Grapevine: Paddock Life - Istanbul edition

The Brazilian's exits from the formation lap at the Spanish and French Grands Prix in 2002 have left statisticians arguing if he is on 255 or 257, but the man himself cares little for the debate - choosing Turkey and sticking to it.

After Barcelona, where he equalled Riccardo Patrese's record that has stood since the 1993 Australian Grand Prix, Barrichello held a golfing day with the man he is taking the record from and several of his contemporary rivals.

At the end of it, he was presented with a beautiful Honda CBR1000 RR Fireblade motorbike by Honda's F1 CEO Nick Fry, before team principal Ross Brawn handed over a set of Alpinestars leathers.

Brawn led the tributes to Barrichello at a special drinks celebration in the Istanbul paddock on Saturday night, which was attended by the media, and a host of Honda and Ferrari staff - including team principal Stefano Domenicali and technical director Aldo Costa.

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel joined the 'Brazilian racing mafia' of Felipe Massa, Luciano Burti and Lucas di Grassi plus partners.

Brawn recalled two of his favourite memories with Barrichello - one on track and one off it.

"One of the most memorable days was Hockenheim and what is not commonly known is that myself and the team were telling Rubens to pit for tyres and he was saying, 'leave me out, leave me out I want to win the race'.

"Sure enough he won his first race and it was a wonderful day. The human side of Rubens is something that all of us see, he is a great person to be with - and a wonderful person to party with.

"I recall Aldo Costa was there so he will remember. We had a Christmas dinner at a quiet restaurant for the design office and Rubens turned up with some of his buddies and it finished at 5am in the morning. And I staggered home, because I wasn't going to let anyone else drive me, as we were well inebriated.

"We've got so many memories. It was wonderful working with you, and I have been there for all your victories so far and I hope to be there for all your victories in the future. So well done Rubens..."

The Turkish Grand Prix is a fairly new addition to the Formula One calendar, but it has already firmly established itself in the paddock's psyche. You either love it, or hate it.

Everyone by now is well accustomed to the transport nightmares, and have found better located hotels, or have sussed the ferry routes, to try and avoid getting stuck in traffic going across the infamous Bosphorus Bridge.

Arriving in Istanbul on Thursday, though, there was a slightly surreal feeling to proceedings - as teams tried to make an effort to grab the limelight.

First there was Lewis Hamilton's appearance on the high wire at a Vodafone event (now cheekily dubbed 'Troygate' for the mockery it caused in the media). Then there was Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa having a photo shoot filling up a car at a Shell petrol station, before Giancarlo Fisichella was seen wandering around the paddock in a Tuxedo!

In fact, perhaps it was just the grind of the season that was starting to get to some people - especially those who work for Autosport.

Our F1 writer Mark Hughes managed to miss his flight out, having got his days all mixed up when he put the magazine's race calendar sticker on the wrong date - an error that unfortunately cost him £600 for new tickets (He had wondered why what turned out to be a Sunday morning flight home was so cheap in the first place)...

And then Finagle's Law ("Anything that will go wrong will - at the worst possible moment") hit Autosport contributor Adam Cooper on race morning. He walked headfirst into the glass doors at the Force India motorhome not when the place was empty - but when it was fairly full of drivers, journalists and team members.

Having turned around to see if anyone noticed, he was greeted not by empty chairs, but much laughter and a rapturous cheer...

Istanbul is not renowned as one of the typical shopping destinations for the Formula One fraternity, but the local shopkeepers must have been loving the fact that so many people with paddock passes around their neck were stopping by to pick up jumpers and trousers.

The reason was simply because the people in F1 have mostly shown themselves to be creatures of habit. So just as no one would ever dare leave for an afternoon at Silverstone without a jumper and coat, or be in Australia without their sunscreen, so Turkey is always a destination for shorts and T-shirt.

Except that the change of date from the normal August to May this year meant a change of season - and much cooler conditions. In fact, colder winds blowing through Istanbul made temperatures ever colder than typical for the time of year - meaning only those who had religiously checked the Internet weather predictions on the eve of departure made the right choice on clothes.

And after the faux pas of accidentally packing my wife's jeans in Spain, I made doubly sure to get my attire correct this time out...

The cold weather also meant that Force India boss Vijay Mallya had to make special preparations for the spectacular party he held on his Indian Empress yacht on Friday night.

Mallya may be one of the world's leading businessmen, and totally committed to moving his F1 team up the grid, but it has not come at the expense of him having a good time while he does it.

And having sealed his deal to buy the then Spyker team on the yacht during a party in Istanbul last year, Mallya wanted to make sure that his repeat performance this time was even bigger and better.

Hand-picking select guests from the paddock, Mallya threw on Indian and Turkish dancers, cocktails and a huge firework display that dominated the Istanbul skyline behind his yacht, which was moored on the Bosphorus river between Europe and Asia.

The yacht proved the setting for an impromptu team principals' meetings too, as Bernie Ecclestone commandeered a glass-fronted room next to the main party arena to discuss the future of KERS - with cameras, flash bulbs and onlookers peering in all the time.

One thing Mallya could not control, however, was the weather - with the cool conditions catching out many of the guests who had turned up in their finest partying gear. But being well prepared, Mallya not only had 'Indian Empress' branded cardigans on offer for those needing an extra layer - but also some branded blankets.

Most amusement was caused, however, by the red slipper socks that were handed out to guests - with shoes obviously not allowed on board for fear of damaging the wooden teak decking.

Although most were happy to wear the socks and focus on enjoying the evening, you could sense some people on deck were a bit more conscious about the attire. In particular, the serious looking security guards - who refused to remove their sunglasses over the course of the evening - lost of a bit of their authority as they wandered around in their bright red socks.

Red socks or not, the party proved a huge success - as Renault test driver Sakon Yamamoto joined the resident DJ to blast out the tunes until the early hours of the morning.