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Christian Horner dispelled any suggestion that Red Bull is favouring one driver over the other at a Casio event this afternoon.

There was one question we wanted the answer to. Which driver got his new RBR-branded watch first? "They were given their watches at the same time," deadpaned Horner. "We also have plenty of spares and they're all of the same specification, so I can't see there being any issues with watches this weekend."

The event was hosted by BBC double act David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan. EJ stumbled onto the stage not making a lot of sense, and then skipped a page in the script which confused everyone on the stage - not least Casio's global marketing bod who didn't seem to speak much english and spoke off an autocue even more incomprehensibly than the Irishman.

DC struggled to introduce the politely smiling man, complaining he had a hard time getting his tongue around Japanese names. "But I had a Japanese girlfriend once, and didn't have any trouble getting my tongue around her."

Last night was a busy one in the paddock as there were no less than five media drinks dos on at the same time. Renault had their regular apero, the BRDC had brought out the BBQ, Virgin were having a pub night, and Red Bull were toasting their one-off tie-up with the Thai tourist board. They had Thai food, Thai beer, I even had a chat with the wife of the Thai ambassador to the UK. And there was a prize - a stay at Sri Panwa in Phuket.

Regular readers will remember Sri Panwa as my second home when I'm out in South East Asia. An amazing place where guests get entire villas to themselves, gorgeous panoramic views and infinity pools you can actually jump from your bed into. Here, I demonstrate with my buddy Mr Chris Zimmerman:



The other soiree last night was down at Force India. Robert Paterson, Whyte and Mackay's chief master blender was there teaching a few of us how whisky should be drunk. First up, how to hold the glass. Robert is a proper Glaswegian who's been whisky tasting since he was eight years old, and said in no uncertain terms that if I held the glass by anything other than the seat he would poke my eyes out.



What I didn't know was that you're meant to roll whisky over and under your tongue for a second for each year - so if it's 30 years old, that's a mouth-numbing 30 seconds.

He brought some very fine whiskys, but the finest without doubt was the tiny bottle - looked a bit like a urine sample - which Robert kept in his pocket. The Dalmore 62. This is the world's most expensive whisky, Robert explained, worth a staggering £102,000 a bottle, and there were only 12 bottles produced. It's derived from four casks of single malt dating from 1868, 1876, 1926 and 1939. To my disbelief, Robert poured a soupson into a glass and handed it to once of my colleagues. Git knocked it right back. What I would have done for a shot of that (probably worth eight grand), all I got was a snifter.

Robert has blended the Force India drivers very own whiskies. For Paul di Resta he says: "I have created a whisky that is a little shy at first on the nose but behind the shyness there is a full bodied explosion brought about by the highland malts I have used in this blend, giving it great strength and backbone. This whisky has plenty of raw Scottish talent but also displays a sureness and maturity beyond its years."

For Tonio Liuzzi: "I have created something which reflects his lively Italian personality and celebrates his first full season in the race seat. This blend is not one for sipping and savouring but is one for pure enjoyment and pleasure with the rest of the team. Needing single malts with a little extra vibrancy, I called upon a great selection from Islay and Jura which were intricately woven together to allow the peat smoke to harmonise. Patience and dedication was needed to bind and unite these malts together but the long awaited results are outstanding, proving that good things come to those who wait."

And for Adrian Sutil: "Adrian is clearly a strong willed and meticulous character who carefully plans his races to the last detail. However his skills as a concert pianist demonstrate another less well known side. That of the artist; creative, dramatic, passionate. Instantly I was drawn to his bold character and for this blend I have selected whiskies as old as 25 years from the four distilling regions of Scotland. Although this blend has a great complexity to it, a great harmony prevails with beautiful mellow flavours coming through to reward the palate."

Down in the Force India motorhome this morning, the Tonio and Adrian blends are almost untouched but Di Resta's is half gone. Good job he wasn't driving in FP3 today.

I've been chatting with Brazil's favourite nephew, and asked a few pertinent questions.

How many times do you get asked about Ayrton every day?

Every 30 seconds on average! Ninety percent of the interviews I do, I get asked about Ayrton. I'm used to it. I think in a couple of years that will wear off. As much as I've answered the same questions over and over again a million times since I started racing, there are always different people reading the articles. Hopefully in a year's time I'll get some new questions.

Is F1 harder than you thought it was going to be?

