Ann Bradshaw, a journalist and press officer with three decades of experience in motor racing, and one of the most respected workers in the F1 paddock, follows the 2002 season in her post-race column, offering F1 fans an insight into the life of those who spend the GP weekend inside the paddock

When I discussed what my end of season review of 2002 should be about, my good friend Richard Hayes, Director of Communications for TWR, suggested I should list all the rumours that have appeared in the media during the year and see how many came true. Not a bad idea, but I suddenly realised that most publications covered their backs and at some time or other managed to cover stories from every aspect.

Let's look at the Arrows story. I think every group of people likely to be interested in running an F1 team were put forward as buyers or investors and time limits of what would happen and when were always flexible. Thinking about this also reminded me of what used to be one of my favourite articles of the year Old Mo's Almanac. This was written by the incredibly talented British journalist Maurice Hamilton, and would usually appear just before the season. It was always a good laugh to see what Maurice reckoned would be happening in F1 the following season. In those days there were usually several drivers and teams that could win the races and championships, so he could let his imagination run riot in some directions. If I had seen one of these at the beginning of 2002 it would have been interesting to see how Maurice's fertile imagination would have dealt with the fairly certain prospect of the red cars dominating.

I have the facts to consider while looking back at 2002 and sadly I cannot find much to make my readers laugh. I will even admit when asked by Atlas F1 to come up with my top three races I had a mental blank about most of them and could not remember much more than Michael Schumacher leading and then the disgrace of Austria. In view of this I am going to try to avoid any mention of what happened on the track and concentrate on what happened off it.

It is also coming up to award time so I want to give one to Eddie Jordan for surely being the optimist of the year. The reason for this is that I went to the Oxford Union last week to hear him speak and then play in his band, V10, in front of several hundred Oxford University undergraduates. He is still the best storyteller in the pitlane and managed to make the ensemble laugh at stories from 2002 that I am sure at the time had made EJ cry, and even try to pull his hair off!!!!!

I cannot help but feel sorry for EJ as he watched Takuma Sato destroy his cars, lost his Honda deal, had to lay off abut 50 members of his workforce and, if the rumours are right, may be without several of his current sponsors for 2003. However, he managed to talk for 45 minutes about his rise from impoverished bank employee giving out student loans to Formula One team owner and, obviously, millionaire. He was still talking with enthusiasm about the sport, and it was obvious with the new Ford deal in his pocket he is going out with the aim to bloody the noses of some of the much richer factory financed teams.

This year the Formula One action has taken place at the same tracks as it did in 2001, but it is obvious the calendar over the next few years is going to alter drastically. The only driver I have seen quoted as saying he would not miss Spa is Ralf Schumacher, but that aside, I think some of the antiseptic European tracks will not be missed if the new circuits in the pipeline are designed to give the spectators some fun to watch. It is great that the circus will at last be going to the Middle East for the Bahrain Grand Prix and to China for the Shanghai Grand Prix. Turkey can't be far off doing a deal for a race now they have a world championship rally, and Egypt and Russia are still talking.

I always remember going to places for the first time and I cannot wait to see how the locals in China will cope with the Grand Prix fraternity. I am sure things will have changed there since my last visit for the Hong Kong-Beijing Rally in 1987, but I think both sides will have some culture shocks. In those days cars were outnumbered about 1000 to one by trucks and about a million to one by bikes. The food in local restaurants was always a challenge, firstly to see if you could recognise it, and then secondly if you could eat it. I knew the claws laid out on the plate in front of me were from a chicken, but didn't instantly recognise the white dish that turned out to be the insides of fish stomachs. I also remember the wonderful local custom of giving the foreign guest the delicacies that turned out to be the heads of everything with the eyes still in.

I have only changed planes in Dubai so I have no idea about the Middle East. However, I have been doing some work for the Bahrain organisers and from what I can ascertain there will be no such surprises awaiting us with their food. I also asked if the consumption of alcohol was a problem in that part of the world and was assured that Mumm and Foster's need not worry. Thankfully we would not see the farce we had faced in the past in France where alcohol advertising is banned so the podium was not accompanied by the usual champagne spraying session but the drivers were given orange juice.

Obviously there are different customs to observe when visiting foreign places and this brings me back to EJ and two stories I heard this year of his meetings with royalty. One story relates that a young Japanese Princess requested a meeting with Takuma Sato. The meeting was scheduled for a Silverstone test, but before this meeting could take place, a very lengthy, strict protocol form was sent to the team to make sure all members knew how to address the young lady. Eddie is always a friendly person and it seems he never looked at the instruction that Her Royal Highness should be bowed to and only spoken to in reverential tones. The story goes, as soon as he met her he gave her a hug and kiss and patted her on the bottom. Rather than ordering him to be run through with a samurai sword, she had one of the most enjoyable days of her life and never stopped smiling. It seems EJ used a similar method of greeting when he met the Crown Prince of Bahrain, His Highness Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, for the first time in Monza and gave him a hug - the story goes they got on like a house on fire.

