There won’t be any more testing for the next three races which might turn out to be very significant.

In the game of chicken Renault are bravest. Ferrari brought their new updates to France so they could do something about them if they didn’t work. But Renault are waiting for Germany to bring the update hoping that it will simply work and that nobody will have any testing time to counter it.

There are two other factors that the FIA have thrown into the mix. One is providing a last minute backwards step for BMW by banning the vertical fin (no not Kimi when he’s not driving) which they had only just introduced.

The second is perhaps more crucial. The classification of the advanced dampening system unit as part of the aerodynamic system seems crazy at first but also answers a number of questions. It now seems obvious that this was the way in which Renault dealt with the V8 engines rather like the Ferrari flex wing. Which is why they were very happy to see that banned at the beginning of the season. It seems to me that a change in this crucial cornering area might well be critical. Apparently the ban has affected Ferrari in some way too but it seems to be in a far lesser extent than Renault. So how much difference will it make to lap times? It’s difficult to say of course. But it might also affect reliability. Now that might really change things.