The noises I hear on Renault are that the meeting was broadly supportive of the F1 programme, for now at least. There will be no sudden pull out, it seems.

And this is important because the balance of power is shifting in F1 back towards the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone. The lesson of 2009 was that if the teams stay together, as FOTA did, with the backing of the world’s leading car makers they can get things done. FOTA won the battle in June when it threatened the breakaway series and forced Max Mosley and the FIA to back down on its budget cap proposals, but it looks like the other side is winning the war.

With BMW and now Toyota out FOTA’s power is being diluted, thanks to a host of fragile new teams, all behoven to Ecclestone for the $10 million cheque and liable to side with whoever can help them to survive, rather than feel a spirit of brotherhood with their rivals. Especially when rivals like Ferrari publicly belittle them as non-entities, barely worthy of being in F1, as they did in May and again yesterday.

Ferrari were dismissive of the new teams on their website yesterday,
“In reality, the steady trickle of desertion is more the result of a war against the big car manufacturers, ” it said. “Formula 1 continues losing important parts. In exchange, if one could call it that, Manor, Lotus, USF1 and Campos Meta arrived. You might say, “same-same” because it is enough if there are participants. But that’s not entirely true and the we’ve got to see if next year we’ll be really as many in Bahrain for the first starting grid of the 2010 season.”

Ferrari feel that Sauber should be in F1 ahead of all the new teams. They are a long time Ferrari customer and will be again next year. FOTA needs another strong partner, as Sauber would be. It also needs Renault to maintain the balance. Without that their influence will diminish on issues like forcing Ecclestone to retain the British Grand Prix or to put a US Grand Prix back on the calendar. And where will their diminished power leave them in the negotiations which are set to start soon into the new Concorde Agreement post 2011? The teams are looking to greatly increase their share of the commercial revenues from the sport. Having the big manufacturers behind them increased their bargaining power. It will be much easier now for them to be divided and ruled.

As Ecclestone observed yesterday, “When you look at the history, since Formula 1 started, I think there have been 73 teams coming and going.” Only Ferrari has stayed the course.

Defeated FIA presidential candidate Ari Vatanen couldn’t resist having his say on the latest developments and had a pop at the FIA, “We must realise the economic reality is nothing to do with the crisis, ” he said. “Big companies always look to market and promote, even when times are tough, but only if it is in a sensible way. I do hope [Renault do not leave], but if they do it is the final alarm call that we cannot continue with business as usual. I’m sad to say the old guard are still in power in the FIA, but teams are starting to vote with their feet.”

The withdrawal of manufacturers was foreshadowed by Mosley last year. The issue here is did he see that they were likely to jump and acted accordingly, or did he give them a push?

The next time F1 cars will be driven in anger is late November, when the young driver test takes place in Jerez. After that no-one will turn a wheel until February. Formula 1 will drop into a deep sleep as far as the public are concerned, although behind the scenes a lot will still be going on, much of it being discussed and planned right now.

For some mechanics and engineers it will be their last race as the teams are forced to downsize over the winter. Teams now bringing 70 people to races will have to say goodbye to 25 of them. For teams like Force India and Brawn, reaching the agreed limit for 2010 of 45 people on site will be easy as they are more or less there already. For McLaren, Ferrari and Toyota it will be much harder. The big teams are asking the smaller ones to cut them some slack nest season and fudge a few roles so they can get down to the number gradually.

Many insiders regret that F1 has gone too far in reducing testing. This season has highlighted the need to have some testing, so that young drivers can be blooded, so that teams in trouble can test out development parts and make progress more quickly. Of course they want to stay away from the idea of test teams, but there are some small things they could do to make life better.

Take the young driver situation, for example. Sebastian Vettel was blooded by BMW who gave him plenty of outings on Fridays in the days when teams were allowed to run young drivers during free practice. Vettel consequently arrived well prepared when a race seat opened up.

Contrast that with Romain Grosjean and Jaime Alguersuari. Both a talented drivers, but neither of them is ready for the harsh reality of racing in F1 that they have encountered this season. In Grosjean’s case it could destroy his career, Alguersuari is at the Toro Rosso driving academy where learning is allowed, so he may be okay, but F1 cannot continue to devour and destroy promising talent. Drivers are nurtured for years and then their careers curtailed unnecessarily.

So there is a move from some team bosses to run young drivers on Fridays again and that has to be welcomed.

