Behind the scenes at the Belgian GP

There were some tearful farewells in the Spa paddock on Sunday night, as the Red Bull Racing crew started to pack up the Energy Station for the last time this year. Some of the staff will be coming with us to the final three “flyaways" of the season, but the rest of them and the unit itself go into mothballs until the first European race of 2006.

Usually that means Imola and the San Marino Grand Prix, but the F1 calendar rumors are in full swing and it seems that this really popular event as far as the F1 worker bees are concerned might be shelved by Queen Bee Bernie E.

There are all sorts of strange changes planned for the calendar and, having listened to complaints that too many back-to-back sets of races (we had six double headers this year) are taking their toll, it seems that the racing season might extend into November. That in itself is nothing new, as the eleventh month was often time for the season finale in Adelaide in the good old days. Another change would see the French and British races move to June rather than July, to avoid a clash with the Football World Cup, which for some inexplicable reason is reputed to draw as big a TV audience as F1. Amazing what some people will watch on telly!

We now come to the final three races and without the motorhomes in attendance, the paddock population drops by a considerable number and one person who might not be making the trip is Nick Heidfeld. The Williams driver must rank as unluckiest man of the season. Having crashed heavily in Monza testing, he missed the last two Grands Prix. But this weekend, while out training on his bike to get fit, he had an accident which has left him with a cracked shoulder blade and dislocated fingers. Get well soon is what we all say: maybe all except his stand-in Antonio Pizzonia.

Rumor has it that an orang-utan called King Louis will be swelling the numbers flying to Brazil. As the Red Bull Racing mechanics traveled back to the hotel on Sunday night, they stopped off for some fun and frolics at a fairground and one of them won the huge stuffed toy, named after the “Jungle Book" character. Will King Louis be traveling Business or Economy Class to Sao Paulo? Who knows? These days, F1 mechanics are highly skilled technicians, but twenty years ago, you might have been hard-pressed to tell the difference between a spanner-man and an orang-utan! Red Bull Racing