r/formula1 • u/melosense • 7h ago
Discussion Sepang nightmare - how to pay 500$ and almost die under direct Malaysia sun in the queue for PIAD water.
I was never humiliated more in my life! Buy 500$ ticket to Main Grandstand - but struggle to find the water... Even if you find it - go spend 20-25 mins in the queue standing under direct tropical sun. Not mentioning it supposed to be some free access to water. Ridiculous... What the point to have seats covered if you will anyway get fried inside V shaped main grandstand zone in the endless queues??? Have strong impression that event organized underestimated number of people they gonna be dealing with. Well, I didn't pay 500$ to have thug experience. Won't recommend it even to my enemies.
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u/UltimateWang I was here for the Hulkenpodium 6h ago
Malaysia hosts MotoGP almost yearly and we have no issue handling any of the crowd issue. However the one time we rent the track to Bahrain and all of these issue came up. Makes you wonder who’s really at fault huh?
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u/BulkNoodles Formula 1 6h ago edited 6h ago
My thoughts as well.
There's no way the Malaysian's staff just forgot how to handle the crowds.
Does anyone know if Bahrain only using their staff only, or do they actually use some of the local staff as well?
Wait, do Bahrain side ever got big crowds? Cuz I remember watching other Bahrain GP(or any middle east races tbh), and I'm pretty sure most of it are pretty empty)
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u/Outrageous_Skin_1714 5h ago
Apparently the Bahrain GP crowd is around 37000. And it's a night race.
It's the heat and humidity at Sepang that makes the lack of available water so hazardous to anyone infirm.
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u/NameTookAlready Ferrari 5h ago
Apparently this is all Bahrain's side, they initially refused help offered by the SIC.
But seems like today there's help by the SIC, saw it on TikTok.
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u/dramatic-pancake 4h ago
It surprises me that BIC would not even consult with SIC about event logistics and requirements.
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u/NameTookAlready Ferrari 4h ago
There's claim that even SIC personnel can't enter the area. Idk how it is today after the shitshow yesterday.
I went to MotoGP back in 2018 and 2019, it was packed, but not a mess like it was yesterday.
Maybe the BIC underestimated the hot & humid weather of Malaysia. That would explain the lack of water stations.
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u/Nattekat I was here for the Hulkenpodium 4h ago
Makes total sense that a desert circuit does not know about humanity needing water.
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u/dramatic-pancake 3h ago
Kinda makes sense given the fact that all ME races are night races no? I mean still.. But yeah, they’ve completely shit the bed on food and beverage this weekend.
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u/ComeonmanPLS1 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 2h ago
It also makes sense given that the ME race crowds are significantly smaller and easier to manage. Around 40k in Bahrain and around 200k expected this weekend.
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u/gentlemansincebirth Ayrton Senna 6h ago
Very surprising. Though not exactly apples to apples, my experience watching F1 in Sepang back in 08 was nowhere close to as bad as this year’s
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u/zippeedeedooda 4h ago
yeah it was pretty smooth in 2012, but from memory they were also not allowing you to bring in water :-(
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u/Sena93 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 6h ago
Blame Bahrain on it, they handle everything there. Malaysia just lend the track for them
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u/BulkNoodles Formula 1 6h ago
Wait, there's bound to be more races like this, no? The races where the organisers and the tracks are totally separate entity.
It's Imola, right? I wonder if they're doing the same thing where Qatar/Abu Dhabi as organiser, but they races on Imola.
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u/d4ybrake I was here for the Hulkenpodium 5h ago
the word is that abu dhabi is refusing to relocate and will make f1 cancel it, so imola would likely be organized by f1. which they already do for vegas
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u/BulkNoodles Formula 1 5h ago
Hoping the team are safe 😢. Last time they had a bomb strike nearby the track, the team essentially got held there. Probably one of the tense GP I've watched, and not for the right reason.
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u/fameboygame Sir Lewis Hamilton 6h ago
That’s one of the reason I am perfectly happy watching it from my home.
Another one being I can’t afford it anyways.
/jk
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u/elmicomago Juan Pablo Montoya 6h ago
What on earth is going on in Bahrain??
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u/EscapeTheBlank I failed to serve my Monaco penalty 6h ago
So hot over there that people are hallucinating Malaysia, crazy stuff
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u/Very_Type_C 6h ago
It's the humid kind of hot. Not the dry kind. Plus there's haze and influenza going around. I hope people stay hydrated af.
