‘Good to be back’: Luke Sayers starts his comeback at the grand prix

Later we spotted Pakula deep in conversation with Sayers in the Paddock Club corridor.

I mean to say

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Janet Whiting wanted a word. The Gilbert + Tobin partner and multifunction board member was chatting to CBD at the precise moment a highly newsworthy figure walked past us, as she made a point of recounting to us in jest later. We think in jest.

“I’m writing my own column – How to get ditched when Luke Sayers walks past. I was interesting until that happened,” she told us well after the incident. “Don’t write that down.”

The Victorian government, having fended off NSW to extend its F1 contract, is in thrall to Formula 1. Last year’s event posted a $102.3 million loss, covered by taxpayers, but the state government’s lavish Victoria Suite inside the Paddock Club was brimming with everyone from premier Jacinta Allan (on a rare weekend in Melbourne rather than her Bendigo base) to Victorian governor Margaret Gardner to the aforementioned Whiting.

Last year, former Victorian governor Linda Dessau told us she was a proud petrol head. So much so that she scored a gig as deputy chair. But her successor, Gardner freely admitted that she was not.

“I’m fascinated by the engineering and the innovation,” the governor and former chancellor of RMIT and Monash University told us.

Hamilton ‘fanboy’ in the house

Multimillionaire online retailer and frequent purchaser of houses of The Block, Adrian Portelli, was the driest man in the $4000 per-head American Express marquee. The reason? Two enormous black umbrellas by his side.

Portelli (let’s leave aside the McLaren guy/Lambo guy naming controversy which has created such a media storm) revealed he was switching his F1 team preferences. We guessed AMG Mercedes… but no longer.

“Not since Hamilton left. I am a Lewis Hamilton fanboy. But I also have to support our Aussie boys, [Oscar] Piastri and [Jack] Doohan.” Unlucky, as it turned out.

Back-to-back parties

Heloise Pratt was passing through the American Express Lounge after co-hosting a massive VISY party at family mansion Raheen on Saturday night for VISY clients, with corporate entertainment by both Aussie soft rock legends Air Supply and DJ Mark Ronson. Talk about doubling down. Pratt is an F1 fan, her siblings Anthony Pratt and Fiona Geminder, less so.

Grand Prix yacht parking tips

The Mercedes lounge on turn 10 hosted a mix of Melebrities, media types and the city’s corporate elite over the race weekend including actor Travis Fimmel and Tour De France champion Cadel Evans on Sunday.

Property developer and former Gold Medal softdrink scion Harry Stamoulis was there on Friday telling us that he a) enjoyed attending the Grand Prix but b) didn’t really follow the cars.

“I’ve been to more Grands Prix overseas than here,” he said. “I go to Monaco a lot. The fact that it goes through the town is unique and the history. I think that is the best one.”

Proving that even multi-millionaires keep an eye on the bottom line, Stamoulis shared his Monaco cost control secrets.

“With Monaco I take friends,” he said. “I take them on my yacht. We anchor and tender in. You can go in the port but they want 50,000 euros for one week to get in there and you can’t move, you are stuck for a week. So we drop anchor.”

Moving on to the state’s bottom line, Stamoulis’ said the $130 million the Victorian taxpayer spends on the Grand Prix is money well spent.

“It’s alright to spend money on stuff as long as it is not wasted,” he said. “This government wastes a lot of money. I think the Grand Prix is a good one. There’s two things Melbourne is number one in Australia for, one is the arts, and one is sports – I think it’s important to maintain that.”

Channing Tatum and a Toorak bat cave

Add the hotly anticipated Channing Tatum to a bat cave style nightclub under a private Toorak residence with Red Bull Racing chief executive Christian Horner thrown in and you have TAG Heuer’s relaunch into the world of Formula 1.

Tatum, 44, the new-ish partner of Melburnian model Inka Williams, was a late, low-key entrance to what proved to be a party in two acts.

Guests arrived at the home on Friday night, bathed in red light and walked down a driveway to the pool, skirting rows of illuminated display cases showcasing the watchmakers history with Formula 1.

“We are back,” a logo emblazoned on a concrete wall proclaimed.

The dinner and dance was hosted by Frédéric Arnault, the French chief executive of LVMH Watches, son of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy uberlord Bernard Arnault.

The 29-year-old welcomed Stefano Domenicali, chief executive of Formula 1 and Horner over for dinner before the ethereal pop music act Vera Blue performed in the garden in front of a giant video screen.

Melebrities included models Olivia Molly Rogers and Annalise Dalins who supped on pressed beef short rib with whipped Cafe de Paris butter or rock lobster tail with frenched asparagus.

Then at 10pm guests were ushered to the front garden where the driveway opened up to reveal an underground car garage in a flex that was part Thunderbirds, part Bat Cave.

Inside a carpeted corridor curved around to reveal a bar and dance floor. At the DJ booth in front of a massive video screen members of The Inspired Unemployed, comedic duo Jack Steele and Matt Ford, clad in slightly triggering 1970s thrown back double-breasted flared brown suits and moustaches enthusiastically greeted house DJs Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles, better known as Peking Duk.

Tatum avoided the cameras while guests danced until the small hours. The race for the best GP party of the season was over before it began. It was that sort of night.