Ann Bradshaw, a journalist and press officer with three decades of experience in motor racing, and one of the most respected workers in the F1 paddock, follows the 2002 season in her post-race column, offering F1 fans an insight into the life of those who spend the GP weekend inside the paddock

Yellow plastic cows will be my abiding memory of the Nurburging. Sounds strange? Well, read on.

A home Grand Prix for sponsors is always an important event and I am sure the marketing departments of big corporations involved in the sport always spend hours trying to work out how to make their home race that little bit special. I have seen all sorts of stunts in the past, but I don't think I have ever seen anything quite like the Deutsche Post cows at the Nurburgring in 2001.

Sponsors of the Jordan team, this large German company has a distinctive logo, but I have no idea why suddenly life-size yellow cows were chosen to be part of the marketing strategy. And so last year, about a mile down the road from the entrance to the circuit, there was a field full of these bright yellow cows with the Deutsche Post logo emblazoned on them.

At this time I was standing in for the WilliamsF1 press officer, Silvia Hoffer, who was off having her lovely daughter Veronica, so I was going to all the races with the team. The WilliamsF1 marketing department always travels to and from the circuit in a mini bus and so you can imagine the hoots of laughter from the assembled crew the first time we saw this field of cows.

We all had a good laugh but it was the head of marketing, Jim Wright, who came up with the idea of some cattle rustling! What he suggested was a quick recce to see if the herd was well guarded. Therefore, on the way back to the hotel on Saturday night the first raid happened.

Our mini bus was driven by Tom Potter, who slowed down as we came by the field and let a couple of our number - namely Jim and Events Manager Katie Aspinall - out. They rushed into the field, gave a couple of cows a shove, and then rushed back to the mini bus and off we went. The report was it was going to be a 'pushover' as the cows gave very little resistance. There was also only one guard and at that time he seemed to be sleeping off the effects of a quiet day and perhaps the odd bottle of Veltins or Warsteiner...

The plans were then laid for a full-scale assault on our way to the airport on Sunday night. As we left the circuit after seeing both cars finish in the top six we were in a reasonably happy mood. The traffic was pretty heavy so no one really thought anything strange as we slowed down to a halt, and suddenly half a dozen people rushed into the field and into the middle of the cows.

From then on it was a matter of who could push the most over before the guard spotted us. The scene, which was being video-shot by Tom the getaway driver, was of cows going down like ten pins. I found one to push over and was there a few seconds too late, as my colleague gave it the first push and I was nearly flattened like a cow pat.

Suddenly the guard realised what was going on and gave chase. We all rushed back to the bus, where Tom was revving the engine. I have to admit I have never been a good runner, so I was the last back to safety, and as Tom let out the clutch I was being hauled in so as we went down the road, my bottom was sticking out of the sliding door...

I don't think we stopped laughing about this until we got to Cologne airport, and when we played back the video of what we had done we laughed even harder, as the score was WilliamsF1 Marketing department 17, Deutsche Post Cows 0. Not being ones to hide our lights under bushels, we then distributed this to all our friends and were delighted to hear that the people who laughed most about the exploits were our boss, Frank Williams, and the people back at Deutsche Post.

*   *   *

My other memory of an eventful journey home from this race was in 2000, when I was with Arrows and we used to travel to races in a plane run by European Aviation. The company, owned by Minardi boss Paul Stoddart, would collect us from Coventry airport where we had to allow about five minutes to park our cars and check in. It was bliss, as there were none of the dramas of delays so often experienced at airports such as Heathrow. However, we did experience the down side after trying to leave Cologne airport after the race.

We had all got stuck in the usual dreadful Nurburgring traffic and so not everyone made it in time for the scheduled 8:30pm take off. The Germans can be very dogmatic when you do such things, as they insisted that 8:30pm meant just that and so refused to delay our take off, as the plane we were in was too noisy to be given a later slot.

To say Paul took this badly would be an understatement, and he decided to take on the controllers at Cologne airport. I won't repeat here some of the remarks he made about the locals, but when suddenly a group of security vehicles arrived and surrounded our plane it was obvious they were taking it seriously.

