Sebastian Vettel’s raging against the dying of the light has added a fascinating new twist to the season’s narrative, one of which Dylan Thomas would surely have approved.

Vettel’s behaviour and performance on race day in Sochi was a variation on that of Turkey 2010 or Multi 21 Malaysia.

The world he inhabits once the helmet is on and the gantry lights have gone out is an intense place even by the standards of an F1 driver. Emotion fuels his ferocious competitive will and completely overrides the ‘normal’, easy-going nice guy Seb.

In his Red Bull pomp, as he took the competition apart, the stubborn, unreasonable competitive animal was usually hidden beneath a sheen of success. Only occasionally would the stress of an Istanbul ‘10 or Sepang ‘13 situation peel that away to reveal the fury that drives the performance.

He is a character of extreme intensity and doesn’t always have that fully under control, as his ‘road rage’ under the Baku ‘17 safety car or his special message to Charlie Whiting Mexico ’16 confirmed.

That same vehemence was at play in Sochi but this time it wasn’t about loss of control; it was about taking control.

It looked bad for him in Spa when he was 0.7sec adrift of Leclerc’s pole time and even worse in Monza with his spin

Ferrari’s recruitment of Charles Leclerc was a gentle pulling of the rug from beneath Vettel’s feet. He’d had his window of opportunity there as the Scuderia’s contracted number one for three years and by the harsh standards of Sergio Marchionne had not fully convinced.

His next contract, signed at the end of ’17, was not as a stipulated number one, his power base not as strong as when he was first recruited.

His performance edge over Kimi Räikkönen ensured he effectively retained that number one status last year, but it was no longer a given and the replacement of Räikkönen by the young, super-fast, ambitious Leclerc was always going to mean some awkward moments.

Into the second contract, there has been an underlying sense for Vettel of feeling alone within the team.

Since taking over as team principal, Mattia Binotto has gone to great lengths to try to dissolve that feeling, demonstrating his support, including him as much as possible, while also welcoming Leclerc. But still, the momentum of the team’s affection is almost inevitably with Leclerc.