Daniel Ricciardo ended his weekend in Bahrain with fifth place finish following a consistent drive which had him hoping for a possible race win early on.
Ricciardo settled into fifth behind the leading Bottas-Vettel-Hamilton freight train, and just behind team mate Max Verstappen.
But a pit stop under the Safety Car, which saw the Aussie take on a set of Soft compound, produced a more laborious pace as the RB13 struggled to heat up its new tyres.
Ricciardo suddenly fell to the wayside, tumbling from third to sixth in just a few corners.
"I genuinely thought we had a chance to win," lamented Ricciardo.
"That first stint was looking really competitive. I could see that Valtteri was struggling, I believe he had some issues with the tyres or whatever.
"I was at the end of that train, I could see everyone else, they were sliding around. I was looking after my tyres, so we were in a really good position.
"Then the Safety Car came out, we put the Softs on and that tyre was just not happening for us today.
"On the restart, out of the last corner, it felt like the tyre just wasn't switched on. Basically the whole first I was sliding, so that's why I went back.
"Beyond that the tyre never really came good, I was on Massa's pace and we know we're quicker than that, so it was a strange chain of events from the beginning of the race."
GALLERY: All the action from the Bahrain Grand Prix
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
