The German, whose list of self-inflicted crashes continues to grow, was obviously trying too hard in the cumbersome SF1000 “shitbox” he and his teammate are forced to drive.

The #5 red car clipped the inside sausage kerb in Turn 4, spun and clouted the wall before coming to a steaming halt on the side of the track with its wing detached and in the middle of the track. Seconds later Leclerc’s car arrived on the scene and only avoided hitting the car or wing by centimetres.

Vettel emerged unscathed and even helped marshals by fetching his wing, afterwards he admitted, “I lost the car. Already in Turn 2, I lost the car and then in Turn 4 I lost it again and couldn’t catch it anymore.

Ferrari have again been woeful, their car that sat on pole at the venue last year was not good enough for Q1, even in Leclerc’s hands. The pain is likely to continue in the race on Sunday.

Last year in Sochi, Vettel was third in qualifying a few hundredths off Lewis Hamilton in second, while Leclerc claimed pole position by four-tenths over the Mercedes driver who will start Sunday’s race from pole.