Grapevine: News from the Paddock - Austrian GP

Trainee Truckie at Jordan

Ross Kemp, star of British TV soap Eastenders is in training to become a Jordan truckie - but only for the sake of television. As part of the ITV Formula One show, Kemp has joined the team as of this race and will spend three days building up to become a truckie and, in doing so, take part in pit stops at the Silverstone Grand Prix weekend. He is already getting used to his yellow uniform and appears to be confident in the challenge ahead.

Double-Take Birthday for Heidfeld

Nick Heidfeld celebrated his 24th birthday twice in the Austrian paddock on Thursday as his current and former teams all joined in the celebrations. The Sauber team planned a surprise party for the German but Mercedes boss Norbert Haug jumped in to present Heidfeld with a replica model Mercedes Formula One car from times gone by.

But Heidfeld was still surprised by the team celebrations when he was pulled from a technical meeting and dragged to the garages by team chief Peter Sauber and technical director Willi Rampf. There he found the entire team waiting around a cake which was more than a metre long, champagne a plenty and a mass media photo call.

President Arrival

Former Switzerland president Adolf Ogi will be present at the Austrian race on Sunday as he heads across the border to experience Formula One racing for the first time. The sport has been banned in Switzerland since the mid-1950s, but the nation's traditional disapproval of the sport has been reduced since the arrival of Sauber to the Formula One field, and the team has even tested a car in the country in the past.

Todt Honoured with Oscar

Jean Todt has been honoured by a technology award at the Austrian A1-Ring this weekend. The Ferrari team chief received the AVL technology award for his commitment to applied research but it is not a new arrival to Formula One. Bernie Ecclestone won it back in 1998. The award, which is presented every two years to personalities in the fields of research and technology, was presented in the paddock on Thursday by the chief of AVL Professor Helmut List.

Flying High but Unimpressed

Sauber's Kimi Raikkonen took to the air before the Austrian Grand Prix weekend in a Red Bull bi-plane. But the highly impressive young Finnish star has already experienced plenty of adrenaline at the wheel of his Sauber Grand Prix car and the experience was not altogether overwhelming for the quiet 21-year old.

"It was nothing special," he said. "It was a nice experience but it wasn't my first time. I have done it before in Australia but this time it was much lower." But that only served to make the experience even more like racing.