Charles Leclerc candidly admitted that Max Verstappen and Red Bull are "way too fast" for Ferrari in Belgium despite Carlos Sainz being on pole for Sunday's Grand Prix.
It was Verstappen, who leads the Monegasque man by 80 points in the drivers' standings, who set the pace in qualifying. However, he and Leclerc are two of six drivers to be sanctioned for exceeded power unit changes this weekend, and must therefore start from the back of grid.
It means the Dutchman will take to the line in 15th, one place ahead of his title rival. Red Bull parter Sergio Perez joins Sainz on the front row of the grid, with Fernando Alonso (third), Lewis Hamilton (fourth) and George Russell (fifth) also benefiting from the penalties.
After the session, Leclerc was asked if he could potentially cut through the field to challenge for a podium place, but instead sounded concern at his inferiority to Verstappen: "There's some potential obviously as we didn't prepare for qualifying as much as we normally do," he told Sky Sports.
"But when you see the gap to Max it's a bit worrying, they are extremely quick and it's been the case since the beginning of the weekend and we cannot explain quite why. We will try our best tomorrow but they seem to have found something this weekend."
Ferrari's season has been plagued by a series of strategic blunders and there seemed to be more questionable tactics today, with Leclerc at one point seeming to disagree with team members over tyres. But he said the error would have made little difference given Red Bull's pace.
"We will discuss and see what went wrong," he continued. "They (Red Bull) are way too fast. There's nothing we could have done. Well, nothing that could improve our starting position tomorrow. The car is just not at that level."
Verstappen meanwhile, appeared confident he could still be in the running, especially given Spa being one of the F1 tracks that favours overtaking: "It was a fantastic qualifying but it has been all weekend," he said afterwards. "It's great to be here, amazing fans and amazing track. With our pace we can still push for a podium."
Perez did have a last-ditch opportunity to take pole for Red Bull, but instead produced a messy final lap, briefly sliding over the gravel. It leaves Sainz as the front-runner as he seeks a second F1 win of the campaign.
