I was standing outside in the cool, fresh morning, surrounded by the fiery trees of a New England autumn, while overhead a commercial jet drew its arrow-straight vapor trail across a pale sky feathered with wisps of cloud. And I was thinking, inevitably, of F1. Formula1.com has done the unthinkable and released more video of the three controversial incidents that attracted penalties in Fuji and the debate has been re-ignited as a result.
Kimi Raikkonen
F1 Fanatic has a good post on this, together with pages of comments, of course, and, for those who want a bird's eye view of the first corner kerfuffle, Vee8 has a link to Ed Gorman's article in the Times, which includes footage from the helicopter, as well as Massa's in-car view.
All this serves only to confirm me in my opinion on the incidents and penalties. The only additional information the videos give is that there was plenty of room for Hamilton to pull out of Raikkonen's slipstream, as he was ahead of Kovalainen by that stage, plus the helicopter shots show us what happened to Hamilton at turn 3 that left him sandwiched between Massa and Raikkonen.
My thoughts were rather on the character of the leading lights of F1 at the moment, especially that enigma, Kimi Raikkonen. With both Hamilton and Massa being accused of immaturity, it struck me that what has happened to Kimi in the last couple of seasons is that he has grown up. It is so obvious that I could kick myself for not having realized it before.
Consider that, during his McLaren years, Kimi drove very much as Hamilton is driving now, brilliant on his day and then throwing things away with rash moves that looked silly in retrospect. How different a driver he has been at Ferrari, particularly this year - so much so that we have talked of a loss of motivation and perhaps even upcoming retirement. But it is that first corner incident at Fuji that really shows what is going on with the Finn.
Many of his supporters have pointed out that Kimi prevented an accident happening by steering clear of Hamilton through the entry to the corner. That is only common sense but many hotheads would have fought harder to try to reclaim the initiative - and the result would have almost certainly been a collision. There was a time when Kimi would have done exactly that and ended up with a wounded car.
But not now. Not only does Raikkonen give Hamilton room to overshoot, he also does not fight Kovalainen when he comes through. It is quite clear that it has dawned on him - the objective is to survive and finish the race. Hamilton and Massa may know the words but the meaning has still not sunk in; they are still learning to control and direct their urge to compete and so it is quite correct to say that they are immature.
And so Hamilton should be, at least. He is still young in a sport where most drivers do not become champions until the second half of their twenties. Alonso has disguised that fact over previous years by grabbing his championships very early on, but he is the exception rather than the rule.
It is less easy to forgive Massa his mistakes; he has been in F1 much longer than Hamilton but still has those rushes of blood to the head that result in tears. The fact that he is incapable of admitting his mistakes only adds to our impression of him as somehow not quite worthy to be champion.
So where does Robert Kubica fit into all this? He is, after all, the last hope for those who would not be happy to see either Massa or Hamilton take the championship this year - how does he do in the maturity stakes?
His stock is high at the moment, thanks to a steady and consistent season and an epic battle with Raikkonen at the end of the Fuji GP. But that could change if he too makes a rash move in the last two races this year. The thing is, however, I do not think he will.
Robert had a hard climb to get into F1 and is bound to have learned a lot about life as a result. His first year in the sport was also a tough taskmaster - he paid dearly for his mistakes, most notably in the Canadian GP of 2007. And he seems to have taken the necessary lessons from his experience; in many ways, it was fitting that his first GP win should come at the scene of his spectacular crash last year.
So it is not surprising that so many have switched their allegiance to Kubica over the course of this season. But it is Rakkinonen who now demonstrates the greatest maturity, very clearly in his public utterances. When asked whether he agreed with the penalty given to Hamilton for the Fuji incident, Kimi refused to say, claiming not to have seen the whole thing. This from the man who was most definitely "on the spot"!
Compare that to Massa's pathetic attempts to put the blame on anyone but himself for his mistakes in Fuji.