Grapevine: News from the Paddock - Japanese GP

Local Decor

The ageing paddock at Suzuka gives teams little opportunity to create the usual impressive motorhome replacement areas seen on most fly-aways with just the back end of each garage handed over to their catering and hospitality sections, but Renault made a concerted effort to create a pleasant environment in their area. While most of the teams simply stuck up boards with their usual signage in each of their paddock areas along with a bunch of plastic garden chairs, the Anglo-French team hung rows and rows of Japanese lanterns from the roof and fronted their section with a semi-see-through bamboo fence. Ferrari are normally the team to do up their hospitality section at fly-away races but Renault's efforts certainly put the World Champions in the shade this time. It's just a shame it all had to be packed away before Typhoon Ma-on headed its way.

Tokyo Trembles

Tokyo was hit by an earthquake on Wednesday night and some of the key members of the BAR team felt it happen as they headed to their hotel rooms in the city before leaving for the circuit on Thursday. The quake, which measured 5.7 on the Richter scale, shook buildings and rattled the lift in which team boss David Richards and technical director Geoff Willis and their respective wives were travelling. Richards said he thought the lift was overweight and joked that he had kicked Willis out to lighten the load, but little did they realise they were experiencing one of Tokyo's famed earth movements. The quake did little damage, but Willis remarked that he saw telephone lines flicking up and down in the street, such was the ferocity of the shaking.

Brand Details

Honda held their traditional Japanese Grand Prix party on Thursday night at the funfair in the Suzuka circuit. The event, to which all team members and journalists were invited, saw the rollercoaster ride available for anyone to try out either before or after they had sampled the Japanese sake, beer and sushi nibbles on offer. It attracted quite a crowd, including an extremely exuberant Eddie Jordan and Williams racer Juan Pablo Montoya among others, and it also gave a refreshing change from the heavily branded world of Formula One as it seemed to be a bit of a free-for-all in terms of publicity. The Toyota team turned up in force, and their logos were more evident than the Honda ones during most of the evening. And attending BAR boss David Richards, whose team are partnered by Honda and run with Lucky Strike cigarette branding, will have taken a keen interest in why a Mild Seven cigarette machine was sitting in the corner. It's nice that, sometimes, it just doesn't matter.

Ad Man

Toyota press officer Chris Hughes is big in Japan - because he was selected to appear in an advert for his Japanese team. The ad, which has appeared in several national magazines, depicts Germany-based Briton Hughes alongside a Japanese Toyota employee and, he said, has even appeared in the Japanese version of Playboy.