , she was able to get excited knowing her heroes.
Doña Marília was especially excited to be with Lewis Hamilton, whom she visited at the Mercedes motorhome, and with whom she shared a beautiful moment, along with her granddaughter, Maria Craveiro . The two guests were excited when they left the meeting with the seven-time world champion, and assured that they wished him the best of luck so that he could continue doing what he has always been accustomed to, in addition to receiving two team caps as a gift.
However, the Briton was not the only one they visited, as the grandmother and granddaughter met another of the world champions on the current grid, Fernando Alonso, with whom they shared a short conversation.
“Is everything alright?” Doña Marília asked the Spaniard, who answered yes in perfect Portuguese, in addition to asking the lady if she was happy to go to Formula 1 and thanked her for the gesture of going to see him.
Another rider who spent a few minutes with him was Charles Leclerc, with whom he took a picture in the middle of the paddock while acknowledging that the Monegasque was someone very “nice”. Although the best came the moment the traffic lights went out, when the lucky grandmother was able to see the fastest single-seaters in the world from a very privileged place, the Alpine garage.
“Marília is 87 years old and has joined us for this weekend and live her dream of visiting the Formula 1 paddock,” the French team said on its social networks accompanied by two photographs with her granddaughter, attentive to what passed on the track.
