I don’t think so. Compared with the masters – Senna and Schumacher, backing up a bit to help those behind Rosberg gain advantage and so place him further down the finishing positions is tame.

Remember that time when Jacques Villeneuve laid into Michael Schumacher for a succession of what he perceived to be dirty tricks and deliberately lying to his fans and fellow drivers? Let’s also not forget 1994 where Schumacher collided controversially with Damon Hill. When Senna took Prost out at Suzuka in 1990, he said he was going to do it before the race.

So please. Put it into perspective and drop the sensational headlines…

Nico Rosberg: “Obviously, the result in Brazil wasn’t the one I was going for. But Lewis did a great job and second place wasn’t a disaster in the end. I’m looking forward now to Abu Dhabi.

“It feels great to be in the World Championship battle with Lewis for a third year in a row. I will give it everything to end the season with a win. I’ve had a great week, relaxing and catching up with my family and friends, so I feel like I’m in a good place. In Brazil, after the race, I was joking that I would still be taking things one race at a time. But, the more I think about it, the more that’s actually not as crazy as it sounds. I have to treat this like any other race.

“Doing a good job on a Grand Prix weekend is always a challenge. Nothing in this sport is easy, so this won’t be any different and I still have to go all out for a good result. I have great memories from winning at this track last year and it’s somewhere I’ve usually been strong in the past, so I have every reason to feel confident.

“The closer it gets, the more I’m feeling excited. It will be a big battle and hopefully the fans will get a great show to end the year.”

Lewis Hamilton: “To finally win in Brazil was a moment I’ll never forget. It had been a long time coming. I’m in a good place right now. I’m feeling super strong in this amazing car that everyone at the factories has worked so hard to give us. I’ve had 31 wins in four years with this team so far, which is just crazy.

“I’m so thankful for the great opportunity these guys have given me. We’re continuing to make history together. It’s not been a perfect season and I’m faced with pretty impossible odds no matter what I do this weekend. But I can’t and won’t give up. You never know what might happen – however unlikely it may seem.

“I’ll be proud of myself and what I’ve achieved as long as I feel I’ve given my all and performed at my best. And, whatever happens, I’m proud of everyone who’s been a part of the success we’ve shared over the past few years. I’m approaching this weekend the same as I do every race. I want to win and I’ll give it everything to finish the season on a high.”

At 21 races it is the longest season in Formula One history, yet it has moved through the calendar so swiftly that the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 27 November at Yas Marina Circuit is nearly upon the inhabitants of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Perhaps the pace of the season and the quickness of calendar pages turning is par for the course in Formula One, but for the Haas F1 team there was neither par nor course.

It’s the first American Formula One team in 30 years, and 20 races into its debut season it is very much a part of the Formula One paddock. But before cars began turning wheels in anger during preseason testing back in late February and early March at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya, the main question facing Haas was: “Are they for real?”

It was a question first asked in January 2014 when team founder and chairman Gene Haas responded to the FIA’s expression of interest. When the FIA granted Haas a Formula One licence in April 2014, the question persisted.

The frequency of the query ebbed in September 2014 when Haas formed a technical partnership with Scuderia Ferrari. And a year later when drivers Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutiérrez were signed for the team’s inaugural season, it injected another dose of reality that Haas F1 was, in fact, for real.

Yet for those outside the team, there was no car to see. No transporters. No tangible evidence that this new team with a headquarters in NASCAR country would be on the grid in 2016.

But then preseason testing at Barcelona happened. Way down at the far end of the paddock, an immaculate trio of transporters sat with a large, red circle “H” emblazoned across shiny, grey paint. Behind the transporters was a sharp-looking entrance to a garage area, further emulating the colours of Haas Automation, the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America. Inside that garage, attended to by a phalanx of crew members in uniforms matching the team’s branding, was the VF-16, Haas F1 team’s very first racecar.

At 10am CET on Monday, 22 February, the VF-16 roared to life. With Grosjean at the wheel, it pulled out of the garage and on to the pit lane at Barcelona. The Ferrari 061 turbo V-6 ran flawlessly around the 4.655-kilometre (2.89-mile), 16-turn track, providing a valuable reconnaissance lap for the team to check all the car’s systems. Haas F1 had arrived. Proving it was the final testing tally of 474 laps (2,206.47 kilometres, 1,369.86 miles) during the eight days of track time.

