Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali says the battle for third place in the constructors' championship with McLaren remains wide open despite the Italian team being unable to capitalise on its qualifying advantage in Brazil.
McLaren has had the faster car of late and has been steadily closing the points gap on its long-time adversary.
When the two McLarens only qualified on row nine at Interlagos while Kimi Raikkonen put the leading Ferrari in fifth, it looked like the latter squad would be able to extend its two-point advantage before the Abu Dhabi showdown.
But Lewis Hamilton came through to a brilliant third while Raikkonen lost his front wing trying to pass eventual winner Mark Webber on the first lap and could only recover to sixth - putting McLaren one point ahead going into the finale.
"Considering the positions, we could have done a great race, we could have been on the podium for sure," said Domenicali.
"I think we did the right strategy with Kimi, starting on the softs to be aggressive on the first lap.
"Of course after the crash with the wing on the first lap the whole race was spoiled.
"We tried to recover and I think we got the maximum from it."
He admitted that a golden opportunity to pull away had been lost, with the battle for third carrying great significance given the two teams' historic rivalry even though both are more accustomed to fighting for titles.
"Obviously we are very disappointed because we lost the points that we wanted to gain," said Domenicali.
"But that's the way it is.
"We need to keep on fighting because we know that anything can happen.
"We go to Abu Dhabi knowing it will be very difficult, but never say never.
"One point is nothing and we will fight up to the end.
"This is the main objective at the end of our season."
Domenicali was also hugely relieved that Raikkonen was not more seriously injured when his car was briefly engulfed in flames in the pits as it drove through fuel spilt by Heikki Kovalainen's detached fuel hose.
"In that moment we were first of all worried for his health," said the Ferrari boss.
"Luckily the visor was down because he does have some burns to his eyes.
"He said over the radio 'my eyes are burning' and straight away over the radio we said if you cannot go ahead then come in.
"Everything this year is happening to us, but I'm very happy because on another day this accident could have been much, much worse."