Saturday May 29th, 2004
Secret Meeting
Williams-BMW driver Juan Pablo Montoya is surely not allowed to trade secrets with his team-to-be McLaren-Mercedes at the moment - but he is one vital source that Williams cannot put on gardening leave to protect their secrets. They are able to keep the Colombian on some sort of chain, but it appears sometimes he can slip the leash and on Friday night, in the shadows of the paddock at the hour of 10pm, he was spotted chatting happily to McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh as the pair stood around near the exit gates.
Dads' Army
BAR-Honda boss David Richards was the perfect host on Friday when he invited a very special guest to a party in his motorhome. While British driver Jenson Button tucked himself behind the big screen to watch the main event - the film Le Mans - with his Dad, Richards was proudly introducing his own father to the amassed media. Keen to impress his old man with his hospitality skills, the team chief turned bar man when he passed the drinks around, opening bottles of wine and cracking open Coronas to hand out to the masses. "Is there a job this man cannot do?" questioned one journalist. "He runs a team, runs a series, and operates a bar as well!" He did not last the pace, however, and left before the end of the film after a busy day.
Jumping Jordan
Eddie Jordan was spotted taking an assault course exit from the circuit on Friday night when he was forced to take an alternative route after a planned short-cut appeared to go slightly wrong. Jordan was keen to deny all knowledge in the paddock on Saturday but several eagle-eyed reporters spotted the glow of the yellow-liveried team boss as he climbed two fences, both a little less than double his height, and ducked under another, pushing his bag ahead of him, to continue his bizarre route to his hotel. Reports that he followed his unique exit through a pipe and down a death slide were unconfirmed.
Filling the Fields
The fields were alive with the smell of lager this weekend as thousands of German fans staked out their tents to catch a glimpse of their scarlet hero Michael Schumacher. The organisers put on plenty of campsites but some campers clearly gave up fighting through the traffic on their way to the circuit - because they set up camp right in the middle of a dual carriageway.
Published at 18:32:50 GMT
(03-11-2005): 
