In this week's column, Ann Bradshaw, recalls how some Formula One journalists, drivers, and even team owners spent their nights in Montreal, one of the most popular cities visited by the teams along the year. She also explains why the Minardi team is now in good hands, reviews the Canadian Grand Prix, and describes what it feels to be involved in a race that lasts more than many could handle

In the days of Renault engines at WilliamsF1 the press officer was the lovely Jean-Jacques Delaruwiere. He was very French in many ways - he loved red wine, champagne and cheese - but English in others - he loved hand-made English leather shoes, speaking English and the Beatles. JJ, as he was known by everyone, although the French pronounced it GiGi, loved going to new places and trying everything the locals had on offer. Therefore, he was very excited about going to a place called the Orange Box Club in Montreal.

Rather than being a single club this is the collective name the Grand Prix fraternity had given to the pole dancing clubs in the wonderful city. A visit to the Grand Prix without visiting one of these establishments was unthinkable. By the time JJ arrived on the scene in 1989 most people had forgotten the real names of these clubs and so when he arrived in Montreal he rushed off with a group of friends to savour the delights on offer, and told the cab driver to take him to the Orange Box Club.

We all knew he was going to see what was inside these clubs and were expecting a very bright eyed JJ the next morning. However, it was a very downcast JJ who arrived in the paddock the next day. When asked how he had got on he explained that despite spending the best part of an hour in the taxi he had not found the club. He said he had not taken the address as he was confident the Orange Box Club was very well known. We all started to giggle as it suddenly struck us that no one had told him this was the name given the clubs because the girls come in with a small box, resembling those oranges are kept in, under their arms. It is this they stand on as they remove their clothes for the princely sum of five dollars. JJ saw the funny side of this and the next night, armed with one of the clubs' proper names, Super Sexe, was able to see first hand what we had all been talking about.

I have spent many a night in these clubs watching members of the paddock pay for girls to take their clothes off in front of them. In fact some people, who shall remain nameless, have even been known to go directly there from the airport. This they have always put down to the fact that if you go during the lunch hour you get free food. The good thing about these clubs is they are totally harmless. The girls, who are mostly students earning extra money to pay for their tuition, are totally out of bounds to the customers so it is a look but don't touch policy. I have seen drivers, team owners, journalists, photographers, etc there and the next morning there was always a conversation based on who thought which was the prettiest girl.

*   *   *

Although I was not in Montreal over the weekend, I am sure the Minardi team hierarchy were not able to spend much time in such clubs as an awful lot was going on in order for the team to survive the rest of the season. I can't say I am in favour of washing your dirty linen in public, but this tactic seems to have worked for Paul Stoddart, who not only came away from the race with the team's future secured, but had one Mr Bernard Charles Ecclestone as his backer. In F1 terms there is no one bigger or more reliable for such a task. We have all seen people come into the sport with bags of money, splash it around, invest in teams and then disappear as quickly as they came leaving the individual team in a worst state than when they arrived.

Paul Stoddart is a hundred per cent certain that this will not happen to him. However, when he announced on Friday he was withdrawing his support for proposed changes to the 2003 regulations as well as those in the pipeline for 2004 it was a matter of throwing down the gauntlet to the larger teams and engine manufacturers. This was because they had withdrawn their support for a 'Fighting Fund' to keep the smaller teams in business and a promise to supply customer engines for ten million dollars. At this point he had no idea what would happen. The two teams he seemed to be getting at were McLaren and WilliamsF1, but he was bullish on television and said he had to do this for the sake of Minardi. This is a team that since it was formed in 1985 had never won a race and up to the beginning of this season had only scored 30 World Championship points.

Thankfully for Paul his real life Fairy Godmother came along in the unlikely guise of the boss of F1, who is known to everyone as just Bernie. In the space of just 24 hours the team was saved and the next release on the subject, issued on Sunday morning, proclaimed in its headline 'Ecclestone Invests in Minardi'. I am sure the headlines on stories in the world's press are likely to be more along the lines of 'Bernie saves Minardi's Bacon'. But at the end of the day the statement in the release that said 'Bernie Ecclestone has made a private investment in Minardi' meant a team that has a lot to offer the sport will be able to race on.

It is too easy to forget just how important such teams are. Which team gave two of the rising starts of the sport, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber, the chance to show to the likes of Renault F1 and Jaguar Racing just how good they are? Although he is no longer a Grand Prix driver, I am sure if he had not been able to drive a Minardi in F1 Marc Gene would not have come to the notice of Frank Williams. Without his hard work in testing I am sure the BMW WilliamsF1 Team would not have made its dramatic resurgence over the past few races.

