Let's get one thing out of the way before we start: that cockpit head protection thingamajig that's been delayed till 2018 is no Halo. It's a flip-flop (or thong, if you're Australian), and nothing anyone can say will convince me otherwise.
Following the publication of (some of) the results of the F1 Strategy Group meeting that took place in Geneva on Thursday, there has been some muttering about Formula One's tendency to change its mind, flip-flopping here, and U-turning there.
But is it such a bad thing for an individual or an organisation to change their minds as situations change?
As a private individual, if I stuck dogmatically to my opinions come hell or high water, ignoring new information or editing it to suit my preconceptions, people would think I was an idiot. As soon as one enters the public sphere, however -- as a celebrity or politician, for example -- changing your mind is no longer a sign of personal growth, changing circumstances, or new information, but instead is seen as a sign of moral or personal weakness.
True, Formula One has introduced and then eliminated things that weren't popular: the double-points season finale; that qualifying shake-up; restrictions on radio communication... But is it better to try new things and ditch what doesn't work, or to sit happily in a rut persisting in doing things that either don't work or never have, just because you don't want to admit that trial and error involves endless trials and quite a lot of error?
Speaking to the media in an open Q&A session held between Friday practice sessions in Hockenheim, FIA race director Charlie Whiting reflected on F1's recent "mistakes".
"If you look at the qualifying procedure, I think everyone -- I say everyone; I'm talking about the Strategy Group and the members of the F1 Commission, which comprises all of the great and the good of Formula One -- felt that this was a good idea," Whiting said.
"It didn't work, I think we can all accept that, and we felt that the most grown-up thing to do would be to go back. I think that was that, really, with qualifying. It dragged on a little longer than it could have -- sorry, than it need have -- but there you go. I think someone asked me yesterday: 'Do you remember that qualifying?' I couldn't actually remember what we did in Australia straight away. These things disappear.
"I don't feel that the radio thing is a U-turn as such. The original things were requested of us for a good reason, and it kind of worked at the beginning but it was beginning to mean that the spectators and the fans are not getting quite what they could. I think that that is why they thought it was a good idea to try and go back to something that gave them more. I think we have to respond to those sorts of things; I don't think it's a bad thing at all."
Several of F1's recent reassessments of new regulations or regulatory adjustments have taken place with a view to improving the fan experience, Whiting explained with reference to the radio traffic rules.
"We have to look back to when the Strategy Group decided that there was too much radio traffic and it was detrimental to the sport," he said. "We were getting quite a few complaints, if I remember, from fans saying 'Why are they being told all these things? They should be driving them for themselves'.
"In the August of 2014 the Strategy Group decided that we should cut out nearly all radio conversations. We issued a note reflecting those views and everyone said 'Oh, it's too much, it's too much'. So we scaled it right back and we introduced bits and pieces and then we went to single clutch paddles and those sorts of things.
"Now the feedback is that we've gone too far and this actually has not been the best thing and the Commercial Rights Holder feels he can improve the content for the fans with the radio conversations. This is contingent upon the teams providing all the content from their discussions with the drivers, because before they had privacy buttons and they were chopping out great big chunks of it. So now they've got to provide everything to the broadcasters and this is seen as a way to improve the experience for the fans and spectators."
Both Formula One in general and the FIA in particular have, in recent years, been subjected to widespread criticism for their readiness to try new things and abandon that which does not work. Instead of seeing that flexibility as a personal affront, perhaps the time has come for fans and spectators to acknowledge that several recent rule adjustments have come about in response to fan feedback, and that every attempt to spice things up -- successful or not -- has been done with a view to improving fans' experience of "the show".