Grapevine: Paddock Life - Silverstone edition

Goodman was invited to help remove the left-rear wheel of Tiago Monteiro's Midland and had proved her worth during the endless practice sessions over the weekend.

The practice paid off as the stops went without a hitch - even if Goodman found her pulse rate went off the scale while all the action took place.

"My heart is still going 19 to the dozen, but I can't tell whether that is excitement or relief," she said afterwards. "It all happened much slower than I imagined.

"I saw Tiago's car coming down the pitlane and then it was just a question of doing what we had rehearsed dozens of times before.

"The tyre was sticky and the wheel rim was hot, but it went smoothly. A fantastic experience."

Drivers were pretty hard to find for most of the weekend because of the World Cup, often locking themselves away in motorhomes, but the one place that drew them out was clothing manufacturer Alpinestars' annual minimoto event on Friday night.

The mini motorbike race had been moved from the grass and mud of Magny-Cours to a new faster tarmac course at Silverstone - and a lot of the F1 grid knew that the media race was guaranteed to deliver its fair share of spills.

In fact, after Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi made sure to venture out onto the track alone to have a quick go on the Honda CRF 50 Super moto machines, it took just seconds for the carnage to begin once the media were let loose.

As Jarno Trulli for one stood on a tyre barrier in fits of giggles as journalists flew through the air, through the tyre barriers and over handlebars getting to grips with the tiny machines, even MotoGP ace John Hopkins could not believe what he was witnessing.

Autosport's team did not escape the suffering. Freelancer Simon Arron managed just half a lap of his practice session before launching his bike skyward over a ramp and himself hard onto the tarmac to wipe himself out of the event before it had started.

It got worse, too, when further shunts in the race left the team near the back at the chequered flag. And to add insult to injury (well, strictly, injury to injury), Arron crashed his bicycle into a hawthorn hedge on the way back home after the race.

With a bruised back and scratches all over his arm, Arron easily won the award for biggest shunt of the weekend.

David Coulthard's big secret was out over the British Grand Prix weekend. No, it was nothing to do with those Ferrari rumours but everything to do with the engagement to girlfriend Karen Minier.

For a week or so now Coulthard found himself being asked about his latest 'news' - and kept getting confused about whether his friends were asking about his love life or future racing career.

In the end he came clean and owned up to the engagement, just a few months after the pair first became an item. And Coulthard is not holding back in admitting what the news means for him.

"My parents have always been a good example to me, but I never thought I'd experience what they have," he said in an interview with the Sunday Times.

"I thought my life would be a series of short, passionate relationships, ultimately unfulfilled.

"I'm living something now that I never believed would happen to me, and time will tell how long this journey lasts — it might be a few years, it might be a decade, it might be a lifetime. I don't know.

"What I do know is that I don't want to let her down, and that was never a worry in the past."

British Formula One fans are known to take a pretty fanatical interest in the sport and its stars, but technical director Sam Michael had a closer-than-expected insight into it during his Saturday afternoon briefing with the media.

As he sat down inside the Williams motorhome, two guests thought that Michael and Bernard Ferguson's media session was free for all and duly joined the journalists who had turned up - sitting down right next to Michael.

They were no trouble until Ferguson started answering a question and one of the unknown guests patted Michael on the arm and asked him to sit back in his chair so she could hear the thoughts of Cosworth's chief with an unobstructed view.

A red-faced Michael looked slightly bemused by the whole affair, as his eyes wandered up to Williams' ever-efficient media staff to save him.

Do you want to know the real reason why the much talked about Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) meeting with Michael Schumacher did not turn into a mammoth two-hour session on Friday? Well, it may well have had something to do with the World Cup.

As football fever gripped the paddock, Schumacher found himself in a real dilemma - as the GPDA meeting clashed with his national team's opening game with Costa Rica. What to do? Watch the game or spend that time focusing on appeasing his rivals who were still upset over what happened in Monaco?

In the end, David Coulthard came to his rescue as he took control of the GPDA meeting to draw a line under the whole Monaco affair - turning what could have been a lengthy bitching session into a swift 15-minute chat.

That allowed Schumacher to rush off and watch Germany take a 4-2 victory.

In fact, football fever pretty much gripped the entire paddock for the British Grand Prix weekend. Rubens Barrichello turned up on Thursday in a special Brazilian Honda-branded t-shirt, while Tonio Liuzzi had a pair of specially branded Alpinestars boots.

Jenson Button also brought his updated St. George Flag helmet into action - two years on from Euro 2004.

"It is not any different from 2004, really, except the Honda white and Honda red," smiled Button. "I like it...and it has got the England flag on the back."

Toyota deserved the biggest applause, though, for being perfect hosts during the England v Paraguay game.

While McLaren's numerous England flags revved up national pride, Toyota drew the crowds with the match shown on a 65-inch high definition plasma screen courtesy of title sponsor Panasonic.

The huge screen dominated the team's motorhome all weekend - and if they ever find it getting in the way then I would happily donate my lounge to accommodate it...