Oh yes. F1 is really difficult. It's extremely competitive. But it's a friendly environment too.

Do you share hire cars with your team mate, Karun Chandkok?

Yeah quite a lot. We drove all the way from Barcelona to Monaco together actually, and I worked out how to make Karun shut up. All you have to do is go fast in the wet. When a car is aquaplaning he's very quiet.

That's a very smart watch you're wearing. What is it?

It's a Hublot Aerobang, and it's my favourite. I have a few Hublot watches as they're my sponsor, and this one is very hard to get off my wrist. My friends keep trying to steal it but they'll never succeed. It's the best freebie I've ever been given.

What's the weirdest thing you've ever received from a fan?

Some fans send me their own photos, and what am I supposed to do with them? They send me photos of their families, which I appreciate but if I did an autograph session a year ago I can't be expected to remember who they are. So I just get all these random photos of people I don't recognize.

What's the last tune you downloaded?

Kid Cudi with David Guetta - Memories. [sings] All the crazy shit I did last night....

What was the last film you saw?

Inglorious Basterds, though I didn't quite finish it. I was watching it on the plane and we landed early. Tarantino is really good.

What's the oldest VHS recording you own?

That would be the 1986 or 1987 F1 championship tape with Ayrton. But it's mouldy now, I can't watch it.

When was the last time you were in a fight, and what was it over?

I've never fought with my fists. But I fought with words maybe last weekend.

What's your dream car?

That's a complex question because you want different cars for different things. I think the McLaren F1 is pretty high on the list. I drove a Porsche 997 GT2 and that's a very nice car. The Porsche Carrera GT has the most lovely engine note, I love that car.

What's your fancy dress costume of choice?

I would go as a stick of chewing gum. In Brazil there's an advert for Trident chewing gum where a guy dresses up as a stick of gum.

What's your most treasured possession?

My PC.

You're allowed to invite three celebrities to dinner. Who do you invite?

Can they be girls? This is going to get me in trouble.... Sienna Miller, Scarlet Johansson, and the Victoria's Secret model Doutzen Kroes.

We've had a lot of bad luck this year with travel, what with volcanic ash making life difficult getting out of Shanghai, Barcelona and Monaco for many. On Thursday the French public sector decided the unpronounceable Icelandic volcano had had far too much fun wrecking travelers lives, and got in on the act with a massive strike.

I usually travel to races on Wednesday afternoon, but decided to set off at the crack of dawn on Thursday because I had a meeting (well, if you can call watching football with a well-known fashion editor a legitimate 'meeting') on Wednesday night. Normally I would take the RER suburban train to Paris' Orly airport, but I thought wiser of it and got a cab at 7am because I'd heard the train drivers were on strike.

When I arrived at Orly I was told the air traffic controllers were on strike too. Brilliant. How long is our delay? Maybe an hour and half, maybe more, the check-in girl at Spanish no-frills carrier Vueling told me. Maybe more was right, because in total the delay was five hours long, two of which we spent sat on the plane waiting to move.


This, of course, comes just a few days after the French football team decided to go on strike because they didn't like their management, causing outrage. It reinforces a French stereotype, politicians and commentators complained. Too right, and Thursday hammered it in further. Stereotype? It's more than that. It's their national sport!

We could have flown to Dubai in the time it took us to fly the 1000km to Valencia. I was on a plane with colleagues Brad Spurgeon of the International Herald Tribune and Joe Saward, both of whom were ready to punch a French air traffic controller by the time we rolled into Valencia at 4pm.

Flights all over Europe were affected, with important F1 parts and team bosses from England arriving as late as midnight on Thursday. Heikki Kovalainen's flight from Geneva was cancelled, and at 10pm that night made the decision to drive 1200km to the race. He arrived 5am Friday. "I felt a bit tired in all the meetings," he said, "but in the car the adrenaline kicks in and it's no problem". Good attitude!

Lotus are celebrating their 500th Grand Prix this weekend, and on Thursday evening the team posed for pictures alongside the 2010 T127 and Lotus' first ever racing car. With Heikki still tapping his toes at Geneva Airport, it was Jarno Trulli who took centre stage. When he arrived he looked at the old car and said to Mike Gascoyne "That's not my new chassis is it?!"



