Some chaps have all the luck. Young, handsome, talented, charming, multi-millionaire Lewis Hamilton needed a date for the celebration party after winning the most glittering grand prix of them all in Monaco. Anybody else would take the WAG but not Lewis: he gets to choose between a Miss World runner-up, a petite pop star and a Pussy Cat Doll.

Actually, it seems Hamilton's personal life is just as racy off the track as on it. First he arranges to meet Dannii Minogue, sister of the ubiquitous Kylie, in Monaco but that date mysteriously evaporates. Then he is seen with Miss Grenada, Vivian Burkhardt, on his arm at the Cannes Film Festival a week ago. Rather charmingly, she is said to have returned home because she didn't want to distract him from his day job.

Or perhaps, conveniently, she wasn't around in Monte Carlo while Hamilton showed the gorgeous Nicole Scherzinger the sights. He met the Pussycat Dolls lead singer last year at an MTV Music Awards bash and they have kept in touch ever since. So while Dannii was painting her toe-nails and Ms Burkhardt was washing her hair at home, La Scherzinger was boogying the night away with Britain's biggest sports star. What a clever chap.

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While the last dregs of champagne were being quaffed, we should have spared a thought for the loneliest man in Monaco. Max Mosley, the disgraced FIA president, made the Principality his home as a tax exile after the death of his mother, Diana, one of the fabled Mitford girls. But it seems life as a pariah is taking its toll. He would usually have been a centre of attention at the Monaco Grand Prix, appearing on the podium alongside Prince Albert to present the prizes and lighting up parties with his wit and wisdom.

But the tabloid sex scandal that has engulfed his life and Formula One in the past two months has changed all that. Mosley was seen several times over the weekend dining alone, tucked away at the back of some of Monte Carlo's more exclusive restaurants while the revelry went on without him. He has already paid dearly for his sexual indiscretions, whether or not he is forced to resign from the FIA.

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Mosley has one steadfast supporter in the shape of David Coulthard. The Scot was in no doubt who to credit for his survival after a terrifying crash in qualifying when he careered out of the Monaco tunnel at 180mph: Mosley. The FIA's work in improving safety was the reason why he could walk away unscathed, he said. Mosley has made safety on the track and on the roads paramount during his term of office. If he is forced out, at least he will leave a lasting legacy of drivers who - last weekend in Monaco alone - are alive thanks to improvements he commissioned.

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Coulthard's crash, though, might turn out to be the defining moment of a sorry season for the Scot. It seems he will leave Red Bull at the end of the year, but he should avoid the drawn-out speculation that accompanies the departures of many sportsmen. He should be decisive and make the announcement himself that he is going after a hugely successful career, in which his achievements were somewhat under-rated.

Unfortunately, it seems that he will not be devoting himself to the hotel business. Coulthard was part owner of the glamorous Columbus Hotel in Fontveielle, the next harbour along to Monte Carlo, as well as the Dakota in Nottingham. But he has put them both up for sale and is quitting the hotel business, probably to concentrate on a media career, starting with a stint as pundit on the new BBC Formula One programme that takes over from ITV next year. He can always take tips from his beautiful fiancee, Karen Minier. She was a television grid reporter before she hooked up with the likeable Scotsman.

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Jenson Button, Coulthard's best mate in Formula One, is resigned to tooling around at the back of the field this year in his seriously under-performing Honda. But he can at least enjoy his Honda at home. Button, along with John, his dad, have acquired a little Honda S600, one of the first sports cars made by the Japanese company. The S600 has a tiny four-cylinder engine based on a motorcycle version developed by Honda, which started out as a motorbike business. It only has around 60 horsepower and a top speed of 90mph, a little less than Button's Formula One car with 800 horsepower and top speed of more than 200mph. But he loves it, nonetheless.

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Formula One's 2,000 personnel and assorted hangers-on are long gone in a Monday morning dash to the airport but the circus has been left behind. Some of the "motorhomes" - Red Bull, McLaren, Force India, Toyota and Ferrari, for example - are now so big that they take up to three days to dismantle so they can be shipped to the next European location. Provides quite a show for the Monagasques, now dusting themselves down from the near week-long deluge of Formula One excess. So it is goodbye from Formula One and goodbye to Monaco from me .... until next year.