Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto believes both of his drivers had a chance to win the Hungarian Grand Prix but were hampered by two specific moments.

Charles Leclerc was set to emerge from the first-corner chaos in second place on the inside of Daniel Ricciardo when Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin collided with his Ferrari and knocked him out of the race. That meant Carlos Sainz gained further positions and was in the mix for victory but Binotto says caution in the pit lane as the whole field took on dry tires caused the Spaniard to lose positions that kept him just too far adrift of Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel for the rest of the race.

“I have to say that we are a bit disappointed after the race,” Binotto said. “I think having the rain just at the start would have been a great race for us and a great opportunity.

“Charles had a good start, was cautious to make sure not to damage the car, and he was in good position. The first corner was almost already concluded, but I think the accident that happened, is really a stupid accident and I don’t think such things should happen, but that’s the way it is.

“Carlos did a fantastic first lap, great for him as well. Overall I think he did a good race. When we decided to shift from wet to dry — which was certainly the right choice — we made a good pit stop but we stayed to not unsafe release the car and this cost us positions which were very important for the rest of the race.

“All these will be reviewed and we will have a look, but overall disappointed because we are pretty sure that in these conditions we could have scored a lot of points.”

Despite the disappointment in Budapest, Binotto is encouraged by how the first half of the season has played out for Ferrari, given the struggles the team had in 2020.

“Overall I think if we look at the first half of the season we can be very pretty happy the way we are progressing, the ways we progressed after last year. We have the team that relative to last year, has scored more of the points — we are the ones that progressed the most.

“Overall, I think that is showing that we are in the right direction and working well together. So, now, obviously the summer break is very important because it will be a very intense second half of the season. And we want to make sure that we are all prepared and ready for it.”