On a business level a lot is being done here in Abu Dhabi. Mercedes has its entire board here, as does Brawn GP. The Abu Dhabi investment people have been very active and there was some suggestion that a deal might be announced regarding Aabar, which owns 9% of Mercedes, taking a controlling interest in Brawn. The deal is on and it will set Brawn up as a top team for the foreseeable future.

David Richards is here. He is looking at doing a deal with an existing team, not to take over as team principal and come to races, but to restructure the team along the lines of the new resource restriction agreement and manage the long term strategy. He would be excellent at that and Renault would appear to me to be in need of that kind of help. Perhaps a deal will be done there, but don’t expect Richards to then appear on the pit wall.

Ron Dennis is here in the paddock for the first time since the start of the year. He is raising money for his road car project and working with his partners Mansour Ojjeh and Mumtakalat to buy out Mercedes’ shares in the team. But finding a price is difficult. And the galling thing for McLaren is that once they pay the money to Mercedes it will then go straight to Brawn to but the controlling interest and make them an even more formidable competitor.

Abu Dhabi has done F1 proud with this track, but it is no white elephant like Shanghai or Istanbul. This track with its stunning hotels and restaurants and marina is set to become a social and entertainment hub for Abu Dhabi, so will have an even more dynamic existence day to day than it is enjoying with the F1 in town. As Yas Island is only 20 mins drive from downtown Abu Dhabi and an hour from Dubai, this is a place that people will come on Saturday night, for dinner, entertainment and fun. It’s very well conceived.

From Abu Dhabi’s point of view it sends out an important message and one which is much stronger than just buying a football team like Manchester City and then throwing money at buying players. The point they have made with this place is that they can get things done. This is a place which means business and for that reason is better integrated with F1 than any of the recent new venues. For that reason I see it lasting on the calendar for much longer than the others.

Button could really do without this (Photo: Darren Heath)

Last year the rain played havoc with the race and set us up for one of the most thriling climaxes to a Grand Prix in years. It started to rain in the closing stages and the front-runners didn’t want to take any chances so pitted for wet tyres with a few laps to go. But the two Toyotas gambled on staying out on dry tyres. The rain fell harder in the last two laps and Timo Glock’s gamble failed to pay off, Hamilton passed him with on the penultimate corner and came through to win the world title. But it can be very finely balanced like that.

Jenson Button could do with a nice predictable weekend and a solid podium to finish things off in style. A chaotic race in the rain is the last thing he needs. It only takes one small slip and you are out of the race. Vettel and Barrichello will both view this weekend as an opportunity, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain from a wet and chaotic race.

If it does get complicated it will present a real challenge for the Brawn strategists to give both drivers and equal amount of attention, whereas Red Bull can focus on Sebastian Vettel.

No-one can have any certainty about their position in the wet at Interlagos, it is one of the most treacherous tracks in the calendar, “The weather can play a decisive role in Interlagos. Heavy rainfall causes rivulets of water on the track, which leads to aquaplaning,” says BMW technical director Willi Rampf.

Remember the race in 2003, where a car park of mangled machinery built up at the bottom of the hill after the Senna S? Even the great Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari ended up in that automotive graveyard. Mind you that was due to the fact that Bridgestone only brought an intermediate tyre to that race, which couldn’t cope with the conditions.

The long drag up the hill into the main passing zone of Turn 1 should give the KERS cars a real advantage and so McLaren are likely to get mixed up at the front with the championship contenders. I also think Toyota could be strong this weekend, coming off the back of two consecutive podiums.

* * *
Incidentally I’ve just found out that next year’s calendar has been changed. It looks like they have moved the Monaco Grand Prix back one week to 16th May. It was originally scheduled to be 23rd May as the first half of a back to back with Turkey, but logistically that was tricky. The following race is in Montreal two weeks after Turkey. I was alerted to it by a hotel, but it’s confirmed on the Automobile Club of Monaco website, even though nothing has been officially announced by Formula 1 management.

If you are planning a Monaco GP trip, you might want to change your reservations..

We have just been told that there is to be a five place drop on the grid for Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso, Adrian Sutil and Sebastien Buemi.

In an unrelated matter, it seems that Heikki Kovalainen may have to move back five places also due to the need to change gearbox after an accident.

Button and Barrichello are due to speak shortly.

