Instead of Ferrari’s home race being an occasion to celebrate the famous brand’s 70th anniversary with victory at Monza, Ferrari fans were left to watch Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas cruise to a easy one-two finish.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was third but trailed by a substantial margin. But even that result was a bonus given the lack of pace shown by Vettel and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying.

"I think we just screwed up," Marchionne told German broadcaster RTL. "The set-up for the car was wrong. I think we underestimated the circuit.

"I think we screwed up from Belgium, from Spa, into here. Now, we need to go back to the factory and find out which way the car went sideways. But we will be back in Singapore."

In the end Vettel was lucky not to be overtaken by the fast-finishing Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian had qualified third fastest but started 16th as a result of grid penalties his Red Bull team received for component changes.

Outside of the Mercedes pair, Ricciardo was the race’s star performer as he stormed through the field courtesy of a series of bold outbraking moves.

His dive down the inside of Raikkonen at the end of the main straight provided what may prove the F1 overtaking moment of the year.