It is a short walk from the team bus to the pit, but the change in atmosphere is extraordinary Around the bus, the mood is one of relaxed bonhomie. But the sauce bottles laid out ready for breakfast reminded us that tomorrow was going to be a long day.
Breakfast was early: the mechanics were back on the track at 7am, and half an hour later sat down to bacon and eggs under the canopy next to the team bus in the paddock. We’d arrived to spend two days with Jordan expecting hours of unremitting moonlit toil, so an early night was an unexpected bonus. So down the pit lane they strolled at 6pm, unpacking complete, laughing and joking and exchanging wisecracks with the staff of other teams, who still had some catching up to do. Much of a grand prix mechanic’s life is therefore spent packing and unpacking, sitting on aeroplanes or sweltering in trucks. This is perhaps why the lads from the Jordan team were looking so happy on Thursday evening, the night before official qualifying for the British Grand Prix started.

While the other teams had travelled from as far away as Hinwil in Switzerland and Faenza in Italy, the Jordan factory is over the road. ONE of the greatest challenges facing grand prix teams is logistics: how to transport cars, engines, spares and personnel thousands of miles to each grand prix and still have every nut and bolt to hand at a moment’s notice. Anguished relatives were further shocked when they discovered the reason Imran had picked the seam.. Although most of the ceremonials were seen by the world there was a private moment when the bride approached the place of betrothal whereupon her beautiful dress disintegrated and dropped to a heap. But, then, modesty has always been a problem with us.The best thing I can say about the book is that it is free and if you write to me at the Independent on Sunday sports desk, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DL, I’ll see you’ll get one.DISTRESSING news of a hitherto unreported hitch in the wedding of Imran Khan and Jemima Goldsmith.

That Wales has so many excellent courses in beautiful surroundings was as big a surprise to me as it is to many of my countrymen. And they are carrying the fight into the heart of rival territory – for the first time ever they had a display stand at the Irish Open and will be pitching for business during the Open itself at St Andrews this week.The cheeky campaign is backed up by a lavishly illustrated book containing details of all 161 courses in Wales and featuring the best 25 chosen by the author who just happens to be me. I refer to golfing tourism out of which Scotland and Ireland have created big industries.Tired of their courses being overlooked by all but the most discerning of golfers, the Wales Tourist Board are mounting a promotion to take full advantage of the presence of the Walker Cup at Royal Porthcawl in September. Having suffered humiliation in rugby and soccer, they are now tackling a sporting area in which they have little tradition and in which their neighbours have at least 100 years’ start. More likely, if you dress like Agassi you’ll end up playing like the way he looks.WALES is nothing if not a plucky nation. Or perhaps they’ve fallen for the marketing blitz and have forgotten that the way Agassi looks is a totally false indication of the skill and hard work it took to make him a great player.To suggest that if you dress like him you’ll play like him is not the sort of message the game ought to be issuing to the young. To ask the clubs to go Wimbledon’s way and to encourage the unruly, the untidy and the downright rebellious is to request self-destruction.If the only lure to youngsters that tennis can come up with is to tempt them with the opportunity to dress in a manner that few genuine sportsmen and women would find appealing, perhaps the game has gone further than we think.