Lotus Racing commissioned me to create a special 500th magazine, in which I've interviewed team principal Tony Fernandes and son-of-Colin Clive Chapman, plus an editorial on Lotus' glorious past and promising future. You can download it here or go to www.lotusracing.my.



I had an accommodation scare on Wednesday when my regular roomie, Speed TV's Will Buxton, called to say that the room he had booked us was a single, and single really did mean single - no chance of topping and tailing. Valencia is a bastard for hotels - high prices and high demand - so finding one last minute was going to be tricky. I called a few hotels I knew of - no rooms. So I called a sponsor who had overbooked and agreed to take a room off them at half price. A good deal, but half price was still 200 Euros a night. And they didn't have a booking for Thursday.

About five minutes after I'd agreed on that room in writing I heard of another hotel a five minute walk from the track, on the beach, that had a room for the whole weekend for 60 Euros a night. Damn!! I'm a man of my word, and had already promised the sponsor rep.

I took the cheapo place for Thursday and very decent it was too, for the price. I'm not going to name it here as I have every intention of booking the place for next season as soon as the dates are announced. However, last night I moved into my smart new digs at the Valencia Palace. Five star gaff. Turns out I'd stayed there for a test once when I worked for Red Bull. Is it worth the 140 Euros over the other place? Well, yeah it probably is...

After interviewing Jenson Button at the McLaren Brand Centre in the late afternoon I stopped by Renault, who are doing regular Friday night wine and cheese and caught up with some of the media centre's veterans. Then I was invited aboard a stunning clipper - the Stad Amsterdam - that's owned by human resources company Ranstad. Imagine that - having your own company yacht! Being on the directors' board of that company is a sweet deal, I reckon.



After drinks and tapas there, I got a call from my mate Harry from TW Steel (everybody in the paddock sports a TW Steel watch these days!) who asked if I was hungry. I lied and said yes, and joined him and his gang at the Tridente restaurant at the Hotel Neptuno. We had this massive tasting menu that must have been nine courses long - delicious and very well lubricated. On top of all that wine, cheese and tapas I was stuffed.

When I got to the Valencia Palace I found Bruno Senna propping up the bar (drinking iced tea, mind) and he said "You look happy - I've never seen you so bouncy!"

"That's because I'm drunk, mate" I told him!

Just going through my pics from Canada, I found this one of Sebastian Vettel's loaned M-class. There's no better way to get over a big inter-team bust up that driving to a muddy field and doing doughnuts, is there?

Last week I continued my North American road trip, heading back down to New York in the Lotus Evora I'd got my hands on. US highways being as they are - fairly straight and with 65mph limits - there weren't too many opportunities to see what Lotus chassis engineers had come up with until I got off Route 30 and threw the Evora around the rhythmic green lanes of the Adirondacks.

The verdict is 10/10.

I spent the night after the Canadian Grand Prix at a place I'd always wanted to stay - The Point. It was once a retreat belonging to the Rockerfellers, and now it's an uber-exclusive hotel with just 11 bedrooms. I had 'The Weatherwatch', a large cabin all to myself with panoramic views across Lake Saranac, where you can see the weather roll in - hence the name. This was the Rockerfellers guest house, and features a four-poster bed so high off the ground I could barely climb on.


Plus William Rockerfeller was an enthusiastic photographer. My bathroom had once been a dark room, and thus had three sinks.

In true Great Camp tradition the guests all dine together in black tie, and then huddle round a camp fire which has an unlocked bar that the local kids have found out about. They kayak ashore and help themselves to 21 year-old Scotch, the cheeky blighters.

An endless supply of booze seemed to feature heavily in my 24hr stay. They had bars in every room, the boathouse, the garden, etc... I went for a walk, came across a rustic cabin, and they obviously knew I was coming because there were bottles of bubbly chilling in an ice bucket while the fire roared. Now that is hospitality!


Before dinner we took a boat out onto the lake for cocktails. Awfully civilized. There are also wooden electric boats that guests can take out onto the lake themselves and rip it up (at 10mph!). Also, the Rockerfeller's garage has been turned into a private pub, with pool, darts, board games, a jukebox, and lots more booze.

As you can imagine, many interesting characters come and stay here, and live elsewhere on the lake - old money and new money. One of the most attractive houses nearby was owned by Stamford White, noted architect and in possession of a comedy moustache. He was murdered by some bloke when he had an affair with his wife. Apparently it was all anyone could talk about round here, 100 years ago!