Ross Brawn confirmed that neither lifted for the yellow flags which were put out to warn drivers of debris on the track following Buemi’s accident with the wall on the back straight.

From Button’s point of view although it means Sebastian Vettel is likely to reduce his points gap to him tomorrow, his main title rival, Rubens Barrichello will still be only two places ahead on the grid.

Barrichello lies 15 points behind with tomorrow’s race and two others to go.

Ecclestone is a member of the WMSC himself and has a personal interest because Briatore is a close friend and business associate with whom Ecclestone spends his evenings at race meetings. Now, it seems their relationship is broken. Speaking at an LG press conference in Singapore today he said,
“He’s not talking to me, I don’t know. He thinks I should have defended him, which I couldn’t.”

But beyond that, reading between the lines of what he is saying here, it seems to me that he is laying the ground for an appeal by Briatore, from which he feels the Italian might emerge with a lesser sentence.

It’s just a hunch, but the wording looks quite significant to me. Max Mosley suggested the same thing yesterday, but Bernie’s message looks like some kind of signal. It’s curious. I’m hearing from my French colleagues that Briatore, having initially indicated that he wishes to pursue this in a civil court, is now coming around to the idea of an FIA appeal, having previously not wanted to have anything to do with the FIA.

“If you look at it sensibly, the people at the top had not the slightest idea,” said Ecclestone. “The people in the Renault F1 team had not the slightest idea.

“There were three people who knew what was going on and that is it. No one else was involved. Those people have been dealt with – in my view quite harshly in [regards to] Flavio. I don’t think it was necessary, but I was on the commission so I am probably just as guilty as anyone else. On reflection it wasn’t necessary. It was too much. Definitely too much.

“He should ask to be heard by the (FIA) court of appeal. If he goes to a civil court I don’t think he would win. Because the FIA would have to defend and somebody will say that he sent a young guy out to what could have been to his death. So it wouldn’t go down too well.”

Mind you, even if his sentence was cut to the level of Symonds’ that would still be a ban of five years and it seems unlikely that at the age of 64 Briatore would want to come back to racing.

There are suggestions that Briatore has been thinking of starting his own rival series to Formula 1, or trying to persuade the FOTA teams to follow though with the breakaway threat. But it’s hard to imagine.

It has been a career of great distinction. He hasn’t worked for Ferrari, Williams or McLaren but he has helped a new team break their stranglehold on F1 glory, with Benetton in the 1990s and Renault in the 2000s. Both phases brought double world championships and although there was a whiff of controversy about some of the technical aspects of the 1990s successes with Benetton, no-one in F1 would deny that Pat is one of the good guys and a very well respected engineer and strategist.

His successes have all come in partnership with Flavio Briatore and the two have a very strong relationship, but now Symonds has been offered the chance to save himself and his career by telling ‘the truth’ about what happened in Singapore last year over Nelson Piquet’s crash. Piquet has already been given immunity by the FIA in return for spilling the beans and that same privilege has now been extended to Symonds. The FIA feel that he has a lot he is able to tell them, and may be more willing to do so in return for a deal.

Judging from the transcript of his interview with the FIA investigators below, Symonds was being very cagey. But as more and more evidence emerges into the media ahead of the hearing next Monday 21st, Symonds has to make a very difficult decision; to risk his career and his reputation or to drop Briatore in it.

Of course if it transpires that everything happened exactly as Piquet alleges, with Symonds suggesting the accident and showing Piquet when and where to crash to guarantee a safety car, then Symonds’s reputation will take a serious knock anyway.

The radio transcripts from the period around the crash are released in the Times newspaper today. They are interesting but not conclusive. So far the only weighty evidence has come from Piquet himself. But that is one man’s word against two others. Symonds has already said that the idea of crashing was Piquet’s and was made the day before the race. He does not however confirm nor deny whether the discussion on Sunday covered this subject, so he has left himself room to confirm everything Piquet alleges, if indeed that is how things transpired.

This is a real life, high stakes dilemma of the kind Hollywood script writers dream up in their imaginations. It shows why movies about F1 are pointless; because the real thing is more than dramatic enough already.

As with McLaren over Dave Ryan and Ron Dennis through their various scandals, the human damage is likely to be high in this case as relationships and loyal friendships stretching back decades are shattered.

Here is the transcript of the FIA interview with Symonds.

