Grapevine: Paddock Life - Monza edition

And maybe it was the focus on those two events that took away some of the typical glamour of the weekend. The usual celebrities and guest events were pretty much overlooked because there was too much else to talk about.

Bollywood had its biggest star, Gulshan Grover, present and Tamara Ecclestone was doing television presenting for the Porsche Supercup, but all anyone wanted to talk about was Schumi.

Even PR stunts like Jenson Button receiving some gold Ray-Bans to celebrate his victory in Hungary, which would draw the masses on a straightforward weekend, could not compete with even the slightest hint of a quote from anyone at Ferrari.

In the end, the manner of Schumacher's retirement proved a fitting end to the months of speculation about his future.

And if you wanted to be left in no doubt about how little thought Schumacher has previously given to hanging up his helmet, then you had to be a fly-on-the-wall at his television interviews following the race.

Having run through his decision in English and German, Schumacher began speaking to the Italian crews about finally no longer being a race driver.

But in all his Italian lessons during 11 years at the Scuderia, he had missed out on learning one special word that suddenly became so important on Sunday.

Beginning to explain to the cameras about what had happened, he suddenly stopped and realised that he did not know one specific word - because it had never entered his mindset before.

That word? Retirement.

Sunday was quite a good day for Italian racing fans.

The tifosi were treated to exactly the result they wanted at Monza, as Schumacher closed the gap in the title chase with his emotional win, and earlier in the morning Valentino Rossi pulled off a spectacular last-lap move to take victory in the Malaysian MotoGP race.

The only problem was it probably took most of the fans present at Monza until they got home that evening to find out who had won at Sepang.

Despite the organisers convincing Bernie Ecclestone to let them put on the MotoGP race on the television screens around the circuit, it all went wrong as the event entered its closing stages.

With those who had made it into Monza early, including a lot of journalists in the media centre, on the edge of their seats as Rossi fought hard against fellow Italian Loris Capirossi, everyone was glued to the screens watching the closing stages.

As Rossi hounded the Ducati, just about to start the final lap of what had been a thrilling encounter, the television feed suddenly cut out.

There were gasps, there was disbelief and to some an element of anger. No, there had not been a power cut. There was something much more important...and we found out what it was when some different television images emerged.

In a fit of extreme thoughtlessness, someone had decided that those at the track would rather watch an empty GP2 grid almost 30 minutes before the start of the race than a brilliant last-lap fight to the flag in Malaysia.

On a weekend when one Ferrari legend announced that he was retiring at the end of the season, it was quite fitting that another became one of the hottest talking points in the paddock.

Niki Lauda, three-times world champion, caused much amusement up and down the pitlane, thanks to both his own outspoken comments on TV - and very loud chanting from some random Germans.

The first moment came just before the start of the race when Lauda, working in his role as a trackside expert for German channel RTL, expressed his anger at Fernando Alonso's qualifying penalty by telling all his viewers to stop watching the sport.

"I am so angry," he said. "My advice is to turn the television off now..."

His outburst led to immediate panic at RTL's headquarters and within seconds Lauda's mobile received a call from one of his bosses reminding him that he should be encouraging people to tune in - not telling them to go elsewhere.

But if his television antics amused many, it was nothing compared to a three-part video discovered on youtube.com over the weekend - and which soon became the must-see item of the Italian Grand Prix.

Lauda himself has always had a bit of a dark humour about his famous accident at the Nurburgring in 1976 (even telling fans this year at a 30th anniversary barbeque celebration that he was still looking for his ear), and it appears that some of his followers have joined in that vibe.

Over the weekend, as word of the videos spread from dark corners of the media centre to inside motorhomes, people gathered around computers to listen to and watch images of German fans chanting at the top of their voices about Lauda having only one ear. Or in their words: Niki Lauda hat ein ohr, ein ohr, ein ohr.

Such was the impact that by the end of Monza even Roger Benoit, a veteran F1 correspondent and a friend of Lauda, would let slip the occasional chant as he wandered around the paddock.

The cancellation of the Belgian Grand Prix may have created another welcome three-week break for most of the paddock, but Red Bull have vowed to put it back on the calendar.

Although there is little chance of the energy drinks giant convincing Bernie Ecclestone to change his mind and reinstate the event, the company is putting on a virtual Grand Prix in Belgium next weekend.

At the exact time that qualifying would have taken place at Spa-Francorchamps, Red Bull are hosting their own event on PlayStation consoles in a hotel in Brussels.

Fans will have to go up against a best time set by David Coulthard. The winner will get an all expenses paid trip to Brazil to watch the race, and meet the man himself.