Once confined to filming riders making pizzas in Italy or meeting sumo wrestlers in Japan, the promotional push has broken free from conventional cliché to create new ones all of their own.

This week’s contrivance paid (possibly inadvertent) tribute to Australia’s foundation as a penal colony for British convicts.

MotoGP riders Jack Miller and Alex Rins were dressed in prison gear and filmed in a deserted Melbourne prison, from which they “escaped” by hiding in a laundry basket.

This even outranked previous groan-fests, such as casting and awkward-looking Dani Pedrosa as a diminutive James Bond-alike.

Along with the introduction of frequently fatuous social media questions at press conferences, this is another important step in trivialising the World Championships.

By Michael Scott