Imagine if we were in the old Second World War airfield called Silverstone two days before the British Grand Prix was due to take place, and a few miles down the road the latest in a series of explosions had gone off.
How close, one wonders, would a series of missiles have needed to reach before serious consideration was given to cancel the whole thing? Not least if there was a suspicion the event itself was part of a plan to heighten awareness of the bombers' cause?
To Milton Keynes' Centre:mk shopping mall? Or the Bull Inn at Stony Stratford? Or the service station on the A43? Especially if the pounding had turned the area into a war zone twice in a week?
In Jeddah on Friday, it was announced a giant billow of smoke was hanging as a real and figurative cloud over Formula One's second visit to this controversial kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Yemeni rebels launched a missile attack on an Aramco oil depot 12 miles from the F1 circuit
Red Bull's Max Verstappen (second right) thought his car was on fire due to the acrid smoke
What if there were no guarantees that those inside Silverstone would be safe from attack?
Well, at 5.45pm in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Friday, a journalist came into the press room to report that a giant, and as it transpired long-lived, billow of smoke was hanging as a real and figurative cloud over F1's second visit to this controversial kingdom.
The blaze was 12 miles away but close enough for Max Verstappen to radio his Red Bull team and ask if his car was on fire. It was not. It was the strike on one of Saudi's Aramco facilities, with the Houthi rebel group, which controls a significant part of northern Yemeni territory, accepting responsibility.
This is regular around here: a cruise missile strike was perpetrated against the same fuel depot, the North Jeddah Bulk Plant, on Sunday.
No wonder the UK Government issues this advice to Her Majesty's subjects: 'Terrorists are very likely to carry out attacks in Saudi Arabia. Attacks can be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners... You should be vigilant and follow the advice of local authorities. See Terrorism.'
Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton has previously said the sport should not be in Saudi Arabia
It should be pointed out that Stefano Domenicali, Formula One's chief executive, is a decent man, and we do not know the exact briefings he is receiving from the local authorities. We have to believe he is reassured enough by the
