Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur believes catching Red Bull has been made more difficult by the introduction of the budget cap, which came into effect in 2021.
Red Bull have been sensational this season, with the side having won all 12 races so far.
Ferrari on the other hand, have endured a season to forget so far with just three podiums to their name.
The Italians sit fourth in the Constructors’ Championship and are already 312 points behind Red Bull; however, Ferrari are trying to close the gap.
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Ferrari have only recently introduced some major upgrades, the issue is though, so have the Austrians.
As a result of Ferrari not being able to throw everything at development because of the $135 million cost cap, closing Red Bull has become “quite difficult”.
“Red Bull is also bringing upgrades and upgrades and upgrades,” Vasseur said, as reported by Motorsport Week.
“And I think that everybody is improving but the reality of the regulations and the cost gap is that we are improving much less than in the past.
“It means that when there is a gap, and a real gap, it’s quite difficult to catch up.
“One weekend to the others over the last four or five weekends it was a one time [Ferrari] ahead in quali, one time McLaren, one time Mercedes.
“But we are always behind Red Bull and at least in the race they have still a huge gap.”
Despite the gap to Red Bull being so large, Vasseur has stressed that Ferrari are focusing on themselves and not their rivals.
He revealed that the Italians are “pushing like hell” to improve whatever they can to increase their performance, with the side seemingly trying everything.
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“To catch up, it’s not that you are thinking about the Red Bull and to say well ‘what [do] we have to do?’” added Vasseur.
“You have to work on yourself. It means that we are developing, we are developing in every single direction, we are trying to improve aero, suspension and whatever we can do.
“We are pushing like hell to do a better job but if you have a look, and this is crucial, with the bouncing and so, it’s not when you are bringing upgrades that you are doing a huge step forward.”