The peril of the undeserved ban

He sees the puff of dust rising from the gravel trap. He sees the car away in the distance to his left. He is on a critical final run in qualifying. He needs to hit back against a resurgent team-mate. He doesn’t see the waved double-yellow flags. He’s in trouble. He gets the inevitable penalty. He misses the next race.

In another universe in two weeks’ time, this could have been Lewis Hamilton. That’s the six-time world champion with none of the driving controversies that