It is sometimes easy to forget Lewis Hamilton is just 31 races into his Formula One career.
A year on from what must have been one of the most turbulent seasons a rookie has had to contend with, there is no doubt Hamilton is now a far more experienced, more mature, well-rounded driver.
But then there are the odd times - and they have been rare of late - that remind you he is still only 23, that this is still only his second season and he has so many more rungs of the ladder to climb.
The case in point arrived on Saturday afternoon in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, and on a very wet Monza circuit.
After easing his way into the second session, and with light rain continuing to fall, Hamilton made one of those errors you hope he does not look back on at the end of the season and bitterly regret.
Every driver during the opening 20-minute qualifying period, and at the start of the 15-minute middle session, had used the extreme wet tyres, the rubber that gives greater grip in treacherous conditions.
Hamilton, in conjunction with engineer Phil Prew, opted to slip the standard wets onto his McLaren in a bid to set a fast time.
The mistake was swiftly realised barely halfway into his lap, and immediately compounded when he was routinely called onto the weigh bridge by the race stewards which lost him valuable time.
When he returned to the circuit on extreme wet tyres, the rain had increased in intensity, which resulted in Hamilton being unable to generate any heat in either the rubber or his brakes.
For the first time in Formula One, Hamilton had failed to make it into the top 10 in qualifying, and unsurprisingly his upbeat mood and body language from just 48 hours previously had disappeared.
There was absolutely no need for Hamilton to act the hero and set the fastest time in Q2 when all that is required from any driver in that session is simply to make it into Q3.
Hamilton would have done that quite comfortably if he had set off on extreme wets, instead his transgression going against the grain of recent comments when he made it clear he would not take risks.
The one in Q2 was a considerable gamble, and given the lottery of the conditions, Hamilton emerged a big-time loser with his 15th place on the grid the lowest of his F1 career.
Even more strangely was Hamilton's response when asked why he had gambled, to which he replied: "Nice question, and I don't have the answer."
That suggests Hamilton is still prone to the odd rush of blood to the head, as perhaps was the case in Belgium when he cut a corner that led to him being demoted from first to third.
When asked, no driver stood by Hamilton as they all believed he had gained an advantage on Kimi Raikkonen, even if a few suggested the penalty that resulted was severe.
The International Court of Appeal will sit in judgment on Monday, and there are not many backing McLaren to win the case.
If that is what transpires then the points lost from that incident will undoubtedly be dwelled upon if Hamilton does not emerge with the title.
As will his decision on Saturday because without a doubt if he had made it into the top 10 in qualifying, he would have gone on to win the race such was his fearlessness and superiority in the wet.
Although a racer, a winner at heart, Hamilton will know he cannot afford to make any more rash errors of judgment if he is to avoid the pain he felt last year at so narrowly missing out on glory.
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Here is a tale to prove you should always thoroughly check your facts in great detail.
Renault boss Flavio Briatore, when asked by a journalist as to when he would announce his driver line-up for next year, simply replied: "Wednesday."
As the answer was quite specific, the journalist in question then sought out Fernando Alonso given the implications for the Spanish driver.
"If it's Wednesday, that's news to me because I've not finalised any agreement yet," was Alonso's response when the matter was put to him.
The journalist then went back to Briatore to try to pin him down on the subject, only for the wily Italian to settle the issue.
"Ah yes, but I didn't say which Wednesday!"
And no, the aforementioned journalist was not me.
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