Maurizio Arrivabene was furious with his own team after Ferrari’s bungled qualifying at Suzuka.
Sebastian Vettel’s chances were already in tatters, but a P9 qualifying in Japan looks to be one of the final nails in the coffin.
"Is it still a battle?" Max Verstappen said on Saturday when asked if his P3 would interfere with the fight at the top.
Ferrari and Vettel have made mistakes in 2018, but for team boss Arrivabene, Suzuka was beyond the pale.
"I do not interfere with technical decisions, but that for me was unacceptable," said the Italian.
"What happened on the track was easy to understand. Our competitors all had slicks. Sometimes it would be better to take one’s eyes off the computer, watch the track and use common sense," he added.
Arrivabene would not rule out making changes to Ferrari’s organisation as a reaction to the errors of late.
"Sometimes it’s a lack of experience or the right nose. At the end of the year, we will take stock and when it is necessary then we will intervene," he said.