Daniel Ricciardo conceded there was little for him and Renault to be disappointed about despite again just missing out on a podium at Mugello.
The Australian capitalised on the chaos in the early laps to move up into the top six before gradually climbing to as high as second after passing Valtteri Bottas at the third standing start.
However, after the Mercedes quickly dispatched him one lap later, hopes of that elusive first podium in yellow also then evaporated when Alex Albon passed the former Red Bull driver around the outside of Turn 1.
“I’m smiling on the outside, there is obviously a bit of pain on the inside, you know, with everyone in the team,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports.
“It’s a little bit artificial because we know we had a great race: the strategy was awesome, we undercut Stroll, starts were great, we put ourselves there…
“I think if Albon passed me on the start, we could have said we lost it, but he just had more pace than us.”
Throughout this year, the Thai driver has often been at his most competitive late on in races and Ricciardo believes the red flag after Lance Stroll’s crash gave Albon the best chance to make his way through the midfield cars.
“I felt like the first two stints, he was hanging there with Stroll and myself, but it never felt like he had a lot more pace,” he claimed.
“I guess with low fuel and soft tyres, his car came alive a little more. It was the last sector, that’s where you catch on to the DRS, and he broke my DRS very quickly. Didn’t really have an answer…”
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Still, after expected good results in the past two circuits, to follow that up with P4 on a very different layout at Mugello brought some satisfaction.
“Spa and Monza we knew would be strong for us,” Ricciardo said. “This circuit I wouldn’t say we had the highest of expectations.
“But putting the lap together yesterday we were a P5 car in qualifying and obviously we had top-five pace all race. It’s encouraging for some circuits looking forward.”