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My visit to the inaugural Cancer Research UK Race for Life had an amusing epilogue.

After watching 20 year-old GP2 star Javier Villa race to victory it was my turn to show the Spaniard some driving skills.

He was marooned in Hertfordshire and needed a lift to Luton Airport so I offer my Mondeo as a taxi. Javier takes up the passenger seat with his proud parents in the back and hard-won trophy in the boot.

Javier is from Asturias, the same region of Spain that Fernando Alonso hails from.

I put it to Javier that Alonso hasn’t had favourable press coverage in Britain recently: “He’s a nice guy,” Javier assures me, “really he’s quite normal.”

Apparently unperturbed by my driving (despite me doing two loops of one roundabout as a I search for the right exit) Villa dials up his mates on his top-of-the-range Nokia N95 to regale them with anecdotes of his latest triumph.

Mum and dad sit in the back beaming. I wonder at what point in their careers racing drivers stop bringing their parents to races? Mind you, Lewis Hamilton’s dad is always in tow…