Alfa Romeo "have failed" despite "best improvement" in F1 - Vasseur

Alfa Romeo team principal Fred Vasseur has conceded the team 'has failed' this season.

Heading into the summer shutdown, Alfa Romeo sits ninth in the constructors' standings and is trailed only by score-less Haas.

On three points, two shy of what the team had achieved at this stage last season, Vasseur told GPFans Global: "It's really a mixed feeling, but I think we have made a good step forward in terms of pure performance, probably the best on the grid.

"If you take the gap to pole position I think we have the best improvement between the 10 teams, and this is for different reasons, with Ferrari doing a good job on the PU side. On the chassis, we also did a good development, and it's paying off.

"Now I have a mixed feeling because the target is not to do a good percentage, it's to score points, and we have failed. I would like to have many more points in the championship."

Vasseur highlighted the improved reliability seen in F1 in recent years as a reason behind Alfa Romeo's failings.

"I think that if you have a look we could have done [scored more], but for different reasons we haven't, and one of the reasons is that we have so many cars now finishing races, so many cars at the end," he explained.

"When you are P12 or P13 in quali, then you will finish P12 or 13 and you won't score points

"If I want to be positive, as I've said before, what is most important for the future of the company is that we've made a good step for the first time in a while. The last two seasons were tough seasons, last year, due to external circumstances, I would say.

"But we stayed focused on the targets and we continued to improve and to do the job and in the end, it's a good step forward for the team."

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