What's the full story of Lance Stroll's Spanish GP absence? What you missed in Barcelona

But it can be easy to jump to conclusions and then have at least a modicum of different appreciation for how a situation came to be when the protagonists explain their perspective.

So Verstappen’s explanations could have been particularly enlightening. Instead, the four-time world champion declined to discuss the incident, questioning why it mattered if it had been deliberate contact or not, and stating he’d rather talk about the race as a whole rather than one specific incident. It was only the following morning that he addressed it in a social post.

The lack of answers only served to deepen the feeling that Verstappen and Red Bull couldn’t defend his actions, while the driver himself appeared slightly offended to even be asked about the incident.

It was clearly far from his finest moment, and he didn’t handle it well afterwards either. In turn, it meant Horner would have been in an extremely tough position trying to defend his driver, because he didn’t have an explanation to point to.

The mystery surrounding Stroll

There were various conspiracy theories very quickly doing the rounds after Lance Stroll was withdrawn from the race weekend, having climbed out of his car at the end of Q2 and not stopped to be weighed as per the regulations but instead headed straight to the team for medical attention.

They ranged from the mundane to the wild, but in similar fashion to Verstappen and Horner’s handling of the Russell incident, they were partly fuelled by the unknowns that are yet to be addressed.

Stroll was, by Aston Martin’s own admission, upset at his Q2 exit, but speaking to the team they did not link that to his withdrawal. Chief trackside officer Mike Krack suggested the team had been caught out by how much pain Stroll had been in over the past few weeks with his right wrist and hand, but commended his commitment to wanting to drive.

One team principal firmly questioned how the situation unfolded, however, given the fact that simply ensuring he was weighed before seeking medical help would have left him in a position to race. Not doing so was opening up a likely disqualification from the qualifying session at the very least.

At the time of writing, there’s no prognosis, and uncertainty over the next steps that Stroll will be taking to try and get back in the car. As a matter of personal health, it’s a tricky topic to push too hard on, but it certainly feels like either the team didn’t have the full picture, or isn’t providing it yet.

Should Stroll need replacing in Canada, reserve driver Felipe Drugovich is one of the lead candidates but would need to know quickly in order to inform his Cadillac team that he wouldn’t be racing at Le Mans. Cynical rivals in the paddock suggest that quick confirmation will not be forthcoming, allowing Aston to assess other options. It’s certainly a space to watch over the coming days.

Calendar chatter

One of the topics that is particularly exciting for those within the paddock but not always quite as big a deal to the majority of fans is the release of the schedule for the following season.

Being able to plan movements is always helpful, but it’s also interesting to identify weekends where there might be an opportunity to make other trips for either work purposes or otherwise…

Honestly, I’m not talking about taking a holiday. But the change in timing of the Monaco Grand Prix looked like it could open up the chance to go and cover the Indy 500 again, having last been when the two races didn’t clash back in 2021.

As much as I selfishly want to be able to do both races, they did previously make up a big portion of one of the best days of racing of the year by being held on the same day, with 500 usually starting a few hours after Monaco finished, and then the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte following both of them.

However, the latest suggestions are that while Monaco moves to June from next year, Canada could well be placed on the same weekend as Indianapolis, creating a direct conflict with both races overlapping. F1’s former commercial boss Sean Bratches used to make clear he believed a rising tide lifts all boats, but it seems there hasn’t been good collaboration between F1 and IndyCar on this front.

If you’re a racing fan and wanted to watch both events, then unfortunately, unless you have the ability to double screen, it looks like you’re going to have to choose a portion of one of them to miss.

It’s not all glamour

You don’t need to know about my travel woes, but the first occasion I tried to catch a flight back to the UK late on a Sunday night after a race this year has not gone well.

It has allowed me a few extra hours towards midnight to work in a departure hall, but the more interesting part is some of the people that were in the same situation.

In a sport that often portrays the bigger names as flying around the world in private jets, the budget airline terminal in Barcelona was home to Carlos Sainz’s manager and Lando Norris’s parents into the early hours as they waited on their own delayed flights.

Just to be clear, there was no feet stamping or complaining to airlines from them, either. They drew no attention to themselves because they simply accepted the situation that all passengers found themselves in and waited it out. But it was still a slightly strange sight to see two people carrying Monaco Grand Prix winning caps wandering the terminal at gone midnight.