The constructors' title lost and Sebastian Vettel seemingly holding onto the drivers' title by a fingernail, in a few short weekends Ferrari's 2017 appears to have come off the rails.

While Singapore was down to driver error, the subsequent failures that blighted the team in Malaysia and Japan were technical and indicated poor quality control.

Usually in such circumstances, the Italian team wields the knife, a few heads of department are culled and in the worst case the team boss is shown the door, if not to the company at least to another department.

However, speaking in Austin at the weekend, as the world awaited Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes putting the prancing horse out of its misery, Marchionne insisted that there will be no scapegoats, no sacrificial lambs for the Italian media and tifosi.

Responding to paddock gossip that Maurizio Arrivabene is to be replaced as team principal by Mattia Binotto, Marchionne told reporters: "No. Both Mattia and Maurizio have been involved in this process. Picking one or the other is a bit idiotic. They were both at the table when the operation was going on and technically I'm involved too, I was the chairman.

"That's not going to solve the issue," he continued. "We need to win, that's the more important thing. I don't think it's attributable to a single guy. Processes may have not helped and those things are being addressed."

Since Japan, in a bid to improve its quality control processes, Maria Mendoza has been brought in from Maria Mendoza from elsewhere within the Fiat Chrysler Group, the Spaniard having been Head of the Supplier Quality Powertrain EMEA.

However, Marchionne insists that Mendoza's recruitment does not signal further changes or a night of long knives.

"I don't think we need to overhaul the team," he said. "The things that have happened in the last three Asia races have really been a collection of the most unfortunate events. With the exception of the technical failures we've had, which are quality driven, everything else was just a fluke. It happened.

"The likelihood of us repeating those errors is hopefully very small," he added. "We've made one change to the organisation by bringing in someone who's got experience on the quality side to try and strengthen our skills. The rest of it I think is within the way in which we manage. I think we'll be alright, I don't think we need to overhaul the team, I don't think we need to make changes.

"This team knows how to win and knows how to get it done, just give them the space."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Austin, here.