End of Season Party Pics - Samba Girls!

By Ian lockwood
October 27 2006

You only have to do something more than once in Formula 1 for it to be regarded as a tradition, so having hosted a 2005 end-of-year party in Shanghai, Sunday night’s Brazilian bash was being called the traditional Red Bull event.

It was billed as a party planned to take the world and passion of football into the Formula 1 universe. Held in the famous Cicero Pompeu de Toledo Morumbi Stadium, usually home to Sao Paulo football team and its hordes of noisy supporters, on Sunday night its turnstiles clicked over to let in around two thousand paddock people: drivers, team personnel, caterers, journalists and anyone else who wanted to come along.

The Entrance to the party area

The hallowed turf that has showcased the talents of some of Brazil’s greatest football players was given over to the fancy deck work of Brazilian and English DJs who had the crowds dancing on the pitch, thankfully covered over for the night. The most amazing aspect of the transformation from Football to Funky was the 360-degree screen that went round the entire circle of terraces showing F1 footage. There was local music too, courtesy of Samba bands and, by the end of the evening, the whole F1 paddock was up and dancing to famous DJ, Seb Fontaine. With the noise pumping out across Morumbi into the early hours, the last partygoers finally discovered that their sweat-band invites were actually useful for mopping the sweat off their brows.