Vasseur happy Alfa 'picked itself up' but urges team to 'stay calm'

Alfa Romeo Racing team boss Frédéric Vasseur praised his team for its return into the points in France but urged the Swiss outfit to "stay calm" ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix.

After a three-race dry spell, Paul Ricard delivered a seventh-place finish to Alfa, courtesy of Kimi Raikkonen, with the Finn gaining a spot post-race thanks to a time-penalty handed to Daniel Ricciardo for the Aussie's last lap antics.

"Everyone is talking about the points scored for our team in Le Castellet, but for me it was even more important to see how the team reacted to the streak of weak races, said Vasseur.

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"We picked ourselves up, we worked hard and we got the performance back into the car and that was exactly the spirit I wanted to see.

The result allowed Alfa Romeo to jump Toro Rosso and Haas in the Constructors' standings, but Vasseur is cautious heading into the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, unsure the issues that recently undermined the team's performance have been solved.

"Sometimes Sunday evening you have the feeling that you understand something; the next Friday, you are nowhere," he told Motorsport.com.

"We have to stay calm, and take it a little bit easy, and have a good analysis. I'm not sure that we sorted out all the issues and the questions we have with the tyres so far.

"Now we have a couple of updates coming – for Austria a small one, and a big one in Silverstone, then a small one in Germany and a big one in Budapest."

Looking back at Paul Ricard, Vasseur took note of Antonio Giovinazzi's improving form. The Italian gained access to Q3 for the first time this season but on race day the 25-year-old was challenged at the outset following his start on the soft compound tyre.

"To start with the soft was difficult, and then he was out of the sequence. But then we have to keep in mind the positive point that he was in Q3.

"Picking up the pace takes time, but if he is able to do a good job in qualifying, the next step will be the rest.

"It was probably the worst situation to P9 or P10 with the softs. It won't be always like this, if he can be in Q3 with the same tyres as the other ones, it will be good."

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