FIA adviser: In your own words Mr. Symonds what do you recall being said to Nelson Piquet Jnr at that meeting? This is shortly before the race.
Symonds: I don’t really remember it.
FIA adviser: You don’t remember?
Symonds: No.

FIA adviser: Nelson Piquet Jnr says that he was asked by you to cause a deliberate crash. Is that true?
Symonds: Nelson had spoken to me the day before and suggested that. That’s all I’d really like to say.

FIA adviser: Mr Symonds were you aware that there was going to be crash at Lap 14?
Symonds: I don’t want to answer that question.
FIA adviser: There is just one thing that I ought to ask you and put it to you so you can think about it at least. Mr. Piquet Jnr says that having had the initial meeting with you and Flavio Briatore you then met him individually with the map of the circuit. Do you remember that?
Symonds: I won’t answer, rather not answer that. I don’t recall it but it sounds like Nelson’s talked a lot more about it.

FIA adviser: Mr. Piquet Jnr also says at that meeting you pointed out a specific place on the circuit where he was to have the accident and said it was because it was the furthest away from any of the safety or lifting equipment and gave the most likely chance of a safety car being deployed.
Symonds: I don’t, I don’t want to answer that question.
FIA adviser: [Referring to the pre-race meeting] Was it you that did the talking at that meeting Mr. Symonds?

Symonds: I’m sure it would have been both of us but I don’t know for sure. Sorry that’s a contradiction. I would imagine it would be both of us that would be normal. Actually probably more often it’s Flavio that does the talking himself. I wouldn’t necessarily always agree with what he’s saying but the majority.
FIA adviser: Because just to be absolutely clear here what Nelson Piquet Jnr has said is that at that meeting it was you that asked him to have a crash deliberately?
Symonds: I can’t answer you.

FIA adviser: Can I say that if Mr. Symonds you’d been put in the position where you were made to ask Mr. Piquet Jnr to crash it’s much better, it would be much better for you in the long term to tell these stewards to hear that today?
Symonds: I fully understand that.
FIA adviser: Yes.
Symonds: I have no intention of lying to you. I have not lied to you but I have reserved my position just a little.

FIA adviser: And you’re aware that the stewards may draw conclusions from your unwillingness to assist them in relation to what went on in that meeting?
Symonds: I would expect them to. I would absolutely expect that.
FIA adviser: I think I haven’t got any further questions.

“I’m very surprised. I cannot imagine this situation, so as I said, I’m surprised, and it’s time to think in another job, in Monza and the next grand prix because I’m not spending any more time on this.”

He added: “I will not comment too much about this, as the team said we will not comment. For me it’s not even the time to think or to pay attention to this, because it’s difficult to understand for me all this situation and this investigation.”

Yesterday material was released to the media which suggested that a meeting took place before the race in which Piquet alleges that he was instructed to crash just after Alonso’s early pit stop, by Renault’s Pat Symonds and Flavio Briatore. The material released so far does not suggest that Alonso was present at the meeting or had knowledge of it.

Meanwhile in the Ferrari paddock club area this afternoon the Italian team announced a five year sponsorship deal with Spanish bank, Santander. This is a significant deal for Ferrari, whose arrangement with Philip Morris is due to end in two years time. President Luca di Montezemolo batted away questions about the Santander deal meaning that the arrival of Alonso at Maranello was imminent,

“We have two drivers, now three (a reference to Giancarlo Fisichella), plus also we are close to having Michael, so we have a lot of drivers – this is not a problem for us now,”

With Raikkonen and Massa signed to race contracts for next year, Raikkonen is waiting to see what Ferrari’s next move will be; either to retain him or buy out his remaining year and draft in Alonso for 2010.

It’s quite possible that all three drivers will move teams for next year. Widespread rumour since last Christmas has Alonso going to Ferrari (either next year or 2011), Kubica has a choice of Williams, Renault and Toyota, Rosberg will probably either stay put or move to McLaren Mercedes.

This stage of the season is all about trying to unpick the lock, to figure out what the drivers are thinking about, what their considerations are and which way they are leaning. You speak to as many people on the inside as possible, you speak to the drivers, you form a picture. Today all three men were prepared to play the game, to talk about possibilities, to open the curtain a little onto their thought patterns and it was very interesting.

When you sit with the driver you look for tells; nervous hand gestures, eyes looking away, that kind of thing. Amusingly all three of these men are experienced poker players and neither Rosberg nor Alonso give much away with their eyes or their movements. Kubica is forever playing with the peak of his cap, or stroking his neck or shifting position in his chair. He’s comfortable in the company of the media, however and seems to enjoy playing the game.

