Mercedes have made mistakes in developing their Formula One car and teenage Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli's struggles are a consequence of that, according to technical director James Allison.
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Antonelli, 18, finished third in Canada in June for his first F1 podium but has since failed to score.
He has had two retirements since Montreal as well as 17th in a sprint race in Belgium last Saturday and then 16th in Sunday's main grand prix.
The Italian, who took a sprint pole in Miami and is the sport's youngest ever race leader, has retired four times in the last seven rounds and admitted in Belgium he was lacking confidence in the car and not driving as he would like.
"I think he's, like the rest of us, massively fed up with a string of results that are well below what we were collectively achieving earlier in the year," Allison said in a Belgian race debrief on Tuesday.
"I hope he takes some solace from the fact that we tell him, and it's demonstrably a fact, that we have taken the wrong steps with the car, making our team less competitive, and that he is paying the price for that, as is George (Russell).
"If the car isn't where it needs to be, then it will be a struggle getting through the qualifying stages in your rookie season in F1."
Allison said it was "utterly clear" to everyone that the car needed to be better and Antonelli's fortunes would improve when it was.
"Hopefully he's listening to us as we say those reassuring words because we absolutely know that he is putting in the effort on his side of that bargain," he added.
Mercedes are third overall, 28 points behind second-placed Ferrari, with one win by Russell in Canada. Russell has been on the podium five times and is fourth overall with 157 points to Antonelli's 63.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, whose seat Antonelli took when the Briton moved to Ferrari, showed his support for the Italian after Saturday qualifying at Spa.
"He was telling me to keep my head up, and that it's normal to have bad weekends, and to just keep believing," the Italian told reporters.
Hamilton told Sky Sports television he could not imagine what the rookie was going through.
"He's been doing fantastic. But to be thrown in at the deep end at 18... he hadn't even had his driving licence when he first started racing," he said.