At Monza this weekend the two burning questions were not 1) whether once again Force India would have the legs over Ferrari despite the former not having the benefit of KERS, and 2) whether the championship-leading Brawn team-mates Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello would be allowed to race each other, but whether Formula 1 would survive the third major scandal to embroil the sport in two years, and whether Renault team boss Flavio Briatore would subsequently still be (dis) gracing F1 paddocks come next season.

The great pity was, of course, that all this broke just as the sport – if still it can be referred to as such – was heading for motorsport’s temple of speed. Worse, some working to their own agendas elected to leak the contents of the FIA’s World Motorsport Council dossier on ‘Crashgate’ to selected journalists, and thus throughout the race weekend a matter which should have been remained sub judice was debated across the world.

But, getting the (relatively) minor matter of the race out of the way, it was a pleasure to see ‘Rubinho’ trounce ‘Jens’ and Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen for podium honours – with Lewis Hamilton crashing his McLaren on the final lap whilst in strong contention for second – but due to any form of personal preference, but simply because it meant F1 hit the Monday headlines for all the right reasons.