Toto Wolff conceded to suffering "one of my worst experiences" as Mercedes team principal following the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
Although Kimi Antonelli finished second behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen after a chaotic race at the Sepang International Circuit for the four-time F1 champion's first victory of the year, George Russell's third DNF of the season five laps from the finish hit home hard.
Russell's W17 suffered a suspected power unit failure, to which Wolff, speaking to Sky Sports F1, said: "I'm so massively annoyed and not in a happy place.
"First of all, you know, we didn't have the speed that we were hoping to have before the weekend, so there's a lot of homework to be done to recover, which I'm sure we will.
"Then the race went against us. With such an advantage: one VSC, two safety cars, you couldn't be more unlucky.
"To make things worse, a PU failure with a few laps to go to the end with George, which is terrible for his championship and not good at all for our constructors' points.
"As much as I love to be here, when I look at the pure race, it is one of my worst experiences, to be honest."
Although Antonelli held his nerve through the chaos, it was still Russell's DNF that dominated Wolff's thoughts.
"He [Antonelli] scored a few more points than Lewis behind him, and I'm happy because he did the job," said Wolff.
"But it's just this overarching topic, the DNFs, that could cost us dearly for the remaining seven races.
"A championship is quickly turned around against you or for you if you have a DNF, and that's why that can't continue."
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