After helping out Antonio Pizzonia in Spain, Ann Bradshaw was at home to watch the Austrian GP, where Michael Schumacher's car caught alight while refuelling, the incident reminding her of a more dramatic fire suffered by Schumacher's former teammate Jos Verstappen. In this week's column, Ann recounts the troubled weekend Jos had off the track to compound the one he had on it, as well as bad weather in Austria, a smart tyre decision, why she was disappointed with Ron Dennis, how to draw a bigger crowd, and catching up with her ETCC boys in Sicily

This weekend I was able to sit in front of my television with my Pekingese dog Rosie snoring noisily at my feet to watch the goings on at the A1 Ring during the Austrian Grand Prix. This was a world away from my position during the Spanish Grand Prix, and although it was great being there to see my mates, as regards watching a race you may just as well be at home. Watching a race from trackside rather than on TV can leave you ill-informed and in some instances bored. The weather can also play an important part in your enjoyment or otherwise, and when I got a call on Wednesday night from my friends Katie Aspinall and Lynden Swainston, who were already in Austria, I was not sad not to be on the Thursday morning red-eye special out of Heathrow as they informed me it was snowing.

It is easy to forget Grands Prix can be cold and wet as well as hot and dry so I was delighted after the tyre debacle in Brazil to see the tyre companies had come up with a sensible solution. The story in Motorsport News here in the UK read 'Bridgestone and Michelin will both bring a second 'extreme-weather' tyre to all Grands Prix. The new wet compound will only be used at race director, Charlie Whiting's, discretion and is not intended to replace the single-spec intermediate currently used.'

This decision seemed well timed after my Wednesday conversation and I also remember being there with Arrows at the end of the nineties, when the weather was so bad that the team's catering staff spent a night in their minibus. After leaving the circuit for their ski resort hotel a couple of valleys away, they had to cross a stream that was running across the road. However, when they got a little further down the road they found it was totally flooded. Unfortunately when they turned back the stream was then a torrent and so they were trapped between the two until the water abated at daybreak. They then rushed back to the track to cook breakfast before dropping with exhaustion.

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Luckily this year it seemed as the weekend progressed, the threat of rain diminished, and so those extreme tyres were not used. However, there were other circumstances that added excitement to the race and, not for the first time, it was pit stops that were to play a very important part in the outcome of the race. The generalisation of fuel stops is too sweeping as, not for the first time, it was the refuelling equipment that was to cause the problems.

WilliamsF1 experienced problems in Imola and bravely put their hands up and admitted it was not the equipment itself that caused the problem, but human error. The makers of the equipment, who are the same for every team, were quick to defend themselves before WilliamsF1 clarified the situation and pointed out other top teams were not suffering problems. Ferrari is usually the team given as an example of one with no fuel rig problems, but this weekend they were well and truly in the mire with both cars suffering.

While Rubens Barrichello had a drama when the hose didn't want to release, it was Michael Schumacher who was in the middle of one of the most nerve-wracking situations. The world watched as he sat in the Ferrari's cockpit as cool as a cucumber with flames licking round the car's fuel filler cap. We can only assume someone from the team told him it was not something to worry about as he didn't even seem to notice the mechanics dashing around with fire extinguishers. He didn't even look sideways to get a better view of what was going on.

It typified the man. Is there nothing that rattles him when he smells a victory? Is he really such an iceman that even this cannot make him leap out of his car? The answers seem to be no and yes. At this time it was difficult to forget the situation he found himself in twelve months ago. He was villified for taking part in a race fix by the sport's governing body, the press and the spectators. As he went onto the podium he was booed and he seemed visibly shaken by the reaction. This year it was a different matter because as he went onto the podium the cheers from his fans were louder than ever. Not only did he cope with this 'small' distraction but then went on to win the race. From zero to hero in one easy step!

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Watching him sitting there reminded me of the famous incident in Hockenheim in 1994 when it was Jos Verstappen who was in the middle of the inferno. Luckily for the Benetton team everyone escaped with some relatively minor burns, but things could have been much worse but for some rapid reactions by members of the team with fire extinguishers.