The best way I can describe what happened is that we were hijacking ourselves. And as in all such negotiations, these too went on and on, and at the end someone has to back down. Needless to say it was Paul and eventually at 11:00pm we were off loaded. Luckily, it was not a typical hijack plane, as it was stacked up with wine, beer and champagne, and we were not in a hurry to get off. A rather merry group of people comprising the Arrows F1 and F3000 teams was eventually offloaded and luckily we even had legendary TV commentator Murray Walker with us to keep us amused.

*   *   *

One of my regrets in my motor sport career is not to have seen a race at the old 14-mile long Nurburgring, but at the same time I refuse to be driven round the disused track by some lunatic driver who thinks he's Michael Schumacher.

It is possible to pay to drive your own car or bike round the Nordschleife, and this is often the first thing many members of the Grand Prix fraternity do in their hire cars. I have always declined any offers to be part of this, but I would have loved to see the likes of Jim Clark, Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart driving what was without doubt one of the most exhilarating tracks there has ever been.

I remember how sad the journalists - who were around in the days when the full track was used - felt when they arrived at the revised track for the first time for the Grand Prix of Europe in 1984. They were still remarking how sad it was that the new track had very little character when I made my first visit in 1985 for that year's German Grand Prix there.

I will always remember this race: I had just started to work for WilliamsF1 through an agency called CSS Promotions - one of the most respected agencies in F1 which, apart from looking after the sponsorship and PR for WilliamsF1, also looked after the PR for John Player with the Lotus team. This meant I travelled to all the races with Tony Jardine - now an ITV F1 commentator - as he was the man in charge of PR for JPS Team Lotus.

The event on the 4th August happened to clash with the Bike Grand Prix in the UK, and as Murray Walker used to commentate for the BBC for both F1 and the Bikes, the powers that be decided he should miss the Nurburgring and stay back in the UK for the Bikes at Silverstone. To cut a very long story short, this led the BBC to ask Tony to step into the breach.

Tony was a good commentator, but had never done anything on this scale and to say he was nervous would be an understatement. It was agreed that between the two of us we could do the three jobs - PR for Williams and Lotus and the commentary - so while Tony was giving pearls of wisdom to the BBC viewers, I was rushing about talking to four drivers for two press releases (the drivers being Nigel Mansell and Keke Rosberg at Williams and Ayrton Senna and Elio de Angelis at Lotus).

From the very start of the weekend Tony took his responsibilities very seriously. As soon as we arrived back at the hotel each evening he would rush to his room to do his homework, memorising facts about the drivers and teams, as well as making sure he remembered what they had done that day. I would order his dinner, he would come down to eat it once it was on the table, and there was never a glass of wine to dull the brain, just water.

The hotel we stayed in was a great family-run one, about 30kms down the road from the track, called the Schlossblick at Blankenheim. One of the features of the reception was a very talkative parrot and a large tank of tropical fish. Needless to say, Tony was in such a rush each evening that he ignored both of these on his way to his room to do yet more homework.

Sunday came and it was no surprise to any of us that Tony did a great job - which surely put him in good stead for his future career on television. While elated at the praise he received, the feeling for Tony was more one of relief, so as we headed back to the hotel on the Sunday evening we knew we were in for some fun.

The wine and stories flowed. Tony did his repertoire of impersonations for the entire restaurant, with these ranging from Dirk Bogarde to Bernie Ecclestone. However, for me the enduring memory was at about 2:00am, when the BBC crew had gone to bed. Tony had consumed the last litre bottle of Riesling wine and he was still in a talkative mood. As I signed the bill and tiptoed through the reception on my way to bed, I saw Tony having an animated conversation with the parrot who, for once, was silenced by someone talking more than he did...

I was reminded of this again in 2000, when Murray Walker had to miss a race after dislocating his hip (while tying his shoe lace!). The ITV press office issued a release saying he was due to miss his first race for 50 years. Tony, Murray and myself knew better, but why let the facts get in the way of a good story!

*   *   *

Things have come on a long way since then, and one place that has been replaced and modernised at the track is the press office. It is a large room with all the latest technology. This was a very different place in '85.

