In brief, August 2008

Lewis Hamilton spent the break between the Monaco and Canada GPs on holiday in Los Angeles with his old F3 pal Adrian Sutil. Hamilton attended the MTV Awards ceremony, but spent much of his time trying borrowed cars including a Porsche, Rolls Royce and Lamborghini – although he did visit a Mercedes dealership. “Every car in LA seems to have fantastic wheels on it,” he said.

Ron Dennis dashed back from Canada to receive the Prince Philip Medal in a ceremony held in London. Presented by the Royal Academy of Engineers, the prize honoured him for his ‘exceptional contribution’ to engineering. Dennis said he accepted the award on behalf of “all who work at McLaren”.

Cliff Richard made a rare Grand Prix appearance in Monaco, spending time with Force India. The music legend recorded his first single, Move It, just weeks after the retirement of Juan Manuel Fangio! Hollywood directors Quentin Tarantino and George Lucas were among the other luminaries in town for the race. Michael Douglas was a guest of McLaren in Canada.

Felipe Massa’s engineer Rob Smedley hosted a charity function in May in memory of his daughter Minnie, who died at birth a year ago. Michael Schumacher’s 2007 Ferrari test overalls proved the highlight of an ebay auction that coincided with the event, raising over £7000. Readers can still offer a donation to the SANDS charity at www.minniesparty.co.uk.

Giancarlo Fisichella passed the 200 Grand Prix mark in Monaco, and celebrated with a special helmet and overall design. Alas he had a poor weekend in the shadow of team-mate Sutil, and retired with gearbox problems.

A Super Aguri F1 race car is being auctioned along with the remaining assets of the under-administration team on July 29. For details of the three-day Internet-based auction go to www.shm-group.com