It is strange how the careers of Jos and Michael, who were teammates at Benetton in '94, and ever since have been very good friends, have developed. How the luck has always seemed to be on the side of the German, while the Dutch driver, despite being very talented, has never really been in the right place at the right time. This weekend Michael started the race from pole, while Jos was relegated to the back of the grid as a technical gremlin forced him off the track in qualifying. He didn't manage to post a time so was relegated to the back of the grid.

No doubt at the end of Saturday Michael went back to his luxurious hotel and after a healthy dinner slept peacefully in a cosy bed. Jos had no such luxury as his sleeping arrangements over the weekend were about as disastrous as his exploits on the track. He arrived at his hotel on Thursday night and the first problem that struck him was the strong smell of cows. When he arrived at the circuit on Friday he informed the travel agent's representative he would not be going back there, so please could she find him another less smelly room. After much rushing around, a room, which was originally earmarked for a McLaren guest, was located. This should have been the end of the story, but for some reason when he left the room on Saturday morning he took all his luggage with him.

The hotel owners assumed their guest had left so immediately sold it to someone else. The poor travel agent was then given the task of finding him his third room of the weekend. Miracles do happen and so Mr Verstappen moved into another room for Saturday night. While this room was basic but clean, it was the unwelcome visitor who knocked on his door at 5am on Sunday morning who upset Jos. I don't know whether this local, who had obviously had a drink or two too many, was a Schumacher or Verstappen fan, but when he was confronted by a very angry Jos his only reply was to throw up over him! As if all this wasn't bad enough, he was the first retirement from Sunday's race.

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While I was not physically there at the Austrian track, I was with my little Jungle Boy, Antonio Pizzonia, in spirit, and was delighted with his performance in qualifying. Reports that reached me were of a driver with a load off his shoulders. He had his mother with him and they had even managed a few days holiday together in Portugal the previous week. All racing drivers need help and support and he proved what he could do with that. With this in mind I was disappointed to hear Ron Dennis remark after qualifying that the three mistakes David Coulthard had made on his lap were 'unacceptable'. David would have been the first person to put his hand up and say that 14th on the grid was not what he wanted, but these things happen and he drove a sensible race to bring his car home in fifth and help McLaren to keep Ferrari in its sights in the Constructors' Championship - the points position is Ferrari 64 and McLaren 63.

Much of the emphasis for the weekend was on the fact this could be the last Austrian Grand Prix as there are going to be casualties to make way for new races in Bahrain and China. All the previous winners were invited and it looked from the TV as though the crowds had come to see the race. If fans believe they may be seeing something for the last time, they usually want to be there to be part of history. It seems this is a ploy that has been suggested to the Hungarian Grand Prix organisers, as their ticket sales are well down. If they suggest their race could also be under threat it could bring the fans from the surrounding countries rushing over the borders in the way they did in the early days when upwards of 200,000 spectators attended the races.

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Since my last Grand Prix I have not been sitting quietly at home, but spent a weekend in Sicily with my BMW ETCC boys. The weather was wonderful and the food tasty and inexpensive. It is nice to go to these places but sadly sometimes the facilities are just not good enough to cope with an international motorsport series. The drivers were complaining about a chicane that had been built on the track called Schumacher and which managed to catch most of them out. There were bits of bumpers all over the place and after BMW Team GB driver Andy Priaulx clouted the tyres marking this chicane in free practice, he remarked they seemed as if they were filled with concrete.

We reminded him we were in Sicily and they usually used concrete for other reasons!! While those of us in the press corps felt sorry for the drivers, we felt our own problems were much more serious. For us it was the toilets that were letting the whole place down. I shall not go into details but suffice to say at regular intervals the out of order notice went up while the plumbing was sorted out.

I always look forward to these weekends as I know I shall hear from Tom Coronel about his latest exploits in Japan. He regularly commutes between Holland and Japan and the weekend before was racing in Fuji in the Japanese GT series. From what he told me, the fun off the track was better than that on. He said he has some great photos to show me and I cannot wait. However, I understand some of his mates from this series read this column so if they have any info for me on what Tom gets up to, then I would love to hear from them first hand!

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.