The end of the Grand Prix season is always a good excuse for holidays in tropical places and while I would love to be on some island in the middle of nowhere, the dreadful news of the cowardly bombing of the Sari nightclub in Bali made me not only remember some of the great times I have had personally but remind me of dangers in life. I have visited Bali twice when in that part of the world for races, and the Sari night club was always on the agenda. The local drink favoured by most of us is called arak and was perhaps one of the strangest drinks I have consumed in a nightclub. I am not sure what it is made of but rest assured the alcohol content is quite high. It was always served mixed with orange juice and instead of in a glass, it was served in a large plastic container that was attached to the drinker by a wrist band. Our nightly visits to the club were for what we called Arak Attacks.

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By the time this appears on Atlas F1 we may know a little more about the future of Formula One. I have never seen so many different ideas and opinions over what should happen in the sport for the following season. I personally would love to see the drivers change cars during the year, but I am not sure how this would go down with some of the sponsors who are paying millions to have a World Champion advertising their wares. However, having read that Michael Schumacher has 'borrowed' a Minardi two-seater to give some of his friends rides, perhaps this is not the silliest idea and he is already getting used to how the cars from the other Italian team handle.

I personally like the idea of ballast and reversing grids, as this has proved most effective in the European Touring Car Championship. It does give the drivers something to complain about, but as BMW Team Germany driver Jorg Müller proved, it can be overcome. In the second half of the season after the introduction of the ballast rule he was the only driver to have some added for each race. Rather than slow him down, I think it spurred him on and he finished runner-up in the series.

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While on the subject of the ETCC, we have just had our final round of this series at the Estoril track in Portugal. As soon as I arrived there it reminded me of the great times I had there in the days when the Formula One fraternity used the track for both racing and testing, and how sad it was we no longer go there. Although I went there for the first time in the late seventies when the Rally of Portugal was based there, my first Grand Prix was in 1985 when I was lucky enough to see Ayrton Senna's first win.

We loved visiting the track as we could stay in the seaside resort of Cascais and enjoy great seafood. It was usually the last race of the European season, so it gave us all a good excuse to party the night away, which we usually did at Coconuts nightclub. For fear of being sued, I cannot mention much about these nights, but I do remember the Formula One driver who decided to escape without paying for his drinks. Here I need to explain that on entering the club you were given a card, which was stamped each time you ordered drinks and then in order to leave you gave the card in and paid for what you had drunk in one transaction. The nameless driver decided he did not want to do this so escaped through the gents' toilet window. It was only when he was outside that he realised the building was surrounded on three sides by sea, but this did not put him off and in the small hours of the morning, a bit like Papillon, he decided to swim for freedom.

When we were there a couple of weeks ago Coconuts was closed so we had to find somewhere else to party. This was not a problem, and on Sunday night most of the BMW and Volvo drivers and the various teams gravitated towards a bar called Chequers. The partying was being led by the Dutch with driver Tom Coronel in fine form. He was entertaining the rest of us by eating glass and fire, swinging full pints of drink over his head without spilling a drop and ripping his and his teammate Duncan Huisman's clothes to shreds. While I had seen most things in my life at post race parties, I did find some of his antics rather strange, but with his usual big grin he explained to me why he had acquired these particular habits. "If you have lived in Japan for four years you have to find some way to spend your evenings."

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Now the season is over, we will all have to find ways of spending our evenings. However, I am sure that within a few weeks we will all be looking forward to the 2003 season and whatever the outcome of the meetings set to secure the future of the sport, will look forward to Melbourne with as much enthusiasm as we have over the past years.

May I wish all of Atlas F1 and all its subscribers a happy Christmas, a prosperous New Year and a thank you for taking the time to read my columns.

About the author:
Ann Bradshaw - Annie - began her motor racing career as a teenager, helping out her brother in local rally races in England, where she grew up. In the 1970s she organised motor racing events in England, and was later the press officer for the RAC MSA - the motorsport governing body in Britain. In mid 1980s, she became press officer to team Lotus, where she worked with Ayrton Senna. Shortly after, she moved to the Williams team and was working there for several years, when once again she found herself working with Senna. She worked with Damon Hill after the Brazilian's death, and moved with the British Champion to Arrows. She also worked with the Panoz team in the United States, before becoming a freelance press officer, now working with Compaq and BAR among others. Annie joined Atlas F1 as a regular columnist in April 2002.