Just seven days earlier in China, a delighted Michael Schumacher spoke of how he had been 'hit by the swinging pendulum of luck' after taking a victory that confounded all expectations.
His imagery was a little awkward, but the point was valid. Fortune's pendulum has rarely oscillated as dramatically as it has during the 2006 Formula One season, and the last few rounds in particular.
But now it might just have made its decisive move, and it is Fernando Alonso whom luck has favoured.