Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur insists the Scuderia team has more potential despite recent rut

Ferrari team boss Frederic Vassuer is optimistic about the team's trajectory despite their recent performances indicating that the Italian outfit has slipped behind Mercedes in the pecking order.

Ferrari kicked off the season as the second-best team; however, McLaren and, more recently, Mercedes seem to have out-developed them. The Scuderia team also brought an upgrade package in the Spanish GP, but the increase in downforce seems to have introduced the bouncing issue in high-speed corners.

The Italian outfit is going through a difficult stretch since Charles Leclerc's win at Monaco. Still, Fred Vasseur insists the team is heading in the right direction with the upgrades and needs another week to extract the full potential of the package.

"No, the direction is the right one. It can’t be a positive or negative weekend that decides whether a direction is right. I also said this after the victory in Monaco. There are weekends where we were faster than Max, as fast as Max or slower than him. It takes 2-3 Grands Prix to extract the potential. We have also seen it with other cars. Furthermore, the [upgrade] packages are no longer huge in terms of earnings." he was quoted as saying by formu1a.uno.

Fred Vasseur remains optimistic about Ferrari returning to their previous form and challenging Max Verstappen at the front. He believes the upgrade package holds more potential for the SF-24.

"I'm strangely optimistic, despite the performance which sees us a little far from Max. I have the feeling that we can achieve more!" he added.

Fred Vasseur added that the three practice sessions in the British GP weekend will help the team learn more about the upgrades, following the progress made with the setup changes during the Austrian GP.

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Carlos Sainz admits Mercedes is quicker than Ferrari at the moment

After finishing third in the Austrian GP, Carlos Sainz said Mercedes had the advantage over Ferrari. George Russell picked up the pieces from the Max Verstappen-Lando Norris scrap, securing his second career win.

Sainz reckoned that the team maximized their weekend, but lacked a tenth of a second in race pace to Mercedes. He was happy to beat one Mercedes car to the podium at the Red Bull Ring.

"I think there was not much more in it this weekend. I think we did a good job yesterday in qualifying and in the sprint. And today, we set our targets in trying to beat the Mercedes. We managed to beat one, even if one of them got ahead," Sainz said in the press-conference. (via FIA.com)

"Yeah, we tried everything we could, but we know we've been struggling the last few races. And yeah, at the moment, Mercedes are a little bit quicker than us." he added.

Ferrari continues to hold on to second place in the constructors standings with 291 points, trailing Red Bull in the lead with 355 points. McLaren follows closely in third with 268 points, while Mercedes is fourth with 196 points.