McLaren, right now, is the one place where, thankfully, the on-track stuff is providing welcome relief from engine homologation.
The future rules structure of Formula One is important, I grant you, but F1 does have a propensity for disappearing off up its own bottom at the slightest opportunity. And nowhere was that better illustrated than at Magny Cours.
The engine arguments will impact on us next March, soonest, and possibly not until the following year. Unless, that is, you happen to be an accountant for a Grand Prix team. But when the GPMA put out a statement last Sunday morning, the FIA responded as the cars were forming up on the grid. Literally. And, trumping that, Renault put out a release during the race.
Yes, okay, there had been a self-imposed deadline of last weekend to get the whole thing sorted but with the cars actually going round the track, shouldn't we have been paying attention elsewhere?