Charles Leclerc says that Ferrari must be realistic about its chances of victory ahead of the two races around the Baku City Circuit.
Leclerc will start on pole position for the F1 Sprint on Saturday and the grand prix on Sunday after topping both qualifying sessions.
However, a mistake on his final lap in the Sprint Shootout saw him hit the barrier at Turn 5, stripping his SF23 car of the front wing.
His Red Bull rivals were unable to improve on their second attempts, meaning Leclerc’s first effort from SQ3 on Saturday was enough to secure pole.
“With the Softs, it was a little bit tricky,” Leclerc said. “You get into Q3 and you haven’t driven on the tyres since yesterday.
“It’s not a long time ago but the conditions are very different, so it was behaving much differently.
“The rear overheated on the second lap, I tried to push a bit more to gain a little bit of lap time as I was behind my first best lap time.
“I lost it in Turn 5, it doesn’t have any consequence on qualifying. I don’t know about Carlos [Sainz] behind me, it’s a shame if he was improving. Happy with the first lap and now we have to confirm that in the race.”
Red Bull has won the opening trio of races so far in 2023, with the RB19 car displaying strong pace at the hands of its drivers.
It has been particularly rapid in a straight line, meaning the long Baku straights could play into its hands during the races.
While Leclerc has vowed to push to come out on top, the Moneasgasque driver acknowledged it will be difficult to keep the Red Bulls behind.
“We will go for it,” he said. “We need to also be realistic. Up until now, we have been on the back foot, in the races especially.
“The Red Bulls seem to be a step ahead. So we’ll see how it is, hopefully we’ll have a good surprise.
“I think we improved the car quite a bit but today we will have more of an answer in the race to see where we are compared to them.
“I will do everything for it, we are here for that. Ferrari needs to be on top and I will do absolutely everything to win.”
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