Since 2017 that job has been taken by Meteo France, which provides the same data and information to teams, FOM and the FIA.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was clear that his team made its call to pit Lewis Hamilton for inters based on exactly the same weather information as other teams.

"It's Meteo France, the official FIA weather channel," he said. "It is what everybody has available."

So it wasn't that McLaren's weather forecast was wrong.

Lance Stroll will retain P11 at the Russian Grand Prix despite receiving a 10-second penalty for contact with Pierre Gasly.

As the rain began to fall at the Sochi Autodrom, conditions became treacherous and Stroll was one of many to find out as he went off and rejoined the track.

In doing so though he collided with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, and despite the stewards factoring in the conditions and Stroll’s ageing tyres, they still determined that a penalty was needed.

Stroll does in fact remain in P11 though after its application, but the two penalty points also added to his total takes him to eight for the 12-month period – just four away from a race ban.

“The stewards heard from the driver of Car 18 (Lance Stroll), the driver of Car 10 (Pierre Gasly) and team representatives, reviewed the video evidence and determined that the driver of Car 18 was wholly to blame for the collision with Car 10 at Turn 8,” the stewards declared.

“Although noting the evidence of the driver of Car 18 that the conditions were extremely slippery, especially as he was on old hard tyres, the stewards determined that it was still the responsibility of the driver to ensure that having left the track due to those very same conditions, he drove appropriately taking them into account when he re-joined and turned into the next corner, considering there were two other cars in close proximity.”

There was also contact for Stroll with his own team-mate Sebastian Vettel in a dramatic final stretch to the chequered flag.

“It was tricky, a shame we didn’t pick up points today,” Stroll told reporters in the paddock.

Speaking to the Aston Martin website he added: “It is a real shame that the change in weather cost us a strong chance of a good result and plenty of points.

“In hindsight, stopping one lap earlier for intermediates could have changed our race, but it is always hard to judge when the conditions are evolving.

“I made the call for us to stay out and try to make it to the end, so it is down to me. It is even more disappointing considering we made a great start and got up to fourth in what was a really enjoyable battle in the first few corners.

“We made the undercut on George [Russell] later on, which worked out nicely, but the second stint on the hard tyre was made more challenging by the DRS train of cars ahead, which always hurts the tyres, and then it rained.

“It became very slippery out there and I did not see Sebastian alongside me. We will learn from today and move on to Turkey in a few weeks’ time.”

All 10 Formula 1 teams will be forced to run a rookie driver on two Friday practice occasions in 2022 following a change in the sporting regulations.

Having not been used for F1 since 2011, Istanbul Park was resurfaced in 2020 as part of the preparations for the sport's return.

However, the work was completed only a couple of weeks before the race. Drivers struggled for grip on the new surface with Pirelli's hardest dry compounds as they could keep temperature in their tyres.

The Italian company said it would have made softer compound choices had it known in time that the resurfacing was underway.

The problem was further exacerbated by the heavy rain that hit both qualifying and race itself, making conditions even trickier for the drivers.

FIA race director Michael Masi recently informed the F1 teams that as part of a package of updates "the entire track surface has been treated to increase the grip level," a change that comes on top of the usual ageing of the new surface.

The extra grip will create an extra challenge for the teams as the data they gathered last year will now be less relevant.

"We do regularly each season send updates to the teams about any circuit changes for upcoming events," said Masi. "Be they be barriers, fences, gates, whatever. It may be areas of resurfacing.

"So yes, the surface in Turkey has been effectively water-blasted, would probably be the best way to put it, which is a regular treatment that happens.

"We have seen that regularly used in Singapore as an example, where the public roads that are used they resurface those quite regularly because of the movement. That is what has happened there, along with a few other changes."

Asked if the circuit had got it wrong in 2020, Masi added: "I think it was just matter of timing last year, I think we said that at the time. It was just literally a matter of timing, and they have rectified that accordingly."

After last year's race, F1 managing director Ross Brawn insisted that the lack of grip had been a good challenge for the drivers.

"I appreciate drivers were not happy with overall grip levels," he said. "But it was a consequence of the late decision to race there as the calendar was revised to respond to COVID-19.

"I think drivers sometimes need to remember it's a competition of who crosses the line first, so while grip levels weren't high, it was the same for everyone.

"Some drivers got their head down and came to terms with it, others found it a distraction.

"Having a challenging surface as we had this weekend was no bad thing. It showed a driver's talent to the max. I don't think grip levels are a measure of the level of competition you will have."

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