Red Bull reckoned a win at the Hungarian GP was on the cards for Daniel Ricciardo but for his late collision with Nico Rosberg's Mercedes in Sunday’s race.
Chasing his second victory in two years at the Hungaroring, the Australian came into contention in the closing laps after an accident had brought out the Safety Car.
As a result, Ricciardo's car was brought into the pits for soft tyres and with the top four runners - Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton - all on mediums, he was immediately on the world champion's tail once racing resumed on lap 49.
Almost immediately, though, the pair collided with Ricciardo forced wide at Turn 1. Hamilton was handed a drive-through penalty for the incident but the Red Bull driver was in the wars again on lap 64 when he challenged Rosberg for second place at the same corner.
This time, the collision forced both cars to the pits - Ricciardo's for a new nose, while Rosberg picked up a puncture – allowing team-mate Daniil Kvyat through to finish second behind Sebastian Vettel.
While Mercedes later questioned the stewards’ decision to take no further action against Ricciardo for the Rosberg incident, Red Bull designer Adrian Newey said he thought a clean move could have set his driver up for another win.
"It was disappointing in a way that that happened because once Daniel was past Nico he could have had a really good crack at Sebastian and he's proved all day, as he did last year, that he’s really good at overtaking around here," Newey told Sky Sports F1.
"I think with the pace we had on the option tyres then a win was definitely on the cards."
Team boss Christian Horner agreed. "I think getting Ricciardo on to soft tyres for the period after the Safety Car - all the cars ahead were obviously on the hard tyres - was what brought the race alive for us," he said.
Nevertheless, the podium finish was Red Bull's first of a disappointing season - but they had targeted the Hungaroring as a track on which they could do well.
"It's brilliant to see the team up there going into the summer break. It's a tremendous boost after what's been a difficult season to date and a tribute to all the hard work going on at the factory in Milton Keynes," Newey said.
"We knew this race was going to be our good chance - short straights and the nature of the circuit - we had a big push to try and improve the car for here and today was a great reward for that."
Meanwhile, with both drivers facing more penalties as engine partner Renault strives to improve its power unit, Newey pinpointed the Italian GP as the race where they’ll most likely have to take further pain.
"Unfortunately we lost one [engine] on Friday with Daniel, that was number four. We're going to have to take some penalties, that’s the bottom line," he added.
"I guess Monza’s the obvious place to stack those up. That’s a circuit we're unlikely to be competitive at, and try and put ourselves in the best possible position for Singapore."