Sebastian Vettel's Formula 1 title hopes all but evaporated in the Japanese Grand Prix, as poor reliability ruined Ferrari's prospects of properly carrying the fight to Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes for the second race in a row.
If Vettel was already clinging on by his fingertips coming into Suzuka, he is surely now only something akin to a fingernail breakage away from certain doom in F1's title race.
Ferrari knew Vettel was in serious trouble the moment he left the garage to take his place on the grid. A broken spark plug caused Vettel's engine - only one race old following his troubles in Malaysia, remember - to lapse onto five cylinders.