I don’t think I’ve made any secret of the fact that I don’t particularly like Lewis Hamilton. I’m not a fan of McLaren, and he is the personification of McLaren; additionally he walked away with a title when I’d much prefer it to have been won by Ferrari.

However, the more I see of him, the more I respect him. As I’ve mentioned, his behaviour after winning the championship was exemplary, and his behaviour thus far this season has been similar.

And after qualifying my respect has gone up a little bit more. He made a mistake, and he didn’t blame anyone else or the car. He put his hand up, said he made a mistake, apologised to the team and said that he’d learn from his mistake.

As Eddie Jordan said afterwards, Hamilton will likely learn considerably more from this season where he’s in the second or third tier of cars than he did last year when he was definitely in the top tier. Which means he’ll likely come back stronger and more knowledgeable. And more of a threat to the beautiful red cars. Which is a shame, but for all the right reasons.

Also: how was that for a final thirty seconds of a qualifying session?