Good strategy calls rather than outright speed contributed to Red Bull's overall performance in China and Daniel Ricciardo's fourth place finish.
In terms of relative performance, the Australian driver appeared a bit downbeat as a result of crossing the checkered flag just behind fellow bull Max Verstappen, especially as his team mate had started at the back of the field.
He did his very best to try and wrestle back a spot on the podium but ultimately he just couldn't make it happen.
"I would have loved to have made it more of a battle, " said a bit of a low-spirited Ricciardo.
"We felt like we got close but then you suffer a bit with the tyres, and even with the DRS we never really got into a massively good position to overtake.
"I thought about the inside but it was still quite wet and it would have been from a long way back. Frustrating not to be on the podium again, but I'll move on."
Ricciardo admitted that preserving tyre temperatures had been a difficult challenge in the tricky cool conditions and the unsettling circumstances.
"I think the first thing where we lost out was that once the restart got going we struggled a lot with the front left.
"I felt like I was just getting eaten up. There wasn't much more I felt I could do with what I had. We picked it up after the pit stop, it was close but not close enough."
The Honey Badger also insisted that while Red Bull's form may have looked better from the outside in Shanghai, its performance was a matter of conditions rather than merit.
"It was condition-dependant," Ricciardo said.
"We're still 45 seconds off the win so we know we've got work to do. As a team it's obviously a good result to third and fourth. That's' a positive but we've still got some speed to find."
GALLERY: All the pictures from Sunday in Shanghai
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As a footnote, the Aussie was also reprimanded by the FIA, along with Force India's Sergio Perez, for being late for the start of the national anthem ahead of the race
