While I waited I at least had the chance to observe the inside of its schmooze wagon "the motorhome" as it's sometimes misleadingly called. As well as a team of PR people, sponsorship department minders and general fixers, there's also three or four chefs and sundry other support staff. It also does a very good espresso (as you might expect).

Wandering round the paddock area (which is smaller than you might imagine) it was striking to see where the majority of the trucks are from. MAN seems to dominate (Toyota, Williams, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Force India, BMW), Merc has two teams using Actros (Brawn and McLaren), Ferrari clearly opts for Iveco and Renault for er... Renault. I'm not sure about Red Bull - memory suggests it's Renault again. With the majority of the teams UK-based it was also amusing to see that all the GB-registered trucks have O-licence discs in their windscreens. I guess you don't expect to see something quite so mundane in F1.

However, what I didn't bank on was the long arm of Stobart Group extending into F1. Now, I seem to vaguely recall a press release on this topic, but there's nothing on the Stobart website so I now wonder if my mind is playing tricks. Anyway, it was only through talking to one of Brawn's drivers that it became apparent as to who he works for. (Although he did admit that he would be back on the general haulage fleet next year working out of Warrington, which seems a world away from F1.) Mind you, as this shot shows it's pretty clearly a Stobart vehicle as the fleet number is a bit of a giveaway. No female name though...

More pics from the day here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/domperry/sets/72157621805550450/