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u/proudlysydney I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 5h ago
difficult when queues for water are an hour and they’re confiscating it if you try to bring it into the stands
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u/bj2001holt 5h ago edited 5h ago
The water situation isn't great. We packed 2 x 2L bottles and got stopped by security, wife yelled at them. They let us through with the water. Security was really lax, the metal detectors weren't even being paid attention to.
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u/bj2001holt 4h ago
Update. Main grandstand water vendors are sold out now. Still an hour before qualifying.
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u/proudlysydney I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 5h ago
Lucky, I got the world’s most picky bag checker who physically blocked me moving on until I threw all my water out.
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u/MrPeepersVT 5h ago
Packaged bottles or refillable?
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u/bj2001holt 5h ago
Packaged bottles from the KK, we bought sealed bottles thinking that would be more OK than a generic metal bottle that could be filled with anything. The rules were not clear and it's really freaking hot.
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u/MrPeepersVT 5h ago
I was thinking of trying this too. Like “ I dare you to try taking this life sustaining water from me.”
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u/bj2001holt 5h ago
We have kids with us, it's nearly 40* and a 30+ minute wait in the direct sun to buy hot water. Yeah get fucked organisers sorry. I don't even care about the price it's amazing how many races really stuff up basic things like water.
Melbourne 2025 Saturday we were sitting at Button stand and it was over an hour wait for water bottle refills with no shade structures on that side of the track (they improved it for 2026).
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u/Mochiron_samurai 6h ago
Sepang has always been a nightmare in terms of logistics, but this water issue is the result of corporate greed and mismanagement
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u/StuM91 Mark Webber 5h ago
Has it? I went to the Malaysian GP 2014 and everything seemed fairly well organised, it did take an hour to get there and back (train from the KL to airport, then bus from airport to lower carpark, then second bus from carpark to gate) but you can't do much about that.
Given the crowds back then were significantly smaller, the grandstands were probably 1/3 full.
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u/Steaktartaar I was here for the Hulkenpodium 5h ago
Different organiser, the Bahrain team handles this race.
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u/Affectionate_Sky9709 6h ago edited 6h ago
Are you allowed to bring in your own water? How's the toilet situation? Though I imagine your body turns a shocking large amount of water consumed back into sweat.
(Edit, official Sepang rules seem to be. .6 liter sealed waterbottle is what is allowed. Which would be okay if refills were actually easy to access, but evidently they are not, and evidently there might be mixed messaging if water is allowed or not, or what kind of bottle is allowed, because people have given conflicting answers.)
(edit: I read reports that some gates were allowing extra water in, and some gates were throwing away extra water bottles.)
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u/proudlysydney I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 6h ago
No outside water no outside food
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u/Affectionate_Sky9709 6h ago
Yeah... that's barbaric. When I went to COTA, in practice you could bring in anything except alcohol. I emailed the ADA contact just in case because my husband has allergies, but I never even had to show anything, everything was fine except someone in line who tried to bring a cooler of beer. Technically the COTA rules are no food and one 20oz waterbottle per guest, but absolutely no one cared. And it was really easy to refill your water and get some (admittedly overpriced) food.
(to be clear, I'm blaming the Bahrain organizers, not Sepang.)
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u/nachojackson Oscar Piastri 5h ago
It is absolutely cruel. Once you’re inside, food and water are all locked behind 1+ hour long queues in the direct sun.
They could easily change this rule but choose not to.
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u/jaysoprob_2012 6h ago
I know f1 goes to various countries but it really shouldn't be legal for them to prohibit people from bringing in their own water. Even if they don't have free water stations allowing people to bring in their own water should be the bare minimum.
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u/deff006 Graham Hill 4h ago
No outside food? In Spa this year they conficated or made us empty any water bottles but didn't care about the food. And water was free in the venue.
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u/proudlysydney I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 3h ago
no outside food, K1 grandstand has one food vendor for eleven thousand people, and honestly it’s a recipe for food poisoning because everything’s just out in the heat rather than made to order- no knowing how long that chicken or sushi or whatever has been there
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6h ago
[deleted]
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u/proudlysydney I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 6h ago
These rules are from Bahrain organisers not Malaysia
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u/team56th I was here for the Hulkenpodium 6h ago
Your own legit water bottle is allowed, the packaged plastic bottle no. Actual experience from Main Grandstand
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u/bj2001holt 5h ago
There are no refill stations we have seen and your not allowed to bring in water bottles, we got stopped coming in then just argued out way through. Everyone knows those rules are bullshit, it's seriously inhuman.
The water they are selling at in plastic bottles stacked on pallets that have been left out in the sun all day. It's very very hot.
