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

When the Paul Ricard Circuit lost the contract to host the French Grand Prix, it was to me one of the saddest days in Formula One, especially as the event - one of the most enjoyable on the calendar - became one of the worst, due to being relocated to Magny Cours.

Magny Cours is set in the centre of France and has nothing to recommend it to the motor racing fraternity. The place is difficult to get to, and once you get there, finding anything good about it except the local wine is impossible. The town of Nevers, situated on the banks of the Loire River, is about a ten minute drive down the road and is full of mediocre hotels and mosquitoes with voracious appetite - if you make the mistake of leaving your hotel window open.

Add to this the greedy hoteliers, who never have another chance to make a killing out of their rather drab hostelries, and you have a hellish weekend to look forward to in July.

In contrast, Paul Ricard is located in the south of France, a stone's throw away from the wonderful Mediterranean resorts of Bandol and Cassis, and some magnificent medieval villages - such as Le Castellet and La Cadiere - are in the surrounding Alpes Maritime mountains. Choosing which seafood restaurant to eat in after leaving the track was difficult, as they were all so good. A plate of bouillabaisse and a bottle of Bandol rosé was as near to heaven as one could wish to be after a day at a noisy race track. Furthermore, this part of the world is used to seeing holiday-makers, so the prices did not suddenly shoot up and the hotels were clean and welcoming.

In the past, the race in both locations quite usually coincided with my birthday, so it was never difficult to find a reason to have a party. When in Paul Ricard, we used to head down to the same restaurant each year on the seafront in Bandol, and about 30 of us used to take the place over.

One year we decided that to add a bit of excitement to the post meal proceedings we would bribe a band - who were a few hundred yards further up the promenade - to come to our restaurant so we could literally dance in the street. Sadly we didn't realise we were going to be very unpopular with the local busker whose patch we were on, and we got some very rude French words shouted at us from this gentleman whose party piece involved pushing a large pram up and down with his bemused cat sitting where a baby would usually be!

The party always continued once we got back to our hotel, about half a mile away from the front. The hotel had the advantage - or disadvantage, depending on your viewpoint - of a swimming pool, and over one particular birthday weekend I had three memorable unscheduled swims with my clothes on.

However, I have to admit not all of the swims in this pool were with fully clothed people and I know Keith Sutton has the negatives of a set of photographs from one event that he has been offered great incentives to part with…. I have a set of these photographs and have promised the guilty skinny dippers they will remain private, but then I suppose we all have a price! Any offers?

As my parties continued once we got to Magny Cours, and being aware that we had to make our own entertainment, we set about finding a new location. This we did thanks to the wonderful Renault PR man, Jean-Jacques Delaruwiere, who used to have my birthday coinciding with his international press dinner in the company's hospitality unit at the circuit. This became a very famous event, not because it was my birthday but because of the impromptu band.

Several journalists would bring guitars, bongo drums and harmonicas with them and we used to sing way into the night while drinking copious amounts of Moet & Chandon. In fact, Magny Cours became known as the place for such events, as Tyrrell also used to invite these musicians to an annual motorhome press dinner. Some of the best memories people still have of Ken Tyrrell are of him singing along to the Beatles songs accompanied by ITV's James Allen, a liverpudlian himself, and the Daily Mail's Ray Matts, both very proficient guitarists.

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One of my earliest trips to the French Grand Prix was before I was working full time for a team. It was in 1982, when I was working as press officer for the RAC MSA, the organisers of the British Grand Prix. In those days I went to other races to see how things were done and as the French race was usually the one prior to ours it was important to go there to talk to the press and solve last minute problems.

In those days Rothmans sponsored the March team and they were also sponsors of our rally series. Knowing I was going to be there, they asked if I could help them out by writing some press releases that weekend because they had no one to do this.

Sadly for the team, it was a bad year with a fairly uncompetitive car, but they were hopeful of a better result here with drivers Jochen Mass and Raoul Boesel. All was going well until suddenly Jochen had a big accident in the race, and reports came back to the press office of bits of the car going into the crowd and a fire.

In my explanation of what happened next I am going to omit the names to protect the guilty.

In the press office was a PR man who also wrote for a British newspaper that liked sensational stories. As soon as news started to filter through to us about the accident he was straight on the phone warning the news desk to be ready for a tale of death and destruction. The first news coming in was not good and there were fears for the life of both Jochen and the spectators.

Said PR man couldn't wait much longer as his deadline was fast approaching, so got onto the phone, ordered copy and started dictating his story. He was halfway through when news started to improve and the story was of injuries, but none life threatening, and there was a collective sigh of relief.

At this point another British journalist felt it only fair to stop the man's erroneous story so tapped him on the shoulder and whispered the good news. We will never know whether he saw it as good news, though, as a disappointed look came over his face when told there were no bodies strewn round the track, and all he could think of saying to his colleague was 'What, no one dead?!?'

This was not the only time I had had to deal with a potentially serious accident. During my first visit in my capacity as press officer for WilliamsF1 in 1985, Nigel Mansell's car left the track in practice and went through about 16 layers of catch fencing. Nigel was knocked out and immediately sent to Marseille hospital for tests and a brain scan.

A few hours later I went to the press office to report that happily he was okay. I was still quite green about such things and so thought I was delivering good news. Imagine my feeling when, as I was telling a seasoned journalist Nigel had had a brain scan, he interrupted me before I could get the full sentence out and said with a big grin on his face 'And they didn't find one!'

