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Lewis Hamilton’s measured run to third place in Sunday’s superb inaugural Singapore Grand Prix night race reflected a sea change in the tactics deployed by the McLaren-Mercedes squad - and an approach which will be maintained throughout the remaining three races of the year in Japan, China and Brazil.

Hitherto McLaren’s abiding philosophy has been that winning all – or most – of the races will land the championship crown.

The FIA's unwillingness even to accept that the McLaren team's appeal against Lewis Hamilton's Belgian Grand Prix penalty was even admissible meant that two days spent with very expensive lawyers arguing the toss at the governing body's headquarters earlier this week was a total waste of time.

More crucially, while many race fans will have greeted the FIA's latest edict with dismay and disdain, the effect that it has had on Lewis's World Championship ambitions could be serious and far reaching.

During the weekend’s Britcar 24 hour race I learned from chatting to the Aston team that when company CEO Ulrich Bez races at the Nurburgring 24 Hours he won’t drive in the dark.

When night falls, he calls it a day until sunrise and let’s the paid help take over.

This has to have been the best weekend of my life. Along with fellow Autocar staffers Steve Sutcliffe and Matt Prior – plus Aston’s Chris Porritt - I’ve had a chance to experience the feeling of spraying champagne from a podium.

Somewhat against expectations, we finished third in the Britcar 24hr race.

It was a weekend of motorsport at Autocar – while our team were putting in a sterling performance in the Britcar 24 hour race, I was taking part in the best Goodwood Revival meeting since the circuit was reopened to racing a decade a go.

If you asked what was the best moment, you’d probably get a different answer from every one of over 100,000 spectators who crammed into Goodwood in a dazzling array of flat caps, military uniform and period costume.

The Italian Grand Prix weekend usually delivers much in the way of paddock gossip and rip-roaring speculation. But the wildest stories I heard involved the prospect of Fernando Alonso eventually finding his way to the Ferrari squad in 2009.

Yes, I know that’s after the Scuderia re-signed Kimi Raikkonen to stay until the end of 2010 – so how precisely does that work?