Oscar Piastri admitted it was "a bit painful" to finish second behind McLaren team-mate Lando Norris at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Piastri started higher on the grid than Norris, sitting in second behind surprise pole-sitter Charles Leclerc, but was unable to find a way past him on the last lap.
The Australian led Sunday's race at multiple points but locked up when he attempted to pass Norris on the penultimate lap, ultimately finishing second.
It does mean that McLaren recorded a fourth consecutive one-two ahead of the summer break, but Piastri's lead at the top of the Drivers' Championship has now been cut to just nine points.
Piastri took his maiden Formula One win at the Hungaroring last year but was left with mixed feelings this time around.
"Whenever you lose a race by such a little amount, it's obviously a bit painful, but I mean, I'm sure it was entertaining from the outside," he told reporters.
"It was entertaining from the inside as well. So, pretty fun race, all things considered.
"When you're on the losing side of that battle, it's a little bit difficult. We tried our best, I think, and we got ahead of Charles. I don't know what happened to him in the last stint.
"Some things to look back on, whether we should have done something a bit different in terms of strategy, but very easy to say in hindsight.
"Even if I had more laps, I'm not sure the result would [not] have been any different, but I certainly tried."
Both McLaren drivers were given different strategies for the race in an attempt to get past Leclerc, with Norris making just one stop, while Piastri made two, finishing on fresher tyres.
In the end, it was the Brit who benefited the most, but Piastri is not sure if a late change to his own strategy would have helped.
"I think we had to try and do something to beat Leclerc because it wasn't obvious that we just had enough pace to blow past him and go and win that way," Piastri said.
"We tried something. Was it the right thing in the end? I don't know, but it's always much easier when you're the car behind to take that risk.
"For Lando, there was virtually nothing to lose by trying a one-stop race. For myself, potentially there was.
"We'll look back and see if there was anything we should have done differently. But a two-stop was always the plan before the race, so it wasn't even really discussed that much about doing a one-stop. So, it was certainly a gamble."