This is exactly the kind of spot, away from prying eyes, that Formula One's powerbrokers might use to decide on important stuff. But it's so hush-hush they've probably never heard of it. I hear, however, that Bill and Hillary were regulars to The Point when he was in office.

I was sad to leave, but had to get back to New York City and race chequer cabs wheel-to-wheel. Here are some pics of the Lotus in Times Square.

One of the paddock traditions in Canada is the mechanics raft race. Behind the paddock is an Olympic rowing basin, left over from the '76 games. This year just two fun-loving teams entered, Lotus and Williams.

The Williams berth was a conventional looking kayak, but was in fact constructed from front-wing travel cases.

The Lotus raft was shorter and wider, with front and rear F1-style wings. Unfortunately the weight distribution was totally out of whack and it seemed in capable of going forwards.

The course was around 400m long, the crews having to paddle, turn around, and come back. Lotus weren't even half way before the Williams crew were on the home stretch, so sabotage was the Norfolk boys only chance - they jumped on the Williams kayak and capsized it.

In a stroke of genius forethought, the Willys boys had written 'HELP!' on the bottom.

Everyone's very excited to be back in Montreal. Having had no race in North America last year we were starved of huge portions, big wildlife and 200 channels on TV. It's good to be back.

Montreal's a terrific city with some cool architecture both old and new, street parties, dancing girls and some of the best restaurants I've ever been to. I draw your attention to the famous Au Pied du Cochon where you can have foie gras on a burger, on a pizza, on pancakes or simply with chips. Or go for 'Duck in a Can' which does, indeed, come with a can opener.

As you know, I'm a bit of a pro when it comes to blagging 5* hotel rooms. Not so in Canada, at least so far... I am working on some kind of upgrade, if my friend in a high place can help, but at the moment I am staying in what would be best described as modest dwellings. My room is about 2m x 2m and probably hasn't been given a proper clean since 1972. Stray electrical wires poking through the wall, that kind of thing. But it is only $50 a night.

The city has put a huge tax on hotel rooms on GP week which means getting anything for less than $200 a night is very difficult and that would still be no frills. A four star will set you back $500 a night plus, which is a lot when you're here for five nights like I am. Not quite Monaco prices, but still...

My photographer chum who booked our hotel managed to get one over the owner who, when he realized we'd booked on GP week, tried to weedle out of the standard rate he'd given us, but with no luck. We stood firm.

Still, there's a goth bar in front of the hotel which kept us entertained last night, with it's Pirate-themed house beer called 'Arrrgghhh'

The lodgings may be low on wow factor, but what is more glam is my mode of transport. Behold:

Yes, that's a Lotus Evora. Very rare in these parts. I drove it up here from New York City where I've been on an assignment for the past ten days. It's been getting a lot of attention - people try to overtake with their camera phones thrust through their car windows. At the petrol station, people would stop and come and ask what it was. I had a policeman in New Hampshire pull me over simply so he could have a closer look at it.


Parking it outside my flea pit on the Rue St Denis is the most striking thing of all. Sleeping in the car could be a better option.

In Turkey Lewis Hamilton told me how, when he hangs up his helmet, he'll leave Formula One forever to pursue a career in movies and music.

"I'm going to retire from Formula One at some stage and I don't plan to stay here. I don't plan on becoming a commentator. I'd like to do something fresh, like try acting or make music. Do something different."

I'm sitting opposite Lewis in McLaren's 'brand centre'. It's got him thinking about his own brand, and the opportunities available to him. Lewis split with his father Anthony, who had managed him since he was eight, in January and is now looking to Hollywood for representation.

"I need someone who can manage me in F1, but I also need someone who can help build my brand and my image globally."

And that could translate to movie cameos and eventually a career on the screen, though the Englishman concedes that would be "impossible" alongside his racing commitments. So far, his acting work has been limited to commercials for sponsors, and a viral video for Tag Heuer in which he acted alongside legendary actor-racer Steve McQueen, with a bit of digital magic.

"I was told I wasn't that bad!" smiles Lewis. "I mean, I don't even know if I can act, man, but it would be cool just to even be the guy in the background. I don't think I have the potential to be Brad Pitt, but who knows. It would be cool to do some music videos."

