We weren't at the top of our game, Scuderia admits, after both drivers flatter only to deceive in Sakhir pole showdown.
Felipe Massa insisted he remained positive of repeating his Bahrain Grand Prix victory of last year this weekend, despite letting pole position slip through his fingers in the final moments of qualifying.
The Brazilian has been the man to beat all weekend-long, and was a staggering half a second quicker than anyone else in Q2 - the most accurate indicator of a driver's true, non fuel-affected pace - but he failed to drive home his superiority in Q3, and will consequently begin the race from the outside of the front row, after BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica narrowly stole away his thunder with his final run.
"All things considered, I am still confident after this qualifying," reflected the under-fire Brazilian, who needs to bounce back in Bahrain following a distinctly underwhelming start to the campaign in Australia and Malaysia, marred by errors in both races. "We know we can count on a really good car, as we have seen so far here in Sakhir.
"In Q3, I always had a bit of traffic, but these things happen. We must remain concentrated and do the best job we can, making the most of all our resources. Congratulations to Robert, who really drove very well."
Sepang winner Kimi Raikkonen ended the session three tenths of a second adrift of his team-mate, having never really been on an equal footing all weekend. The Finn admitted he was not particularly satisfied with the outcome - one that saw principal title rival Lewis Hamilton also get in front of him - but he is believed to be running considerably heavier on fuel than Massa, and has in the past used such a tactic to jump ahead during the pit-stops.
"I'm not very happy with the way today went," the defending world champion stressed, "but fourth place is still a good starting position for the race, given the potential we have. The balance of the car was not perfect right from this morning, and I struggled a bit to be as quick as I would have liked to be and could have been. Now we have to look at the data to try and find out why.
"I think that tomorrow in the race, when points are up for grabs, I will be very strong. I think we might have made different choices in terms of strategy, but let's wait and see in the race if that's really the case."
Maranello's technical director Luca Baldisserri acknowledged that it had been far from the perfect day on a track where Ferrari was expected to blitz the opposition, given its Malaysian form two weeks ago and the fact that it was one of only two teams to test in Sakhir prior to the season start. The Italian was hopeful, however, that the race may produce a somewhat different picture.
"Today we weren't at the top of our game at the key moment, which means the final qualifying session," he admitted. "A shame, because up until then it was clear we had everything in place to do well.
"All the same, it is as always the race that matters over a grand prix weekend, so better to wait until tomorrow before drawing conclusions. We know our car is very good over a long run, and we must try and get the most out of it if we want to be ahead of our rivals."
"Obviously, we had hoped for a better result," concurred team principal Stefano Domenicali, "but it's definitely not a case of bandaging your head before you've broken it! We have two cars on the front two rows and we have seen these past two days what potential we can rely on. Tomorrow we will have to get a good start, try to manage our race as best as possible and, above all, be reliable."
