Sebastian Vettel sought the positives after a long first pit-stop likely cost him a chance of points at Imola on Sunday.
Despite starting 14th, the German was making the overcut work well as a long first stint put him contention for points.
However, a disastrous 13.1s pit-stop by Ferrari saw all Vettel’s hard work undone, as he eventually only finished 12th and in his usual post-race comments, he was philosophical.
“I think the race today was a bit better for a couple of reasons, but obviously the poor pit stop didn’t help so I’m sure the boys are down,” he said.
“We tried to come back with the soft tyre at the end, but it was very difficult to make progress in a train of cars.
“This is clearly not the result we wanted and for sure not the one we would have deserved today.”
Such was the confidence Vettel had during that first stint, Vettel revealed he actually wanted to push on for several laps more but was denied by Ferrari.
“I wanted the soft tyres,” he explained, “but they told me that we are losing time against Lando [Norris].
“I would have preferred to lose a position, stay out longer and attack with the softs, but I don‘t see the data/gaps and have to rely on the team.
‘With the pit-stop, it should not have been anyway.”
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Even so, Vettel was at least happier to be more at home in the Ferrari and was hopeful he could see out his final four races at the team on a high.
“I was comfortable in the car even if this year the problem is more severe in qualifying, where I struggle to get a feel for the car,” he continued.
“We have to remain patient and continue to make gradual progress, as we have been doing, given that we missed Q3 by just two-tenths yesterday. If we can start from a bit higher up the grid, the next races could bring us better results.”