Frederic Vasseur is maintaining a positive outlook despite Ferrari's current predicament in Formula 1.

Once regarded as the most improved team at the start of 2024, the Maranello squad has now dropped behind Red Bull's main challengers, McLaren and Mercedes.

"If we look at the numbers," team principal Vasseur told Corriere della Sera newspaper, "we did much better than last year - two wins, eleven podiums, 50 percent more points."

"Of course, there were also a lot of ups and downs, but that's how it is for every team. Red Bull dominated at the beginning, then we did well, then McLaren and finally Mercedes. It will be a rollercoaster until the end."

"The difference between the cars is always about two tenths," the Frenchman insisted.

However, at Zandvoort, Charles Leclerc finds himself about nine-tenths off the pace from pole position - with the Monegasque admitting that his hopes for the 2024 title are effectively over.

"Since everyone is so close together, it is easy to make mistakes," Vasseur explained. "It's not all black and white."

He acknowledges that Ferrari had to retract a particularly flawed update for the car recently, but denies that it has anything to do with the exit of technical director Enrico Cardile.

"Absolutely not," Vasseur said. "What we brought to the track in June was conceived before April. And what we will see in Monza or Singapore was born before the summer break."

There is a theory that Vasseur's emphasis on team stability may have been impacted. "Stability does not mean keeping Cardile," he countered. "It means having a solid leadership group of over 100 people, and we meet regularly to discuss. We are an organisation in which the collective counts more than the individual."

"Saying that, we have hired 60 people in 12 months without talking about it. The only one who was talked about is Loic Serra but only because his name came up by others. And we must remember that with the budget cap, it is impossible to always keep the same people."

"But we are not having a different technical structure. There will be a technical director who will come from outside. We should announce it after Monza."

Ferrari's driver situation has also been problematic this year, with Carlos Sainz aware that he will be replaced by Lewis Hamilton next year, and Charles Leclerc often struggling to find pace and consistency.

"After Monte Carlo, Charles had very high expectations as he gave everything for that success," said Vasseur. "Then we started to suffer with the car and he got into trouble.

"But he was always honest, even in acknowledging his mistakes. And he had the reaction I wanted." body check tags ::