So, after weeks of toing and froing, Jenson Button's Formula One future has finally been resolved.
The 35-year-old will still be plying his trade in the top echelon of motor racing next season after McLaren extended his stay into a 17th campaign.
It seems a phone call from Ron Dennis, McLaren's beleaguered chief executive, pulled Button back from the brink.
The disillusioned Englishman, who has only six points to his name this season, was ready to throw in the towel and call time on a career which has yielded 282 grands prix, 15 race wins, eight pole positions, and most crucially of all, one world championship.
But he decided against it. Formula One, and all those connected with the sport, should rejoice.
In an era which is bereft of big characters and free-talking personalities, Button breaks the mould. As Lotus driver Romain Grosjean told Press Association Sport earlier on Thursday, his decision to stay is "really good news" for the grid. The paddock really would be a poorer place without him.
But one has to ask, why did Button, who seemed to have made peace with retiring, suddenly decide to race on?
Does he really think McLaren, with their lacklustre Honda engine, will be back challenging at the sharp end of the grid next season? Because, based on this season's evidence, there is little chance of that happening.
Was it about the money? Button's salary dropped to around £7million for this season, but in the terms negotiated in the contract he signed last year, his 2016 wage will now rise to nearer £11million.
Does he not fear he will be in this very same position next year? Surely, there is little chance of McLaren offering Button, who turns 36 in January, a deal for 2017 and beyond.
Ahead of last week's Japanese Grand Prix and with Button's retirement plans due to be announced, many paddock observers were in agreement that he had made the right decision.
What more did he need to prove? He could leave the sport on his own terms and be spared the indignity of propping up the Formula One field. Indeed he crossed the line only 16th in Sunday's race at a track where he had previously never finished outside the top 10.
He has scored points at just two races from 14 this term. He has not stepped on to a Formula One podium since he won the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix in 2012. His career is going in the wrong direction, a downward curve, so, his decision to stay appears an odd one.
Perhaps Button, who married his long-term model girlfriend Jessica Michibata at the beginning of the year, envisaged life beyond grand prix racing - a career which started as a fresh-faced 20-year-old at the turn of century - and decided it wasn't one he wished to explore just yet.
The highest level of sport is a drug and it is addictive. And Button, despite his troubles this year, is still hooked.
Top Gear, it seems, will have to wait. for their man.
Source: PA