I was so shocked I nearly burst into tears and didn't know whether to reprimand the journalist or pretend I had not heard. I decided to bring him to task about being insensitive and then realised he was not the only person who thought this was funny. I am now a little more relaxed about such comments, as since then I have heard this sort of comment many times about racing drivers and mostly from members of the medical profession!

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Magny Cours does have one thing to its advantage - it is near enough to the UK for people to be able to drive there and then go home with a car boot (sorry, trunk to my American readers) full of excellent wine at a very cheap price. Sancerre is very close to Nevers and so I am sure by the end of the weekend their supplies of this excellent wine are well depleted.

However, not everyone travelling there by road goes for this reason. WilliamsF1 Technical Director, Patrick Head, always does this journey by road but that's so he can go on his BMW bike with several of his mates who he usually goes sailing with. Dressed from top to toe in black leather they are waived off by their wives for an adventure punctuated by stops for gourmet experiences.

Patrick has always been shy of any publicity for this but last year was persuaded by Atlas F1's Jane Nottage to allow her to tell the story for F1 Magazine. Patrick was given a camera to record some magic moments and off he and his mates went. I have to say I am certain they only told Jane a fraction of what they got up to on the way, but it proved a great read.

Talking of bikes, there was also the memorable time another bike fan, Adrian Newey - then at WilliamsF1 but now at McLaren - decided to show off his prowess behind the handle bars in the Magny Cours paddock.

The paddock in Magny Cours is covered with gravel so is not the best surface to show off with a high-powered machine. The resulting crash saw Adrian on his backside on the ground and the machine embedded in the awning of the Rothmans motorhome. Not wishing to let him forget this in a hurry, WilliamsF1 decided to recreate the crash the following year and even involved me in the ruse by getting me to pretend he was wanted in the motorhome for an interview. Poor Adrian was greeted by a chorus of cheers and the site of a motor bike again lying on its side embedded in the awning!

The French are great drinkers and smokers so I do find it strange they ban the advertising of both, and in the past the podium ceremony has been without champagne because of this. The first year of the total ban of cigarette advertising we were reminded of how stupid this was when the gendarme on duty directing us into the circuit had what I suspect was a Gauloises hanging out of his mouth. They have now come to a compromise and while the champagne can be sprayed on the podium, Mumm has no publicity from this as just the F1 logo appears on the bottles.

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Between the British and French Grands Prix I have again wandered into the world of Touring Cars with round six of the ETCC at a place called Oschersleben, in what was formerly Eastern Germany. This was a landmark for the BMW teams as it was the first race for new regulations that meant the rear wheel drive cars (BMWs) had their minimum weight reduced by 15kg and the front wheel drive cars (Alfa Romeos) had their minimum weight increased by 15kg.

Up to that point, of the ten races at five rounds, nine had been won by Alfa, and we have to be honest and say the one won by BMW in Sweden was pure luck because of the changeable weather. After qualifying in Germany things changed suddenly as up to then Alfa Romeo had a hundred per cent success record. The timing sheet in Oschersleben told a very different story as out of the top six, five were BMWs and one was a Volvo, and this was in fifth!

To say Alfa Romeo were unhappy is perhaps the understatement of the year and if I was a more sensitive person I would have been mortally offended at the tone of their press release. We had been beaten by them every time up to then and had taken it on the chin. We had always praised their speed and consistency, but when the boot was on the other foot the knives came out.

'New Rules Stop the Alfas' shouted the headline to their press release and the lady team manager, Monica Sipsz, said: "It's incredible. At this point, in the middle of the season, there are new rules that help - I'm sure - other manufacturers like BMW. Alfa Romeo and our Team have worked very hard for develop a winner car, and now?"

Happily for us, but sadly for them, the race was even worse with the BMWs disappearing into the distance. In the first race the only thing that saved it being a complete BMW podium was a bit of inter marque rivalry with collisions between Dirk Muller and Fredrik Ekblom and Jorg Muller and Tom Coronel that ended with the Swede and the Dutchman limping back to the pits and the Mullers pulling off a one-two. Race two didn't see such bumping and boring, but the result was identical with the Volvo of Rickard Rydell claiming the final place on the podium in each race. I was, therefore, expecting the full wrath of Ms Sipsz and the press release did not disappoint!

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In Magny Cours, for the second consecutive race, the Arrows team was in the limelight, but for the wrong reasons. Its ongoing battle for survival is sad as I know there are 200 great people working for this team who deserve better for their efforts than sending two cars out to qualifying solely to go through the motions and prove they have appeared on the track.

Finally, I cannot write this column and not mention Michael Schumacher's fifth World Championship win. It is difficult not to admire the talent of the man and his team. Also it should not be forgotten that when he moved to Ferrari it was not a World Championship winning team. Along with former rally co-driver, Jean Todt, and former sports car tactician, Ross Brawn, he has transformed it and now I am sure there is not a driver in the pitlane who would not change teams to the Italian marque if given the chance.

As a fan of rallying I am also aware of the tactics needed to win these events and am confident this is where Jean Todt learnt a lot of his race craft. Let's hope for BAR and Toyota their principals, who also came from this form of motor sport, can prove as successful as the diminutive Frenchman.

In many ways it was a shame for Michael his win didn't come in front of his home fans in Germany, but having captured the title in France has assured him of not only a record equalling fifth world title but also that of being the driver to win his crown in the shortest time, a mere 140 days since the start of the 2002 season in Melbourne on the 3rd March. But now that this business is out of the way, let's just hope for the rest of the season we may see him given some stiffer opposition.

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.