Grapevine: More News from the Paddock - Monaco

New Speed Man

Marcel Fassler has taken over from injured Bernd Maylander as safety car driver in Formula One. Maylander was out training recently when he jumped over a wall and broke his ankle. He will be out of racing in the DTM championship in Germany for six weeks, and isn't expected to return to Formula One any earlier. Fassler, who is Swiss, races in the same DTM championship with Mercedes.

Boating Button

Jenson Button is enjoying the new-found pleasures of Monaco after recently purchasing a house in the principality and having a new boat, named Little Missy after girlfriend Louise Griffiths, moored in the Monaco harbour. The trappings of the modern Formula One lifestyle are certainly to Button's liking.

Signed On The Bell

After Ferrari announced a major new sponsorship deal with British telecommunications giants Vodafone in the Hotel de Paris in Casino Square on Friday, the chief executive officer of the increasingly successful company, Chris Gent, revealed that the deal was not exactly done in the most formal of ways. Gent explained that as he was about to seal the deal with the top bosses of Ferrari at the Vodafone Headquarters in London, the fire alarm went off and he ended up shaking on it in the car park outside, sitting in the front of his Bentley.