What we discovered in Mugello

1. All of the grid girls were called Alice. Apparently.

2. Valentino Rossi’s brilliantly eye-catching helmet put off all of his rivals, as we suspected it might. Not that we’d ascribe Rossi’s victory to his helmet alone, but it sure helped.

Italian 250cc rider in need of pre-race trim

How the hell does Simoncelli fit this kinky afro under his crash helmet? And how much skunk had he smoked when this photograph was taken, at this season’s Spanish Grand Prix? Answer: he’s a professional rider and so of course he hasn’t smoked any, although it does look to us like he’s just wandered out of an Amsterdam coffee shop.