Kevin Eason at large: Jenson Button proves his genius at the wheel

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Here's a funny thing, though. The champagne was flowing elsewhere in Monaco in celebration of successful British drivers. This must be a first, surely: Button won his Formula One race from pole position, the first British driver to do that since Sir Jackie Stewart as long ago as 1973. But in the Formula Renault series race in Monaco last weekend, Oliver Turvey, a 22-year-old from Penrith in Cumbria, won his race from pole position, and in the Porsche Supercup, Richard Westbrook, 33, also won from pole. Three British drivers, all winning from pole position in Monaco on the same weekend. Spooky.

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Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, seems to be over his moody blues, banished, we think, by a new passion - golf. TaylorMade have supplied him with a new set of clubs and he is brandishing them with authority and enthusiasm. "I am not very good yet but I love the game," he tells me. After an unhappy weekend of it in Monaco, Hamilton did his best to keep his pecker up, fulfilling media engagements managing the odd smile and looking a bit more like his old self. But there were reasons to be cheerful: his McLaren Mercedes is reliable, is definitely quicker and he looked on the pace all weekend until his unfortunate accident in qualifying. Better times ahead, we think. Perhaps even on the golf course.

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A pat on the back for Mercedes, too. Bumped into Norbert Haug, head of Mercedes motorsport, late on Sunday night at a pavement cafe. Even though it was a wipeout weekend for their McLaren partners, Mercedes are revelling in the performance of the Brawn GP cars, powered, as they are, by Mercedes engines. I asked him why there was no Mercedes roundel on the nose of the Brawn and Haug gave an enormous grin. How long can Mercedes resist claiming some of the credit? They deserve it, particularly as the engine in the back of Button's car on Sunday had just won its third straight race.

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Perhaps I shouldn't mention this but if you are in the middle of a breaking ice floe at the moment or wondering where the rain has gone, you might want to blame us. Looks like last weekend was biggie for the environment for some time on the motor racing front. Apart from the Monaco Grand Prix - nearly 200 miles for 20 cars at about three miles to the gallon - there was the Indianapolis 500 (that is 500 miles) and the Coca-Cola Nascar 600 (yet more miles) in the United States contested by yet more motor racing gas guzzlers. Wonder if President Obama, the new enemy of thirsty cars, noticed?

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Just one last thing before I leave Monaco for the common sense and leafy lanes of Hertfordshire - and Formula One until Silverstone and the British Grand Prix. When I was growing up in the North East, there was a common saying: "If you can't fight, wear a big hat". No, I have no idea what it is about either.

But if this little homily has any meaning at all, then Kimi Raikkonen couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag, judging by his new hat. Can someone at Ferrari please buy the lad a new cap? Please. He looks utterly ridiculous in that big bowl of a thing that comes down right over his eyes with a peak you could stand your wine glass on - although Max Mosley apparently needs ten of them. The FIA president is keen on bringing in a budget cap for the ten teams. So, if the cap fits .... oh, you finish it. Off for a hair of the celebratory dog.

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