Even though this weekend's victory at the Spanish Grand Prix was Ferrari's third in four races, the mood in the Italian team on Monday was hardly euphoric.
Joy was restrained because the apparently fine set of results - which include four pole positions - has not been enough to put Ferrari on top of either the drivers' or the constructors' standings.
The reason, Ferrari technicians noted, was that the team has failed to match the near-perfect reliability of the McLaren cars, which have taken their drivers to podium finishes in seven out of eight attempts.
"Reliability is fundamental: we have to try absolutely everything to make sure a technical problem doesn't get in the way of a good result," team chief Luca Baldisseri said.
This has already happened twice this season, with the result that Ferrari trails McLaren 58-49 in the constructors' standings and its two drivers - Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen - are third and fourth behind their McLaren rivals.
In the season-opening Australian Grand Prix Massa had to change his engine because of gremlins in the gear box and so started last on the grid. He fought his way up to sixth when he should have been battling for victory.
In Barcelona on Sunday Kimi Raikkonen's race ended early when problems with the alternator wiring on his F2007 put him out of action and with no points for the championship contest.
"We chose early on (in the season) to concentrate on developing the cars' performance," said chief technician Mario Almondo, referring to the slight speed advantage that the Ferraris have shown so far.
"Now we have to work on reliability because we're not satisfied. We have two very fast drivers who are both capable of winning when they have the right car".
Between now and the end of the month, when Montecarlo hosts the next Grand Prix, technicians said they were determined to eliminate all risk of more technical faults spoiling the day.
The team continued to deny any preference between its two drivers, saying there was "no hierarchy" in the post-Michael Schumacher team.
At the start of the season, many pundits believed the older Raikkonen would end up stepping into Schumacher's shoes at Ferrari and Massa would wind up playing second fiddle as he did to the German last year.
But the Italian sports press appeared to be changing its mind on Monday, with analysts waxing lyrical about the way Massa held off a challenge from McLaren's Fernando Alonso on the first curve in Barcelona.
"In that first curve a champion was born," said La Gazzetta dello Sport.