It was a very good first impression, but testing is not racing, so the questions about Haas F1 persisted. But then came a sixth-place finish in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix followed by a fifth-place result in the second race of the season in Bahrain. And now as the season finale beckons at the 5.554-kilometre (3.451-mile), 21-turn Yas Marina Circuit, Haas F1 has 29 points and sits a solid eighth in the constructor standings.

The 29 points Haas has earned so far this season are the most of any new team in this millennium. When Jaguar debuted in 2000 and when Toyota came on the scene in 2002, each entity managed only two point-paying finishes in their entire first seasons for a combined total of six points.

It’s a significant piece of history that Haas F1 now owns.

The penultimate round of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship has just been run with the Brazilian Grand Prix at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo. The 4.309-kilometre (2.677-mile), 15-turn Interlagos circuit is the setting for one of the shortest laps of the year, but also one of the most intense.

The undulating course in Brazil’s largest city is a challenge for drivers and teams. It is run anticlockwise and consists of a twisty infield portion between turns six through 12, with three long straights between turns three and four, between turns five and six, and off turn 14 down the front stretch before the beginning of the Senna ‘S’ in turn one.

Maximum downforce would be preferred through the tight and twisting section, but in order to maximise the straights, cars need to be trimmed out with as little drag as possible. Some downforce is already lost before a wheel is even turned, as São Paulo sits 800 metres (2,625 feet) above sea level.

All of this puts grip at a premium on the relatively bumpy track. Pirelli brought its P Zero Orange hard, White medium and Yellow soft tyres to Brazil, with the mediums and especially the softs receiving the lion’s share of the work.

Oh, and the result? Well, a magnificent performance by Hamilton again, followed by Rosberg and then Verstappen.

Didn’t think Horner and Marko would take it lying down…

Daniel Ricciardo has been handed third place in the Mexican Grand Prix after Sebastian Vettel was penalised after the race by the stewards.  The FIA says the Ferrari driver was handed a 10-second time penalty for moving under braking as he battled the Red Bull driver in the closing laps of the race.

Vettel finished the grand prix in fourth place but was elevated to third after Max Verstappen was given a five-second penalty after the flag for gaining an advantage when tussling with the four-time champion. Vettel stood on the podium alongside race winner Lewis Hamilton and second-placed Nico Rosberg, but soon after the race both Vettel and Ricciardo were called before the stewards.

After reviewing evidence of the incident between the Ferrari and Red Bull drivers, the race stewards ruled that telemetry and video showed that Vettel changed direction under braking and that Ricciardo had to take evasive action.

They determined that Vettel had breached Article 27.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations and handed Vettel a 10-second penalty. That dropped him to fifth place, with Ricciardo rising to third and Verstappen taking fourth.

Yes, the stewards do see evidence we don’t necessarily, but I do wonder whether this ‘technicality’ was the only thing they could get him on which looked plausible and not upset Ferrari after those foul-mouthed rants which in the old days would have been enough to deliver a major rebuke. IMHO, Verstappen did push Vettel into a Red Bull sandwich and Vettel had to react very quickly. Compared with other examples of ‘moving under breaking’ it was pretty minor and the result of Vettel having to take evasive action in a fraction of a second.

Great result from both Mercedes drivers at the Mexican Grand Prix. But a messy finish as Max Verstappen is penalised for an unfair advantage over Vettel which otherwise would have seen him finish third. Can’t believe Horner and Helmut are going to take that one lying down.

Clearly shocked in the drivers’ cool-down room (as it’s called), Verstappen labelled Sebastian Vettel’s behaviour “ridiculous” as the Ferrari driver blocked Daniel Ricciardo and swore angrily over the radio during the closing laps.

Certainly one thing he can’t continue doing is ranting at Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting, saying: “Here’s a message for Charlie – F*** off! F*** off!”.

“I don’t know how many times he is using very bad language in general,” Verstappen told Sky Sports. “I think he has to go back to school or something to get some language. I will speak to him because this is just ridiculous the way he is handling it. He’s always so frustrated, the whole weekend, he’s shouting on the radio. In the end, he’s just a very frustrated guy at the moment.”

It’s easy for us to pass judgement. We’re not pumped up with adrenaline and frustrated with our team’s performance to date, but come on Seb, get a grip matey. You’re a multi-millionaire, well-rewarded for his efforts, and multiple World Champion for goodness sake. It’s not as if you haven’t been there before. Or was it too easy last time?