Grapevine: Paddock Life - Sepang edition

It's like this every year, but perhaps the extra week off after the Australian Grand Prix meant that the sun got to few more people this time.

There was Kimi Raikkonen, clearly on top of the world when he arrived at the circuit following his dominant win in Melbourne. He had spent some time with friends in Malaysia - which probably explained a lot as to how he had ended up with a huge tribal tattoo on his right arm.

The heat also seemed to get to the team bosses. First we had Flavio Briatore and Jean Todt managing to forget who their current drivers were in front of the assembled media pack at an official FIA press conference.

And then, to cap it all, we had a very chirpy Ron Dennis giving swift one-liners in his traditional media briefing on Saturday afternoon - where he even congratulated himself on a good piece of 'Ronspeak' following one lengthy response to a question.

When asked to respond to Fernando Alonso's claims that night racing would be 'impossible' Dennis smiled: "I think I spend more time in the dark than Fernando, so I think I am a bit better equipped than him..."

And then, as the press briefing finished and the media were told that Dennis and Norbert Haug would be available for a few more minutes for any more questions, he blasted back: "No we won't. I'm off to the hotel to have a bath!"

Formula One has often being accused of being a bit too elitist when it comes to mingling with the public.

High fences around the paddock and some drivers who seem more interested in heading back to their hotel rooms at full pelt rather than stopping to sign autographs has not helped convince the world that F1 really does care about its fans.

But, thanks to a bit of heavy traffic in Kuala Lumpur on Friday night, a few lucky members of the public got to spend a couple of minutes up close with some of the sport's big stars.

Bernie Ecclestone had issued a five-line whip for team principals to attend Friday night's Grand Prix Gala dinner. And with the roads gridlocked in Malaysia's capital city, it was felt best that they make their way from the airport's Pan Pacific Hotel to the venue downtown via the super fast airport monorail.

All was going fine until they made it into town and then had to jump on the local metro trains - which were packed.

So Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore, Nick Fry and John Howett found themselves having to push, barge and heave their way on to the trains - and stand there trapped among the slightly baffled commuters.

In fact, public transport problems appeared to be something of an in-word in Malaysia, when BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica found himself at the wheel of a bus at one point.

With their team sponsored by Malaysian oil company Petronas, Kubica and teammate Nick Heidfeld had a hectic PR schedule in the week leading up to the Grand Prix.

One of the first stops was a big promotional event in the historic city of Malacca, where Heidfeld completed a demonstration in an F1 car and the pair found themselves paraded in front of fans on some ancient Malaysian rickshaw.

Come the end of the exhausting day, the team were put on to a bus that was supposed to whisk them back to their hotel for the evening. The only problem was that the bus driver had gone missing in action.

So after twiddling their thumbs for a fair few minutes, Kubica eventually decided to take matters into his own hands and climb into the driver's seat.

After working out the controls, Kubica steadily inched away to start guiding his weary colleagues.

Everyone in the F1 paddock loves to brush shoulders with a celebrity, and every weekend the rumour mill goes into overdrive about which A-list celebrities would be making their appearance in the paddock and on the grid.

There is usually plenty of excitement about some of the names bandied about - and in Malaysia it was no different, when various people suggested that F1 was about to be graced by the presence of Steven Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The word on the street was that the pair were on a tour of Asia with BMW Sauber sponsor Petronas - and were due to make a stop off at the Grand Prix to show their faces.

Sadly for the majority of the female section the paddock (who wanted to go weak-kneed over the actor, not director) the day would disappoint as neither of them showed their faces.

But one man whose rumoured appearance also proved false left no one in the F1 world any sadder.

Newspaper reports in Europe suggested that Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, who has turned his back on the deep troubles of his country for a holiday in Asia, was about to fly in to Sepang to watch the race.

Such an appearance, especially in the paddock or pitlane, would have been a massive PR gaff for F1, and it was with some relief that the reports were found wide of the mark - unless he somehow managed to get into the track in secret and watch from one of the banks overlooking the circuit.

One senior F1 management figure, who has control over many of the stars and their passes, was insistent that Mugabe would not be seen wandering around Sepang if he had anything to do with it.

"He won't get a pass off us," he said. "And if I saw him in the paddock, I think I would try and throw him out."