F1 gossip column
The Mole has waved a dozy au revoir to , its Grand Prix, , glamour girls and, um, .
But the hangover from Jenson Button's in Monte Carlo - his fifth victory of the season - is still reverberating through Formula 1.
Did Jens celebrate in style as his stock continues to rise? How did world champion Lewis Hamilton dispel his disappointment? Which Grand Prix wants to rejoin the circus? It's all here in the best of the post-race gossip.
³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ analyst and two-time Monaco winner reckons Button had a right royal celebration after his maiden Monte Carlo victory. "On Sunday night he dined with royalty at the Grimaldi Palace overlooking the town and then joined me at the Amber Lounge post-race party. The DJ there got Jenson up on the stage and gave him a big bear hug to loud applause." ()
Button took a £5m pay-cut when he signed a one-year deal to drive for pacesetters Brawn Grand Prix, but he is fast becoming F1's hottest property. The 29-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber, Renault and Toyota are all interested in his services. Button's estimated value is said to have risen to £10m. Brawn GP chief executive Nick Fry says: "Our objective is to have him for the rest of his career and I think it's mutual." ()
Red Bull insist they are still in the fight for the titles, despite seeing the team slide 43.5 points behind Brawn in the constructors' standings and Shanghai race-winner Sebastian Vettel fall 28 points adrift of Button. "We're still reasonably early in the season. They've got a very good lead but a couple of bad races for Jenson, a couple of wins for Sebastian or Mark (Webber), can bring them right back into contention. It will be interesting when we go to Istanbul and Silverstone. Theoretically they are tracks that should come to the characteristics of our car." (
Lewis Hamilton cancelled his flight home from Monaco on Sunday night to pursue his other sporting obsession on Monday - golf. The world champion's impromptu round in the principality had a double purpose as he was playing with Mika Hakkinen, McLaren's former double world champion. Fresh from testing his mettle against Mika, Hamilton takes part in his first pro-am tournament at the European Open in Kent on Wednesday. ()
In more McLaren news, Mercedes-Benz motorsport chief Norbert Haug says Williams driver Nico Rosberg is on their list of potential 2010 drivers. Rosberg, 23, is out of contract at Williams at the end of the season and Haug says: "We have known Nico long enough and he is a man on the list. It is clear that he is on many teams' lists." ()
Toyota president John Howett has denied speculation that the Japanese manufacturer will quit F1 at the end of the season. "I don't know the source, but I can only say in our case that there is a clear wish to enter next year's championship." However, Howett did say earlier this month that the team would not submit an entry for 2010 unless new rules proposed by the governing body, the FIA, were changed. (Telegraph/Various)
And finally, could the Canadian Grand Prix return in 2010? F1 commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone has had three meetings in London with an anonymous Montreal businessmen and financier. The race was dropped from the 2009 calendar and replaced with the inaugural race in Abu Dhabi. (
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