Lewis was joined in Istanbul by pop star girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger, who won the Dancing with the Stars TV show in the US last week. Lewis had flown to LA to see many of the shows, only to fly back to Europe straight afterwards. Tiring? "Well, I like LA," he says, "and I hope to be there more this summer". On his most recent trip he got his ears pierced. "I'm trying to divert attention from everything else," he laughs, referring to Red Bull Racing's pace this year. "I have to take the attention away from Mark Webber!"

As for taking to the floor in Dancing with the Stars himself, Lewis says he's sticking to driving. "No, you should never say never, but I don't ever plan to do that. After watching Nicole and seeing what she's gone through with the stress, strain, pressure and everything, I don't know if I could take it. The tango can take five months to learn, and she did it in three days. I couldn't do that."

We're more likely to see him partnering up with James Bond than a sequined dancer. Hamilton is a big 007 fan. Should the call come from the Bond producers, I ask him, would he accept a role?

"One hundred percent! I would teach Bond how to drive."

Istanbul Park, as I reported last year, attracts very few spectators or corporate guests yet it has one of the biggest paddocks, and as such it always feels like one's turned up to a party too early. It's also pretty quiet this weekend - no scandals. Only the looming decision on tyres and the fact Nick Shorrock from Michelin is here for a last minute arm twist, to keep reporters occupied.

Because it's been quiet, I've actually managed to get a lot done, including lengthy interviews with Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Heikki Kovalainen and Bruno Senna. I'll post these Q&As, or at least excerpts, here next week.

Qualifying saw Mark Webber continue his stunning form to take pole, but he was lucky as Lewis Hamilton was actually looking faster until yellow flags appeared and the McLaren driver had to back off. Third was Sebastian Vettel, who suffered a big lock up and this was traced to a roll bar linkage failure. He locked because the car had rolled and his wheel was stuck up in the air. Seb has a new chassis this weekend, having found a fracture in 'Luscious Liz' which was costing performance. So she's been dumped in favour of Randy Mandy. Surely a line of official inflatable dolls should be produced urgently by Fuschl's marketing department.

There were heads being scratched down at Ferrari, as Alonso's lack of speed was a mystery. He's 12th.

I was out with the Ferrari gang last night, celebrating the Scuderia's 800th grand prix at a mansion on the Bosphorus. It was a bit of a schlep to get there and I think that's why I was one of only a few F1 personnel there. Just a tiny handful of media, Felipe, Fernando, a few team brass and Turkish guests. No former drivers, not other team bosses and, interestingly, no Bernie. When you think how much money Ferrari has spend in six decades, that's a surprise.

I arrived at the same time as Felipe and Fernando, who had helicoptered in from the circuit. I followed them into the mansion, up some stairs and into a room thinking we were heading to the party and suddenly found myself in a small but grand office, with them and assorted Ferrari brass - I was the only person not wearing red. Whoops, I said, waved to Stefano Domenicalli and melted out of the room - the party was, in fact, outside in the garden.



I'm staying at the same hotel as Ferrari, out near the circuit, so they were kind enough to give me a lift back.

When I got home I found Will Buxton getting awfully excited about Eurovision. Four races on TV and he's already turned into Terry Wogan. My Twitter wall was full of messages about the song contest - from Heikki Kovalainen, Karun Chandhok and others. It seemed many personnel were spread across Istanbul watching the show from their hotel rooms.

Apparently Spain got to do their song twice because someone interrupted their performance the first time. I bet Fernando Alonso wishes he got a second chance too.

Getting to and from the city from where we are is a right ball-ache because of the traffic, so it's not been to riveting nightlife-wise. On Thursday Sauber invited the British press to dinner in their motorhome, which was nice, and early that night Virgin had us over to play a 'currency race' game to promote their sponsor, Forex trading company FXPro.



The idea was that we each selected a currency trade and then saw our car race around a track, its performance dictated by the currency information being fed live into the computer by the markets.

I bought sterling against the dollar. Mistake.

The winner was The Times sports correspondent Ron Lewis, who's filling in for Kevin Eason (who's covering the world cup) this weekend. He took home a 1,000 Euro novelty cheque. If he knows as much about F1 as the money markets  he should hit the ground running this weekend.

Now then, my prediction for today (hopefully better than my currency speculation):

1. Hamilton
Second and third will be dependent on Red Bull reliability. With an engine gone and a roll bar failure, reliability seems to be hampering them again...