AUSTIN, Texas -- Sebastian Vettel says Ferrari can brush off poor results for the rest of this season as long as it continues to make progress on its 2017 car.
Ferrari looks set to finish third in this year's constructors' championship after a poor second half of the season has seen it drift 53 points away from Red Bull in second. Sunday's U.S. Grand Prix was another disappointing result as Vettel finished fourth, 24 seconds off Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and 43 seconds off race winner Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel admits the results have not been up to Ferrari's high expectations, but says development ahead of the major 2017 rule changes has been the priority.
"So I think I have mentioned many times that you can use all of the track time this year to look ahead to next year even though the cars will be very different," he said. "Still, every little bit helps. As I said back in the factory, we had a plan which we are following for a long time for what's going on next year.
"It's very simple. You will always get measured by what you achieve on the day. We had some good days this year, we had some not so good days, it's fair. Sometimes you speak well and sometimes you get s---, it's part of the game but it doesn't and it mustn't distract from what's really important which is what's going on in the factory.
"In that regard I think things are improving. I've been onboard now for nearly two years and things are going a lot better than they used to be two years ago. Obviously it would be nice to have everything done and sorted and on the car and have the result tomorrow because then everybody's general perception would be a lot better. Then again, you're not fighting Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, you're fighting other very professional teams.
"We know what we're here for, we know what we want to achieve. We're not where we want to be and I think we are the first ones to criticise ourselves, but I am pretty sure that things are going in the right way. I can't give you a time or promise as in when it will be stellar, it also depends on what other people are doing, but I am pretty confident that we are on the right track."
Ferrari's preparations for 2017 had a major setback in July when technical director James Allison left the team with immediate effect. Vettel admits Allison's departure was a shock, but denies it was a critical blow for 2017.
"Obviously it took a while at the beginning of the year to know exactly what's going to happen etcetera for next year. I think we started probably as early as anyone but it's not just one person.
"So obviously it wasn't easy for the whole team to digest that James is not there anymore, you can imagine he had one of the key roles so of course it has an influence but it didn't impact much on what was going on behind the scenes in terms of looking forward to next year."