Hard to believe - but then this is F1 - but it wasn't until this afternoon's press conference that the drivers learned that an hour or so earlier, Charlie Whiting had revealed that the so-called 'Verstappen rule' is to be dropped.

Clearly still miffed at losing out on the trophy he feels he won in Mexico, Sebastian Vettel queried whether he will now get his prize for third place.

It was in Mexico you may recall that young Max took full advantage of the Verstappen rule… and then some.

As Vettel waited on the race stewards to act on the Dutch teenager's antics, the German came under intense pressure from Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull.

Not having the advantage of having seen the 'straight to DVD' record of incidents that will now be available to stewards, Vettel, in his defence of his position, opted to follow Max' example and adopt the Verstappen rule… and then some.

In the process of defending his position Vettel not only forced Ricciardo off track he even found time to send a message to Charlie Whiting, as you may recall.

At the end of the race the German headed to the podium having finished third, however he was subsequently handed a penalty which dropped him to 5th, ironically promoting Verstappen to 4th in the process.

Clearly, Seb feels he was robbed, hence today's comment. As it happens, Daniel Ricciardo - who did finish third - assured Vettel that the trophy was only small anyway.

Though Lewis Hamilton claims that Vettel is not as hyper as usual, leaving the Briton to suspect that Ferrari heads into the weekend feeling confident, the German did have his moments.

When the drivers were asked if they have a big, bold vision for the future of F1 under its new owners, while Hamilton suggested a race in Miami and Ricciardo a race in Las Vegas, Vettel said "race in Germany", he also suggested the return of V12s.

Earlier, when Ricciardo was asked about an Australian never winning the Australian Grand Prix - that is, one that counted towards the world championship - Vettel queried the statistic, asking; "what about Alan Jones in 1980?"

Told that Alan Jones had won a non-championship Australian Grand Prix in 1980, the German could be seen checking on his phone.

Mind you, how many other F1 drivers would know that Alan Jones won the 1980 Australian Grand Prix, championship round or not?

Check out our Thursday gallery from Melbourne, here.