Looking back at the previous race in Canada, a fortnight ago, the German was asked if he would still have won if Juan Pablo Montoya had not suffered an engine failure on his BMW-Williams. “It’s fair to say we were racing,” explained Michael and he is right to say that my tyres were blistering. However, the car’s overall performance was still good and if you compare our lap times at a point when Montoya was going quickly, I was able to match them. It might have been close, but getting close is one thing and passing is another. Unless we had a made a mistake, I don’t think he would have got by.”

These were the only questions the world champion was asked about motor racing, as the main point of interest appeared to be his views on the soccer World Cup. On the subject of the Germany v USA match, Michael refused to say what he thought the score would be.