'Exclusive: future of Aston Martin CEO Tobias Moers in doubt' read our carefully crafted headline of 7 January of this year - about the 12th draft it had been through; likewise the story that it led to, detailing the firm’s rocky financial path and the flood of distinguished talent that had poured out of the company under the German’s tenure.

We - Formula 1 journalist Dieter Rencken, so often a source of exclusives, and I - settled on 'in doubt' because we couldn’t ascertain the timeline that Lawrence Stroll, chairman and part-owner of Aston Martin, was working to, or if the division between the company and its CEO was recoverable.

The evidence - multiple confirmations from former and current employees that a split was forthcoming, plus a certainty that conversations with potential replacements had taken place informally - suggested it was not, but you can never know for sure in these situations, especially where swinging egos are concerned.

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After publishing, the evidence mounted: more former employees came out of the woodwork, emphatic in their reasons for leaving and citing numerous examples of not being trusted to do their jobs. What was remarkable was the breadth of roles they held. There was no escaping the sense that the company was either so out of shape that the boss felt he had to do it all, or the boss was so out of sorts with his company that he felt he had to do it all. That change was needed was not in doubt.

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Then, just a few hours after the story broke, the Financial Times got hold of Stroll, reportedly enjoying a new year holiday on a rather lavish boat in a rather exotic location, and not best pleased that his carefully prepared financial statement released that morning to spin some rather lacklustre financial results into positive headlines had turned quite so spectacularly sour. He described our story as “categorically not true” and said he was “absolutely not engaged whatsoever in looking to replace Tobias”.

Gulp. Another ring round of our primary sources. Had we screwed up? No, they insisted, we had not. Hold your nerve. That was easier said than done as critics - largely Aston shareholders who disliked its tanking value - piled in. Yet, later that evening, Bloomberg reported Ford leader Steven Armstrong had been approached for the role, something that tallied with a detail we hadn’t published, as we couldn’t stand it up. Could it be that Stroll was telling the truth (in that he personally wasn’t conducting talks with potential replacements) and the story was true? “Hold your nerve,” repeated the sources.