“In France, we raced aggressively and before the race, we hoped that Ferrari’s tyre would not hang on – indeed, they themselves were worried that it would not. “The balance of performance is so fine and can swing either way on small details,” Symonds continued. Renault won the first three races, then Ferrari were strong for the next two, before Renault moved ahead again Then came Ferrari’s latest resurgence. Performance cycles can change by the race, such is the pace of development. The performance pendulum has swung back and forth this year due to tyre performance. For example, in France, a five per cent increase in downforce would bring around 0.3sec per lap; a five per cent increase in tyre performance would bring more than a second per lap. When this characteristic is coupled with the apparent equality between the leading teams, tyre performance becomes the keynote of the championship.” The big question is how much removal of mass dampers might have affected the way the Renault used its tyres, which blistered badly in Hockenheim’s heat.

Instead, the engineering chief Pat Symonds said: “We have two teams, Renault and Ferrari, with their cars at a very similar level and each of them is on a different tyre. Added to this, tyres play a bigger role in total performance than any other factor. On that occasion, the Michelin teams suffered badly as their campaigns were interrupted by the need to develop different tyres Renault do not want any part of such allegations. Add in the fact that Renault had introduced the “most significant” aerodynamic update on their car this season, and perhaps an answer begins to emerge.

There are some uncharitable types in the paddock who hypothesise that the governing body may be trying to manipulate the outcome of the championship and point back to 2003 when they made a retrospective ruling on what constituted acceptable levels of tyre wear. But clearly the Renaults had lost pace compared not just with McLaren, who had their own aerodynamic improvements, but also Honda, both of whom use the same tyres. But when the FIA indicated that it would appeal to its own court of appeal, Renault took the prudent decision to run in Hockenheim without them. How much that hurt them is debatable, because the cars are so complicated today that such systems have to work in harmony with several others before a significant performance gain can be realised Think grey rather than black and white.