To celebrate our 5th year at the Monaco F1 Grand Prix, Gridmodels expanded our entourage this year by taking 7 girls down to the Cote d’Azur to spend 5 days partying with the motorsport elite.
Monaco is without doubt the most glamorous race on the F1 calendar and in many ways it is also the most accessible, as even visitors without tickets can experience the atmosphere, sights and sounds of the grand prix from close proximity in the city streets.
For 2009 we brought along four Monaco virgins (Sarah Beaufoy, Eleanor Sophie, Rebecca Walsh and Liz) in addition to myself, my event manager and Lauren (a second year veteran). It’s always nice to create a new dynamic in the group but how seven of us were going to cope in a one-bedroom apartment with one bathroom and two mirrors was definitely an intriguing question!
Our first celeb spotting of the trip was Liz Hurley at the airport in her trademark white trousers. She is looking good for her age but she wasn’t too keen on having a photo taken with Lauren when she bumped into her in WH Smith! Still, it’s nice to know that even the first class flyers have to share a bookshop with lesser mortals.
After a quick flight and cab journey we found ourselves on the top of the mountain at our home for the weekend. Residence Beausejour has wonderful views but we were suddenly faced with the problem of how to get back and forth from
First stop on the social circuit was the Kingfisher party, hosted by tycoon Vijay Mallya, who runs F1 Team Force India, on one of the largest yachts in the harbour. The Kingfisher bash is fast becoming the most glittering event at the Monaco GP, replacing the Dolce Vita Ball of previous years with its ability to draw all the celebrities and drivers and hold them hostage for most of the evening!
Behind us on the red carpet, Chris Evans had a few problems getting in as the girls with the guest list weren’t sure who he was. To be fair, he is sporting a dashing mop of grey these days and is a little harder to recognise.
The Kingfisher boat is made for parties, with the first floor deck holding the largest hot tub I’ve ever seen (covered up for the purposes of the party) and a long buffet table with enough food and drink to sink a ship. The interior is sumptuous enough to impress even Richard Branson, who was there hovering by the buffet while his son partied on the upper deck with some hunky actors from a low budget horror movie being shown in Cannes, one of them being Josh Bowman aka Amy Winehouse's last squeeze.
There were no current drivers to be seen, but there were some old faces including Jacques Villeneuve and Vitantionio Liuzzi (2008 Force India test driver). The fathers were also out in force with John Button (Jenson’s Dad) and Anthony Hamilton (Lewis’s Dad) still partying until the early hours. Lauren grabbed a pic with golden oldie Eddie Jordan.
The upper deck is large and open, with a long bar and a floor designed only for dancing. In previous years, we’d have been wading through an inch of champagne and broken glass after a couple of hours, but plastic glasses for drinks solved much of that problem.
Partying on the Kingfisher offers an insight to a world like no other and this is why it’s so popular in
Friday morning we awoke early, bleary eyed and facing a photo shoot on the track in the searing heat. F1TV had kindly offered to shoot the girls in our Gridmodels racing outfits for the television so it was all hands on deck getting the slap on our faces and taking our turn in the shower.
Five hours later, (four hours getting ready and one hour’s walk) the first stop was a large yacht a few doors down from the Kingfisher, for a shoot with Mark Sutton of Sutton Images. With hardly time for an introduction to the owner, we were posing on the front of his yacht in bikinis.
We soon realised that Mark wasn’t the only one taking photos. We had attracted a gaggle of paparazzi shooting us from afar on a long lens. (Unfortunately, one of these pictures, a bum shot, must have been sold to the international press, and appeared in every UK newspaper on Saturday including The Sun, and unexpectedly for a fairly straight-laced rag, The Times!)
Once the shoot was over, we marched the track speedily over towards Tabac Corner, where we had arranged to meet the F1TV guys. Testing had finished for the day so the track was now open as a road, and we were again followed by random cameramen with oversized equipment, as well as being asked for a photo by every fan along the way! We were rather hot and bothered by the time we arrived, only to be told that they wanted to film further up towards the chicane which meant a longer walk in our very high heels. Oh well, no pain no gain!
The shot that the guys were after was our group of girls walking towards the cameras, holding hands and then waving. Pretty cheesy stuff! We were attempting to shoot it without punters or any kind of vehicles in the background, which proved to be pretty difficult as the track was now open and we were on a main road! So they filmed over and over to get the shot. They then re-shot on a super high-res video-camera. The footage ended up being used on the opening of the ITV F1 coverage on the Sunday, so that made it all worthwhile! You can also see some of it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00kmmhj/Formula_1_2009_The_Monaco_Grand_Prix_Part_1/
After a good hour or so of filming, we were all starving and headed back to the yacht where we had done our Sutton shoot hoping for some lunch, but we were too late and so filled ourselves up with the staple French left-overs, bread and cheese, much to the shock of all the men who thought models didn’t eat at all!
Managing to persuade one of the kind guests to donate his room to us for the purposes of re-beautifying for the evening, all seven of us all piled in to a tiny cabin for another fight for the hot water. Apparently this caused some trouble with the Captain of the boat, although I’m not quite sure what he thought we were getting up to!
