Lewis Hamilton had only his nerves to fight on Sunday morning as he relished his prospects of winning the German Grand Prix from pole position.
The 23-year-old English tyro, who has admitted he always has a bout of the butterflies before he races, said he was feeling cool this time as he and his team planned to give McLaren Mercedes-Benz something to celebrate, the AFP reported.
As he prepared, the paddock was buzzing with talk after a meeting of the team principals late Saturday evening to consider the future of the sport.
Aware of the rapidly rising cost of oil and all fuels, mindful of the sport's image and therefore its brand value and understanding the need to make F1 'greener' for the future, the team bosses met at the Williams motor home in the paddock.
It was the second such meeting at successive races, the first having taken place at Silverstone two weeks earlier.
According to informed sources, it is understood the meetings were called by F1's commercial ringmaster, Bernie Ecclestone. He also attended, in order to sort out an agenda of major topics for a formal meeting away from race circuits.
The need to discuss the future became more urgent following the teams' receipt of a letter from Max Mosley, the president of the sport's ruling body, the FIA.
Mosley wrote and asked the teams and their manufacturer partners to find a way of cutting their costs by half without reducing the spectacle.
He urged them also to find the means of cutting fuel consumption by 50 per cent before 2015.
Mosley warned that the FIA would push ahead with its own plans for 2011 unless he heard from the teams within three months.
"To tell you the truth, it was about preparing for a meeting that is going to take place in two weeks' time between the teams," Williams team chief Frank Williams said after the meeting. "Nothing more."
Little of the politics will bother Hamilton as he readies himself to slide into the cockpit of his car and attempt to win the German race and open up a clear lead in the drivers' title race.
His pole position lap in the final seconds of Saturday's qualifying session was one of his finest and brought him his third pole of the year and the ninth of his career in only his 27th Formula One race.
Brazilian Felipe Massa in a Ferrari lines up alongside him on the front row in second place with Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Finn Heikki Kovalainen third and Italian Jarno Trulli in a Toyota fourth.
Defending world champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen starts sixth in the second Ferrari alongside fifth-placed two-times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso in a Renault.
Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen are all locked together on 48 points at the top of the standings before Sunday's race.