Grapevine: Paddock Life - Istanbul edition

Instead, a number of leading team personnel had arrived early in Turkey to be sent on their annual 'team bonding' assignment.

Rather than the typical raft building or climbing mountains, the task this year was to get involved in learning how to craft a yacht.

With four boats at their disposal at the Turkish resort of Gocek, the team spent their time overcoming their seasickness and ended their time with a yacht race.

Button himself was not involved - having spent his post-victory celebrations in Ibiza after jetting to China and Japan for a promotional event.

Other drivers did not even venture that far. David Coulthard drew a few smiles with his claims that: "I just spent some private time at home. I did some mountain biking, hiking, chasing my fiancee around - things like that."

Button was quick to respond: "You're great at these things DC. I can't wait for the headline."

Although the Istanbul Park circuit may not quite have the glamorous location as Monaco, it did not stop the race's title sponsor Petrol Ofisi putting on one of the biggest showbiz parties of the year.

Hiring out the chic Reine club, on the banks of the Bosphorus River, the event pulled in all the big names from the paddock - especially when there was the promise of Christina Aguilera strutting her stuff.

As well as the usual partygoers Flavio Briatore, David Coulthard and Red Bull's other drivers, Michael Schumacher even made a last-minute decision to attend - forcing organisers to hastily rearrange their table plans.

Also seen tapping their feet overlooking the stage were Honda Racing boss Nick Fry, Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug, and Toro Rosso's Franz Tost.

In the end Aguilera did not turn up, so the show was headlined by Missy Elliot, who sent the crowd wild.

On the celebrity front, the Romanian Prime Minister, Hollywood actress Estella Warren and model Carmen Electra also partied the night away.

Traffic and kebabs remained the major talking points of the early part of the Turkish Grand Prix weekend - as Formula One braced itself again for that tortuous drive over the Bosphorus Bridge and through the toll booths.

With Frank Williams having made it clear in Hungary that he was fearful for the 'worst effing traffic', things did not look so good when the city duly threw up the much-expected gridlock as F1 returned from its summer break.

A local football match at the Besiktas Istanbul on Friday night made things even worse for the returning track - and it took autosport.com's poor correspondent exactly two hours to get from the track to the hotel.

Worse than that, the organisers' shuttle drivers insist on not using the air conditioner in the bus and on playing their favourite trance music at full volume. It's enough to turn anyone insane.

Once at the track, F1 made sure to do all it could to remind the paddock about Turkey's tradition of kebabs.

Red Bull Racing installed their own doner kebab machine at their Energy Station on Thursday night, while Honda Racing hosted their own kebab lunch the following day.

For all the Brits present, it was a strange experience to be eating kebabs before a heavy night's drinking...

With Jacques Villeneuve having departed the Formula One scene, the mantle of the paddock's music maestro has now passed to Super Aguri managing director Daniele Audetto.

Although Audetto has not gone as far as writing and recording his own music, he has helped produce an album to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the San Remo Jazz Festival.

Audetto, who lives near the Italian town, is a big lover of jazz and was the most obvious candidate to help pull together the record.