AT&T Williams F1

More than 54mm of rain fell during today’s first practice session. Monza’s drains couldn’t cope with the deluge, and nor could the AT&T Williams motorhome. The bar area flooded, meaning that the motorhome girls couldn’t serve tea or coffee for 90 minutes. How did the boys cope without their caffeine fix?

Riccardo Patrese’s wife, Francesca, has become a reluctant star at Monza this weekend. Some YouTube footage of her being driven around Jerez by her husband has had the F1 paddock in stitches because she berates her husband throughout the lap, before ending it with the immortal words, “I think the goulash is coming up! - see it youself by clicking here.”

We like to think that we’ve thought of everything ahead of the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix. “We’ve been very thorough in our planning,” says AT&T Williams technical director Sam Michael, “Even down to our sleeping arrangements. The engineers won’t be going to bed until 6am, so we’re going to take over a whole floor of the hotel and ban room service from going there until the evening.” We suggest you go easy on the mini bars, guys.

The Senna name is still big in Japan, and it could be about to get even bigger. Nine-year-old Japanese karting champion Sena Sakaguchi is a guest of Fuji TV in the Monza paddock and he’s wandering the paddock picking up advice from the current grid. He’s already interviewed Honda drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello and Kazuki’s next!