Raikkonen, meanwhile – though he may now not have triumphed in a grand prix since Barcelona all the way back in April – is adamant that he lives to fight for another day, perhaps encouraged by having famously overturned a 17-point deficit to Hamilton in the final two races of 2007 to pinch the laurels at the last by a single marker in Brazil.

“I don't know,” the 17-time grand prix-winner stressed, when asked about the likelihood of him having to support Massa henceforth. “We will see what happens.

“I'm not really interested in thinking what we are going to do in the next races. [The situation] is not good, but we'll keep trying and hoping to do better in the next races.”