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So, were the Renaults really running a similar fuel load to their rivals? Once again Max Mosley's new regulations dealt a different grid, but you could not argue that the final minutes of qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix were not good theatre.
Two questions were in the air as a largely dull session was meandering to a close. Would Rubens Barrichello or Michael Schumacher dislodge Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli from the front row? Would a dramatic drop in track temperature - from an insufferable 49C when Alonso made his run and 46C when Trulli went out four cars later, to a merely stifling 38C when Schumacher was the last man to go - be sufficient to overcome the Anglo-French cars?
In the end, neither Ferrari driver got close to beating Trulli's 1min 37.217sec. Barrichello's 1:37.579 was only good enough for fifth best; Schumacher's 1:37.393 left him third. Which meant that Alonso - only 21 years old and starting just his 19th grand prix - was still sitting pretty on pole, courtesy of his 1:37.044.
It made a great story. Here is a hotshoe kid who only came into Formula One in 2001 with Minardi, sat out 2002 as Renault's test driver, and then became the bogeyman of the British press in Magny- Cours last year when he was officially revealed to be the man who would replace Jenson Button for 2003.
But there's more than...