Dolled up in our little black numbers, our next stop was a random Toyota sponsor party, the organiser of which donates food to starving children in Africa. Nice to see something charitable mixed in amongst all the decadence and indulgence. We had a quick boogie to the fabulous live latin singer and DJ, but we were supposed to be headed for the infamous Amber Lounge so we couldn’t stay long.
On our walk around the harbour, we came upon the Bulldog yacht, which had last year hosted the DeBeers Diamond party. Tonight they were hosting the Bombadier LearJet Party, and we were invited on board for a fresh strawberry daiquiri! We stayed for one or two, and whilst we were there managed to bag an invitation to the very exclusive Red Bull Party the following night. (We were rather excited about this as we had never managed to find a way in before!)
With the prospect of a busy weekend we decided to call it a night and headed back to the apartment to stuff our faces with more bread and cheese from the fridge, and of course, gherkins!!
Although we thought it had been an early night (3am!), it was pretty difficult to wake up on Saturday morning! We were determined to make it down in time for lunch this time though. We spent the day sunbathing to the loud and exciting sound of the cars in practice, and then found another poor soul to donate his room for us to transform ourselves for the evening!
The Red Bull Party is held on their floating Red Bull Station, a purpose-built hunk of metal with a swimming pool and many bars, that sits on the water next to all the yachts. When we arrived it was still light, and we headed upstairs for food and champers. We watched the sun go down on the beautiful scenery, and celebrated the fact that it was still warm enough to be out without a jacket so late at night. Very different from home!
The Red Bull Party attracts more of those who work in racing: PR’s, sponsorship peeps, photographers. There also seemed to be lots of exceptionally beautiful girls there, although I’m not quite sure who they were as the word on the street (or yacht) was that the usual Formula Una girls were not employed this year. I guess in a recession the expendable little extras are the first to go!
There is a lot of talking going on and not a lot of dancing and soon we are ready for a proper boogie, so we head to Amber Lounge at the Meridien Hotel. The guys from the yacht that have kindly been looking after us have a table, and we head for the dance floor for a good old booty-shake. It’s a free bar so lots of people seem very drunk already. We decide we don’t want to be in the same position as them as we need to be up early on Sunday for the race, so we head home just after midnight. Yes and more bread and cheese and of course, gherkins!!
It’s up early again on race day, and the tiredness is really catching up with us all now. We decide we must leave the apartment by 11.30am so that we make it down to the harbour before the race starts at 2pm. It’s another sizzling hot day, which is bliss after last year’s wash-out weather. We don our best ‘Ascot’ style yacht dresses and make our way down the mountain.
We pop on to the Red Eye Events yacht for a drink, and end up staying for the race. It faces directly onto the track on the straight just after Tabac Corner so the view is fabulous. Red Eye really look after us with champagne and lovely food, and all the guests are charming to talk to. Jenson wins the race, to huge applause, and the mood is jubilant. We stay for drinks late into the evening and don’t want to leave, but we have parties to go to, so we make our way back to the apartment for a final beauty session!
We decide to head to Movida’s Billionaire’s Club first, which is at the Fairmont Hotel. We have been told this is the place to be on a Sunday night. However, we don’t arrive until midnight, and it is practically empty. We spot Johnny Herbert, but otherwise it seems to be just a few old men. It really gets our goat when the staff tell us that drinks are 50 euros each, and we should try to get a man to buy us one! No thanks! We head off to Amber Lounge where the drinks are free, and the place is packed out!
We get split up, and before we find each other again, Rebecca and Lauren manage to find and get photos with Prince Albert of Monaco and Felipe Massa and to sit on Jenson’s table! When we finally hook up, Jenson seems to have left, although his Dad John is still there, the party animal!
We hook up with the Sutton Images boys for a good old boogie, and dance the night away until the club closes at 5am. We bump into Metro F1 blogger Adam Hay-Nicholls outside, who tries to drag us to Tip Top Cafe for a pizza. We are pretty tempted but more tempted to pop back into the Billionaire’s Club to see if it has livened up However, after a long wait we realise that taxis are hard to come by so we grab the first one we can get and head straight home. We are pretty excited at the prospect of a lie-in! Of course, we can’t get to bed though before the usual bread and cheese, and of course, gherkins!!
Monday is our chill-out day. We go for a meal at the stunning Miramar Terrace restaurant (our first proper meal in days!) while the sun sets, and then back to the apartment for a girlie one in our pyjamas with some PG tips, French Gateaux and a Bridget Jones DVD. We gloat over the fact that most other F1 peeps fly back today with massive hangovers!
Tuesday we have to check out of the apartment. We take our suitcases up to the pool hoping to catch a few last rays before our flight, but it rains! At least the bad weather held off for the racing. We head back to the UK feeling exhausted, but exhilarated. If only every day was like a day at the Monaco GP! Although we might end up in the Priory or a sleep deprivation clinic!
Roll on Monaco 2010!
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