Charles Leclerc has admitted that Ferrari have had to reset their expectations for the remainder of 2023, following a disappointing first half of the season for the Scuderia.
The team finished 2022 in second place in the constructors championship, and came into this year's campaign confident of challenging Red Bull and Max Verstappen for the team and driver titles this season.
Instead, a string of disappointing results has led to Ferrari dropping behind Mercedes and Aston Martin to fourth in the current standings heading into the summer break, after 12 of the 22 races on the calendar.
With Red Bull running away at the top, Leclerc has conceded what everyone in the paddock already knows - that victory in the title battle is beyond reach and it's all about making sure they finish 'best of the rest' again as runners-up.
"The realistic goal for the second half of the season is to become the strongest team behind Red Bull," Leclerc told Motorsport.it. "At the same time, we are trying to close the gap.
"There is no doubt that everyone's goal is to return to the top and to compete with Red Bull," he continued. "Realistically, we will not achieve that this year.
"The most realistic goal is to finish ahead of McLaren, Aston Martin and Mercedes in the standings," he said. Leclerc himself is fifth in the drivers' points behind Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
Like many others in the paddock, Leclerc is mystified by the huge difference in performance between Verstappen and his team mate Perez given that they have the same equipment.
"I think Max is a great driver, but at the same time there are a lot of people who can't explain the big margin between him and Checo," he said. "Personally I think it's impossible to read the situation properly from the outside.
"It's probably difficult to drive alongside him, but again, I don't have a full picture of the situation," he accepted. "Only inside the team do they know how it is.
"Sometimes the margin between Verstappen and Perez was bigger than I expected, but on the other hand, Max is an incredible driver."
While still working toward the silver medal spot this year, from this point on the focus at Maranello will increasingly turn to development of the 2024 car and narrowing that gap to Red Bull.
"I think we created quite a bubble without being too much influenced by what's happening outside, which is a really good thing," Leclerc said in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com praising new team boss Frederic Vasseur.
"I think Fred was really on board and understood straight away that the media could influence a little bit the team in some type of ways in the past, and this was one of the focuses at the beginning of the year.
"I don't feel like it's any more the case," he insisted. "Of course, there are some moments that are tricky to manage, but this is the same for everybody in the paddock - although Ferrari is always a bit more under the spotlight."
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