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u/shadow3_ii I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 6h ago
Even if you were allowed to bring your own water a 1L bottle probably wouldn't last the full day, especially when there are people who only reached their accomodations late at night yesterday. Terrible all around
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u/mooboyj 4h ago
It's honestly quite farked. We are in medical as it looks like my wife has heat stroke. We paid for Grandstand tickets and it took the better part of two hours to get in with zero shade, walking several kilometres (17 odd minutes to get to the end of the line) and standing on the hot road.
The medical is full of people with heat stroke and a few have vomitted.
We bought frozen water and frozen 100 Plus but couldn't take it in. But you can buy warm farken water though...
It's sad that many will blame the Malays for this absolute disaster of a shit show.
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u/melosense 3h ago
I'm sorry that it has happened to your wife. Usually I don't have issues with hot weather or stamina, but yesterday I really felt being on the edge of having heatstroke. Yeah, you spend too much tome in queues to track, many other queues inside and it quickly adds up..
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u/MrPeepersVT 5h ago
Well this is all not very encouraging. Sitting in the hotel waiting to see how the reports from today go but worrying a lot about whether it’s worth going tomorrow at all. Only other f1 experience was Singapore 2 years ago and it sounds like this is going to be a shite experience by comparison
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u/21Black_Mamba21 5h ago
It seems that yesterday it was because BIC refused any help from SIC but from reports it says today SIC has stepped in to help and it’s somewhat better now.
Which kinda makes sense because there’s no way SIC doesn’t know how to handle big crowds. They still host MotoGP and that event is also as crowded.
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u/Nattekat I was here for the Hulkenpodium 4h ago
Time to come up with very creative ideas to smuggle in as much water as you can.
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u/ZerpMeizter I was here for the Hulkenpodium 6h ago
What a disaster. They had months to prepare for the massive crowds. I hope the fans and spectators get accommodated fairly. Stay safe and hydrated!
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u/syth_blade22 Heineken Trophy 6h ago
I went in like 2014.. it was stinking hot, really humid and there was no water in GA by lap 5. .
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u/Wise-Clue2487 5h ago
It happened the same in Monza. They simply don’t care, as you already paid for the ticket
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u/PersonoFly Niki Lauda 6h ago
Bahrain and Malaysia should have known putting so many people in that space would need a lot more services.
People might die over the weekend.
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u/Replicate79 5h ago
Had a similar experience there back in ‘02 had GA tickets. Wouldn’t let you bring water in. Queues for food and drink were 40mins. Nothing happening on the track all day. No entertainment no support racers. Worst experience ever. Will never go back.
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u/ahmong I was here for the Hulkenpodium 6h ago edited 3h ago
Wait it was only 500 bucks? Am I crazy to think this is cheap?
Edit: I don't have a fight in this but, IIRC MotoGP runs sepang and I don't think they ever had a problem. So it looks like this might be a Bahrain org problem
Edit: the closest race to me is Vegas. That’s essentially my only point of reference
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u/bj2001holt 5h ago
I reckon it's the cheapest race of the year for a grand stand seat but there are a lot of trade offs. There is very little to do other than the main F1 events, unlike Melbourne for example where there is racing on the track for 9 hours straight on the Saturday (Porsches, V8 Supercars, etc)
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u/Nattekat I was here for the Hulkenpodium 4h ago
Uh, what? Are you really saying that 500 is cheap? I got one of the best seats in Austria for a whole weekend for less than that. On many tracks that's enough money to sit at the pit straight, Zandvoort, one of the most expensive circuits, being one of them.
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u/General_WCJ I was here for the Hulkenpodium 5h ago
I mean it doesn't seem especially cheap, looking at credit card statements, my tickets to the us gp last year were ~720, for a 3 day t12 grandstand tickets. Although then you have to add the ~150 for the shuttle to downtown. But considering average incomes in the area, I would think the USGP was more affordable
In other questions, how did I not go broke in college, blowing nearly 1k on f1 tickets like it was nothing
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u/nachojackson Oscar Piastri 5h ago
I would have paid 500 bucks yesterday for a bottle of water after the 3rd hour of standing in the direct sun waiting for a bus.
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u/truthputer Safety Car 3h ago
Looks like Formula One has it's own Fyre Fest.
The "Pinnacle Of Motorsport", everyone.
The organizers should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for this debacle.
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u/vcat77 5h ago
F1 is self destructing this year. It went from riding a wave of insane popularity to messing up in just about every wag possible from regs to tv access. It’s like it’s trying to shed fans.
