Charles Leclerc calls for “consistency” if Ferrari are to beat Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the 2023 F1 Austrian GP

Charles Leclerc has confidence with his race pace, taking the experience from the earlier race in Montreal. The Monegasque mentioned that the team will have to work on the consistency of the SF-23 if they want to achieve better results at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Leclerc managed to put his Ferrari on the front row after qualifying P2 for the main race at the Austrian Grand Prix weekend. This is quite an improvement in the team's pace especially after their performance at the start of the season. At the same time, it is notable that he was only 0.048 seconds down from Max Verstappen, who earned his fourth consecutive pole this season.

During the post-qualifying interview, Charles Leclerc was asked by Jolyon Palmer about the expectations he has, especially after the pace he had during the Canadian Grand Prix earlier (finishing P4 in the race). He mentioned that even though they had the pace, consistency will be the key for the race on Sunday.

"Yeah, race pace looked quite good in Montreal. So, but again, consistency is where we need to focus. So, we really have to see on Sunday, if we've got the same pace as Montreal, but Red Bull for now, he's quicker on race day. So it's going to be difficult, but if we can put them in difficulty, will do it all," Leclerc said.

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Charles Leclerc with a good start to the Austrian GP did not expect to be so close to Red Bull

Red Bull have been the absolute benchmark of performance this season with Max Verstappen topping nearly every single race weekend. No teams have been able to challenge them for the races, and the double world champion has managed to put himself ahead by a large margin.

However, as it was mentioned, the gap between Charles Leclerc and pole-sitter Verstappen was only +0.048 seconds, which is quite close and it looks like they might have a battle during the race. It might have been different if it was for both the RBRs to qualify so high, but Sergio Perez's hard luck saw his lap time getting deleted, putting him down at P15.

Charles Leclerc mentioned that he had not been expecting to be such close with Red Bull, however, the fact that Ferrari managed to bring in their upgrade package earlier than planned, it quite worked out for them.

"But overall, I don't think we expected to be so close to the Red Bull. So it's a good step forward. I would like to thank all the guys back at the factory. I mean, it's only qualifying, but the work they've done in the last two, three weeks in order to bring the package earlier than what was the plan. It was really, really impressive," the Monegasque said.

Charles Leclerc shared a good battle with Max Verstappen in the 2022 edition of the Austrian Grand Prix, ultimately winning the race by a large margin. Owing to the fact that it is one of his strong circuits, he can be expected to perform well again. His teammate, Carlos Sainz, will be starting right behind him, making it a 2-3 start for the Prancing Horse.