It should be disappointing that the MotoGP championship has been decided with three races still to go. Indeed, it was always extremely likely that Jorge Lorenzo would take the title this weekend. But after a race as good as the Malaysian Grand Prix, it’s nigh on impossible to be negative.

A big chunk of the reason for that is Valentino Rossi. His recovery from a shoulder injury has been on and off, but it looked very much on this weekend: fastest in FP1, 3rd in FP2, and fastest in warm up on Sunday. But qualifying hadn’t gone as well, putting him down in P6.

The start of the race only made matters worse for Rossi, and he found himself in P9 after the first lap. But he made up places by the handful in one effortless overtaking move after another to put him in P3 by lap 4.

Andrea Dovizioso was on storming form, taking the lead from Lorenzo by lap 9. That left Rossi free to make a pretty clean move on Lorenzo, after which the champion-to-be dropped back to take a safe podium finish. And, more importantly, the world championship.

It didn’t take long for Rossi to make his move on Dovizioso, but Rossi wasn’t given an easy ride to the flag, Dovizioso sticking close behind Rossi, even briefly retaking the lead. And that wasn’t the only close fight for position – Nicky Hayden, Hiroshi Aoyama and Marco Simoncelli provided particular entertainment in squabbling over P6. It was like a proper MotoGP race!

Lorenzo’s championship celebrations were characteristically unusual: he stopped on track, was joined by men dressed as Mario and Luigi, and held up a sign saying ‘GAME OVER’. His showing off was quickly undermined when he got a bit of flag stuck in his chain. Slick.

In parc ferme, Rossi didn’t let Lorenzo take all the glory, posing for pictures next to a 46 board with the word ‘VICTORIES’ scrawled on it – because that’s the number of races he’s now won with Yamaha. But Rossi was sure to congratulate his team mate – if that’s an accurate description of their relationship – when he talked to the BBC’s Matt Roberts after the race. There was even a little embrace between the Yamaha riders. They’re not friends, but at least they can be civil.