Grapevine: Paddock Life - Magny-Cours edition

And there were no shortage of them keen to show off their country's World Cup success - especially because they could rub France's nose in it on their own soil.

Vitantonio Liuzzi joined a host of Scuderia Toro Rosso team members in wearing Italian shirts for the entire weekend, while Giancarlo Fisichella and Jarno Trulli had special designs on their helmet to celebrate Italy's World Cup triumph.

Ferrari were revelling in it, too, as the team admitted that the Monday after the World Cup final had been a far from straightforward day for the Maranello workforce - who had obviously partied hard the night before.

Technical director Ross Brawn said: "I think the PR department had the biggest hangover of everyone, by all accounts...

"The biggest problem I had was getting back into Italy because there weren't so many air traffic controllers available that morning. But the workforce were very happy."

And come Sunday afternoon, as Michael Schumacher delivered victory for Ferrari, there must have been a few bitter Frenchmen forced to stand there in front of the podium and listen to the Italian national anthem for the second weekend running.

Formula One races at Magny-Cours have sometimes produced a fantastic spectacle (just think of David Coulthard giving Michael Schumacher the 'finger' a few years ago), but then they have also delivered some real bore-a-thons.

Sunday's was one of the latter occasions, as Michael Schumacher roared to an uneventful if well earned victory.

With the circuit's race contract up for renewal after the event, there were a few people questioning whether the place was right for a modern F1 race.

One man keeping his cards very close to his chest about the matter was Christian Horner - who was slightly reluctant to say anything too damning about Magny-Cours.

And it was no wonder, really, because for the second year running his Red Bull Racing team had got in some hot water with the local authorities.

Twelve months on from his team's preview to the event that famously criticised the track, Red Bull upped the ante with a very tongue in cheek look at France and the French people - just as they have at numerous other countries.

The preview, which cheekily made itself out to be an apology for last year's effort, led to plenty of ruffled feathers once again and sure enough, come Thursday afternoon, it disappeared from the media centre and the team's website.

But censorship increases interest, and the news of the Red Bull preview disappearance prompted a huge wave of interest in just what had been said. No end of computers in the paddock were logged on to autosport.com to look back at the full report of just what had been said.

The roads surrounding Magny-Cours were very busy for the entire French Grand Prix weekend, and it was no surprise to see the traffic once again causing gridlock near the circuit on Friday night.

The one difference to normality this time, though, was that the queues were not for cars leaving the circuit but were actually caused by cars wanting to get in.

The reason? The concert put on by the French motorsport federation (the FFSA) for former Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and Nick Mason to perform the full length 'Dark Side of the Moon' at a celebration of the 100 years of the French Grand Prix.

Despite late afternoon thunderstorms, the event proved a massive hit both with music fans and the F1 fraternity - who grabbed every opportunity they could to get hold of tickets for the event.

Among the 30,000 people who turned up were Michael Schumacher, Ross Brawn, Jean Todt, Jarno Trulli and Max Mosley.

Fernando Alonso knows only too well just how serious Ferrari take defeat these days.

So when the Scuderia suffered an embarrassing loss to a bunch of school kids in the gas-powered F1 in Schools Challenge at Indianapolis, you just knew that they would want to make amends as quickly as possible.

That chance came in the Red Bull Energy Station on Thursday night when the drinks company hosted the annual Pinewood Derby, a three-lane downhill challenge for vehicles powered only by gravity.

Overseen by FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting, Ferrari found themselves up against entries from Red Bull Racing, McLaren, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Toyota, GP2, Pink Floyd and a group of boy scouts.

Ferrari spared no effort with the car - and used a laser device to ensure that the vehicle was lined up perfectly straight on the track at each start.

It was enough to take the overall victory - although other teams were a bit shocked to see the scouts come home second and third.

Midland Racing found themselves bang at the centre of the endless debates about the 'Engine Fund' for independent teams over the French Grand Prix.

On Sunday morning, just one hour before the start of the race, the team's boss Colin Kolles was briefing a select few journalists in the team's motorhome about the latest developments in the wake of intensifying friction between the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPMA) and the FIA.

While he explained Midland's stance, there were a few calls of 'Colin' coming from the stairs up to the first floor. There, waving at him, was Christijan Albers, pointing at his boss and then to his own his teeth.

Albers had gone down with a bad case of gingivitis rosa before the Magny-Cours weekend and Kolles, a qualified dental practitioner, had been treating him with medicine that had been flown in specially.

"Christijan started suffering from gingivitis rosa last week, and consulted his own dentist," said Kolles. "I started treating him this morning, and had some medicine driven in (from Kolles' German surgery) to treat him."

Kolles duly left the listening journalists to go upstairs and treat Albers in a makeshift clinic made up of a table, a leant back chair and a big bucket. It was a surreal sight just minutes before the start of the race.

There was no doubt in the team boss's mind, however, about why Albers had been able to fight through the pain barrier and compete in the event. "He has a good dentist," smiled Kolles.