McLaren's Lewis Hamilton fought up from the back of the grid to eighth, with team-mate Jenson Button taking ninth.

On his head du Chatelet wore an abacot, or cap of state, looped at one side with a jewelled button.

Both their standing as artists and their access to the funding they need to produce their work depend on their maintaining credibility with the curatoriat.

The biggest thing is, the people are nice. They remind me of the mid-west, they’re mud-kickers, not farmers — mud-kickers. They understand hard work. I’m a mud-kicker.