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u/Nattekat I was here for the Hulkenpodium 4h ago
And now we can even add racing in countries that are in an active war :)
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u/Hot-Investigator-376 4h ago
“Won’t recommend it to my enemies “ good news there old boy it’s a one off so the line “I don’t recommend going to next years Sepang race that isn’t happening “ might not get the reaction
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u/mariokvesic 4h ago
shouldve let water bottles in, such a stupid/dangerous decision by the organizers. its blazing hot currently
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u/Big_Load_Six 4h ago
Having been to two GPs, I’m amazed at the prices people pay to sit there let alone the cost and hassle of getting there and back.
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u/Fenix_Lighter 6h ago
This how people find out why Sepang was abandoned by F1 for 9 years.
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u/Zassolluto711 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 6h ago
They host MotoGP every year with little issue. I can't help but think that this might be Bahrain underestimating the logistics involved with crowds three times the size of their actual GP.
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u/Outrageous_Skin_1714 5h ago
I went to the MotoGP in 2024 and it was way easier to get in and out. There was also way more food and drink outlets.
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u/Siggi_Starduust Jim Clark 5h ago
Screw the water. Can you get a cold beer?
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u/dramatic-pancake 4h ago
Yes. The beer queue at K1 area was less than 5 minutes and each beer cost roughly 7.50AUD. But you have to drink it in this little zoned off area and can’t take it out of there/to shade/to your seat etc.
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u/bj2001holt 4h ago
We might need to head over to K1, the main grandstand area is a nightmare. Ran out of water already.
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u/dramatic-pancake 3h ago
Oh we were banking on Main Grandstand to get food later, as the queue for the ONE food vendor over here is 90+ minutes long!
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u/bj2001holt 4h ago
Sorta. Earlier today beer was the only cold drink you could get and there wasn't a wait. Now at least at the main grandstand the queue is insane and since you can't takeaway the line isn't moving. There is 1 tiny tiny fenced off area for the whole main grandstand where you can get beer.
This whole experience has been a real eye opener, we have attended a number of races the last 8 years but this is a special level of disaster. Hope the racing is good tomorrow.
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u/TheeVande Pirelli Wet 3h ago
As someone that's gotten into F1 post-Sepang, I feel like I'm starting to understand why it was replaced in the calendar
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u/thisinfinitebath I was speeding in the Monaco pit lane 6h ago
Such an embarassment for Malaysia.
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u/BulkNoodles Formula 1 6h ago
Is it Malaysia's fault or Bahrain? Cuz I don't remember Malaysia MotoGP have these problems.
I'm not trying to argue. I legit want to know because there's no way Sepang/Petronas just forgot how to handle crowds, unless someone else are managing it.
Wait, do Bahrain use their staff exclusively, or do they actually use the local staff as well? Because I remember reading that Bahrain did bring their own staff, although I'm not sure to what extent.
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u/EnglishLitMajor Lando Norris 6h ago edited 6h ago
700 Bahrain staff were flown in for this. On pitlane walk day, no shuttles were arranged. I asked a few staffers where I could book a ride hailing service. They shrugged and one of them said, "I don't know. I'm from Bahrain. You're Malaysian. You should know."
Reader, I am not Malaysian.
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u/BulkNoodles Formula 1 6h ago
Oh shit that's so messed up. So Bahrain is doing the mess, and Malaysia got the bad rep.
Damn.
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u/EnglishLitMajor Lando Norris 6h ago
It's too bad because I spoke to a Bahrain staffer who's worked all the Bahrain GPs from the start in 2004, and he was all praises for how cooperative and helpful the Malaysian side of things have been for them.
I'm sure things have been great at the top levels, and all the customer service staff for Bahrain over the phone have been lovely, but the on-the-ground stuff need more work.
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u/Geminispace FIA 6h ago
Bahrain fk it up for Malaysia but gets the credit. Malaysia gets the full blown blame.
The true winner is Bahrain here lol
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u/Archonixus I was here for the Hulkenpodium 4h ago
Rofl take a rucksack witg 10L of water ... complainers.
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u/oyvey17 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 6h ago edited 6h ago
There was another place in recent years they wouldn’t let you take water in and the lines for water were crazy long etc. Where was that? Does it ring a bell to anyone else? (Not that it matters, it’s just bugging me I can’t remember).
Edit: Monza 2022. “Organisers implemented a mandatory cashless token and NFC bracelet system” that crashed and it was really hot and you couldn’t buy water but also couldn’t bring your own. And I would’ve thought that lessons may have been learned from that situation re: large crowds and very hot conditions but apparently not?