Bernie has had a lot of stick over the years for his dictatorial methods in the way he has run the sport. He has made a lot of F1 people, including himself, very rich, but I applaud what he has done for Minardi. It shows he still cares about the sport and wants all the teams to survive. I think Paul Stoddart's quote in his press release summed everything up perfectly: "On a personal note, it has been a rollercoaster weekend for Minardi, and it's great to see that when the chips are down the man who built the sport up to what it is today really does care. The responsibility now falls to me to ensure he has made a wise investment."

I have worked with Paul in my days at Arrows. I suppose you could call him a bit of a rough diamond as he doesn't always follow the conventional route and does what he believes is right for his team. I love his enthusiasm for the sport and him and his partner Sue are two of the people who I most enjoy having a glass of wine and a chat with in the paddock. The nice thing is I do not think Paul will change any of his ways, despite having Bernie looking over his shoulder, and I wish him and all the people in the team the best of luck.

*   *   *

In a weekend dominated by politics, it is important not to forget what was going on trackside. Friday was a washout but at least the drivers were all sensible enough to get their cars round without hitting any walls, while Saturday showed the re-emergence of the BMW WilliamsF1 Team in Monaco was no flash in the pan. McLaren must have been wondering where its early season form had gone to and I am sure neither David Coulthard nor Kimi Raikkonen were on Ron Dennis's favourites list that evening. An exciting race was in store and the fact there had been six safety cars employed in the past seven years showed this was a circuit that could catch out the unwary.

It was good to see Ralf and Juan Pablo rush off into the lead and I am sure Kimi was hoping for a WilliamsF1 victory to help him retain his World Championship points lead, as there was not much he could do about Michael Schumacher from his pitlane starting position. Sadly it was not to be the case. Michael managed to do to Ralf, exactly what his younger brother had done to him in Montreal 2001 - he overtook in the pit lane. Despite having a pit stop that was two seconds longer than that of Ralf, Michael managed to put the quick laps in when they counted and sailed into the lead after the first round of pit stops. After this there was nothing Ralf could or would do except watch the back of the Ferrari, albeit from the distance that could be covered by about half a second. I was watching the ITV coverage and not surprisingly the commentators were suggesting that if Juan Pablo had been directly behind Michael rather than Ralf he may have made more effort to overtake. However, it is easy to say this from the comfort of a chair rather than inside an F1 car.

Despite all of us wanting a close championship battle, no one can deny Michael drove a superb race. In Monaco he made it quite clear he felt the Bridgestone tyres had let him down, here it was obvious that Michael won the race, not the car or the tyres. It was his brilliance and I am sure the good race strategy he has worked out with his team. Ross Brawn is a brilliant tactician and also Michael has a great engineer, who it was nice to see was on the podium to take the constructors' trophy. I was particularly pleased to see this as the engineer I am talking about is Australian, Chris Dyer. I know Chris from my days at Arrows and not only is he great at his job, but he is one of the nicest people you could wish to meet.

What the race result has done for the championship is put Michael in the lead for the first time this season and also put him in reach of yet another amazing record. One more point and he will have scored 1,000 World Championship points - over 200 ahead of second placed man in the points tally, Alain Prost.

*   *   *

I can't finish this column without mentioning the other big race that went on over the weekend, the Le Mans 24 Hours. Having recently done one of these mammoth events myself, I have every sympathy for those taking part in whatever capacity. It was interesting to watch the TV coverage and hear the comments of newcomer to the event, Mika Salo. He said he was enjoying himself but felt it lasted about four days too long. I have to agree with him as I know this first hand. You don't arrive on Thursday for the event you usually arrive the weekend before. There are lots of traditions involved such as taking the cars round the streets of Le Mans and practicing at various times of the day and night and I am sure to someone who is used to Grand Prix weekends this would come as a shock.

The American Le Mans Series has obviously come about thanks to the close association Don Panoz has with Le Mans, so it was great to see he had been honoured by the French who not only gave him the freedom of the city but also the immense honour of waiving the French national flag to start the race.

This is a race attended by many fans from the UK and it was quite obvious from the reports of crowds in excess if 200,000 that they had gone in their droves this year. At the end of the race it was a very British victory with the Bentley team finishing first and second for the first time since 1930. The marque had compiled one of the strongest teams of driver formations possible with ex-Formula One stars Johnny Herbert, Mark Blundell and David Brabham. However, it was the second car of lesser known drivers Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello and Guy Smith that was the first over the line. Having said this, I will most probably upset sports car fans as Tom's win has made him the only driver to win the race in four consecutive years.

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.