Ferrari starting to purr as Red Bull quilt shows signs of fraying

Most things about Formula One are epic in scale.

Certainly the enormous budgets, the eye-watering speeds, the endless globetrotting and, as the world discovered in Singapore, even the failures.

The wheels came off Max Verstappen’s record-breaking run every bit as impressively as his recent run of success.

The winners of the last 15 Grands Prix failed to even qualify in the top 10 and Red Bull never came close to looking like they could win the sweltering night street race.

Ultimately the world champion gamely hacked his way through the field to finish the race a distant fifth. His increasingly lacklustre teammate, Sergio Perez, was eighth.

A race Red Bull came to with a chance of becoming constructors' champions proved the worst of the year.

Of course while there will be a typical F1 bout of self-flagellation as they attempt to get to the cause of it all, failure is relative.

If the champions had been told in February they would fail this miserably in Singapore – but only after winning every race up until then – they would have taken it in a heartbeat.

It is only the second time a Red Bull driver had not stood atop the podium in the last 26 Grands Prix, so it’s hardly a crisis.

And what is the real damage? Boss Christian Horner regularly dampened speculation Red Bull could be the first team to win every round anyway.

The worst that can be said is a third successive constructors' championship will have to wait another seven days. Wrapping things up at Suzuka, home of their Japanese engine suppliers Honda, is actually an absolute marketing coup.

There are small signs some of the threads of genius designer Adrian Newey’s near perfect quilt are starting to unpick.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez says he may be forced to look