Speaking after the race, Team Principal Vasseur said: “The big emotion is it is always good to finish the weekend on a positive, and if you weigh up the race, it’s sure you increase a little bit the frustration from Saturday but I’d rather have the frustration from a poor qualifying and a good race than a poor race, so it is okay it was like this.
“I think it’s good to finish and attack the three or four-week break with a positive tone. I don’t know if Lando [Norris] was pushing the last 20 laps but we were on the same pace, and that’s a positive for the weekend.
“Our target was not to match Lando today, it was to come back and score points and on this we did a good recovery.”
With six races to go, including three Sprints, there are plenty of opportunities for Ferrari to progress up the standings – but Vasseur emphasised that this will only happen if they amend their Saturday strategy and maximise their qualifying performances.