Fred Vasseur insists Ferrari - and Lewis Hamilton - has to "stay calm" through its turbulent start to the F1 season, maintaining the "ups and downs" are natural.
The 56-year-old was in a jovial mood following the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, after Charles Leclerc delivered the Italian team its first podium finish of the campaign.
Although Hamilton, in the other SF-25, continued to struggle in Jeddah, starting and finishing seventh, Vasseur did not let that detract from the result.
When asked by RacingNews365 in his post-race media session why the British driver's performance has tailed off so dramatically since his sprint victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, the Ferrari team principal provided context for what the peaks and troughs look like for the Scuderia - and by extension, Hamilton.
"Dramatically... we did five races so far," Vasseur playfully replied.
"I know that you want to have the big headlines," he joked. "But I have to say that this is fucking bullshit," he added with a wink.
Addressing the question in a more serious manner, the Frenchman said: "At the end of the day, we are in competition, you have ups and downs.
"But when we have ups, we are not world champions, when we have downs, we are not nowhere. That is just a competition.
"I'm not sure you can draw the same conclusions with Max [Verstappen], when he was P6 [in Bahrain].
"But it is like it is, the competition is tight when you have 10 cars within a couple of tenths [of a second].
"Have a look at Max. He won in Japan, then he finished 30 seconds... behind in Bahrain, and then he finished P2 [in Saudi Arabia], but he was on pole position."
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Vasseur implores Ferrari to 'stay calm'
Vasseur reiterated his claim that Ferrari's window of performance means whilst it is not yet at a championship-fighting level this year, when the team faces difficulties it is not "nowhere" either.
"We just have to stay calm," he said before joking: "You do whatever you want for you...
"But, at least for us, as a team, we have to work step by step, and I think it paid off last year... to keep the same approach.
"And I will never be the guy who says, 'We are world champions' or 'We are nowhere.'
"We are a team. We are struggling some weekends, we have good some weekends. It's just that we have to improve step by step and just be calm"
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