iWitness at Silverstone: Sunday

Posted on Sunday 06 Jul 2008 and tagged with iwitness, silverstone, britain.

Silverstone or Lords? The F1 paddock resembled a cricket pitch this afternoon, with various players squaring up to each other prior to the race. Legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar – known as The Master Blaster – was a guest of RBS in the AT&T Williams garage, while England stars Kevin Petersen and Alistair Cook were also spotted on the grid. How zat for celeb spotting?

There were a few sore heads in the AT&T Williams garage this morning, thanks to former Account Manager Johnny Odell. Jonny’s parents live in Silverstone Village and invited the race team for a barbecue on Saturday evening, where everyone made up for the drinks Jonny still owed them from his time as a Williams F1 employee. Bit of a mistake really!

Sir Jackie Stewart, an ambassador for RBS, had to be in two places at once today. While he escorted guests of RBS around the Silverstone paddock, he was also being presented with a “Driver of the Decade” award at Watkins Glen, near New York. He left a videotaped message for guests of the awards ceremony at the Glen, where he won the US Grand Prix twice in 1968 and ’72.

When Lewis Hamilton ran into the back of Kimi Raikkonen in the Montreal pitlane, the Finn didn’t appear too irate. Not so today, when a photographer accidentally knocked his helmet on the Silverstone grid. “For f***s sake,” said Kimi. “Can’t you watch where you’re going.” Or was that a delayed reaction to the incident with Lewis?