Memories of the year: Montreal madness

Team Lotus reserve driver Luiz Razia stands chatting on his mobile phone as he poses for a photograph next to a Ford GT, pretending to reach for the door to make it look like he is the proud owner of a machine that is slightly outside of his budget right now.

Further down the road, team-mate Karun Chandhok is in fits of giggles as soon-to-be Sky F1 commentator David Croft starts adding himself to the background of photographs race fans are having taken by other luxury sportscars on display on the street.

It is safe to presume that the red wine had been flowing as a group of us, including F1 Racing's James Roberts and radio/TV presenter Jennie Gow, put the grand prix world to rights over one of the best dinners of the season - in a fantastic restaurant that served only one thing: steak and chips. (Vegetarian Gow had to have lettuce)!

Welcome to the madness of an average night in Montreal and a truly memorable weekend that just kept on delivering more and more.

The Canadian Grand Prix is normally one of the best weekends of the year anyway, as the inhabitants of Montreal go F1 crazy and turn the place into a really special event. This year, though, there must have been something in the water for it was exceptional.

Jonathan Noble sits down for dinner with guests in Montreal

For a start we had a truly epic race: the amazing downpour that flooded the track and paddock, an epic race, the chaos of Jenson Button's triumphant afternoon - and all this against the backdrop of the dramas unfolding across the Atlantic at Le Mans.

But Montreal was not great just because of what unfolded on the track - for this year's Canadian GP was exciting due to what was going on behind the scenes as well.

For a start, there was the opening salvo of Lewis Hamilton's mid-season frustrations with the competitiveness of McLaren - as I found out about the secret meeting that he and Red Bull Racing chief Christian Horner had had behind the team offices on the former Olympic rowing basin.

But that was not the only eye-opening event Hamilton would be involved in - forgetting his collision with Button. There was the mid-race visit in the McLaren pits from Rihanna and here (what seemed like a 50-strong) entourage - just when the team was still focused on trying to win the race.

And McLaren's garage was the focus of a now infamous video from rapper Ice-T - who broadcast to the world (before it was removed time and again from YouTube) his technical analysis of an F1 car - and how a steering wheel costs more than your '****** ******' house.

Montreal in 2011 was a race weekend like no other.

So Karun and Luiz. Same place for dinner next year?