There have been times this season, what with the espionage saga, the white powder, the cat-fighting, back-stabbing, claims of favouritism, the appointment of 'fair play Tsars', and sulking, when F1 has resembled a soap opera, and a third rate one at that.

While the racing has had its moments, many have become weary of what has been happening off-track, where pantomime-style heroes and villains stalk the paddock.

As the season reaches its finale, and Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton assure us that all is well, and that we clearly imagined the hostility within the Woking team, we cannot help but reflect (not that we ever watched it) on Dallas - the legendary American soap with that nasty old JR (right) - when one of the characters awakes from a dream to discover that the entire preceding season was a dream, none of it had really happened.

Fact is, for many devoted fans of the show, this ludicrous plot twist was the ultimate betrayal, an obvious way of tying up loose ends and boosting flagging ratings. However, it backfired, for viewers, feeling their intelligence had been insulted once too often, began to desert the show, which ran for just a couple more seasons.

You can fool some of the people some of time, but not all of the people all of the time... F1 should take notice.