“Mercedes Are out of Our Reach”- Charles Leclerc Reveals Low Expectations for the Austrian Grand Prix

Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc believes the team needs to stay “positive” following a difficult qualifying for the Austrian GP. However, Leclerc maintained that Ferrari wasn’t expecting any miracles in Sunday’s race. Furthermore, the Monegasque admitted that the Silver Arrows were “out of reach”.

Charles Leclerc: We’re not expecting miracles

At the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc took a stunning pole position to assert Ferrari’s dominance over the rest of the grid. Yesterday, the 22-year-old barely made it through to Q3 and finished the session in a disappointing seventh.

Last year, Ferrari dominated the weekend with a car and engine that was a touch above the competition. Mercedes struggled with cooling issues in their power unit and Ferrari simply looked untouchable.

A year on and the tables have turned and how the mighty have fallen. Following the entire saga surrounding Ferrari’s engine legality, the team has lost its speed. Ferrari’s straight-line performance was nowhere compared to its rivals and it applied to all Ferrari powered cars.

While these are still early days, there is a major cause for concern. In the event of a shortened Championship season, Ferrari could lose out to Mercedes yet again. As things stand, even podiums seem unlikely.

“Unfortunately, this is where we are at the moment, so we need to work and start building a better car for the future,” said Charles Leclerc, as quoted by F1.com.

“We cannot get demoralised by today’s result but today’s result is not what we were expecting, we’re not even close to where we expected to be.

“It’s tomorrow that we can score points. We’re not expecting miracles, they won’t come for sure, but we’ll do the best we can with what we have and continue to work the best we can for the coming races.”

“There’s the possibility to do better than today but the Mercedes are out of our reach,” he said. “We’ll give it our all, as drivers and as a team, and we’ll try to get as far up the order as possible.”

With Ferrari starting well down the order, fans can only hope for miracles come lights out on Sunday.