Ferrari "disappointed but not unhappy" after Bahrain GP

The Italian outfit bounced back from its struggles in Australia to emerge as the clear fastest team at Sakhir, with Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel locking out the front row of the grid.

Leclerc had looked set to take his maiden F1 victory too, but a dropped cylinder led to a loss of power 10 laps from home and he eventually came home third.

But while Leclerc's heartbreak was hard to accept, Binotto thinks it is important the Maranello outfit takes some encouragement from the pace it showed in Bahrain.

"We are certainly disappointed but we are in a positive mood," he said.

"We know that there is still a long season and there are a lot of positives coming out from this weekend. Believe us, [we are] disappointed but not unhappy."

Ferrari's closest rival Mercedes have been taken aback by the Italian squad's straight line speed advantage, which was key to its dominance in qualifying.

But Binotto is cautious about the prospect of Ferrari having such an edge at every track.

"I think that each race is different," he said. "If you're going to judge, we know certainly we have a good package but we know as well it needs to be developed to be optimised.

"The only confidence we may have is that in Bahrain we were fast enough, but that doesn't mean it will be sufficient for the rest of the season.

"At home everybody is working hard to develop the car, to have developments and improvements as soon as possible - which are upgrades or set-up improvements. Today we were performing well but tomorrow is a new day."

Binotto also defended Sebastian Vettel, who threw away his chance of fighting for the win when he spun during a wheel-to-wheel contest with Lewis Hamilton.

"I don't think we should discuss mistakes," he said. "We are always in the battle, in the fight, that's what they are doing. It's never easy. It's something that may always happen.

"We need to encourage our drivers because it's only by driving to the limit that they can achieve the best result. This is what Seb was trying to do.

"We have some homework, and we're still learning our car. We've got some days of testing next week here in Bahrain that will be useful as well in the preparation of China. So I think it's all good in that respect. Keep focused on that and we may only improve."