It proved to be an extraordinary fortnight in a global championship in which even the most bizarre comments seldom raise little more than quizzical eyebrows or nervous coughs.
The period began with Formula 1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone trashing his product in a newspaper interview, and ended with the FIA's World Motor Sport Council - F1's supreme body - issuing a media release containing words like "principles" and "should".
Not "will", or "must", but that vaguest of vague terms - "should", as in: "The [WMSC] approved the new qualification format, the principles of which were unanimously accepted by the F1 Commission. The [revised qualifying] system should be introduced for the first round of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship". (Italics added)