Amid all the doom and gloom caused by the Mosley scandal, it’s probably a good idea to look at the brighter side of things in Formula 1.

Well done, Formula 1, for dishing up an interesting and intriguing race in Barcelona. Over the years we have become accustomed to processions at the Circuit de Catalunya, but although the first four positions didn’t change after the first corner, Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica were never so far apart that a small error couldn’t have made a difference in the eventual outcome. With the number of incidents throughout the race the result wasn’t really a foregone conclusion until the final lap and not for a moment do I believe, safety periods despite, the eventual gap was not a fair reflection of relative performance.

Well done also for proving once again how safe you are these days.

That Heikki Kovalainen survived without any serious injuries a frightening accident that just about a decade ago would’ve cost him his life is something all of us can be grateful for.

The difference between Kovalainen’s accident and the last big one during a race, Kubica’s in Canada last year, was that the Pole’s BMW absorbed the high-speed impact over a long distance, while the Finn’s McLaren hit the tyre barrier head-on and came to an abrupt halt.

Between the failure of the left front wheel and hitting the wall, the MP4-23 scrubbed off 110km/h of speed in less than two seconds and bored into the wall like a pencil (as Mark Webber described it afterwards). Then, from 130km/h and within a tenth of a second, Heikki came to a dead stop, suffering 27g’s of deceleration in the process.

To put that into perspective: a fighter pilot using his ejection seat while flying at Mach 1 is subjected to about 20g’s…

Except for some concussion and a sore elbow, Heikki suffered no injuries, even though half a metre of the nose of the chassis snapped right off — as it was designed to do in such circumstances. Remarkable, and something the embattled Mosley ironically deserves a lot of credit for, because it is largely thanks to his efforts (following the black weekend of Imola 1994) that Formula 1 drivers can walk away from such massive accidents these days.

Well done, too, Ferrari, for re- establishing yourself as the standard others aspire to and specifically you, Kimi, for setting up yourself as favourite for this year’s Drivers’ title after only four races. But kudos also to McLaren-Mercedes and BMW, for ensuring the battle up front hasn’t become a one-horse race… yet.

And well done, Renault, for taking the biggest step forward of all. On performance alone you should have finished fifth and sixth in Barcelona. Soon you will emerge as the leader of the chasing pack. A pat on the back, Fernando Alonso, for showing once again that all you need is competitive equipment to make the more fancied runners look over their shoulders. With the potential the R28 demonstrated in Spain, a podium finish is not too far away.

Well done, Honda, because Jenson Button’s sixth place in Barcelona was the strongest indication yet of the degree to which you have allowed Ross Brawn to give direction and leadership. You could easily have continued to run the team along corporate lines, but Brawn’s input and strategy calls have now begun to bear fruit and you are performing way beyond what could have been expected of a team that not too long ago was used to finishing well outside the top ten.

Last, but not least, well done, Rubens Barrichello, for equalling Ricardo Patrese’s record of 256 starts. Not everyone agrees with this achievement — some question whether the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, for which you didn’t qualify because of your own accident on the Friday, the Spanish and French events of 2002, when you had problems on the warm-up laps, and the 1998 Belgian race, when you crashed out on the first lap and couldn’t take the re-start, should be included.

Then again, some also question whether the Belgian Grand Prix of 1981 should be included in Patrese’s record, because the Italian didn’t make the re-start either.

Be it as it may, you made your F1 debut at the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami in 1993 and have chosen to include those races, which is good enough for me. I can clearly remember interviewing you as a 20-year-old youngster in a gym in Sandton a few days before, an interview we used in the build-up to our TV coverage of the event.

Little could both of us have known at the time you would go on to win nine races, stand on the podium 61 times, share a team with the most successful driver of all time and eventually become the most experienced F1 driver in history.

It is, indeed, appropriate to feel good about Formula 1.