Monaco Grand Prix

Monaco Grand Prix: Friday is the day of the limitation in Monaco, without action on the track and paddock almost empty. Well, not quite. Today it has become a sort of Cannes Film Festival Part II. Cannes ended last week, but I heard today that Leonardo DiCaprio is somewhere here in Monaco. Kim Kardashian, socialite and actress, and the New Jersey Nets forward Kris Humphries was also around, and today we also had the Spanish model Esther Canadas completely suck all the attention of television cameras and photographers outside the mobile home McLaren Mercedes in the arm of Jenson Button.Down at the Monaco yacht club I turned up for a goodbye party for Paddy McNally, a man behind the scenes in Formula One who set up the corporate hospitality company called the Paddock Club, and who also dealt with the company that sells the track-side advertising at the Grand Prix. McNally is retiring, and at his party were various old friends and colleagues, including Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 promoter. Alain Prost was there as well, as was his son Nicolas, who will race in the Le Mans 24 Hours race in two weeks. At the Ferrari media center motor home, Stefano Domenicali, the team director, spoke to the media in a well attended press conference in which most of the questions were centered on the restructuring of the team after the release of Aldo Costa as technical director. Domenicali did not really say anything more than what the plan, except that he decided to Costa should be replaced now as the new technical team would have been enough time to plan next year's car from scratch, so to speak. The track was a bit 'of activities, F1, but the GP2 Series, which was an accident alright, and when Romain Grosjean was able to rise above the grid to fourth place! Here in Monaco, this is a feat. But he also made a stop by late.