Reading about Lewis Hamilton and his 'light contact' with another motorist instantly reminded me of Alan Jones and his 'contact' with a fellow road user a few days prior to the 1981 Italian Grand Prix.
I don't know the detail of Hamilton's accident, nor the cause of his fever, but I can't help but wonder if the scenario is being played down in the manner of the Marlboro News Service at Monza quoting Jones as 'having to defend himself against muggers'.
In fact, as Jones would later admit, he had been heading to his home in west London when there was a disagreement with the driver of a van over right of passage along Chiswick High Road. When the other motorist nudged the back of Jones's Mazda RX7, it was time to stop and discuss the matter further. Jones, a no-nonsense Aussie, could look after himself - and doubtless would have done so had he been dealing with just the driver.
Unfortunately, Jones failed to realise the man had two mates who were not just supportive of their driver's point of view but only too willing to forcibly share their opinion with the 1980 World Champion. To paraphrase a ballad about the effect of drink at an Irish wake: 'A row and a ruction soon began'. Let's just say it ended in a draw, both sides parting with physical memories of the encounter.
Had this occurred last week, the story would have been all over social media with the all-action video trending. But in 1981, the few that got to hear about it were merely told by Jones: 'Nah, it was nothing. An altercation with a couple of gentlemen.' Light contact, in other words.
When Jones arrived at Monza, the Williams team were shocked - but not really surprised - to find that 'nothing' amounted to a broken finger. On his right hand. The gear-change hand. (This was eight years before the introduction of paddle shift). Apparently, it had been fractured against an assailant's jaw.
Undaunted, Jones had the broken little finger strapped to the digit alongside and poked the pair through a hole chopped into his red driving glove. Proof that 'She'll be right, mate' came with fifth on the grid, a creditable achievement given that Jones could not counter understeer by pitching the car into the corner in his usual manner and he had to be careful when moving from steering wheel to gearshift for fear of bashing the protruding fingers against the cockpit side.
Jones finished second in the race, ahead of team-mate Carlos Reutemann. Where the three men in a van on Chiswick High Road finished up has not been recorded.