Charles Leclerc believes that it will be hard for Ferrari to compete with Mercedes at the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend. Mercedes have dominated for much of the season so far and the Ferrari driver struggles to see how he can challenge them at this circuit. Ferrari "won't give up" but have acknowledged that they are on the back foot going into the weekend.
Ferrari are yet to win a race this season and they are not hopeful that this weekend will be any different. Leclerc has driven well so far this year but thinks that Mercedes are just too good to be able to compete against.
"We are all aware the gap is quite big," Leclerc said to BBC Sport. "It'll be difficult to catch up, but we won't give up until it's not possible."
"I think at the moment it is quite difficult. They seem very, very quick.
"They were extremely quick in Paul Ricard [last weekend]. We are focusing on ourselves trying to do the best job possible. But to be honest it is quite difficult to be at their level.
"If they don't run into issues, it is troubling for us to challenge them."
Ferrari's negative approach seems strange as they need to be confident in their performance if they are going to challenge Mercedes. Anything can happen in Formula 1 and Ferrari need to be ready to optimize on a Mercedes mistake.
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