The "mass damper" issue that shaped last weekend's German Grand Prix characterises, simultaneously, F1's fascination and its failings.
Suffice to say that the matter could be crucial to the outcome of the championship. The politicking and the timing are suspiciously smelly. Typically F1, in fact. It's sport, yes, but it's also soap.
The ingenuity of the systems and the background to the whole story is fascinating if you're into the nitty-gritty but I felt sympathy for a Fleet St colleague on the phone to his sports editor in Hockenheim.
"What have you got for us?" his desk wanted to know.