It was a bit like a bunker with extra telephone lines that had been put in by the local company. This company really had no idea exactly what the demand was like from a Grand Prix press office, so at 7:00pm on the Sunday night some guy obviously decided no one could possibly need them again so pulled the plug. The chaos this caused in the press office was incredible and to this day I remember journalist Jeff Hutchinson - now Heinz Harald Frentzen's pilot - threatening the telecommunications people with all sorts of dire consequences if his line was not plugged in again.

*   *   *

Although last weekend's race is important on the Grand Prix calendar, I know lots of people in the paddock were more focused on the England versus Brazil match on Friday morning. I am not a football fan but am patriotic, so I desperately wanted England to beat Brazil in a World Cup quarter final for the first time. Sadly I am also ten euros poorer, as I bet Juan Pablo Montoya at a recent BMW driver day that we would win. He told me he was going to wear a Brazilian shirt when watching the match, and I suppose it was an understandable choice, as Colombia is slightly nearer Brazil than England.

The BMW driver day, where I saw Juan Pablo, took place at Thruxton race circuit, here in the UK. The drivers have a certain amount of days in their contracts with the team and these are then allocated to the sponsors to do with what they want, within reason. On this instance, BMW invited 50 of their top customers to the Hampshire race track and they were to have the thrill of a lifetime - a trip round the track in a brand new M5, with either Juan Pablo or Marc Gene.

It was great to see the grins on the faces of grown men after this experience. It was also great to see the pop star, Chris Rea - a real motor racing fan who I have known well for 15 years. He was invited there by another friend of mine, Richard Berry, who runs a BMW garage near London that is part of a group owned by Roger Penske. I have to admit pulling a few strings, and apart from getting Richard and Chris to have their photographs taken with the two drivers, I also asked Marc and Juan Pablo to make their rides exciting.

Chris and Richard hung around until the very last rides of the day and it was well worth it. With rear tyres almost down to the canvas, the final trip round the circuit was always going to be special. Apart from the amazing wheel spinning start and the series of donuts, the final entry into the pitlane was a sight to behold. Both drivers hung the rear of the car out so far that it came sideways into the pitlane and only thanks to their incredible driving skills was it righted in time to avoid the passenger (!) side hitting the end of the pit wall. I have to say I think both of them will remember that trip for a long time to come.

After watching the initial practice sessions for the European race I think some of the drivers were having just as much fun as my mates were a few days earlier at Thruxton. Not many escaped a spin, and it was also obvious the heavily revised Nurburgring track was going to give us the almost unimaginable treat - an overtaking opportunity.

This proved true enough in the race. The extra 560 metres length on the track and the revisions meant cars could overtake and even though there was the odd ambitious move, the changes made sure we all enjoyed a good race. It was also great to see Rubens Barrichello win his second Grand Prix. His smiling face on the podium said it all, and I don't think any one who has any knowledge of F1 can either believe it has taken so long for this likeable driver from Sao Paulo to notch up number two, or think there will not be more to come.

I was again sad that Juan Pablo - for the fourth time this season - had done all the hard work in qualifying and not got that elusive win, but I am hopeful in the races to come he can redress this balance.

For me, the big one - my home Grand Prix - is looming. I have lots of stories to tell you about this British Grand Prix from the past: the first 160mph-plus lap by Keke Rosberg, the battle between Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, and that amazing and very emotional win by Damon in 1994. I look forward to sharing these in the next column.

About the author:
Ann Bradshaw - Annie - began her motor racing career as a teenager, helping out her brother in local rally races in England, where she grew up. In the 1970s she organised motor racing events in England, and was later the press officer for the RAC MSA - the motorsport governing body in Britain. In mid 1980s, she became press officer to team Lotus, where she worked with Ayrton Senna. Shortly after, she moved to the Williams team and was working there for several years, when once again she found herself working with Senna. She worked with Damon Hill after the Brazilian's death, and moved with the British Champion to Arrows. She also worked with the Panoz team in the United States, before becoming a freelance press officer, now working with Compaq and BAR among others. Annie joined Atlas F1 as a regular columnist in April 2002.