It was savagely bad luck for Massa to lose the engine just three laps before the end – and highly unusual. In terms of the championship, instead of Hamilton leading Kimi by five points and Massa by eight, as it now is, if neither man had had his problem today, Hamilton would be only two points ahead of Massa with Kimi 12 points adrift.

So the two incidents changed the picture radically and played into Kimi’s hands. He was due a bit of luck after the exhaust failure in France and the accident with Hamilton in Canada. But you’d have to say that he desperately needs to improve his qualifying performance to give him a better platform in the race.