Sunday September 14th, 2003
Formula One Reloaded
Keen to upstage the BAR-Honda efforts, Williams-BMW filled their motorhome with stars on Sunday as "The Matrix" and "The Matrix Reloaded" actors Keanu Reaves and Laurence Fishburne turned up for a bit of Formula One action. The two screen icons, who play Neo and Morpheus in the blockbuster movies, joined fellow celebrities Jeremy Irons and Dennis Hopper and model Lauren Hutton as guests of the championship challenging team on raceday. But the Matrix boys declined to wear their trademark black glasses and leather coats and did not try any mind-bending stunts in the pitlane or on the grid during their visit.
Only Kidding
The Monza paddock is well known for its glamour, perhaps beaten only by Monaco in terms of beauty spotting. Usually teams put in the effort to ensure race day in Milan does not disappoint, but this year it looked for some time that BAR-Honda would be the only ones to do so. Not content with entertaining BBC Fame Academy star Louise Griffiths, Jenson Button's girlfriend, as she returned to the paddock after being thrown out of the house, they invited actress Jodie Kidd to sample the joys of Formula One.
Marlboro Cigarette Plant
Eagle eyes on the grid spotted what could have been a planned dual racing and marketing sabotage as the teams prepared for the start of the Italian Grand Prix. With crowds flocking around the scarlet Ferrari of World Champion Michael Schumacher the Williams car of title contender Juan Pablo Montoya was left relatively crowd-free. Even so, a small, full packet of Marlboro cigarettes remained un-noticed just ahead of the front wing of Ferrari's title rival. Fortunately, a high-ranking member of the FOM picked up the offending packet to prevent it from flying into the radiator of the Williams machine and not only blocking the airflow and possibly overheating the engine but also placing an embarrassing Marlboro advert beneath Williams' NiquitinCQ anti-smoking signage.
Justin Two-Laps
Briton Justin Wilson was so desperate to finish this weekend's Italian Grand Prix for Jaguar that it appeared he would take a double lapping just to get a result on the board. According to Wilson's comments on the team's post-qualifying press release, his aim was "to get to the end of 51 laps tomorrow." The thing is, the race was 53 laps long. He actually managed just a couple before retiring.
Published at 17:55:33 GMT
(03-11-2005): 
