I was nervous as I opened the door because I learnt long ago that the very best F1 people - and there are perhaps about 20 of them out there, ranging from team leaders to engineers, from salesmen to orators - are geniuses so far ahead of the play that I would be 10 steps behind the music before we'd even started.
I'm not talking presence here, although there's a certain dignity of office that one must always respect. The president of the FIA is a powerful man in contexts far wider than those of the F1 paddock. No, as I slowly enter the room, I'm talking intelligence. And logic. And slickness of mind. And knowledge. I'm talking the sorts of fields in which I know I will quickly lag behind.
Because they don't come more knowledgeable, or logical, or slick, or intelligent than Maximilian Mosley - not unless they're called Bernard Ecclestone.