Leclerc: Ferrari 'maximised what it had' in Austria

Charles Leclerc reckoned Ferrari "maximized" its potential in Austria, but the Monegasque admitted the Scuderia had "a lot of work to do" to take the challenge to Red Bull.

Leclerc drove a steady race at the Red Bull Ring to finish runner-up to a supreme Max Verstappen, having even led proceedings during ten laps after undercutting the Dutchman during an early Virtual Safety Car period.

Leclerc's performance - which yielded only his second podium of the season after Baku - followed his P2 result in qualifying and validated the revised front wing/floor package introduced by Ferrari on its SF-23 in Austria.

"I think Friday and today we have maximised what we had, really," said Leclerc.

"It's more yesterday that I was off the pace [Leclerc finished 12th in Saturday's Sprint event]. But it's good to be back on the podium.

• 2023 Austrian Grand Prix - Race results

"The upgrades that we brought on the car made me feel a little bit better in those conditions, which is looking good for the future.

"The team has done an excellent job by bringing these upgrades earlier. So that's great. But obviously there's still a lot of work to do, because Max and [Perez] had a lot of pace."

Ferrari's decision to pit its drivers for fresh tyres under the VSC proved beneficial. But while it allowed Leclerc to eventually seize the lead of the race and put an end Verstappen’s run of 249 consecutive laps in first place, the Scuderia charger was under no illusions about the odds of him holding off his Red Bull rival.

"We are struggling quite a lot in dirty air, so I was trying to get the track position even though we knew that on the long term for the whole race, it will have been difficult to keep Max behind with the race pace he had," he explained.

"I tried but it wasn't enough. But at least it's good to be back on the podium, especially after the last few races that have been a bit more difficult."

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter