As someone said – in fact two people said it – as we entered the Energy Station this morning – the view verges on cruel. Our motorhome looks out over the harbour where the boats of the Americas Cup were stationed when the race was held here. It’s a great view to have from your office, but the beach just across the harbour looks too inviting. And so it’s proved as several members of several teams have made use of the beach  – after the working day is done, mind.

Much like in Monaco, in Valencia the Paddock is a split affair. While the motorhomes face the harbour, the pit lane itself is situated within the old fish market, which is a beautiful building, but does make it seem like the engineers and mechanics are based in a shopping centre car park. At night.

The new-for-2009 autograph session took place today with Mark joining his colleagues from Toro Rosso signing for the fans and posing for pictures. But he was just shaved into second place in the popularity stakes by Jaime Alguersuari. Not only is Jaime a local boy, but he’s also the only driver on the grid to have won on this track. Last year’s victor was Felipe Massa and Alguersuari won here in 08 in the 2008 British F3 International championship. So he’s bound to be popular.

It’s nicve to know some are thinking of our younger driver’s cultural education. Frankly the same tired questions about Sebastian’s Monty Python boxsets and Little Britain impressions are getting slightly dull. So it was good to note his former press officer at BMW has been keeping him up to date. Her gift to Seb this morning was a set of Flight of the Conchords DVDs. Expect impressions of David Bowie to emanate from his drivers room within the week.

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