Amongst those watching the first corner melee in Shanghai, trying to make sense of it all, was Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne.

Once the dust and carbon fibre had settled, Kimi had pitted for a new nose and Sebastian had apologised, the TV cameras cut to the team garage where Marchionne stared into his monitor impassively.

Though his drivers managed to end the afternoon second and fifth, the Ferrari president is not happy, after three races he was expecting more.

"It isn't something you usually see with Ferrari," he told Sky Sports F1. "I'm more embarrassed for them than me, if I'm honest, but the comeback was a masterpiece so I'm happy about that."

That was the public face of it, speaking separately Maurizio Arrivabene shed light on the president's true feelings.

"He knows motor racing, so of course he was not happy," said the Italian. "I was not happy.

"He saw the race but in those circumstances, what can you do? You can say, many, many things," he continued. "There is nothing you can do, not the team nor with the car. When things happen like this you have to accept it, but of course he was not happy.

"By the way," he added, "if he was happy, I would be asking myself... is this a real president or what?

"I think that today in normal circumstances we would be able to have a very, very good chance to win," he insisted.

"It's frustrating when things happen and you know that you have a good car. We touch all the different stairs of the podium and now I have had enough. It is better to touch the highest position of the podium. We need to continue to persist and sooner or later – I hope sooner – the first stair of the podium will come.

"The car is good and today we demonstrated that the car was quite strong, and the strategy was perfect I have to say," he concluded. "So we turn the page and look forward to the future, being a bit more positive. But we are not there. We need to be there."