There was a moment of levity in the news conference after the British Grand Prix when race-winner Mark Webber was asked if he would continue to fight for the championship or back off and support Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

The journalist in question clearly does not know Webber very well. But the men on either side of him - Vettel and the world championship leader Fernando Alonso - certainly do. The two of them broke out into broad, knowing grins at the sheer unlikeliness of the suggestion.

Webber, as befits a man with class out of the cockpit to match his ability in it, treated his inquisitor with a delicacy that some of his rivals might have found more difficult to summon. But, before expanding on his answer, even he couldn’t resist drawing the humour out of the situation.

“Yeah,” he drawled, smothering a smile. “At Hockenheim (the next race), we will let Seb through.” Cue even bigger smiles from Alonso and Vettel, who are well aware he will be doing no such thing.