Monaco Grand Prix diary

Skysports.com's Mike Wise gets up close and personal trackside at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Mike packs up and leaves town as McLaren also try to make a quick escape from the mean streets of Monte Carlo... Sunday
The onus was on Lewis Hamilton to salvage some pride for Great Britain following Engelbert Humperdinck's disappointment at the Eurovision Song Contest but in the event my punt for the race went backwards from third on the grid. Forget love, nothing could set the lead McLaren free - Lewis spending the entire race in the leading gaggle, but suffered yet another tardy pit stop whilst also complaining about some very random things: numbers falling off a pitboard on the start-finish straight at one point as well as a yellow light that kept flashing on his steering wheel. It wasn't a good result for McLaren at all, with Jenson Button retiring and Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh chased down the paddock by reporters after the race to give his take on their latest disappointment before he could seek sanctuary. There was nowhere to hide - neither from the fourth estate nor from a fan drinking in a bar nearby, who afterwards shouted "Oy Martin, give us an autograph for me son. I haven't got a pen though. Have you got a pen?" Credit the beleaguered team boss, he was straight over to make the lad's day. On the subject of cheesy music, the throb of racing engines in a built-up area has not provided the only soundscape here this week. Every day after the on-track action winds itself up, speakers get turned up and Europop blasts - and I mean blasts - out as crowds stand where World Champions have raced. I guess it's something you either love or hate. I'm going to vote with my feet: I'm out of here! Saturday
The clock is ticking ahead of qualifying and drivers and team personnel are heading over from the paddock to the pits, across the bridge at La Rascasse. From our eyrie in the media centre, it's been possible to steal glances of our heroes as they run the gauntlet of fans that line their route this week. Most pass freely but it's a different matter for some. Friday might have been a rest day but the atmosphere around Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton seemed hectic to say the least, not unlike the opening scene from the Beatles film 'A Hard Day's Night'. Even the passage of ex-drivers gets interrupted: the likes of Jacques Lafitte, David Coulthard, not to mention Sky Sports' own Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert all pose for photos, glad-handing and moving on before the ritual inevitably repeats itself. The old hands appear more relaxed about the whole thing, which stands to reason. Monaco is about being seen and yet seeing famous people deal with fame at first-hand surely does lead a person to wonder how they manage? I remember flying back from Bahrain last month. Jenson Button was on the same flight and in the baggage hall at Heathrow Airport there stood a huge banner advert for a watch - you know the one - featuring...Jenson Button. I'd wager that most of us peering up, bleary-eyed having just collected our bags at dawn would see our pouting mug gazing beatifically back and find the experience quite bizarre. I suppose you get used to it, even at 6am on a Monday morning. The actor Robert Mitchum once said: "The privilege of anonymity is every man's right and gift. But once it's gone - once they've seen that big red Monday morning eye up on the glorious cinemascopic screen in full, red living colour - everybody knows you, and you don't know nobody." Maybe such thoughts were crossing Will Smith's