By Stephen Brook and Cara Waters
Former Carlton president Luke Sayers has made his first public appearance since he became embroiled in a social media scandal over the summer.
“It’s good to be back,” said Sayers, whom we spotted in the American Express Lounge as a guest of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation. “The numbers here are incredible. I reckon this will be the best one ever.”
Luke Sayers emerges at the grand prix.Credit: Joe Armao
The businessman, who founded his own consulting firm Sayers after leaving PwC, is one of Melbourne’s most connected identities, counting former premier Dan Andrews among his many close friends.
Sayers found himself at the centre of a scandal after a graphic image was posted to his social media account. An AFL investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing, finding his account was compromised. He resigned from Carlton to save the club and his family from further scrutiny.
Tabcorp boss Gillon McLachlan and former Victorian premier Ted Baillieu were also spotted braving the weather at a wet and wild edition of the race. Meanwhile, Coles chief executive Leah Weckert was spied in the lounge swapping her rain-soaked trainers for more upmarket black pumps.
The Chairman’s Fight Club
What happens at Fight Club stays at Fight Club, except when you’re in a fight club with Australian Grand Prix chairman Martin Pakula. Pakula is an enthusiastic attendee at a bi-weekly boxing workout with a group that includes Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann and Archibald Prize winning artist, and husband of Asher Keddie, Vincent Fantauzzo.
Fantauzzo hosts the workout in his studio and much sledging occurs in the group WhatsApp chat titled, of course, “Fight Club”. Kaltmann says Pakula is no lightweight in the ring: “He’s an animal.”
We later spotted Pakula deep in conversation with Sayers in the Paddock Club corridor.
I mean to say
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 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.
Adrian Portelli at the Australian Grand Prix.Credit: Cara Waters
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 that 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.
Espresso martinis the drink of choice
The party continued in the American Express lounge immediately after the race with espresso martinis the drink of choice for guests seeking a combined caffeine and alcohol hit.
Tickets into the exclusive enclosure cost $4095 on Sunday and were completely sold out with guests making the most of a makeup touch up bar from Mecca and hair salon for Shark Beauty led by celebrity stylist Joey Scandizzo.
Guests were served seared scallops, slow-cooked beef and Piccolina ice-cream and drank free-flowing Moët & Chandon and wines from St Hugo.
The winemaker conducted tastings of driver Daniel Ricciardo’s new rose wine with tasting notes conveyed through F1 racing style headphones for guests including former Carlton footballer Marc Murphy.
Spotted in the lounge were fashion designer Pip Edwards and crime fighter and influencer Bec Judd whose all-white ensemble was a little worse for wear as a result of the Albert Park mud. Earlier, Grand Prix ambassador and Collingwood captain Darcy Moore, along with partner Triple J presenter Dee Salmin, stopped by The Ritz-Carlton restaurant to chat with teammate Josh Daicos and fiancée Annalise Dalins.
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 soft drink 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 multimillionaires 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 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 newish partner of Melbourne 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 watchmaker’s 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.
Frédéric Arnault (left), CEO of LVMH Watches and Antoine Pin, CEO of TAG Heuer, attend the TAG Heuer event.Credit: Jack Henry
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, were 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.
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