That was the over-riding feeling among the managements of McLaren and Williams after Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado lost strong points for both teams on the penultimate lap of the European Grand Prix.

Hamilton, who went into the race as the championship leader, was battling to hold onto third place ahead of a closing Maldonado in Spain on the penultimate lap, on tyres that had significantly less grip.

Sebastian Vettel believes Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton stand out as two of the best drivers on the current Formula One grid.

When asked which of the current crop of drivers would go down in history as all-time greats, Vettel said: "It's very competitive, obviously, and there is a long list at the moment. If you look at this season we've had a lot of different winners and those drivers are very competitive and very fast, but the ones that stand out are Fernando - he's one of the most complete drivers - and Lewis is very quick. Then there are plenty of others. Michael is still in the game, I don't think he has lost it. It's always depending on how well you do in combination with the package and the car and the team etcetera."

The abolition of F1 tyre blankets could save F1 teams half a million dollars but is not feasible with Pirelli's current control rubber. There are mixed views on whether or not a ban would be a good thing.

The blankets ensure that tyres are at operating temperature both at the start of a race and when drivers rejoin on fresh rubber after a pit stop. Many, however, believe that with everyone using them and carting generators around the world to use while the cars are on the grid, the blankets are an expensive irrelevance and that 'the show' would benefit from drivers having to cope with cold tyres, as in most other formulae.