He made it clear today that he is looking for stability in his next move, “With a long term collaboration and a stable group you can achieve a lot,” he said. And he definitely doesn’t want the risk of a repeat of what has happened with BMW, where a message lands from out of the blue that the main board has decided to quit F1.

With this in mind, I asked him whether his next team needed to be a manufacturer team and he said no, “My decision will not depend on whether the team is a manufacturer or not,” he said. “Other factors are more important.” Such as the outlook for the team and whether he feels he can move the team forward. But he said that it is hard to know what the future holds so it’s based on a feeling more than anything else.

Kubica is weighing up Renault, Toyota and Williams. Renault would probably pay the most and he has been well paid at BMW. But all drivers are going to have to face the fact that F1 teams are not spending like a sailor on shore leave any more.

Although both Renault and Toyota have signed the Concorde Agreement that does not mean that they will definitely still be around in 2011 or 2012, for example. There is no penalty for them leaving, but they would have obligations to extract themselves from. Both are important engine suppliers, however, so it would be a big deal if they pulled out on several levels.

My own feeling is that Kubica is high on Williams’ list and he would work well there. It’s really a question of whether he feels they are capable of giving him a car which can challenge for podiums and wins and then whether they can find a financial level to agree on. It helps that he will have a year’s contract from BMW as a pay-off.

Rosberg is going through the exact same considerations; he looks very confident at the moment, not surprising when you look at his results of the past six races. He’s really punched above his weight, putting strong weekends together and bagging lots of points mostly fourth and fifth places. He is fifth in the world championship, so ‘best of the rest’ behind the two Brawn and the two Red Bull drivers, which is a tremendous achievement. One or two respected pundits currently have him as their “Driver of the year” He’s having a strong year and he knows it.

Patrick Head said this week that Rosberg “may choose to go somewhere else,” but Rosberg was at pains to point out that this does not mean he is moving. He said that he will make his decision “in the next few weeks.”

“I’m not impatient but I would like to get a car where I can go for podiums and race wins and that is what I’m trying to find for next year. I’m just evaluating whether Williams can do it or maybe somewhere else.”

The main “somwhere else” under consideration is McLaren. Mercedes are very keen after all these years – 250 GPs in total with McLaren – to have a German driver and this year they are spoilt for choice. Glock, Heidfeld and Rosberg are all available and any one of them would do a great job. Rosberg would be the closest to Hamilton on raw pace and he’s shown that he can get results, unlike Heikki Kovalainen. McLaren need two cars scoring points, as they had in the Hakkinen/Coulthard days, especially if they are going to be up against Alonso & Raikkonen or Alonso and Massa in the Ferraris.

For Rosberg the risks of going up against Hamilton, who beat him consistently in karts and junior racing categories, is immense. But he said today that he had proved to himself that he has what it takes to mix it with the best in F1. Now he has to show everyone else. I’ve heard that his Dad, Keke, thinks he should stay where he is.

Alonso is the most experienced of the three at fending off questions about his next move. He managed to spring a complete surprise in 2005 when he announced that he had signed for McLaren for 2007. But this was an agreement swiftly followed by an announcement, whereas the marriage with Ferrari has had a very long courtship.

Today’s revelation was that what motivates him most is the idea of winning another world championship with a different team, ” Winning a world championship with a different (is) one of my motivations and my targets. It will put my self confidence even higher and it will be great for me as a driver. As it is in F1 at the moment it is difficult to know which team has more future.”

Asked how active he was being about finding something else he said, “Very active.”

The track is down the end of the main avenue which leads to the docks. There are boats in the marina, including two super yachts owned by McLaren’s Mansour Ojjeh and Force India’s Vijay Mallya. They are trying but this place is still more Tilbury Docks than Monaco.

There haven’t been many people here all weekend, the crowds in the stands have been sparse, not Turkey levels, but still pretty low. The recession is blamed for the low attendance and also the fact that it is mid August and many people are on holiday. My Spanish colleagues tell me that the organisers have requested a move to October. There has been a rumour all weekend that this is the last race here, but I’m told this isn’t the case, the city has invested a lot to get this race and hasn’t come close to getting its money back. But they do want a date switch.

I was interested to know when was the last time a Ferrari qualified last on merit. There was that time in 2006 when Massa crashed early in qualifying and then Schumacher was moved to the back of the grid for blocking the track in qualifying. In 1958 Wolfgang von Trips started last at the French Grand Prix, having failed to set a time. He came through to finish 3rd in the race, so that is a positive precedent for Luca Badoer.

There has been a lot of talk this weekend about Red Bull trying out KERS in Spa. This story came from one of the other teams, the mechanics and engineers all talk to each other. It seems a risky thing to do as they will not be able to test it before Friday practice and these systems seem to have had quite a few reliability glitches. If they do go for it, it will help Sebastian Vettel more than Mark Webber, as Webber is the heavier driver, so it will put him and his car over the weight limit. It’s likely then that Vettel would be the only one to use it.

This is also the first race since the Concorde Agreement was signed and it’s great that that whole side of things has calmed down now. Part of getting that deal signed was the agreement between teams on resource restrictions. Apparently this document has some numbers in it of employees each team can have, the number declining next year and again in 2011. Those numbers will not be made public, but they will see F1 teams reduce in size to around 300 people. Most of the lay-offs will come this winter and next. It’ll be a painful process, but Formula 1 is contracting to ensure its sustainability.

With BMW and Honda going, the balance and dynamic between the teams is changing, we will now have four manufacturers; Ferrari, Toyota, Renault and Mercedes racing against nine independents. It will feel quite different, back to the way it was in the 1990s and this is no bad thing.

This is also affecting the driver market. With three new teams coming in and many drivers likely to be moving around next year there are plenty of possibilities for teams, who are driving a hard bargain. One driver feeling this at the moment is Jarno Trulli. Toyota boss John Howett said yesterday that there is a strong chance that they will not agree a new deal with Trulli.

Jarno said, “I think that the teams in general are looking at the economics problem. They are all waiting to understand what they can do for next year, what their budgets are, whether they will make a move. At the moment it is hard.”

Breakfast time now, Looking forward to the race, I think it will be a very competitive battle between the McLarens and the Brawns. On paper Barrichello should win it, it’s his best chance of a win since Barcelona, but I’ve a feeling Hamilton will make it happen for himself again.

In third practice, the last one before qualifying, he was just under two seconds slower than his team mate Kimi Raikkonen and a second slower than Jaime Alguersuari in P19.

But instead of moving closer in qualifying he went backwards, dropping to an embarrassing 2.6 seconds behind Raikkonen and 1.5 secs behind a 19 year old in only his second Grand Prix.

Where do you start to try to work out how this situation arose and what Ferrari do about it? To start with, if the excuse is that he hasn’t driven a car for almost a year, then why not stick him in the 2007 Ferrari which Michael Schumacher drove at Mugello and let him shake off the rust. If the excuse is that he is race rusty, scan the racing calendar, pick up the phone and stick him in a race somewhere.

Most of the ex F1 drivers I have quizzed about this say that they would have said yes if Ferrari had called, because that is in the nature of a racing driver; you want to race and to race a Ferrari is, litterally, a dream. But beyond that they are all agreed that the decision, by Montezemolo – and it was him, not Stefano Domenicali, who made the call – is a mistake and that of the available active drivers Nelson Piquet would have been the best choice to back up Raikkonen. It would also have provided some useful data on the relative performances of Raikkonen and Alonso, but that’s another story. Marc Gene, the team’s other test driver is active, he won Le Mans, but the feeling is that he is not as fast as Badoer.

Montezemolo was quoted in the Italian media on Friday as saying that Badoer could win this race, “We will win with a man from Veneto (a region of Northern Italy)” he said.

I went to Badoer’s press briefing this afternoon and he was putting a brave face on it, saying that “This track is new for me and it’s very difficult. So our expectation was more or less where we are today. I need to drive, to get confidence with the car. I ask you to be patient, because I’m not a robot or Superman. I’m human and I need time to get quick.”

The team has been very supportive and the feeling I get is that he will indeed treat the race as a test and then at Spa and Monza, which he knows like the back of his hand, he will be expected to be closer. The pressure at Monza, though, will be pretty intense.

The German media continues to ramp up the talk of Michael Schumacher making his comeback at a later stage in the season, possibly after Monza, but sources close to the driver say that it’s unlikely. It doesn’t do Schumacher any harm commercially to be the centre of attention again and as he always says, “Never say never.”