Bernie Ecclestone is, he always said, a man of his word. A man whose word is his bond.
So, when he said "let's talk in Bahrain" during his pre-Australian Grand Prix telephone call to me, I had expectations of interviewing the 86-year-old. I certainly did not, though, believe our chat would last 45 minutes, and end only when a race promoter called with some urgent business.
We meet in Bahrain circuit's executive tower on Saturday at 4pm, two hours ahead of qualifying, and I open by quipping that "You're on the fourth floor; last year you would have been on the roof."